I hope you’re coming upon this page as a freshman (or the parent of a freshman) in high school. Why? Well the simple answer is that from your first day of high school until about November of your senior year you are building your resume for college. That’s not to say, however, that if you are a junior then you should just disregard this page – there is still a lot that you could do to improve your chances of getting into the colleges that you will be applying to.
Grades, SATs, and the Other Obvious Stuff
There is a whole list of things that are intuitively important when preparing yourself for applying to college. Obviously being a good student is an important part of getting into a good school. I don’t really have a whole lot to say about this simply because I do not need to explain why it is important to be a good student. There are sections on this site that offer advice on doing well in school and for preparing for the SATs, but in the end it comes down to the time that you put into your academic performance. So basically, the point here is quite obvious: doing well in high school is important for getting into a good college. Enough said.
Getting Involved
Being an active participant in your high school is a very big plus when colleges are looking at your college application. With so many people today applying to college, simply being a good student is no longer enough. Yes, the people going to the top schools are still very academically successful, but they are also involved in sports, student government, clubs, and other extracurricular activities that go beyond just being a student. If you have a 4.0 GPA, but have no friends and never leave your house because you spend all your time studying, well then you may be passed over by someone who has a lower GPA but was an active participant at his/her school.
The basic idea is being a “well-rounded” student. A good way to think about being a well-rounded student is to think of a circle split evenly into three sections. One section is academics. Another section is extracurricular activities. The third section (which we’ll get to in a minute) is community service. Each has its own importance, and while you may have more strengths in one of the pieces, to totally neglect any one section is a mistake.
Something important to note about extracurricular activities is that you do not need to do everything. I’ve been friends with the people who seem to be in every club and volunteer for every possible thing that you could ever think of. All this does is create unnecessary stress. Take part in extracurricular activities because you enjoy them, not because you want something to boost your resume.
One thing I must say about extracurricular activities is that holding a leadership position is a definite plus. Being a member of a club nice, but if you can hold a leadership position at some point during your four years in high school then all the better. Colleges are looking for students with initiative. They are looking for students who will come to their school and be active, successful participants in their community. Nothing says this more than holding leadership positions.
So before this gets too long winded, let me just sum up what I’m trying to say here. Basically, colleges are looking for active people. They are looking for the “go-getter” (for lack of a better term). So get involved. Be that active person they are looking for.
Community Service
This is an area that has become increasingly important when applying to college. Colleges want to see that you are willing to offer your time and energy to other endeavors besides your own. Getting involved in community service programs, whether through your school or outside organizations, is something that you should not only take seriously but is also something that you should start as soon as possible.
The best place that I found to get involved with community service was through the school itself. There are a couple of different organizations that you might want to look into:
Key Club
Key club is your basic community service group. At my school they had meetings once a week during which different community service activities were discussed. Basically they were a platform through which you could find out about community service opportunities. They are connected with a lot of other groups outside of the school, so they are a good source for a lot of different types of activities.
National Honor Society
National Honor Society is, first and foremost, a community service group. Getting into the National Honor Society is more difficult to get in to – usually you have to first have a GPA over a set score (I think it was 3.5 at my high school) and then there is an application process. However, if you are provided the chance to join the National Honor Society it is a very prestigious thing to have on your college application, and it also provides the same type of community service opportunities that Key Club provides.
Tutoring
This is where I did a lot of my community service in high school. I tutored basic math in my school’s “math lab” – which was basically a room that students could come to and get help with any type of math problems that they were having. Many schools have programs like this, as well as private tutoring programs. The best way to find out about this would probably to simply talk to a teacher in a subject area that you are comfortable tutoring in.
Outside of the school there are also well known organizations that you can find community service opportunities through. A good example of this is Habitat for Humanity. If you don’t know what Habitat for Humanity is, basically they build homes for those that cannot afford them. As a community service participant, you help to build the houses. Other good places to look for community service activities are places such as soup kitchens, elderly centers, or your local hospitals.
This is just an introduction to preparing yourself to apply to college. More information will be coming soon as I find time to write it all up.
