Oh the Places You'll Go - Focusing on College

High school students should start looking at their choices for college as early as possible. Students should attend college webcasts and schedule college tours with local colleges to get a general sense of what college life and the college application process is like in their freshman year. Freshman year should also be spent preparing for the SAT and ACT tests, taking courses that will look fantastic on a college transcript, and engaging in extracurricular activities that will enhance college applications.

Sophomore year should be spent researching different colleges, continuing to take all the steps mentioned for freshmen, and starting to decide on a college. Don't worry; this will not be your final decision! People change a lot between 10th and 12th grade, and you might change your mind, but having an idea of what college you want to go to early in the game will make things easier for you when everyone else is panicking about what college they want to go to. Sophomore year is also when you take your PSAT's for the first time, which is a good indicator of what you will get on your actual SATs and which will allow you to pinpoint what topics you need to focus on when studying.

Junior year is when the college search gets serious, and also when you'll be taking your SATs. In junior year, you should make a list of the colleges you're thinking about, and research each one carefully. Consider the following things:

• Cost. How much can you afford to spend on college? Are you expecting to get a scholarship based on need or based on your awesome grades? Are you expecting financial aid from FASFA or another organization? How much are you expecting your parents or guardian to contribute to your tuition? Do you have a job, or money saved up for college? 
• Distance. Do you want to go away for college, or stay close to home? Are you considering going abroad for college? Remember that tuition for out-of-state students is a lot higher than tuition for in-state students. 
• School community and atmosphere. If possible, talk to a current student or look up reviews online. Research things to do in your college town. See if it is a place you'd be willing and eager to spend the next four years. 
• Academics. How strong is the college's academic program? How strong is the program you're looking to go into in a particular school? Even if a school is great overall, if you want to go into economics and the school's economics program is weak, you may want to reconsider. 
• Majors offered. You don't have to decide what you want to do with your life at the age of sixteen or seventeen, but it may be a good idea to start thinking of what career you want to go into when you graduate. A major will prepare you for that career, so if a college doesn't offer the major you're looking for, you'll definitely want to reconsider. 
• Future prospects. What percent of people graduate from the college you're looking at? How many of them have job offers in the first few months after graduating? These are all things to consider when looking at potential colleges. 

Senior year is when you start applying to college. I would personally recommend applying early decision or early action. Ask you college counselor more about these terms. Generally, you will get a decision earlier and have a better chance of getting into your chosen college, both of which are clear benefits. Waiting for a decision can be stressful, so the earlier you get one, the better. Even if you don't apply early action, apply as early as possible. Don't wait until the night before the deadline, and don't end up like me. I spent my entire Christmas break, Christmas Eve included, finishing my applications. Trust me, it wasn't fun. 

When you've applied to all of your colleges, all that is left is to wait for a decision, something that is a lot harder than it seems, as I've been finding out as of late. While you are waiting, focus on your school work and don't fall into the trap of senioritis - something that is, as I've been told, is a real disease, though not one I am suffering from. 

When your decision finally comes, you'll have a lot of tough choices to make. Where will you go? Hopefully, you've been accepted into more than one college. Look back on your notes from junior year when you did all that research about potential colleges. Hopefully you'll have looked at each college carefully and ordered your list. Maybe you've even fallen in love with one particular college, as I did. My advice to you is to visit every potential college, especially if they are close to home or in your home state. College visits aren't an option for me, as I applied to schools out of the country and across the my home nation, which is rather large, but they might be an option for you. 

And afterwards, when you've made your choice, you are off to start a brand new life! Congratulations!