How do I start planning for college as a freshman?Answered
The college I want to go to is pretty competitive. My teacher said if I want to go to that school, I should've already started planning. How do I plan as a freshman?
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5 answers
Good evening.
Firstly, I would suggest to start deciding on when you'll take ACT and SAT. I'll also suggest to plan out your four year plan - which APs you'll take and why, what extracurriculars you have, volunteer oppurtunities, and school clubs. Also, you might want to go tour the college you want to go, and ask the admission people what they look for, etc.
UPDATE - just got notitfied that the college you want to go to is UW Madison.
After doing some quick research (I'm not familiar with UW Madison), the acceptance rate is 49 out of 100, or 49%, which is really high compared to other highly competitive colleges. The minimum ACT score is 27, SAT 1300+, which means you should prepare for the ACT and SAT as soon as possible and take the diagnostics for each test as soon as possible so you can be well prepared. As said before, make sure you choose the right classes that are right for you - your GPA can't be bad in order to get into UW Madison. Practice your essay writing and make sure you have at least one extracurricular that you are good at. For instance, my freshmen course schedule was: AP Human Geography, Orchestra Honors (I'm really good at violin), Algebra 2 Honors, English I Honors, Lifetime Wellness (we're required to take this class), Biology Honors, and another course that I forgot. Now, my sophomore schedule is AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Computer Science Principles, Pre-caculus Honors, English II Honors, Chinese 3 Honors, and Orchesta Honors. Next year, I'm taking APUSH, AP Biology, AP Calc AB, AP CSA, AP Lang, Orchestra Advanced (Honors), and Chinese IV Honors. And my dream school is either Vanderbilt or Georgia Tech. This should give you an idea of what course you want to take. Also, make sure to get a leadership role in any club.
Good luck!
If your school doesn't already require this I would make a four-year plan of all the classes (or just core classes) that you want to take. If you want to get into UW Madison, I would suggest planning for at least 5-10 AP classes and try taking all honors. You might want to consider taking dual-credit classes or a course at your local community college over the summer. Also, if you have an idea of what you want to major in, choose electives that align with that major. It is never too late to start preparing for the SAT/ACT either, and I would highly recommend planning to take the PSAT as well.
In terms of extracurriculars, choose ones that interest you, but be aware that clubs like "Prom Committee" won't look as good on common apps as the "Academic Team" or "Science Club." Also, make sure that you become a leader in the club, and try to enter any competitions it has to offer. Finally, don't stress out too much and work with your parents/guardians and guidance counselor on technicalities.
Hopefully, this was somewhat helpful to you, and I wish you luck with your planning!
As another freshman, I also struggled with knowing when, how and why to start preparing this early. Although we are younger I think it doesn’t hurt to start planning out the future in advance. I’m not saying to start emailing the college admissions board but joining this site I believe is a logical step towards preparing for our goals. But just as we are hoping the best for our future schools I think that putting in maximum effort in your school work and challenging yourself as seen fit is the best logical first step.
Im only a sophomore in high school, but my best advice would be take the hardest courses available next year (that are achievable) also the best thing is just keep your gpa up. You will obv still wanna do good on psat/sat but the mistake i made was not trying freshman year and having an undesirable gpa so now i have to wayyy over compensate grade wise for the rest of hs, and also compensate with sat and extracurriculars. As a freshman just challenge yourself, do activities(ones ur interested in) and do well.
Greetings humanbeing,
Which college, in particular, are you talking about? I can help you more if you provide me with the names of the college(s).
Regards,
Eric B.
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Updated my answer. I hope it helps!