I'm a junior and pretty much know nothing about the application process and just wanna know how it works/what to expectAnswered
I'm a junior in highschool and i don't really know anything about how applying, college essays or even college works. I've applied to some scholarships and started a little bit on the UC personal insight questions, but have no idea how applying, preparing, writing a college essay or even college classes work.
Earn karma by helping others:
2 answers
Hi @hmorton77!
To begin with, some things you'll need for applications are high school GPA, extracurricular activity descriptions, essays, financial documents (for financial aid), letter(s) of recommendation (required by many colleges), and a list of honors/awards you've received in high school.
The next thing you need is a BALANCED list of colleges. Colleges can be categorized into safeties, targets, hard targets, and reaches based on your stats. Try filling out your profile on CollegeVine and check out your chances of acceptance at various colleges. Just to give you an idea, students usually apply to 8-12 colleges. You don't have to stick with this. Your list can be shorter/longer, but make sure you have at least 2 safeties.
If you haven't taken a standardized test yet, take a practice SAT and a practice ACT (can be found online). Figure out which one you are better at and then take the actual test (of course after sufficient preparation). Many colleges are test-optional, but submitting a great score can benefit you.
For applications, you'll be using the Common App/Coalition Application/UC Application/something else depending on what different colleges accept. Fill out the FAFSA this October to determine your eligibility for financial aid. YouTube has a lot of videos about writing college essays.
This is a general overview of the process; don't hesitate to reach out with specific questions.
Hope this helps!
Wow I’m literally in the same boat.
Regarding the SAT and ACT. I don’t recommend taking both since that is just a lot of studying. Choose the one you are best at. In my case - the SAT. for the ACT, I believe u can still get a 36 even if you didn’t get all the questions correct. Take a few practice tests and make sure to time yourself on them, so when you take the real thing; you know how to pace yourself. I am not positive but I’m pretty sure many schools will have every junior take the SAT sometime next semester, that gives you a chance to try it out. I would definitely ask your counselor about it though. Remember you can take it multiple times, so don’t stress too much about.
Good luck, I don’t know if this helped but hopefully it did
- your fellow junior
Ps I know junior year can be hard, you are doing great though!
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!
thanks so much, this definitely helped and clarified a lot!!