Picking Colleges

By: Juliana Clifford, Staff Writer

Dear all Juniors, 

College applications are right around the corner. A tip from me to you would be to pick your colleges now. The sooner you have where you're going to apply a little weight is lifted off your shoulders. I recommend that you look at college websites, Princeton Review, College Board, and Family Connections to see what the admissions requirements are and what the school is like. 

Admissions requirements are tricky. I recommend that you pick at least five schools to apply to, one to two for safety schools, two to three for target schools, and one to two for reach schools. What are safety, target, and reach schools? Well, a safety school is a school that you know that you know could get in to with your GPA and SAT/ ACT scores. A target school is one that you should be able to get in, it is around your GPA and SAT/ ACT and it’s usually a school you want to go to. A reach school is a school that has a GPA and SAT/ ACT that is higher than yours. 

When applying, start working on it early. It’s better to apply in early action because the school knows that you are committed and eager to going to college. If you start working on college essays in fourth quarter you can get help from your teachers with writing the essays. 

When picking a college I have a few tips to finding the perfect one. When you go on the website find the clubs and organizations, see how many they have, see which ones amuse you. For me I look for the sports I play, the sports I like to watch, and random funny clubs like quidditch or dodgeball. It really shows what kind of people are in a school by the clubs it has. 

If you go on a tour at the school I recommend first taking the tour then walking off on your own, ask random people for directions, you get the feel of the people there. If you know people who go there meet up with them and ask them about there classes and teachers, roommates and friends, college students will talk forever as long as you keep asking questions. 

Applications are hard but picking your college is half the battle. The sooner you find out where your going the better. Happy college picking. :)