HS Class of 2013 Lessons Learned

economiss
Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:43:13 +0000

Apply to fewer than 10 schools. I mean it. And if you can, ~5. I applied to 13, but by the time my 3rd semester rolled around I knew I wouldn’t really be happy at half of them.
Applying to college is ****ing expensive. Let’s say you’re applying to 10 schools. Half of then have fees (conservatively) and those fees average around 50 bucks (also conservatively). You’re already looking at $250. Now you have to send your SAT/ACT scores at ~$16 a pop. 250+160= $410. And that’s assuming that you won’t send more scores later. Now factor in the costs of the tests themselves. At $50 per test, with most folks taking it around 3 times, that’s $150. Now you’re at $560. Want to visit any of those colleges? The costs only increase exponentially from there.
Resources: this site is good for venting and camaraderie, but you should probably look elsewhere for real information. Bigfuture.collegeboard.com is excellent as is the Princeton Review site. I would go ahead and splurge on the $20 Princeton Review college book, as well.
Don’t feel pressured. You will soon grow VERY tired of people asking you where you’re going to school. Don’t feel rushed. You have until May 1st.
Be realistic. The biggest lie that is told to young, bright, high school students is that everything will magically “work out” and that they’ll get school paid for. What they don’t tell you (and probably don’t know) is that, in this day and age of competitive college admissions, that only really applies if you’re applying to non-competitive state schools. The statistics are online. Look at their middle fifty percent SAT/ACT, GPA, etc. if you don’t fall within or above that range, don’t set your heart on that school. Which leads me to the next point.
Learn what to expect monetarily. Use the EFCs. I have friends who were always told they they could go to school for free just because they’re bright minority students. This is untrue and now they’re royally ****ed because of it. Look at schools that meet upwards of 80% of need or that would probably give you gobs of merit-based aid.


There’s probably more, but these are the most urgent things that come to mind.