HS Class of 2013 Lessons Learned

neverXclarity
Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:17:53 +0000

1.) To agree with other posters, definitely do not base a college’s success on its acceptance rate. A girl (not a very academically talented one) at my school got into a college with an acceptance rate around 30%, but the test scores are significantly lower than at schools with higher acceptance rates.

2.) Don’t focus on ranking unless your career goals and financial status require or allow a top 20 school. A good GPA and internship/leadership experience at a good school is better for your resume than a decent GPA and no time for experience at a top college or university.

3.) Make sure that you won’t be too much in debt after graduation, particularly if you plan on pursuing graduate, law, or medical school, but balance that with happiness. You’ll be at the school for four or five years and you’re definitely going to want to love it there. I thought I would be happy at all of my safety schools, but when the time came to make decisions and my first choice was ruled out because of finances, I realized that all the scholarships and financial aid in the world would not make me be happy at some of those schools. I’ll be taking out private loans, but I will be happy at TCNJ.

4.) If you have an extracurricular interest that you don’t want to major in, look into a minor. I’m minoring in music solely because it’s a lot of fun for me. I think sometimes people think that college is the “real deal” but it’s actually your last chance to have fun before being thrust out into the real world, so do what you love and make it work.

5.) Don’t let your grades slip! A lot of seniors in my school are starting to ignore stupid things like homework and easy classwork because of senioritis. Colleges really do rescind acceptances for things like B’s slipping to D’s or F’s. Even if you can bomb the last quarter and still graduate, don’t.