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college admission process – getting in – begins the minute
you start making your first choices in course selection and
in extracurricular activities in middle school and high
school. These initial and ongoing decisions are crucial to
your future well-being. They lay the groundwork for the
curriculum you will follow throughout your high school
career; they are not easily reversed. These are the
decisions that will allow you to present yourself well to
the colleges of your choice.
Students
and parents must make time to ensure an early, active role
in the college admissions process. Each year, starting in
the seventh grade, students and parents should take the time
to sit down with the student’s guidance counselor and talk
meaningfully about the following:
-
selection and level of courses,
projecting through the senior year of high school;
-
extracurricular activities available,
such as drama, music, athletics, academic clubs,
community activities, student government, and other
special interest groups, summer study, work, or
recreation.
Why is this important to getting in? As
sure as taxes and death, there is going to come a time
in your senior year when you, the college-bound student,
will be asked to choose colleges, complete the college
application, write your college essay(s), and have an
interview – either on the college campus, or in your
hometown – although fewer and fewer colleges are
interviewing students.
By the
time you reach that long-awaited dream of being a
senior, you and you alone have created the person you
must present to the colleges of your choice. You must
understand that the person you have created is the only
person you have to present, so keep that in the back of
your mind. You are the composite of certain quality
ingredients, like the classes you’ve taken, the grades
you’ve earned, and the extra effort you’ve made outside
the classroom. Beyond that, you are the embodiment of
your own unique set of talents, values, ideas, goals and
personality – all of which deserve to be recognized! The
evidence of who you truly are appears in the things
you’ve truly accomplished. |
