by George Huang (C)2010 -- Redistribution in exchange for any type of compensation is not allowed
Many freshmen in high
school make a fatal mistake in the first two years of high school – not
thinking ahead about college application and thus not taking the
necessary steps to prepare for college application. With proper
planning, you can save a lot of time, effort, and grief in the last two
years of high school. You can do better on standardized tests
without studying more!
Get a copy of a blank
Common Application from http://www.commonapp.org .
Most colleges accept the Common App, which covers information that most
schools use to evaluate your application. Print out pages 3
(Academics & Tests) and 4 (Activities) of the Common App and stick
them to the wall. Your goal is to have something to fill out most
of those two pages by the end of your junior year. Almost
anything you do in high school should be evaluated by their
contribution to the completion of those two pages. There should
not be any empty spaces (except certain test scores) if you do your
planning carefully.
Counselors are there to
help. Don't be afraid to approach them. Many freshmen make
the mistake of not talking to counselors until their junior or senior
year. Unfortunately, in most high schools counselors are too busy
trying to prevent students from dropping out. Therefore, it's
better to avoid talking to counselors near the end of the
semesters. Also, many teachers are glad to serve the role of
counselors.
Summertime is a great time to get rid of some classes that you don't
find too useful and whose content you don't need to retain for testing
purposes. Avoid taking any math classes during the summer.
If you can read very fast, then literature-heavy classes may be OK, but
of course these are not probably honors or AP classes. If you
have something worthwhile to do in summer, then perhaps summer classes
are actually not your best options.
Math classes should not
be taken over the summer, ever! You want as much time to digest
and practice as you can. This is especially true since there are
no SAT subject tests to take right after your summer school.
Geometry is a very unique class in high school. It teaches
problem-solving skills not found in most other classes, and those
skills extend way beyond mathematics. Therefore, spend time
learning to do proofs well, and even ask for tougher extra assignments
from the teacher if possible.
Statistics is extremely useful in college for most majors, even those
that may not seem to be math-related at first. If your school
offers this, you should seriously consider taking it.
Calculus is very different from most other math class, and many
students struggle with it because their teachers fail to explain what
calculus really is and what it tries to solve. If you find that
you don't understand why you are doing certain things, ask about
it. Having an understanding of "why" can really help you learn
calculus. Otherwise it becomes a whole bunch of memorization
which is not how math should be taught. Memorization may get you
good test scores in class, but you will not do well on the AP Exam.
Choose a foreign
language with your possible future career goals in mind. While
the foreign language requirement is seen by most high school students
as a nuisance, thoughtful choices may have great short-term and
long-term benefits. When asked what skills employers look for, "a
second language" was on the top of the list.
If you have a native language to build on and it is offered at your
school, naturally you should use it as a foundation. Although
most tests are written, being able to speak a language makes it much
easier to learn. Also your family may be able to offer lots of
help if it's a language they use frequently.
What to take depends largely on your short-term and long-term plans,
your access to the classes and assistance, and how much work you want
to put in. And to help you decide, you need to learn a bit about
these languages:
Most high schools offer languages in the following groups:
If you are thinking of
doing retail, wholesale, or service-related business in the U.S.,
Spanish is almost a no-brainer. In some parts of the U.S.,
Hispanics are becoming the majority population. For instance,
Spanish-speaking nurses are highly sought after in southern U.S.
because there are many Hispanics but not enough Spanish-speaking
doctors. And by most accounts Spanish is rather easy compared to
other Romance languages and German.
French, though considered the language of the upper class, is seen by
many as somewhat illogical and unnecessarily complicated. A group
of scholars work hard to preserve its ancient practices. But if
you want to be in international politics, speaking French is a sign of
sophistication. (Don't believe me? Read your passport – it
has only English and French.) Also, want to have a future in
Africa? Then French should definitely be in your
consideration. It's also good for impressing your dates at French
restaurants. You sure don't want to order 5 bowls of soup.
German is more closely related to English than other foreign languages
taught in high school nowadays. After all, English and German
share the same roots and both are "Germanic languages." German is
very logical and analytical, but that does not make it easy. If
your school does not offer Latin, some believe German should be the
language to study to help you with the SAT verbal test.
Both French and German are major languages in Europe but these people
do not appreciate people who clearly know only a little of their
languages to be insulting to them. Interestingly, in Germany many
people know English well and would gladly talk to you in English.
In France, they may also know English but would still force you to
speak French. It's a cultural thing...
If you are into art, then Italian should be near the top of your
choice. Enough said.
If you want to be involved with international trade, then knowing
Mandarin Chinese could be very helpful. Chances are many of your
suppliers will be Chinese. But it is also one of the most
difficult languages to learn because of the complexity of its written
language – it's not based on a system of alphabets. If you do not
have a Chinese background, I suggest you learn some basic spoken words
just to show friendliness. Most Chinese nowadays know some
English anyway.
If you go to a private prep school or take classes at a local community
college, you may have the opportunity to study Latin or Greek
instead. If Latin is offered, take it even though it likely has
no practical uses in the business world. It does have major uses
in academia, medicine, biology, and even law. Someone who knows
Latin can avoid a lot of memorization associated with anatomy and
biology, for example. Here's a short argument in favor of
studying Latin: http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/why-Latin-Greek.html
. Latin will likely help you dramatically with your SAT verbal
preparations because "about half of all English vocabulary comes from
Latin and another 20 percent from Greek." (taken from the above
website).
A good website to help you decide is http://www.micheloud.com/FXM/la/la/index.htm
I recommend you take as many years of a single language as you
can. Generally you cannot achieve any real proficiency in a
language without at least two or three years of intensive studying in
high school. If you have the opportunity to travel abroad (e.g.,
through a student exchange program or missionary work), you should take
it because you can learn a lot more through immersion. And you
learn a lot about their culture that you cannot learn in these language
classes.
Contrary to public
belief, you do not have to take insane number of AP courses and tests
to get into the top schools. Doing so, and not getting good
grades in some of them, is actually a sign of bad planning. Also
certain AP classes are more worthy of pursuit than others (e.g.,
calculus, sciences, and English). For most people taking two per
year during the last two or three years of high school is probably the
limit.
Which ones to take can be tricky. Ask around those experienced
upperclassmen. If you go to church youth groups or other similar
activities, you have easier access to these experts. In general,
since you do not know many of the subjects, you cannot really know
which ones you would enjoy or not. In the absence of other
influencing factors, the keys may be 1) the quality of the teachers, 2)
the records of students at your school passing the AP exam, and 3) your
current long-term career plans. A good teacher can make a subject
very interesting and easier to learn. A good teacher usually has
many students passing the AP exam also. And since your long-term
career plans are likely not settled for years, the quality of the
teacher is therefore perhaps the most important concern.
There are some AP courses I would personally avoid: 1) fields that you
do not enjoy (but how would you know?!) and 2) history (unless you
really enjoy this subject). The reason for avoiding history is
simple: without a least basic foundation in economics, you cannot
really understand history. But you usually don't get economics
until your senior year. This means that your ability to analyze
the real causes behind certain historical events is greatly
compromised, and you end up with a limited understanding of why things
transpired the way they did.
Another major debate is what to take first, chemistry or biology.
If you take geometry during your freshman year, then go after chemistry
in your sophomore year. Chemistry is also especially useful if
you want to do AP biology. Without a basic understanding of
chemical reactions, you will have a hard time understanding certain
parts of biology (e.g., metabolism, energy conversion, etc.). If
you rely on memorization to get through biology, it's a lot harder and
very frustrating.
Here's one rarely known fact: you don't have to take an AP class to
take the AP exam. This is intended to help home-schooled
students, but it indirectly helps non-native English speakers (i.e.,
take the test of your native language), and those who take classes at
community colleges where credits may not transfer to the top
universities. However, this means that you should buy some books
to help you prepare for the AP exams. There will be some mismatch
between the curriculum and the AP exam.
Conversely, you don't
have to take the AP exam either. If you don't feel confident
about scoring a 3 or above, it's better that you don't take the test
and have a bad score.
A key to doing well on
standardized tests (i.e. SAT Reasoning, SAT Subject Tests, and ACTs) is
timing. Great timing can reduce the amount of studying needed and
even ensure better scores.
First, these tests can
be classified into two groups – those that are very class-dependent and
those that aren't:
Non-class-dependent tests:
Class-dependent tests:
Here's one simple tip:
time your SAT Subject Tests wisely and you can cut your studying time
drastically. Basically, take class-dependent tests only in May or
June, with May being the preferred date if you are already studying for
the same AP exam anyway. AP exams are taken during the week, and
SATs/ACTs are taken on Saturdays. So there's no timing conflict.
There is one major exception. If you are taking classes at a
local community, you may learn the whole year's worth of materials in
one semester (e.g., the first semester of 1st-year college chemistry is
basically a year's worth of chemistry in high school). In that
case, take the SAT II of that class in January.
SAT math Subject Tests should be taken as early as possible once you
have learned all that would be tested. For many, this means the
end of geometry or the start of trigonometry. For some of you,
taking an SAT Subject Test at the end of your freshman year may
actually be the right thing to do. Research on this a bit (these
tests have changed significantly since I took them...).
Some colleges do not accept SAT foreign language test scores of one's
native language. Therefore, look through the college requirements
carefully. "Native language" generally refers to your
first-learned and dominant language. Therefore, if you were not
born and have not spent most of your early childhood in another country
where that language is dominant, then that particular language is
probably not your native language. Even if you speak mostly
another language at home, it may still not be your native language if
you speak English most of the time outside of your home. If in
doubt, contact the college and explain your situation.
You can take as many as three SAT Subject Tests in one day. Try
to schedule it so you do only two (maybe two in May and one in
June). Your scores on the third test may be lower because of
exhaustion.
Take non-class-dependent SAT IIs, SAT Reasoning, or ACT at other times
when you feel you are ready (take a few sample exams to see if you are
really ready...).
Clever scheduling will cost you a bit more money, but it's worth
it. If money is an issue, get a fee waiver from the counselor.
There are many tips and tricks that you can learn online, in books, or
at preparation classes. Read them! Remember your goal here
is to get the best score, not to be the best student. Sometimes
to ace tests, you have to do some things differently (e.g., write long,
semi-intelligent essays in a brief period of time instead of the best
essay possible). It's sad, but you have to beat the system in
order to make it to the best colleges. (On the other hand, the
essays you write for your application should be concise and
intelligent...)
There are major
differences between the two. Some people feel that SAT Reasoning
focuses too much on vocabulary, and its math questions are
tricky. ACT, on the other hand, is more closely aligned with what
you learn in high school. So for many people, it's easier to
prepare for one than the other. You may be able to find out which
one suits you better after trying them out and figuring out your
potential in raising scores for both of them. Personally, I got
the same equivalent scores on the two tests (those tests are different
than today's tests, however). But for the ACT, I studied for just
one month, compared to a whole year for the SAT.
If you do take the ACT, please also take the writing test (unless you
do really poorly on the writing test even after repeated
practices). Some schools require it, and you don't want to be
missing that score when you apply to such schools. The key is to
practice such writing tests ahead of time. It's a great skill to
learn because writing intelligent essays quickly is absolutely critical
in college. You won't see too many multiple-choice tests in
college...
There is a test for
students whose native language is not English: the Test of English as a
Foreign Language (TOEFL). The basic idea of TOEFL is to evaluate
if one can use and understand English in an academic setting. It
is not there to test how many difficult words you know. Colleges
understand that non-native speakers may score poorly on SAT verbal or
ACT but still have enough English ability to do very well in
college. Therefore TOEFL is required for all non-native speakers
and it is in your best interest to take TOEFL if you are a non-native
speaker. By showing that you can follow the coursework without
language problems, you can somewhat offset the poor scoring on the ACT
and (especially) SAT verbal. In most cases, people who have spent
a few years in an English-speaking country should be able to ace TOEFL
without much studying.
Many high school
students have much success when taking classes at community colleges
(CCs), which are full of people who are working adults and those who
didn't quite make it into four-year colleges. So in most cases,
the competition is not very severe.
Most people take classes at CCs for the following reasons:
You have to apply
early, and be ready to be refused into the class because CCs have to
take care of their regular students first. With the budget cuts
in California, many people will have problem getting into
classes. Some classes may be offered online with few or no actual
classes taking place. If you have spare time, this would be a way
to get those credits.
College classes also have a lot more resources that go with them.
Taking science courses at CCs is therefore highly recommended because
you have so much more stuff available in the laboratories. Access
to these labs may make the subjects much more interesting than
otherwise.
In most cases, CCs classes that are UC-transferable count as honors in
GPA calculations.
Can you get your CC professors to submit recommendation letters?
Yes, but they probably cannot do so via the online Common Applications
system. Find them the mailing addresses or fax numbers of the
Admissions office and send the letters in one of those ways (with
mailed letters being the preferred method). Make sure they
mention all the information the admissions officers need to figure out
where to file the recommendation letters (e.g., your name, your HIGH
SCHOOL (not the community college) name, any codes given to you by
Common Apps or the admissions office, etc.). Of course, they
should indicate clearly that they are college professors at a CC, not a
typical high school teacher, and they should indicate the courses they
taught you. To ensure delivery, give your professors
pre-addressed, stamped envelopes along with your request. You are
not supposed to see those letters and therefore you need the teachers
to mail them for you. And since the same recommendation letter
can go to multiple schools, you can give a teacher multiple
envelopes. Also request the CCs to send in the transcripts.
They may request small fees to do this for you.
Colleges want to see
passion and commitment along with achievement. These qualities
are signs of a person who can accomplish great things in life.
You should find something that you are willing to sacrifice a lot of
your resources in order to make it successful. Passion and
commitment on useless things such as video gaming probably won’t do
much good. If you like video games, go into computer programming
or chess. And please don't mention that you are a big couch
potato even if you are proud of it.
If you really have a special talent in fine arts, you can submit your
work (e.g., a CD of your performance or pictures of your art work) and
maybe even get a recommendation letter from your extracurricular
advisor (but this must not replace those from "academic" fields such as
English or science). If your advisors' recommendation letters
cannot be submitted online, ask them to mail them in.
Not all extracurricular activities are the same. Some take up
lots of time and they are simply not the best choices (e.g., marching
band or cheerleading). Some are considered to be
"non-intellectual" (e.g., cheerleading) so they don't contribute to
your college application as much as others. So while you should
do what you enjoy, remember that there are many other factors you need
to consider, and there are options to do what you enjoy. For
instance, you can do music at your church or in a community group
instead of of your school's marching band, which requires you to put in
many after-school hours because of all the games.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a "well-rounded"
person who’s good at everything. You don’t have to play sports or
music. But you need to do something useful outside of
classes. Leadership is good but don’t spread yourself too thin
and don’t start a club just to look good. Also don’t join 10
clubs in the senior year just to look good -- it actually makes you
look superficial.
If you have limited extracurricular activities because of family
financial needs or a physical disability, make sure you explain that on
your application or essay, or explain that to the interviewer.
Family needs are not your fault, and oftentimes it may make you stand
out from among comparable applicants. You can, in your essay or
during the interview, discuss how the special circumstances help shape
you in ways that are not likely to happen if your situation were not so
unique.
Leadership positions
are thought to be very critical for admissions to top
universities. What really matters is what you do in those
positions and the demonstration of your leadership skills, not which
elected positions or how many you got. In fact, having too many
extracurricular activities or leadership positions raises doubts about
your commitment and involvement. You can be the presidents of ten
clubs and not do anything. For the top universities that
interview promising students, the interviewers will try to find out
your actual responsibilities and achievements in those positions.
It's better to focus on a few and really put in your time and effort,
then do many for the purpose of filling up the application form.
Work experience are
great both for your college application and your personal
development. You learn many things from your work experience –
work ethic, responsibilities, interpersonal skills (both to deal with
colleagues and customers), and the value of money. You will have
a different appreciation for things once you realize how much work it
takes to earn enough money to buy that iPod.
Would doing menial tasks actually hurt one's image? The answer
should be NO, and here is why. The aforementioned lessons can be
learned from almost all types of jobs. Students are never seen
less favorably when they have jobs that are considered menial to
adults. Yes, they can be more impressive if they have jobs that
have major responsibilities or require advanced skills, but those jobs
are hard to get, especially for high school students. Students
also learn a lot from observing how adults do their jobs, even though
they don't get to do those tasks themselves. Therefore, what you
learned is probably more crucial than what you actually did.
Many parents do not allow their kids to work for a variety of
legitimate reasons, such as safety and wanting the kids to focus on
schoolwork. Others may have reasons that are more pride-driven –
not wanting others to think that they are parents who cannot provide
for their kids. There's one fact that many parents ignore when
they consider a kid's request to work: kids work to learn, not to
earn. So parents: get over those concerns and instead try to
figure out how to help your kids get the most they can from their work
experience. If you are really concerned about the impact on
schoolwork, then let them focus on summer jobs. There are no real
good reasons for not allowing your kids to work.
If your parents own a company, does it count if you work there?
Well, the short answer is: "not as much." You just don't get the
same level of demands you'd get from an outsider, and also you will be
treated differently by your peers at work. I've heard of doctors
trading their kids so they work at the other person's clinic.
That is an improvement over working for your own parents, but still you
may be treated more generously than you would at a total stranger's
company. Take the challenge – work for a complete stranger and
learn something.
Unpaid internships are also good, particularly if it's with a firm in a
field that you are interested in exploring. Your internship may
also become a springboard for a future job. Or maybe you learn
enough about that field that you decide not to pursue it as your
career. Either way, it's good for your career development.
How about volunteer work? Most volunteer works are fairly
easy-going. Hosting organizations tend to be very lenient about
the volunteers' attitude and performance, and they tend to not entrust
volunteers with important work. So while volunteer works look
good on your college application, paid work experience are probably
more preferable than volunteer work. The key is to explain your
experience and how that adds to your understanding of the world and
makes you a more mature person.
Your employer or supervisor can also write recommendation letters for
you. Sometimes their letters can better illustrate your work
ethic and personal characteristics than those from your teachers.
Awards are always
beneficial to your college application. Enter into contests
(e.g., essay, science, spelling bee, etc.) when you can.
Sometimes you'll win simply because you are one of the few entries that
the sponsor receives. (One year, for a national report contest,
my history teacher's three students won the first, second, and third
places in California. They were the only three entries in the
whole State, and so of course they won!)
Contests that help you with academic achievements (e.g., Academic
Decathlon) are particularly attractive even if you do not win national
or regional recognition.
Finding these contests may be the hard part. Your teachers are
probably better sources than your counselors. You should also
search online. Don't discount contests sponsored by groups that
you do not naturally belong. Ethnic institutions may host
contests that do not limit entry to people from their population.
For instance, I entered into an essay contest sponsored by the Skirball
Cultural Center, which is a Jewish organization.
Start early! This
is a lot of work and too often students rush to get the applications
in, and in the process make avoidable mistakes in essays or their
responses. In fact, this makes a good summer project for the
summer before the senior year. Too many kids get overwhelmed in
the middle of their senior year and make dumb mistakes because they run
out of time to complete all the college applications they want to do.
For some selective schools, they have supplements to the Common App
that you need to complete. In many of these supplements, they try
to evaluate you as a person in greater depth than what the Common App
tries to do. They want to see how you think about certain aspects
of your life experience (e.g., "What do you consider to be the worst
failure thus far in your life?"). They may want to see how
creative you are (e.g., "If you are an admissions officer, what other
questions would you ask that we did not ask in our application form?"
or "If you can use only five words to describe yourself, which words
would you choose and why?"). Some students feel that these
supplements are far more difficult than the Common App, which is mostly
a report of what you have done instead of how you think. So get
these supplemental applications early and start working on them. For
many, the supplemental questions do not change much from year to
year. Therefore you should get copies of those applications
online or from other upperclassmen before the application season
begins. You may want to start collecting those supplements in
your sophomore and junior years so you can start your preparations
early. If you find that you cannot answer certain questions
because of the lack of experience (e.g., you have no work experience),
then you will still have time to do something so you can respond to
those questions. Those thoughtful questions may also pop up in
your interviews.
First and foremost,
your personal statements need to be about YOU. Tell them
something important in your life that made you better. If it’s
about a person that changed you, remember that you are the subject of
interest, not that person, and therefore spend enough time talking
about the impact on YOU, not just what that person did. If it’s
about a setback, emphasize what you learned and how that makes you
better than before. Having a failure in life and learning
something from it may be a better personal statement than a "How Great
I Am" piece. Also, don’t give them a rundown of your life’s
events. This is not intended to be an autobiography. Your
life is too short for there to be a meaningful autobiography!
Your recommendation
letters will come from your counselor and teachers, and so get to know
them and figure out who can best prepare your recommendations.
Ask early and give them ample time to write them – they may have many
requests from many students. In fact, the best time to ask may be
right near the end of your junior year. Remind them of the
deadline two weeks before the actual deadline. Refresh their
memory by telling them the special things you did in their classes.
Most of the top
universities try to interview their applicants. Interviews are
most often done by volunteer alumni. They are busy people and so
you need to accommodate their schedules. When an interviewer
makes contact with you, ask if they need any documentation from
you. Some may ask you to fill out a form to make the interview
easier for them. Thank them via e-mails immediately after the
interviews to reinforce a good impression. If you think there are
issues that were not addressed during the interview, that thank-you
e-mail may be your last chance to do so. Don't ask questions like
"what are my chances" because 1) the interviewer doesn't know, and 2)
if he thinks you really don't qualify, he wouldn't want to tell you
either.
Your interview is a chance for the college to know how you are as a
person. They like to see a person who is socially appealing and
can get along with others well (i.e. not a loner or a weirdo).
Demonstrate your passion, commitment, uniqueness, and social
skills. Research the school a bit and prepare some intelligent
questions to ask. (Sometimes you ask questions not to get
answers, but to show that you did your research and are really serious
about the school.) Show them you’re excited about the school and
really want to go there. Don’t appear to be a snob, but don’t
unduly humble yourself either.
Remember, most interviewers do this volunteer work because they have a
passion for kids and education. They generally do not do this
with the intention of being the "gatekeeper" of the schools.
Therefore, don't be too nervous even if you are talking to a top lawyer
in a big law firm. Interviews should be an enjoyable process for
you. Be yourself and relax.
Sometimes you are not
accepted outright but are placed on a "wait-list" by a college.
If this is from a school that you really, really want to attend, accept
the invitation to be on the wait-list but make plans to attend a school
that has accepted you. After May 1, that school will know how
many students are matriculating, and if the number is below their
minimum goal, then they will review the students on the wait-list and
offer them the chance to attend. You will, at that time, have a
very brief period of time to make up your mind, and so make your
decision carefully. If you are wait-listed by more than one
school, you need to rank them in your mind so you can choose one
quickly if more than one accepts you later on. If the wait-list
letter does not prohibit you from adding stuff to your application,
then check with your teachers to see if they did send in the
recommendation letters you requested, and send in those missing
recommendation letters if some were missing. Shortly before the
admission decision date (May 1), send an e-mail or a letter to the
admissions office to reinforce your desire to attend that school, and
mention any new achievements or awards you received since your
application was submitted. If you spotted some weaknesses in your
application and managed to compensate for them (e.g., signing up for AP
exams or getting some work experiences), then mention them also.
Just remember, you got nothing to lose so go for it!
It is frustrating not knowing where you will go for college until early
summer, but if it's a school that you really, really want to attend,
then this may be your last chance. And all you lose is the
deposit sent to the school that you initially chose. For
something that will impact the rest of your life, that deposit
(generally about $100 or so) is a tiny price to pay.