How do I get into college?

[Italia]

Every year the cost of college tuition increases drastically. I'm puzzled at how I could get a way in to a decent college. I make average grades(A's-B's) but I am pretty sure that is not enough. I come from a pretty poor family so I cannot look back to my family for financial support either. My question is... Is the only way to get into college is by getting top 10% of your class or pretty much getting a 3.2-4.0 GPA? I'm pretty scared at the fact that I might not be able to get into one. Also I am a 10th grader, is it too late?

 

[Jamal]

11th grade is the most important year in high school because colleges will look into that year. So my advice is to just get your grades up and try to pick some Ap clases because colleges will look out the difficulty of clases your taking...if your school even has Ap clases. If colleges are too expensive, go to a community college. I have good grades just like you but I decided im going to go to community for 2 years to get my associate then transfer. Hope this helps pzzz

 

[Part Weston]

Look and see if your state has some sort of guaranteed scholarship if you meet minimum requirements (sounds like you would).

For example, Florida has Bright Futures.

 

[apec]

Your fine, to get into a college you want to be in the top 30 or 40 percent. Try to find a community college in your area, or if your in cali try cal states there pretty easy to get into.

 

[ssj4halo]

make yourself "well-rounded" Join sports, internships, community service, clubs. Get involved. Hopefully you can get a scholorship. I agree 11th grade is the most important year. Start talking to your counseler/friends and get more stuff on ur application.

However, remember, at the end of the day, you need a good SAT score and GPA. My friend could have gotten to a GREAT university but choose to go to mine because they gave him 2 years free tuition. Hopefully if you get your act together, you can do the same.

 

[War Against Betaism]

You should definitely look into scholarships, you won't believe the different types of scholarships they give you, I was looking into some and there were things like an essay contest, if you were a certain race, gender, age, location, or if you participated in a certain community program. That and continue doing good in your classes.

 

[drummer]

Just look at schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need. these are usually the upper echelon schools, so meeting the requirements to get in is tough, BUT if you can then they will give you tons of money to get you there.

 

[mpimpin]

Be well rounded but also have an impact in a big area other then grades. aka don't spread yourself too thin while being well rounded

The best way though is to PRACTICE for the ACT/SAT and make a very good score. Sadly that's when people start paying attention.

Also High scores by themselves can get you scholarships directly from a lot of schools

 

[S.Y.L]

11th is your most important?


****, Im screwed then lo

 

[Idkmyname]

I got into college with my 70 out of 77 rank, a 2.3 GPA, a 22 on my ACT and nothing to write down in extra curricular activities. Now I'm in the 25th best business school in the nation and I hope to be applying to HBS in a year. I like to set my goals pretty high.

Trust me it isn't easy getting into college with what I had, so I'm not saying **** around in high school like I did. I wish I would have paid attention in school when I was younger. I had to teach myself algebra just to compete with my fellow classmates, now I'm in calc II and doing well.

 

[dbot]

Do you play any sports? That will help a ton, especially if you're looking for scholarships. Also, your SAT scores are critical. It's not a hard test, but make sure you prepare by getting an SAT preparation book of some sort.

I took the test twice. The first time I took it I got an 1160, and that was without any preparation at all. After studying for about a month, I took it again and scored a 1350. It's simple, just make sure you're prepared.

 

[Maeisgood]

The most important part of getting into college is having money. Grades help get you into a more desirable college, but you can still go even if you are below average.

My freshman year my first roommate had failed out of his previous college. That made me feel like my NHS and Eagle Scout and all the clubs and sports I was in was all for nothing. I still didn't get into the two I wanted to, but I did get to go.

The important thing is to go and get that degree. 80% of people don't get jobs in what they went to school for, but they do get jobs. Get a master's if you can afford it. It will get you more money and greater mobility and less likely you'll get laid off in crappy economies like now.


Good luck man!

 

[Idkmyname]

Get a master's if you can afford it. It will get you more money and greater mobility and less likely you'll get laid off in crappy economies like now.


Good luck man!

Exactly. Bachelors degrees don't mean as much now a days.

 

[Yookiwooki]

Dont worry about the costs though. although the tuition looks bad now, this should be the worst year. I think beacuse of America's ecenomic situation now we are going to see a drastic drop in applications to more expensive schools. In two years, it will likely be at least a little better. Also, if your family is really not doing well financially, you can get lots of money from need based financial aid.

 

[Darth]

Take AP classes and do well on your SAT.

And make good grades in your classes. Grades are number one determining factor nowadays, not SAT.

 

[rh79]

start of with this site -- http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/

It depends what college you want to get into

Make sure you're in some honors/ap classes and study hard in them.

For a top 25 school like UCLA, duke, Berkeley you really need a high gpa like 3.8, with a good sat 2100+.
For ivies- there out of your reach
For state schools, usually top 25% is good, 3.5 GPA at least and take as many advanced classes as you can handle while maintaining mostly A's
For top state schools like UT austin, NYU, and any University of California you will need top 10% with involvement in what you like, and a good sat score.

Top 10%, with good extracurriculars, and a SAT of 2000+ will get you into a great college, but is not necessary at all.

Take the PSATS and apply to colleges that send you stuff if you're worried about money ( a lot of them offer full rides ), if you want to go to a really good college you can always wait till grad school if you want....


Also schools have this thing called estimated family contribution, so if you're family only makes around 30k-60k you're not going to have to pay much for college since colleges will only expect your family to pay around 1k-3k so basically after 1-3 scholarships you got yourself a full ride.

As the above poster said see about a masters or a graduates degree (mba, M.D, D.O) it will greatly help you

and first of all MAKE SURE YOU VISIT THAT SITE! Believe me it has a wealth of information!

 

[Maeisgood]

Something else to consider is the fact that colleges pride themselves on how "diverse" they are. Being at college, I am extremely sick of words like "diversity" and "tolerance." Professors act like their salary is based on how often they use such words. Its not that I don't believe in that stuff, its just tiring to hear and they say it only because its fashionable. Colleges take this attitude towards their admissions. They want to get kids who are ethnic minorities and also they want students from various places.

For example, I was a slightly-above average student in high school. I live in a very affluent area, and there are many intelligent students around me who were smarter than me. However, all my friends went to better colleges than me and when I went to visit them, I noticed not all the students there were smarter than me. Some were mediocre and below students but I noticed they were from rural or urban areas, not the well-to-do suburbs like me. I was overlooked in the name of diversity, in the form of average students from other areas.

Diversity is a factor to consider, but its not the most important one. If you are a minority or from a less-affluent area, your chances of getting in are slightly improved. Each college handles diversity differently though. One college I've visited is peopled by the great-great-great grandsons of plantation owners and wear pink and green clothes, but most aren't like this.

 

[imaginemypotential]

start off at a community college, and fill fafsa and all your tuttiion will be take care of,

source: that's what I'm doing now

 

[Upside]

Something else to consider is the fact that colleges pride themselves on how "diverse" they are. Being at college, I am extremely sick of words like "diversity" and "tolerance." Professors act like their salary is based on how often they use such words. Its not that I don't believe in that stuff, its just tiring to hear and they say it only because its fashionable. Colleges take this attitude towards their admissions. They want to get kids who are ethnic minorities and also they want students from various places.

THANK YOU. Going through this process it is a pain to go on any school website to see in bold big letters how diverse the school is. I want to go based on academics and overal experience, not because there are a certain ammount of Native Americans that go to that school.

 

[Colin O'Brien]

one of the most important things is the essay too.. write a great essay, have someone at school help you out. For a lot of schools the essay can save you if you have some discrepancies with grades.