Oh college. I thought I was done with you. I thought I had finally grabbed you by the collar, shoved you into that closet, and shut the door. I thought I was done! But alas my teacher wishes I provide "college insight." Will you come out please?

College season was difficult. It was constant stress of copious amounts. It is the fear of not being good enough. It is wondering if you've done enough, if you'll be enough. I've got a lot to say so get ready to take notes.

    To get into a "good school" you need to be unique. You need to have unique interests and unique reasons why you are interested in those things. You need to have a unique take on certain ordinary things - or at least write that you do. You need to have unique experiences to write your essays on that will show the reader your talents, skills, and positive personality traits. 
     You also need be generic. You need to have good grades, weighted and advanced classes, extracurriculars, volunteering, leadership positions... You need to be a good rounded student and fill your time up with whatever you can find. The more time and the more activities the better. The more connected to your interests the better. But all are good. Colleges like to see that you are committed, outgoing, and will take part in activities on their campus.

     Yoouuuuuuu need to have good letters of recommendation. Be nice to your teachers (or two or three choice ones). Answer questions in class and ask ones too, but only when you genuinely have a question to ask. You most likely need a letter from a humanities teacher and from a math/science teacher. Make sure to ask them during your second semester junior year. Teachers have a lot of letters to write and often turn down those who ask late.

     Note that you will have annoying tasks on naviance. Don't forget to input the colleges you are applying to and the teachers you are asking letters of rec (put in after they have agreed).

     Figure out what colleges you are applying to! This one seems obvious but it's very important. Depending on what grade you are in, you need to get on it. Since I suggest doing a lot of the applications in the summer before senior year, you need to know before that. Good ways to figure this out are choosing a few interests of yours, narrowing that down into a major/field, and finding colleges that have good programs for that field. You don't have to go to that colleges specific website to find out how good their program is. There are plenty of rankings out there for individual subjects, departments, or just college ranks (be sure to compare across multiple sources though). You could create a table with schools you find and your different interests and see which check off all the boxes. Remember. If you don't know what specific interest you have, it is perfectly good to attend a community college for your first two years of college. Almost all academic aspects of those two years will be the same across all institutions.

     And then there are the actual applications. They consist of: your personal information and family information, your activity descriptions, award descriptions, and essays. You should be able to get most of this done without having been a senior. While you will likely add some, get it done early! Yes, how good your writing is for a 100 character limit description matters. And yes get used to using characters as a limit. Also order your activities and awards from impressive to least impressive. In terms of awards, not many have that many substantial awards. Try to compete in some competitions! Awards are very impressive. 

    Testing! Soon, I think that testing may be eliminated, but for now, study for it please. It is very nerve-wracking. If you want to do well, study. 

     Don't be afraid to ask questions. To anyone. Your parents, your teachers, your counselors, even the colleges you might be looking to apply to. Trust me, they will be glad to help you. They would even like you better for it, well maybe not your parents, but adults appreciate when students show initiative and trust them.

     Finally. Don't be worried. It seems like a lot of work I know. You've heard terrible stories of the senior year horrors since forever. But! You can do it! If you start early and continue to work on all these things every week and set goals for yourself, you'll do fine! Don't save anything for the end. Get other people to check your application with you. Be ready for negative comments. Your essays may be very personal and it will not feel good when someone says they don't like it. But in truth, you needed that criticism or else you'd be submitting a not so great essay. You got this!