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I don't know what to do!
I'm a sophomore in high school...and I'm really..scared. I don't know what to do with my life!..I don't even know the college process..how do I apply? How do I apply for financial assistance? What's a major/minor? I don't know which classes to pick when I get to college..I don't know what I want to be when I grow up..Can someone help me figure all of this college stuff out? Thanks so much.
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You dont have to worry about the college application process itself until your senior year. Financial assistance is filed for in the middle of your senior year. Its ok if you dont know what you want to be yet, but you have to start thinking. Dont stress out about it, when the time comes you'll have plenty of help along the way.
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just take 1 step at a time. im in the same grade as you and i found it good to work with school counselers.. they really know alot about this kinda thing.. your main goal this year is to figure out really what you want do it and look into colleges. you dont have to and shouldnt take your sats till next year or even start applying till them. for now just look into schools you want and on their websites they will have all the info for you. and talk to your conseler about waht you want to be and what kind of help you need and im sure they can help you. also see what your parents have to say and any relatives that are a few years older than you and are very familiar with what to do
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Relax! Take a breather, you are still safe right now. The best thing you can do right now is to study and work hard in school and take it really seriously. One part colleges look at is your 3 year average of 9th, 10th, and 11th grade combined. A friend of mine had 84 and 87 his first two years [we are both juniors now] and he started to take things seriously and has right now a 92. He is having regrets for not taking his first two years seriously, because they do count. If you mess up one year, its not so bad, having at least one really strong year will help out a lot, and two will be significant. So yeah don't think that you should be taking courses or tutoring for like SATs or PSAT [which is like a practice SAT], because you havn't learned most of the stuff for like math, or verbal.
Don't worry, a majority, if not all schools tell you when to apply and what forms to fill and all of that. The process doesn't really start until junior year. The whole application process [which I think starts in spring of 11th] I'm not 100% sure about. Relax because a huge majority of college students don't know what they want to study or take even once they are in. Most colleges expect you to make a decision by sophmore year of college. Hope that helped. As for finacial aid, ask guidance couselors about that, because its all usually different. Good luck and stay strong...relax and have fun - just make sure you do your work and you'll be fine =)
P.S. - colleges really like to see commitment, such as volunteer work at a hospital or other places and things you do outside of school
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Take it one day at a time. You really can't plan your future, although you should plan your future. Confused? Let me explain a bit.
Why you really can't plan your future:
College is a time of rapid personal growth. Your interests will change and expand. You will be in a new environment, with new people and ideas to explore. Your ideas of who you are, who others are, what it means to be a human being, and what you want to do with your life should be challenged and expanded- even shifted a little if not a lot. The result of college should be that you are living, as Socrates said, an examined life in which you live your values with integrity. My ideas of what I wanted to do with my life, who I was, and what it meant to be human has changed many times both during and after college.
I'll also let you into another secret- people nowadays change careers many, many times. You simply don't know what life will throw at you. You need to build a foundation of skills, values, ideas that will let you weather the challenges of life. Make sure you are a good writer, a good analytical thinker, a caring human heart. Understand a bit about math and statistics, and how the economy and politics work. Know enough about religion, philosophy, sociology, and psychology to be tolerant of the world's diversity and to be a healing part of the world instead of a hurtful judge of others. It helps if you are competent with a computer, can go into a library, and understand the process/philosophy of scientific research. Above all, know when to question your own ideas, how to be a careful thinker that doesn't rush to conclusions or make assumptions. If you have all the above, plus a few advanced career-specific skills, you'll be fine.
A major is a collection of courses in a particular area, such as psychology or math, in which you gain some level of expertise. In addition to the courses required for your major, you will have to take general education courses to give you a broad background in the humanities and sciences. A majority of college students change their intended majors, even several times. College shouldn't be about specializing too much- you should explore all that you can. In fact, many colleges don't expect you to declare your major until the end of your sophomore year. You will also find that, for some fields, you'll need graduate school to do something interesting with that major. Since college is the last easy chance you'll have to take interesting courses in various fields- once your life gets busy with career and family, fitting in a class will be tougher, although you should be a lifelong learner- I suggest taking as many classes outside of your major as you can.
Thus, I believe your choice of college should not hinge too heavily on what you think now that you want to do career-wise. In fact, you can be undecided and unsure. Instead, I'd ask: who are you now? How would you like to grow as a person in college? What interests do you have? Then pick the college that will best support your growth. Would a small, intimate campus help you come out of your shy shell? Or are you a go-getter mega-organizer who would love the hustle and bustle of a major state university?
Why you do need to plan for the future:
You need to do things now that give you the resources to do things later as life throws curveballs at you. Take the most challenging courses in high shool now that will help you make the most of college. Develop some interests in extracurricular activities- but make those solid commitments, not fluff for your resume. It's better to spend a lot of time with one activity than to have 10 fluffs. Research financial aid and be prepared to apply for scholarships. Have as many friendships as you can with diverse people so that you get to know the world better. Talk to adults about how they got into their careers- I bet you'll find that many people get into their current jobs by a circuitious path. I wish that I'd known that- it would have helped me feel less anxious about my future when I was in college. Try to get rid of the notion that your life will necessarily be a linear high school-college-job-get married-have kids-retire path. A lot will happen along the way, and there's nothing wrong with it if you wind up going in different directions than you originally planned. Get in the habit of saving some money every month, even if it's only a dollar.
And... if you have a guidance counselor at your school, talk to him or her. You could print out your question and take it to him or her.
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I could tell you every detail, but that would be long and complicated. So I will tell you the simple answer: GO TO YOUR GUIDANCE COUNSELOR. It is his/her job to tell you everything you need to know about college! Plus, I'm not even sure about all the details, and a guidance counselor definitely is. But I can tell you this...it's nothing to worry about. I am a senior, I graduate in a few months and I don't know what I'm going to do either! Some people are ready, others think they're ready, and others know that they're not. You and I are in the third group. But it's okay because it just means we're going to put a little more thought into it than people who just rush into these things, and it'll turn out better in the end. Nobody says you have to go to college right away. I am sick of school and want to get out, and I don't want to go directly from one school into another. That's why I am taking a year off to work (though I will be taking a college course as well, just to get credit and experience). A woman I admire very much did not want to go to college. She started working and then realized that she didn't want to be doing that horrible job for the rest of her life. She went on to become a teacher and a very personal mentor of mine, as you can see since I am so inspired by her story. Another woman I look up to, my aunt, said that she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to college until she worked scrubbing toilets for a while. Logically, anyone would say they'd rather be a lawyer than clean toilets but sometimes you need to experience it to believe it. I know you didn't ask whether or not you wanted to go to college, but I'm just telling you this so you know you DON'T have to decide now.
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hey, just make sure you do good in school. and right now try to decide where you want to go to college. do you want to stay at your college or after classes do you want to go home? do you want to be near home or far away? ask yourself those questions. hope i have helped. please rate.
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If you have councelors in your school, they would be a very helpful place to turn.
They help people with things like this everyday. Also, find out what you are good at. Go through to find different jobs that might interest you and see what kinds of courses you would need to take. Find a good college that you think you are smart enough to get into and find out about that school. What kind of grades you need, what score on SAT you need and such things. Good luck, you will be fine.
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Well, i'm a senior in high school, and i've applied to all the colleges now, and i'm waiting for their responses...and i'm STILL scared.
It's cool to be scared, just take a breather, and remind yourself before anything else, that no matter what; you'll live after high school ends.
First off, just focus on working your butt off right now as a sophomore, and then when you become a junior, make sure you do good in your classes as well.
Then, when you want to apply to colleges (i decided to apply to University of California system), you simply start researching the schools you may want to go to.
Take your time to think about what you want to do with your life, regardless of money, and define it a little. Hopefully you have school college counselors. They should have like books that talk about all the professions, and then colleges that major in those professions.
A major is like...the desired topic of study in high school. I want to major in aerospace engineering, so my college education will focus on the classes that apply to aerospace engineering. A minor is like...a backup major (in my opinion at least).
I don't know which classes to pick IN college either, but the college itself will help guide you through which classes you'll need for the profession you choose. As for picking classes in high school, make sure you pick the "college prepatory" classes over anything else (as in, colleges will recognize that the class teaches you something)
If you want to talk about the process more, i would love to help. Just ask me anything or talk to me =) It's complicated, but after a while you start to understand it.
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