“High school shouldn’t just happen to you. You need to proactively make the most of your time there,” says Katherine Cohen, founder and CEO of college admissions consulting firm IvyWise.
She suggests that students should start thinking about college applications as early as in the eighth grade. After spending so many years in school where you learned to walk, a university is where you will learn to fly. So, in order to easily reach your dream college or university, preparation becomes a consideration of prime importance.
We know that today’s world is full of competition in every field. With so much talent around, this competition seems inevitable. Hence, having a good amount of add-ons to your application will increase the probability of getting admitted to a good university!
How to prepare yourself from the beginning you ask? The answer is strategy!
Here’s Excelsior’s list of strategies that every Excelsiorite should consider in order to get into their dream university.
Maintaining Steady Grades
It is an undeniable fact that academics play a vital role in the admission process of any university. So, it becomes important for every student to maintain steady grades during high school. However, grades are only a filter and are not the only concern for getting admission. That’s where extracurricular interests come in!
Participating In Extracurriculars
A lower GPA may not necessarily be your bane! An application can still stand out with good extracurricular involvement. Develop an interest in your favourite co-curricular and extracurricular passions, and your personal profile just may shine through it! For all you know, your favourite hobby may have an overshadowing impact on your application and may come across as quite impressive. So remember that when picking your interests, it may just lead to your favourite college!
Developing Speaking Skills
Universities often look for confident students who are capable of working alongside their fellow peers and have a fire and passion for learning. So you know you have to speak up! And in order to boost your confidence up, nothing works better than public speaking. Speak up in class even if it’s something you’re not totally comfortable with. Make notes about what you want to say before you raise your hand in order to overcome reluctance to speak up!
Developing Time Management Skills
One of the biggest hurdles that anyone might face would be managing time. Especially when it comes to managing multiple strategies and approaches, as is usually the norm in college (and as mentioned above!). The solution? Time management!
Draft a schedule that suits you and try to stick to it, prioritise academics, choose your extracurriculars carefully and don’t procrastinate. This will not only help to improve your grades but also prepare you for the future loads you might face once you enter the university of your choice.
Every Ivy League university like Harvard, Stanford and Yale, look for three aspects in a student’s application- confidence, steady grades and extracurriculars. Have these on your application and that will be your golden ticket to your favourite university! It doesn’t matter how you start preparing, what matters is how you finish it and achieve your ultimate goal! It’s never too early to prepare for your future. So, go for it!
