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Health & Fitness

Curious About College? Tips for Grades 9-12

By Kim Lifton

Are you thinking about college? Seniors may be waiting to hear from the schools of their dreams, but high school students in grades 9-11 have college on their minds too.

“As stressful as this is, and as overwhelming as it seems, this process is manageable,” explains Ralph Figueroa, Dean of College Guidance at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico. “Break it down, step-by-step and year-by-year. You do not need to face the whole huge path at once.”

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Figueroa, a former member of the Common Application Board of Advisors, was one of Wow’s February Webinar guests in our newest series: Get Ready! Get Set! Get In! Starting Your Journey.

An industry insider, he understands the process from every possible angle; as Associate Dean of Admission at Wesleyan University, Figueroa was the central figure in the New York Times bestseller, The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College.

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His friend, Marie Bigham, Director of College Guidance at Greenhill School in Addison, Texas, joined Figueroa on the webinar. A board member for the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Association of Counselors in Independent Schools, Bigham also worked inside the admissions office as an Associate Director of Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the webinar, Bigham provided a roadmap to help students prepare for college during each high school year:

9th Grade

  • Don’t worry about college. Worry about being the best high school student you can be. The reward of that follows.
  • You want to be able to look at your transcript and say, “This represents the best of me.”

10th grade

  • Assess what’s working and what could use improvement
  • Ask yourself these questions: “How can I enhance the skills I have? How can I develop the skills I need?”
  • Assess yourself. Continue trying to be the best student you can be. Think about what is interesting to you.

11th grade

  • Continue your self-assessment, and ask yourself these questions: “How can I be more flexible? How can I improve?”
  • Make an appropriate test calendar; prepare for the SAT and/or ACT and subject and AP exams.
  • Visit colleges that are not just name brands; try a few schools on for size and fit. Be focused. Put the pieces together, with an eye toward being the most successful college student you can be.

12th grade

  • Narrow down your college list in the early fall; complete it by early October.
  • The list should be realistic based on where you will be admitted and how much you can afford. If your list includes places that you would be happy to attend, where you know you are admissible, you’ll be fine.
  • This is the time to hone organizational skills, time management tools, and good decision-making abilities. These are critical skills in college, and life, so start using them now.
  • Stay on top of deadlines. You have every option in the world until you start missing deadlines.
  • Think of this process as a semester-long class. Work the process into your schedule, and stick to it.
  • Plan to be finished by Thanksgiving, if at all possible, so you can enjoy the holidays without college applications looming over your head and family conversations.

“It is not that hard to get into college,” Bigham said. “When people set limits on what is right or acceptable for them, like when they only apply to the most selective schools, things narrow down fast. Instead, we need to talk about what is important to students.”

For more great tips on the college application process, join Wow for the next webinar in our series, Get Ready! Get Set! Get In! Inside the Admissions Office, Thursday, March 6 at 9 pm EST (8 CST, 7 MST, 6 PST). Our special guest, James Cotter, Michigan State University’s dynamic Director of Admissions, will bring us inside the admissions office for a behind the scenes look into how admissions decisions are made. Register Here.


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