Choose
classes carefully. Take
classes that will let you explore a career interest or help
you meet the admission requirements for the colleges that
interest
you. When creating your class schedule, talk to your high
school counselor
and use Building
Your Future,* an online guide created by the
Board of Regents, State of Iowa, to help college-bound students
map out
an academic
plan.
Keep
your grades up. Remember that the work you do now is laying
the foundation for your future study habits, so work hard! Focus
on core subjects like reading, writing, and math, but also hone
your typing skills and experiment with online research.
Make
a list of colleges that interest you, if you haven't done
so already, and create a filing system or buy a notebook to keep
track of information about them.
Establish
your college selection criteria, and create
a checklist. A college's size, distance from your
home, academic offerings, opportunities
for social involvement, and job placement rates might
all be factors to consider. Use your filing system
to keep track of contact information,
admission requirements, important dates, and application
deadlines for each school. Also, keep lists of what
you like, what you don't
like, and information you still need from each school.
Begin
visiting campuses. Check the web sites of colleges
that interest you for information on
campus tours and visits. Structured visits and tours can
offer a great overview of a school, while individual visit
programs allow
for more detailed information-sharing. Register for the
type of Campus
Visit that fits you best, and remember
that a visit is not a commitment.
It's an opportunity to experience a campus firsthand.
Sign
up for summer programs that will allow you to informally
visit the colleges that interest you and explore career interests.
Iowa offers a variety of Youth
and Pre-College Programs throughout the year.
Look
for internship and job-shadowing opportunities. Admissions
officers like to see well-rounded applicants who have participated
in high school extracurricular activities, but also consider volunteering
or job shadowing in a career area that interests you.
Take
the PLAN or PSAT exam. Your
high school counselor will probably recommend that you
take either of these tests in 10th grade to help you prepare
for the ACT or
SAT college-entrance exams, which you take in 11th and/or
12th grade. PLAN is
a pre-ACT test and PSAT is
a pre-SAT test.
Keep
track of your achievements so
when you start filling out college applications, you won't have
to try to remember all of your awards and extracurricular activities.
Build
strong time-management skills. They are a necessity in
college.
