Hullo. I am a senior in high school. Which means college applications. Which means worrying and stressing and scholarships and financial aid and deciding on a major and.......... GAH!!

I have four universities that I know I'd be fine with in getting into any one of them... but I'm just sooo confused on how undergraduate majors work. ;_; I know I have like... a lot of time left to think about this stuff... but I also know that senior year passes by really quickly!!! Bahhh...

Anyway... I want to know, how/what was your experience in getting ready for college?? Did you write any difficult essays, have trouble deciding where to go, or anything of the like...?? Just anything about the process prior to entering college...!!

And for those not yet in college like me, what's your current situation in getting ready for college?? Have you taken the SAT/ACT yet... don't plan to...?? Too young and haven't really thought about this stuff yet...?? (I wish I was at that point in my life, haha xD)

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This thread will hopefully answer many of my similar worries.

If I were you I would start applying to universities right now it would be good for your advantage. Also, you should have taken the SAT/ACT on your junior year. In addition, SAT I for only state universities SAT I and II for universities required. Just kick back relax enjoy your times with your friends because college could careless about your senior gradings because when you send your application they will start reviewing before your senior year ends. Junior year is the most important.

Decide whether you want a college near your parents home or if you want to move away. If it is to move away, start looking for available dorms with cheap cost. Apply to grants, financial aid very soon. DO NOT GET A STUDENT LOAN FOR YOUR UNDERGRAD YEARS. Decide what major interest you. Ask your friends what colleges they are going to and ask them for advice.

Once you are in college suck up... suck up to your professors. Let them know you because once they start grading they will grade you by how well they know you and also how well you did in the class. Party seldomly, meet new people, decide a three, four, or five year plan, and most of all try not to cram your first year. Don't take all your G.E.s the first semester. Save some for your junior and senior years.

Overall, enjoy your teenage years. College is a whole new world (Isn't that a song?) Look forward to it.

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Do NOT attend a for-profit college under any circumstances. Contact a lawyer and ask if the schools you want to attend have any complaints lodged against them. A ten minute phone call can save you time and money!!!

Okee...
-I already printed out college applications of the ones I'm really want.
-I already took the ACT a couple of times during my junior year... highest was a 28. TT_____TT... I'm taking it again on September eleventh (which is also my birthday ) and I'm trying to get at least a 33 so I can get a free ride.... probably won't happen... :<
-I know that the closest university I'm interested in is a couple hours away and for sure I'm going to live in a dorm for at least freshman year...

Lastly...
-What do you mean by "SAT I for only state universities SAT I and II for universities required".....??
-What's a GE??

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Never taken ACT but heard people prefer it over SAT. "SAT I" is the basic SAT test and "SAT II" is the subject testing which you have to choose two different subjects to take (Mathematics, English, social studies and history)

GE are general education courses that are required for almost any major. Mostly the 101 classes.

Pray that your roommate or roommates aren't slobs like mine. God one of my roommates would fart constantly while he was sleeping hard to study with that noise.

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I'm also a Senior this year. My homeroom/cluster teacher is helping our class out a lot and she already has us looking in to scholarships and Universities we are considering and what our options are. It's hectic when you're taking AP courses and trying to process all the info. for college. We also have SATs to worry about. Hopefully this thread answers my questions too.
If you have already printed your applications, as my teacher suggested, start now.

How does one know what Major to choose? I mean there are many out there that could apply to your interests, it's hard to choose.

It is really hard to tell a person what major to choose from. Just say to yourself what career do I want to pursue. An entrepreneur, architecture, doctor, teacher, etc... Decide what are your interests and relate that to your career. Once you do that find a major that deals with that career.

Like for me, I am pursuing to become a pharmacist, therefore I need to get into pharmacy school. To do that I choose a science major (Biochemistry) because it greatly deals with medicine. Getting a B.S. or B.A. in biochemistry will prepare me well for pharmacy school.

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Compared to other countries, it sounds like Australia has a glorious system for getting into universities. If you have a grade (OP score) that's below the cutoff for a course, they let you in. There's no extra stress beyond having to get good marks at school. If your marks aren't good enough for what you want, spend a semester or two doing some other course to get a high enough grade and you're good to go. When applying you give preferences to the different programs, so even if you don't get into your top preference you'll still get into something that's worthwhile to you. Scholarships aren't a big deal because the government gives an interest free loan for the price of the courses until you graduate.

So yeah - I did pretty much nothing but fill out a single form to get ready for university.

Theres also the option of going to community college if your not sure what you want to major as. As stated before GE classes, which can be done there, then you can transfer and it ends up being cheaper, at least in California. Going to community college also, gives you the opportunity to figure out what you want to major in. If you do community college, your pretty much guaranteed transfer to a state school in California, from my knowledge. Almost forgot to say depending on what you took in high school, you pretty much end up taking them again in college/university, so you might go lol, I already had this class. I personally said to myself, awesome i get an easy A and get to be bored in class, therefore I read a book in class. Anyways hope this helps out a bit.

wow...as for me choosing my major course was the most difficult part.Since I got high mark,I can get any course I want, so I was torn between choosing medical or engineering.My mother wants me to choose medical and my father wants me to choose Biotechnology.I don't even know what Biotechnology is at that time.
Since, biology isn't my strong point, so I choose Electrical Engineering.Pretty much based on my teacher advices. I guess, I'm glad I didn't choose medical.

As for scholarship, I applied for government scholarship when my friends told me about.Its almost the deadline but thank god, I managed to submit it.And, I got the scholarship,so I don't have any financial worry during my university life.I am really thankful for it.Hahahaha.....

Oh...yeah,I came from different country from yours so our system is a bit different.So, I only share about choosing course.

Ouch. That's fork in the road in life. It's more like a flippin' tree of roads with trap doors! D:

I'm done with that process and it's over. I don't want to think about it but good luck with that.

I shall offer a word of advice: Sometimes your instincts are much better at making decisions than your brain. You can consider all the factors, all the pros and cons, consider what you want and what your parents want but in the end just follow you gut. (:

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Click the Pokemon.

for me i found that going to a Jr/community college worked best,cause it WAYYY cheaper than a regular university and it can give you the same as a university's first 2 years and it also helps cause if you did not do good in high school,when you try to transfer to a University they will look at more at you 2 years of community college over your High school grades.But dunno,i had a 4.6 GPA in high school and a 35 on the ACT

as I still have two years to go before going to college,
I don't worry about it.
BUT, i already know what I want to do in college.

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*click*I THINK EDWARD CULLEN IS UGLY.*click*

Oh I can't wait to go back for second year so I approve this thread.

how/what was your experience in getting ready for college??
I was very stressed cause I had never done any of this for myself before. It was my first independent moment.

Did you write any difficult essays, have trouble deciding where to go, or anything of the like...??
My program is actually really hard to get into. Both me and my mom were surprised I was accepted. 4000 people apply, 2000 make it to the meeting where you do an application and an essay, and then we had 110 people in my year. I'm in Film and Television Production at a college.

Uhm, for deciding where to go I gave up on the idea of university. It's just not what you need to break into the film industry. Then I was stuck choosing between two colleges, S and H. I really had hoped to go to college S, but by the time S said I could even hand in 50$ and an application where I MIGHT be chosen, I had already jumped through all the loops for H and was accepted. I love my school and my program so much I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Just anything about the process prior to entering college...!!
Just chill out and enjoy the process. You'll get the hang of it eventually. And go with your heart. If theres something you wanna do like in the arts, and then you think, oh maybe I should go with something more practical, don't bother. Go for what you love and you won't be disappointed. I have friends who have done both, and the ones who did what they really wanted are extremely happy while the others are miserable.

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