SPECIAL SEC TION
BACK TO SCHOOL
BY LYNN F. JACOBS
AND JEREMY S. HYMAN
THREE YEARS AGO, we were clueless. Our
son, Jonah, was starting ;;th grade and, like
most parents, we were beginning to think
about college. We quickly learned that we
knew almost nothing about how college
admissions were done. So we went to many
college fairs, visited over a dozen campuses,
talked to college reps and admissions directors and scoured the web, all in an attempt
to figure out just how the system works—and
what one can do to improve one’s chances
of getting into the colleges of one’s choice.
When we were finished, we decided to
write a book, sharing what we had learned
in our college quest. From that book, here
are our best tips for ;;th-grade and ;;th-grade students who are getting ready to
apply to colleges. (By the way, today Jonah
is finishing his first year at Princeton, having been accepted at Stanford, Yale, Penn,
Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins
and the University of Arkansas.)
Things to do in 11th grade
Pick courses carefully. Colleges are
interested in how challenging a course load
you took in your junior year. Take Advanced
Placement (AP), honors and other advanced
classes. At the Harvard information session
we visited, the representative was asked
whether it was better to take easy courses
and get A’s or AP courses and get B’s. His
answer: both—hard courses and A’s.
Get the info. It’s not too early to begin
searching for colleges that you might want
to apply to. Use all sources: your high school
counselor, graduates of your high school
already at college, even older siblings. And
don’t forget online sources, including each
college’s own website and sites like Unigo,
BigFuture, Niche and College Results Online.
Plan to take the standardized tests. ACT,
SAT, SAT;—how you do on these will get
you to the table at the school of
your choice. The best time to take
them is in the spring of your
junior year; that way, you’ll
have another chance to take
them again in the fall if you
achieve less than stellar
results. And be sure to prepare
throughout the year. Make it a habit
to do the SAT or ACT Question of the
Day (
collegereadiness.collegeboard.org
or
act.org, respectively); then, when
you’ve done enough of those, you can
graduate to full-length sample tests,
taken under test conditions.
Befriend your teachers and
counselor. You’ll likely need let-
ters of recommendation from
two teachers and your coun-
selor, so now is the time to start
building relations with teach-
ers who think highly of you
and your abilities. If possible,
try to take extra classes with
teachers who might be good
recommenders. Also start
writing up a list of your
accomplishments to provide
to your letter writers when it
comes time to apply.
Make the summer count.
Colleges are especially inter-
ested in what you did during the
summer break after your junior
year. They think it reflects not only
motivation and seriousness, but also
Preparing for college,
in high school
THECOSTCOCONNECTION
Costco members will ;nd a variety of
items to help their student prepare for
college, including test manuals, quiz
books and more, at Costco.
