How to Improve Your Chances of Admission to College

Getting into a good college is tough, but if you plan early and work hard, you can reach your lofty goals.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• SAT II Study Guides
• SAT Study Guides
• College Catalogs
• College Guides
• SAT Softwares

1. Study hard. This is the foundation of a good high school record and will also endear you to your teachers.

2. Participate in extracurricular activities. Colleges look for well-rounded students who do more than just get good grades.

3. Do community service. This will make your application even more well-rounded.

4. Take difficult classes, especially Advanced Placement (AP) classes. Colleges want to see that you won't shy away from academic challenges.

5. Study for standardized tests long before you take them. The more you're prepared for the actual test, the better you'll do.

6. Cultivate good relationships with your teachers, who will be writing recommendation letters for you.

7. Spend a lot of time thinking about and writing the essays on your college applications, as these are weighed heavily by admissions committees.

8. Be as natural as possible during any admissions interviews you might have to undergo: colleges are looking for human beings, not robots.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't spread yourself too thin: instead of being slightly involved in lots of different extracurricular activities, limit yourself to one or two activities that you can really focus on.
• Contact freshmen at the colleges you're applying to for tips on how to get in.
• Don't be discouraged if you haven't done as well as you'd hoped during your first year or two of high school; most colleges weigh the last two years much more heavily than the first two.
• Although it's important that your teachers like you, it's also important not to be a brownnoser, which turns teachers off. This can be a fine line to walk.

Who Can Help Sponsored

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[andre7514]

on 11/4/2008 More great tips. Thank you for providing this information on ehow, it gives me more confidence for what I need to do!

[stargazer546]

on 5/28/2007 This is a nice article , another good place to find information is http://www.ivyleaguebound.com , they have information on where to find statistics about each school, that will help the student decide if it is the right school.