It is never too early to start preparing for your future. It’s important to be involved in a healthy amount of extracurricular, academic, volunteer, and college appommunity activities. This will show that you are a well-rounded candidate when it comes time to fill out your college applications. If you bear this in mind as early as freshmen year then it will be easy to make a conscious effort to plan out the next four years when it comes to classes and school activities, while other opportunities you may not be able to plan too far in advance. To give some personal examples, I took some honors classes in high school, I was involved as a tour guide at my school, I participated in a local youth group at my church, I went on a summer mission trip to work with Habitat for Humanity, and I worked a weekend job once I was old enough to.

So get involved! It is so important to be consistently involved throughout your high school years to gain work experience, leadership roles, and to challenge yourself. Also, it is a common misconception that you have to wait until college to have an internship, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If you have a relative or family friend with a cool job, ask them if you can intern for them over the summer or even shadow them over a school vacation week. I did this and it was a great conversation starter during college interviews.

I did take Honors courses in high school, but my school was really small so there wasn’t a huge selection actually. I think that if you have the opportunity to take Honors and/or AP classes then you should! This is a great way to challenge yourself academically and get a taste of what college coursework will be like (in most cases). I would definitely discuss this decision with your advisor to make sure they are on board before enrolling though. With AP classes there is an AP test at the end of the class and if you get a high enough score on the test then some colleges will accept this AP high school course for college credits. This means that you can get a head start on your college gen. ed. courses while you’re still in high school! This is a great thing to ask about on college tours and interviews.

I can proudly say that I do not have any regrets about how I tackled the college application process. I started a list of schools of interest during my sophomore year and began visiting them Junior year into Senior Fall. I slowly narrowed down my list to my final choices. I applied to ten schools, all early action, and I was ultimately accepted to all ten! I got waitlisted at one and deferred by two initially, but after the regular decision had passed I was ultimately accepted. That was precisely why I opted for early action too, because I would have a second chance of sorts.

I had no idea what I was looking for in a college, and I was okay with that. I applied to schools that were very different from one another so that by the time it came to make a decision I would have plenty of options. I applied to schools mostly in New England where I am from, and two in the South. There were huge state schools and small private schools, schools close to home and schools over 1,000 miles away, safety schools and reach schools.  I wanted to have options, people because this is a big decision.

I did not visit all of the schools I applied to, but I did go on plenty of tours. In retrospect, most of the schools I did tour I didn’t even apply to because I didn’t like them. I waited until I had all of my decision letters until I made my decision, and I actually changed my mind at the last minute! I had my heart set on a school in Rhode Island, that I had kept in close contact with the admissions counselor there to make sure he knew how much I wanted to be there, but by a twist of fate I ended up in Florida! I took a last minute trip to visit the Florida school after learning about my scholarship package there, and I was smitten with the University so I deposited there.

If you had asked me at the beginning of my senior year where I thought I would end up, I definitely wouldn’t have guessed correctly. So many things will change that year, along with your mind.

I was lucky enough that my school offered a college essay writing workshop, maybe your school does too? We had a brainstorming session there and had a speaker from a respectable University in Boston speak about the do’s and don’ts of college essay writing. My main takeaway was don’t copy something off the internet because they will find out aka don’t plagiarize. Plus, I’m sure you have so much creative writing potential to put to good use here! It’s important to make your essay a story, that relates to your character, and is not cliché.

People always opt to write about their hero, which I totally understand because T. Swift is my hero too, but that doesn’t tell the admissions counselor anything about you. I wrote mine about how I personally evolved throughout high school as it related to my choice in friends and strangely enough my hair color. It was a metaphor, okay? I recommend keeping it to about a page and half or so. Also, choose two people to be your proofreaders, but no more than that because you don’t want to lose your voice because that is key to a well-written college essay.

If’ you’re struggling with a topic keep a note in your phone of different topics that come to mind at random times, then set a day to go through those and you may be able to develop one into your essay. I had a similar list that I would jot down things that inspired me, significant stories in my life and how they impacted me, etc.

Personally, I think you need to be comfortable with all aspects. If you know that you get homesick, but a school 2,000 miles away gives you a great financial aid package then I would proceed with caution. You need to be honest with yourself, because ultimately you know yourself best and this is where you will live the next four years. There will be many people trying to influence your decision, but remember only you will have to live with the decision.

Also consider what your ideal college experience looks like in your head. When you picture college in all of its awesomeness do you see yourself in a sorority? Make sure there’s Greek Life! Partying every weekend? Make sure it’s not a dry campus! In huge lecture halls? Large Student Population! Having a close relationship with your professors? Small Class Sizes! …See where I’m going with this? You should make sure the schools that you are applying to meet your qualifications.

In my own experience I was very conscious of my financial aid package because I didn’t want to be in six figures of debt when I graduated. Therefore, this was a big deciding factor for me. The palm tree laden Florida campus didn’t hurt though!

P.S. Don’t think it will be rainbows and butterflies though! You have to make it work wherever you go, so get ready to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and appreciate your mom!

It’s silly, but you will just get that feeling. For me I get this feeling when I know it’s the right decision whether it was what prom dress to wear, what college to go to, or what sorority to join. All the same feeling!

If you’re thinking I’m totally crazy right now and you’re thinking ‘Sara, I need something more concrete because my pros and cons lists aren’t cutting it!’  Well then, once you’ve narrowed it down to you top choices,  my last piece of advice is to go eat in the dining hall during a big meal (i.e. lunch and dinner) the people you see around you… Do they look like your friends? Do you think you could be friends with them? This may seem superficial, but that’s really not what I’m getting at. Most schools have a certain culture, yes there are different cliques, etc. but the overall student body will have a certain vibe. When I went on my tour of Fairfield University everyone was super preppy, so naturally I felt right at home, while on other campuses I got entirely different impressions. This is a good thing to do on your initial tour too!

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions, I appreciate you ladies. I hope that this helps those of you that are currently in the midst of your college apps or for those of you who will be starting this process soon. Breathe, it will all work out! If you have any other follow up questions feel free to shoot me an e-mail! Good luck!

Sending Sunshine,

Sara