The whole application process
for US College admissions is a very overwhelming and a stressful process and
I've done it myself. I've seen hundreds and thousands of students do it the one
thing I've learned is that the earlier you begin the smarter and better the
final outcome will be so if your goal is to get into an IV League or a top 50
US College. This entire series is going to be perfect for you I graduated from
Cornell I've even had the chance to study at Harvard Medical School so I know
exactly what these colleges look for so in this particular series I'm going to
be breaking down class by class what you should be doing throughout your high
school to be best prepared by the time. It's your turn to apply to colleges.
In this article we are officially starting out with
class 9 when you're applying to colleges you'll be using this platform known as
common app this is one website where it houses all of your college applications
up to 20 colleges and they ask you details for the entirety of your high school
which means that it goes all the way back to class 9 by the time students
realize that they have to put activities or test scores from class 9 it's
already too late they are in class 12 and they're kind of regretting all of the
decisions they made a couple years ago so class 9 is when we officially kickart
because that is when I want you to start focusing on your academics profile
building activities extracurricular activities everything because ultimately a
small part of that is going to be shown in your final college application.
Academic
Scores
The first thing I want to talk about are your academic
scores in class your priority and focus needs to be on getting a good grade. I
don't want to hear these excuses that math isn't my favourite subject or I can
do good in all of the other subjects except for biology or something like that
no your goal is as a student whatever coursework is being given to you are able
to perform well in that now an upward trajectory is something that is
acceptable which means that let's say a student gets 80% in class 9 slowly building
up like 85 in class 10. 90 in class 11, 92 or 93 in class 12 that is okay but
if you show a downward trajectory that's going to be a red flag in your profile
if you're maintaining something that is at a great level somewhere in like I
want to say 85 to 95 that's a good range to be in as well now again.
All of these numbers that I'm telling you reflect if
your aim is to get into a top college I'm not saying that someone who has maybe
like a 60 or 70% score cannot get in anywhere of course it is possible to get
into some metor universities but if your aim is something like Harvard
University Cornell University then you have to be the top the best of the best
which means number one focusing on your academics now other than academics.
Activities
in Class 12th
The one thing I do not want you doing is piling up all
of your activities in like Class 12 because then everything is just for the
sake of college applications and it shows that you aren't or were not genuinely
passionate about doing something particular if you start from class 9 onwards
and build each year it shows that you're able to sustain an activity for a long
time it also shows dedication motivation as well as discipline in you as a
student some examples of these activities can include things like joining a
club in your school starting a club. If there isn't one available getting
involved in like MU based activities that you genuinely want to you know
explore your interest in maybe if someone is interested in biology they you
know start doing science exhibition, science fairs get involved in a little bit
of like research and all of this is to say that you're trying to figure out
what you actually like I'm not saying that every single activity that you're
going to do is something you need to carry forward up until grade 12 but this
is a good place to explore and see what fits you the best.
Explore
other ways
Now two things I want to address here is number one if
your school doesn't have or provide the facility for a specific activity that
shouldn't stop you from exploring other ways or resources to get involved there
are so many outlets available online some of them or even most of them are free
for high school students because they just genuinely want you guys to learn so
explore other areas get out of your comfort zone because not everything is
going to be handed to you right at school.
Showcase
your Leadership Skills
The second thing I want to point out is not every
single AC activity needs to Showcase your leadership skills yes you can like be
a founder of a school club but that should just be like one or two activities
throughout your high school in class 9. I don't want you being the founder of
five different clubs and being the CEO and whatnot like it sounds a little
unreasonable also shows that instead of being in a position to learn you're
just more interested in being at the top you need to show that you're able to
grow into a position so honestly just being a member of the club in class 9 is
far more valuable and good enough and let's say you like that position let's
say you're a member of the robotics Club in class 10 you become like a team
leader in class 11, you become a supervisor and then Class 12 you become the
president that trajectory of upward movement is something that colleges value
tremendously coming to academic excellence and understanding where your
interest generally lies.
Performing
best in Academics in your School
Now I already addressed this that you should be aiming
at performing best in your academics in your school whatever those exams
include other than that it's also a good idea to see what kind of subjects you
are interested in maybe you lean a little bit more towards science of like
biology and chemistry and less towards physics and math or you really like
English and history and not really the science subjects these are good ways to see
where your interest lies but along with your interest where your aptitude lies
which means along with what you like to do what are you good at doing a mixture
and combination of both of these things is going to be something that you could
potentially major in college in class 9. There is absolutely no need for you to
start doing a college search or start making College list that is not needed at
this time if you can figure out what you see yourself doing in a career and see
where your interest lies that is more than enough the next point is getting
involved in summer activities in class 9 onwards.
Habit of
doing something Productive in summer
I want you to get in the habit of doing something
productive each summer. The reason I say this is the last two summers which is
your summer of grade 10 and summer of grade 11 you may need to actually write
an essay about these Summers what did you do what activity did you get involved
in what did you learn so although class 9 summer may not be important you can
use it as like a practice summer to maybe get involved in like a part-time
internship even a full-time internship if that's something you have the time to
do something productive like join a boot camp.
Competitive
Tests
I want you guys to be mentally prepared that over the
next few years you're going to be taking a lot of competitive tests in addition
to maybe the SAT or the ACT. You will also be writing AP exams now AP exams are
optional but again if you're aiming at top colleges you need to be me mentally
prepared to write anywhere between I want to say 10 to 20 AP exams so right now
getting in the zone that from class 9 onwards. I have to put in time to
organize myself time academically to perform well in school plus all of these
standardized tests plus all of these.
AP Exams
AP exams is the mindset that you need to mentally
prepare yourself to be in you being mentally prepared is one thing on the other
hand you also need to take the responsibility to make sure that your parents
are on board with this this all of these tests the standardized test AP exams
English proficiency exam cost money. In fact each AP exam cost thousands of
rupees and you need to let your parents know that this is what they are in for.
So let them know that you're seriously considering this when they see that
you're preparing for all of these things for something that you'll probably
need in class 12.
They will be on board I'm very sure but giving them a
heads up now itself is something that be very helpful for you so that when
you're ultimately deciding and applying to colleges in class 11 beginning of
Class 12 it isn't a shock to them and you have them as a support system on your
side all right that's all that I had for this article.
