please help I need to know what I'm doing in the future?

Question

I'm currently in 10th grade and I need to start planning ahead. My GPA is higher than 3.75 currently but I know GPA isn't that important. I'm not really active at school, maybe I go to a club once every week. I don't know what I'm going to do. I have served my community by doing community service. I also heard they look for leadership skills, so where can I get that appeal from? What else do I need to go to a good college? I'm looking to get into a good school. What should I do in order to get a full scholarship?

Answer 1

First, kudos for thinking ahead! You're on the right track, and already ahead of the game just by thinking about it this early. I started the full ride quest when I was a sophomore as well. In the middle of my senior year, I was offered two different full scholarships from state universities. It's different for everyone, of course, but there's some guidelines you can follow that will greatly increase your chances of getting the big one.

1) GPA IS important. Your ACT ranks slightly higher in importance usually, but class rank and GPA are right up there too. If you show you can excel above and beyond the norm in high school, it stands to reason you'll excel in college as well, and someone's more likely to invest in you. Higher GPA can only mean a higher class rank. Speaking of classes, take a variety of classes, but stick with more rigorous ones if you can. Go for AP if you feel you can handle it. A 4.0 is a 4.0, but it's much more impressive if you've taken four years of math, three years of science, two foreign languages, three or four years of English and some humanities than if you piled on the fluff classes. Just something to keep in mind.

2)Study like heck for the ACT (SAT for people on the coast). I'm not that smart, but by studying harder for it than anything in my life, I managed to pull out a 32 on my third try. I talked to a few admissions people in my state and low to mid thirties are generally considered the benchmark for full ride scholarship contestants. It's not as unreachable as you might think. There's a lot of good study materials out there, and if you set aside an few hours each week starting now, by your Junior year you'll be way above 95 percent of your peers. Additionally, some states offer substantial automatic scholarships to students with high ACTs. Your ACT score is the first thing most colleges look at, so invest some time and effort into it! It will pay off.

3) Try Stu. Co. for leadership. It is important. You don't need to be President, but maybe Secretary or Treasurer. Alternatively, run for class office. More often that not these positions don't require a lot of time and they scream 'leadership' to those scholarship panels.

4) How much community service? You definitely want a good sized amount on that transcript. Almost anything counts, from volunteering at your local nursing home to tutoring younger kids in math to serving as a camp counselor in the summer. I would recommend going the camp route. You can rack up way more hours in a much shorter period of time and leaves your school year more free. Try becoming a TA for one of your teachers. That counts too.

5) Clubs: keep going. Even if it's just once a week, it's something to put on that transcript. Everything adds up. You want time for schoolwork and maybe a social life in there somewhere, pick clubs that sound good and don't take up time. A club is a club. The scholarship people don't care if you poured your heart and soul into something; they just want your transcript to fit their little rubric.

6) Practice your communication/writing skills. Work hard on those essays and in speech class. It's almost certain that you'll have to write one or more essays and go through an interview. There will be many other kids competing for that money just as talented and hardworking as you, and your essay and/or interview is what will set you apart. Make your skills there shine. You want to be able to knock their socks off, no matter what the topic.

7) This one is sort of optional, but I recommend reading a lot. This will help you in several ways. You'll expand your vocabulary: a good vocabulary used in moderation always makes you sound more intelligent, thoughtful and articulate than the next guy. You'll be better at the Reading and English sections of the ACT. Also, if you read a variety of things like newspapers, nonfiction, poetry and literature, you'll be a more rounded, informed individual, which will only help you get those good grades, write that killer essay, and impress those judges. Plus it's fun. :)

8) Don't sweat it! If you stress out and let your entire life revolve around your future, you can miss out on the present. Make time for your family and friends. This becomes a whole lot easier if you keep a planner and jot down all your meetings, appointments, homework assignments and deadlines. Living the life of a future full-ride winner can be hectic, but staying organized will cut down on the craziness more than you could imagine.

That's what I did, and it worked. Good luck! I wish you the best.

Answer 2

You seem to have been misinformed. Your GPA is extremely important, as is the rigor of the curriculum you take and your SAT scores. Things like extracurricular activities, leadership, and community service count as a tie-breaker among students with really good GPAs, rigorous curricula, and SAT scores. It is important to be involved outside the classroom, but under no circumstances does it substitute for a less-than-stellar academic performance. In order to get a full scholarship, unless you are a nationally-recognized athlete, you need to be the best of the best - outstanding everything, plus really good interview skills. I've been on a lot of committees over the years to pick the students who get full scholarships at my university, which is a regionally-ranked private university - good, but not stellar. All of the candidates have really high index scores (which combine GPA and SAT) and a list of activities. Then we interview them, and those few (usually 10-15) who convince us that they will be the greatest assets to the university get the scholarships. I should add that this is about 1% of the students who are admitted, so you have to be really good.

Answer 3

First calm down, you are a sophmore and still have 2 and a half years to go. Keep up your grades, work on strong test grades in the PSAT, ACT and SAT tests. You do not need to know what interests you yet. Some people do not decide until they get to college. Explore and find things that challenge and excite you. Join new things and if they dont work out, so be it. Leadership can be shown in school, church or at work. Your community service does show leadership but taking responsibility for a project would show more.

Answer 4

I'm dealing with that right now too. I'm in tenth grade as well. I am in the IB program at my school, International Baccalaurate. Very appealing to colleges. But if your in regular classes its good to be in the most honors classes available to you. Colleges love to see dedication to certain things. Being in many different clubs doesn't really appeal to them. It shows that you are dedicated to a certain one. If you are in a club be an active member in that club to show them your diversity and your dedication in that club. Community Service is a must have in IB which is a pain along with all the extra assessments. Community service is good also be dedicated to a certain service like your clubs. Grade point averages are important, everything is and you can't just push anything aside because you think its not important, you'll be sorry about it later.