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If you're looking to give your students advice
about planning for college and a career, check out the top 10 tips from
current and former student writers for ACT:
- Work hard the entire four years of high school
so you will be more appealing to colleges and have a better chance at
earning scholarships.
- Pursue college regardless of what your peers or even your
parents say. Don't let anyone talk you out of achieving your goals.
- Treat your college entrance exam like a regular test, without all
the pressure of thinking it will determine your college future. Colleges
also consider your GPA and other factors.
- Check out early outreach and summer programs at nearby colleges
to expose yourself to college life and career areas of interest. This is
especially important if your parents didn't go to college.
- When you make a college visit, set up a meeting with a student
or graduate. You can ask questions you are too scared to ask in a group.
- Keep your options open and apply to more than one or two colleges,
both public and private schools.
- When you choose your college major or career, begin by asking
what really interests you. Many teens overlook this.
- Talk to people working in careers that reflect your interests
and find out from them what the "real world" is like. What do
they like and dislike about their jobs?
- Make sure you like the people you'll be going to school
with--including students, professors, administrators--because they're
the ones who are going to be influencing and shaping you for the next
four years.
- Once in college, stay connected to the key
elements of your identity--family, friends, interests--yet open
yourself to new ideas, activities and social situations.
ACT features high school and college
student writers on its website to help other students plan for the future.
Topics the students write about include staying motivated, searching for
college, taking admissions tests, planning a career direction and being the
first in the family to attend college. To read more from the student writers,
visit www.actblog.org.
Make sure you check back at the beginning of the school year this fall to
meet our new student writers.
Preparing for College for a
Family First
If your students are the first in their
families to go to college, they don't have to do it alone. ACT has
information that can help them and their parents figure out how best to
prepare for college and a career.
Here are some things they can do to prepare
for college, and the sooner the better.
- Develop your reading, writing and thinking
skills.
- Limit your TV time.
- Listen to music with positive messages.
- Join clubs in debate, science or writing.
- Read, read, read.
- Identify people who can help you in and out of
school.
- Ask questions.
- Visit colleges.
- Sign up for college outreach programs.
- Talk to college students.
- Join groups at church, at school and in your
community that focus on positive values and support for each member.
You can download brochures for
first-generation college students and parents at www.act.org/path/secondary/resources.html.
For additional college and career planning information, visit www.actstudent.org;
for resources in Spanish, visit www.act.org/path/spanish.
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