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Take the stress out of your final years in High School

High school can be a wonderful time for most students until they reach their final years.  Then it becomes more business than pleasure once you start to prepare for your journey into continuing education.  Starting with preparing for the SAT's, to choosing a subject to study, where to attend, researching schools and filling out the applications it can be overwhelming for students as well as parents.  If you are a student who is college bound or a parent of a student who is looking forward to their years at college here are a few tips that can help take the stress out of the final year(s) at high school.

Start the school year off right

For those students who are college bound you will want to find a place to begin.  The first place that I suggest is to start by preparing for and taking the SAT and/or ACT tests if you haven't already taken them.  Many college guidance counselors suggest that students take both of them at least 2 times between  January and June in their junior year of high school.  So if you are a junior in high school you have plenty of time to prepare for them.  If you find that you have fallen behind that schedule don't worry, you still have time to prepare for them, however it is a good idea to find help.  Great places to look for help online are Number2.com, Prepme.com, Knewton.com and Kaptest.com.  It is simple to set up free trial accounts with these sites and get help from the country's leading educators.  They all also offer study guides and practice test to help with the preparation in taking the real deal.  You can find more information about the SAT and ACT tests at thecollegesolutionblog.com.

For those students who are past this step, good for you, and now is a good time to start looking evaluating colleges and getting out applications.  This can be a very long process and should be done mostly by the student, with some encouragement or direction from parents. Students should start by looking for colleges that specialize in the field that they wish to study or if they are undecided a school that offers a decent amount of choices to decide on.  Another important point to remember when choosing a school is to find one that the student will enjoy attending.  Parents tend to nudge student in a direction that they may sometimes not want to go so finding a school that the student will enjoy is one of the keys to success.  A great site for students to visit and join is Fastweb.com.  While the site is mainly geared towards finding scholarship money it also offers discussion boards for students to ask questions about schools and get answers from students who attend those schools.  This will help create "ownership" to the decision that is made on which college to attend.  Visit Chaminade for more information on selecting a college.

Help with finding scholarship information

As I mentioned about Fastweb.com, this is a great site for searching for and applying to scholarships.  This as well as financial aid should be a priority for students looking to attend college.  Sign up for Fastweb it is free to join and you can search for and apply to as many scholarship programs that you wish.  There are deadlines that have to be met for applications and most times they require an essay so give yourself plenty of time to complete the whole process.  No need to get overwhelmed about how much writing it looks like it may be, you can most times submit essays or other papers that you have written as long as they are original by you.  Another great thing about Fastweb is that you will be sent matching scholarship programs to your email.  When you sign up you will have to complete a short survey that helps to match you to the thousands of programs that are specifically suited to you or the field you wish to study.  This can save you hours in searching and give you more opportunities to apply for grant money.  Another good place to look for money to attend college is Simpletuition.com.  This site allows you to educate yourself about the different types of student loans, compare rates against several lenders and apply for financial aid right in one spot.

For students these next one or two years will be filled with different types of papers that need to be turned in, so instead of just turning them in for a grade publish copies of them on a blog or your social networking site.  While this may not earn you any extra credit on your grade others who read your papers may be encouraged to comment on your work and in turn encourage you to write more.  This can look very good on a college application, there is always a section that ask about hobbies or interest and this is the place where you will want to put type of information.  Admissions personal will look at this information and follow up on it so why not use it to your advantage?  Who know it may be the one thing that puts you over the top of another potential student or help you get that much needed financial aid.

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One of the more fun projects that any student can do when choosing a college to attend is to visit the school.  I suggest going on a weekend visit and taking in a sporting event if they are offered at the school you are thinking about attending.  Check with admission counselors to see if that is something that they will allow, and most times it is encouraged, then plan a trip with your parents to visit the school, the surrounding area and maybe take in a game.  This will give you a chance to experience what it will be like attending the school and whether you will like it or not, if there is work available close by if that is something you may need, if you will need a car and things of that nature.  I suggest going to a sporting event or some other type of school event so that you can also get an idea of what the social life will be like on campus as well because that can play a major part in your enjoyment of attending the school.  Please and I stress this point students Please do not go off alone or without telling your parents to go visit a college campus alone, while there is security on most major campuses around the country it is never a good idea to visit someplace that you are not familiar with alone.  It is a much better idea to just be the dork for one day and visit with your parents than to run into a bad situation.

My last bit of advice is to take it easy.  Try not to stress about all the things that need to be done, you already have a goal in mind just set a plan to achieve the goal, follow it, never give up and always remember,

Good luck to all the students who are looking to accomplish something impossible.