Most high school students start their college admissions process too late - they focus on boosting their grades in their junior or senior year. Getting admitted to college requires a bit of planning and forethought; at the very least, getting admitted to the college of your choice does.
First, work on your grades. Your grade point average doesn't tell colleges that you're smart. They tell colleges that you're willing to work hard for a long term, abstract goal. Only 40% of college entrants graduate, and the biggest differentiator isn't intelligence, it's the willingness to put your nose to the grindstone and work hard at it. That's what a decent GPA shows.
Don't pad your GPA by taking "dummy courses" either; colleges are aware of that trick. In high school, you need to balance taking challenging (college prep classes) with getting good grades. As to how good your grades have to be, in general, higher is better, but a solid 3.25 or higher is generally sufficient.
While you're balancing your need to keep your GPA up with taking college preparatory courses, don't forget to have a life. Colleges weigh a lot of candidates. They look for candidates who not only grind their way through school, but maintain a part time job, do community service, are active in their churches, or play sports or have other extracurricular activities. These tell a college that you're looking to become a full, well rounded human being, and understand the need to be active in your community. A good set of extracurricular activities and community service can strongly outweigh deficiencies in your grade point average.
The next step are your standardized test scores. Far too many people put an emphasis on "acing" a test, and they treat the SATs and ACTs as competitions. As a result, a lot of students stress out about those tests, to a huge degree, and that impacts their performance. First, colleges treat those tests as a filter. While your GPA shows that you can work, your SATs show what you understand, and how you think. They're an indicator of the education you've already got, which is a good predictor for how well you'll tackle the (hopefully) more challenging subjects in college.
The part of your college application process that you have the greatest control over is, well, your application. Think of this application as being your resume to get into the school. You have to describe, factually, the things you've accomplished, and weave in details of your life. You have to provide references who can attest to your character, your work ethic, and how well you'll socialize.
Most colleges ask candidates to write an essay, describing what they've done, and what events have impacted their lives. This is your chance to sell yourself in your own words. Don't focus on what others might say - when the college admission boards read essays, they read them in stacks, and check for a sense of personality, a sense of individuality in the essays. Don't do the "three point essay of what I learned on my summer vacation/from football/in church". Describe what you do that you're passionate about, and why it makes your blood sing with joy to do it. Touch on how that skill you're passionate about will enable you to enhance the college experience for other students.
If you're going to need financial aid to pay for school, start the process early - your sophomore year of high school is not too early to start researching grants and scholarships and contests you can enter to rack up funds for college. This degree of preparedness can be the tipping point between admission in the school of your choice, or going to the local state university.
Speaking of your state university, don't disparage them. Have a backup plan; in fact, have several of them. It may do you some good to go work in the real world for a year or two before applying to college, gaining real world experience. And there's something to be said for digging ditches or putting roofing up for a year or two to save money for college while living at your parent's home, to make you appreciate the luxury of sitting in a class room, studying calculus and getting a better job down the road.
You can get more in-depth information about finding the best colleges in USA as well as online accredited degrees by checking out the links
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