Community Service Hours

Don't forget to keep working on those community service hours. Check out the Community Service section at the top of this page for specific rules about community service hours and for a list of ideas for where to go.

Cappex on YouTube

View College admissions and search related videos by visiting the Cappex YouTube Channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CappexCom

10th Grade

During your 10th grade year, you should begin exploring the different types of colleges and universities available. You should also start to ask questions about what types of classes you most enjoy taking and see if these classes fit into a college major. Start checking out college and university websites and see what classes are required for different majors. You will be spending a lot of time and money on college classes, so be sure that you will enjoy them. Then, you can connect the area you enjoy studying to a career. Your career choice should come from what you enjoy doing.

By the end of your 10th grade year, you should have a list of 5 to 10 colleges/universities that you have explored and are interested in applying to. If you are not sure what questions to ask about colleges, follow the link provided to a great list of questions to ask.

http://static.usnews.com/documents/college/onlineplanner.pdf

9th Grade

The 9th grade year is one of the most important in the college admission process. Students need to focus on understanding the classes they will take in high school and how those classes look to colleges when they apply. 9th graders should also focus on learning how to study and get themselves organized for high school classes. This is one of the primary things that differ between middle and high school. High school courses require students to keep up with a higher level of work and a higher number of assignments. Whether you organize yourself using color coding for your different classes or a single binder for all work, it is up to you to decide what works best for you.

One last thing, YOUR GPA STARTS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. Colleges will look at your GPA for all of your classes starting with any high school courses (Algebra I, Geometry, Foreign Language) that you took in middle school.

First step

The first step to college is finding out what you like to spend your time doing. Volunteering, getting a job or getting involved with your church or community group are great places to start.