Freshmantips

Hey, thanks for your question! At my high school, we all had the same robe colors, and people with advanced honors or whatever wore colored ropes, so I didn’t have the same experience. But by the time graduation rolls around, you’ll probably know which school you’re going to, and so will everyone else you’re graduating with. Do as well as you can for the rest of the year, but as far as your friends are concerned, they shouldn’t be too concerned about your academic situation.

The people you go to college with really aren’t going to care what sort of honors and awards you graduated from high school with. (I was in an honors program at my small liberal arts school, so as we were first getting to know each other we did talk about our accomplishments, but no one was there to judge anyone about who had or hadn’t achieved what. Pretty soon, these sorts weren’t even a part of conversations.)

The college you’re applying to gets to decide whether or not they want you to enroll at their institution (but they don’t get to decide whether or not you’re smart or a worthy person). Websites like cappex.com have good profiles of schools that can give you a good idea of whether or not they’re likely to admit you based on your SAT scores, GPA, and types of classes you’ve taken. But schools also take into account what extracurricular activities you were involved in and whether or not you held leadership positions. And personal essays get to give schools an idea of who you are as a person, beyond what’s quantifiable.

So do the best damn job you can on your application for that school that you’re really interested in, and if your SAT scores and other numerical criteria are lower compared to theirs, be sure to apply to some “safety” schools too – schools that do not have admissions requirements that are as vigorous and that are eager to look at you more holistically.

Why? (Ignore my awful winter break handwriting)

Because I’d rather pay $153 than $230. Slugbooks is super easy to use and compares a bunch of different book sites to get you the cheapest textbooks. 

If you’re a college student like me, you’re probably short on funds and hate spending your money on textbooks. Your school bookstore is NOT the way to go — I learned the hard way my freshman year when I overpaid by about $500. Now I use Slugbooks every semester.