I want to go to a good college

You don't say where you are in life. Senior year, just about to graduate? Seventh grade, with five years ahead of you? An adult learner?

You also don't specify what's "good" to you. Ivy league? Best in your city? Best for your field? Something else?

No matter what, develop good study habits. Good grades and (in the US) good performance on standardized tests gets you into college -- although with Covid, a lot of places are suspending the SAT requirement. To get into a good college, it's about the strength of your application. That's essays, activities, etc. Well-rounded individuals with compelling backgrounds and good grades will get into many good schools.

Good grades are important - but more so to get that additional edge is your activities. Leadership in an activity is also a great advantage. Community service is also looked at highly.

My daughter was a good solid student - she got into a "stretch" school - a school that her grade and SAT scores were a little below the average of those that had been accepted previously. I truly believe she was accepted and received good scholarships because of her leadership and other activities. So do not discount them - they can give you the edge when you are on the cusp or a little below academically.

So if you are not a senior yet - get working on these outside activities as well as your grades. You can also research schools online - there are various college search engines that will summarize things that a particular school looks at for being accepted. It will help you to determine those things most to focus on if you know the type of "good" school you are interested in and what those particular schools look at in terms of acceptance -most of these also show the average SAT/ACT/GPA of accepted students - so you know what you need to strive to.

Oh and one other thing - you say you want to do this on your own - but it is pretty acceptable to get help. Help meaning in advice like this and advice say from a guidance counselor, teachers, even a college's admission office. That would not be cheating - you will need help because most colleges require written references from a couple of teachers and a guidance counselor. So having good relationships so these people know you personally helps! Not cheating just being smart!

In addition to the advice that has already been given:

If you are applying to the best possible schools that will accept someone of your academic level (regardless of what academic level that happens to be), the odds are that not all of them will accept you.

You don't know ahead of time which of these schools will be the ones to accept you, so you should apply to as many of them as possible.

It may be impossible to apply to every single college in existence, but the more you apply to, the better your odds.

Most high school counselors suggest you mostly apply to those that you are best matched with (academically); a few that you are will easily will get into and a handful of those that are a stretch academically. You do not want to apply to all stretch schools because as they are defined - they are a stretch and you may not get into any of them.

The bonus of applying to one that you would easily get into is that you may get a very good academic scholarship - I wouldn't discount those as many have very good honors programs. My daughter's friend got into one of these - is in the honors program with a full tuition paid scholarship. Since she lives at home she only has to pay for books and commuting to school. This can be especially helpful if you are planning further education beyond the bachelor degree - this particular young lady plans on being a brain surgeon so lots more education is in store for her.

Also as a side note - if you are interested in the Ivy league - there are no academic scholarships .... all students getting into these schools are very smart kids ... when you hear someone gets a full scholarship to these schools it is not true - they get fully paid due to financial need - most if not all these schools will provide 100% of your required financial need - of course as they determine your financial need is.

You may not get into any of them. But if you really want to get into a stretch school, given the low odds to begin with, applying to all of them gives you your best chance.

If you only apply to a few stretch schools, you may miss the single one that would have accepted you.

I agree with what you say about applying to easier schools too. Not having to worry about student debt is a big plus.

What I meant is you do not want to apply only to stretch schools -

Also you have to remember the application fee costs - some schools will waive the fee and some will not - some cost $50 or more. If you apply to all the schools that are possible, you could end up paying thousands of dollars and also will have to fill out various applications/questions and essays and even if a school takes the common app many have their own questions or additional essays to answer on top of that. You could be spending a very large amount of time just doing all the applications.

Believe me - my younger daughter just went through it this year. Some of the reasons that she did not apply to some particular schools that she had some level of interest in - was because of the large application and questions. She did get into all the schools she applied to - so she ended up choosing a "best" fit school. In the end it was the combination of all things that she choose it.

It is much better to whittle down the schools to those you really do want to attend and make your essays and answers really personal to the school itself. The admissions people are savvy and can read through a generic answers/essay than ones that are really meant for that particular program or school.

My older daughter even though she got into that stretch school - ended up choosing one of the "best fit" schools. It is just important to choose a school that you like all around. I guess she made a good decision as she is graduating next month and loved her 4 years there.

I agree.



It's definitely easier for people who have greater resources.