You did all the hard work and received an acceptance letter to your top-choice school – congratulations! Now you get to put your feet up and make the most of your last semester of high school, right? Not exactly… While I think it’s important to make lasting memories, an acceptance letter isn’t a free pass to coast through the remainder of your high school career. Here are a few reasons why:
- College is tough and requires students to have excellent studying, reading and note-taking skills. Use the time you have left in high school to fine tune or adopt these habits; doing the bare minimum to get by your last semester will make it harder in college, where it’s even harder to get good grades.
- An acceptance letter is just the beginning of your college career. Do you know what industries interest you as potential career opportunities? Have you decided on a college major? Spend this second semester doing research and exploring potential industries; when you step onto campus come fall, you can start taking classes that meet your major requirements, rather than wasting time or money on classes that you don’t need to graduate in your major.
- Many schools grant academic scholarships based on the combination of a student’s ACT or SAT test score and GPA. By slacking off and letting your grades slip, you could end up being ineligible for scholarship monies. Keep up the good grades; you and your parents (depending on how you’re planning to pay for college) will appreciate the extra money much more than the extra hours spent with friends or in front of the TV!
- Did you complete your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)? By completing the FAFSA, you open the door to numerous avenues for financial and merit-based aid to help pay for college. Read my blog post from December for more reasons to complete the FAFSA.
For more college planning tips, visit http://www.parroscollegeplanning.com.
