How do you get into a good college?

Keep your grades up

Keep those grades up, and prepare for the ACTs/SATs. Also, admissions officers love volunteer work, so get as many hours in as you can. Also, be active in your high school. Join highly-respected clubs and groups, and get leadership positions in them.

A good attitude helps

Good grades and a good attitude help. You need to have good spelling and grammar and high achievements. Volunteer work helps too. Having money in a bank account shows that you know the value of a dollar, but it counts against you more heavily when they calculate your financial "need."

Volunteer

You should do volunteer work. Ask animal shelters and even your teachers if they need help.

Grades, grades, grades

If you do not keep your grades up you will never go to a great college, although most kids that do have good grades do not get into college because they do not do any extra activities. So the admissions officers think that the person only makes good grades because he has to study everyday, 24/7.

Well-rounded

The most important thing is to be well rounded. Colleges look at grades (GPA), your class rank, the classes you take, the extra-curricular you participate in (both at school and outside of school), and your SAT/ACT scores. When you apply, it is also important to have well-written essays and good recomendation letters. Colleges want to see that YOU are interested in their school and willing to put in the effort. So, keep in touch with the schools you are interested in, do your best in school, and have a good variety of extra-curricular.

Community Service Overrated

I think the community service aspect is a completely warped view of what will satisfy the "life experience" element of the admissions process. It's one of many ways that you can enrich yourself with difference experiences, though far from the best. If admissions committees really enjoyed seeing you suffering through tedious, worthless work, they would just set up a boot camp for prospective students. Instead, focus on joining organizations (school clubs or otherwise) where you can demonstrate something in the way of leadership or constructive life experience. Cleaning animal cages and sucking exhaust fumes on the side of the highway while you're picking up fast food wrappers will probably not prepare you for the academic hardships you will face at the country's top universities. If you'd prefer to make an unrewarding career out of menial work, you should throw away your college applications, grow a mustache and get some applications for your local police department.

Disagree with well-rounded

The top schools in the nation -- I'm thinking the Ivies here -- aren't interested just in well-rounded individuals...they are looking for EXCEPTIONAL students. It is far better to be, say, the president of a club than a member of many disparate ones. It is better to be an all-state softball player than an unexceptional player in three sports. It is better to have had one essay published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine than a hundred articles printed in local newspapers. It is better to have made $100,000 for yourself with some sort of clever innovation than volunteering a few hours a week at the local hospital. Ivy league schools want tomorrow's leaders and world-changers, not well-rounded get-alongs. Make a mark for yourself in something or somehow and you will stand out from the others in the admission process.

Interview

The Ivy league schools plus a few others require personal interviews. Be ready for questions like "What are you reading now?" and questions about current events. You can be a genius but if you know nothing about what's going on in Darfur or you're reading chick-lit you're going to have a problem. You just won't have the knowledge to keep up at a great school.

Helping Others

try helping others can also get you into a good college.

First answer by Chloeanswers. Last edit by ID1173064588. Question popularity: 181 [recommend question]