Before I submitted my college application in my senior year, I did many things in my freshmen, sophomore and junior year to make sure I was a competitive applicant. Getting admitted to college nowadays is a very competitive process because even if you have great grades and high test scores you may not be admitted. You must show to the college admission that you have many other things to offer - whether it may be the hardship you experienced while immigrating here, extracurricular activities, leadership, talent, etc. My friend’s brother was part of University of California San Diego admission board and he said they received over 10,000 applications (they only accept a couple of thousands) and the majority of them had the same grades/SAT scores so they focused on applicants’ personal statement and extracurricular activities.   

The first suggestion I have to anyone is to take honors and AP Classes, especially if your high school is underperforming (like Vallejo High School) and the government is threatening to take over whether you plan to go to a community college, California State University (CSU), University of California (UC), private or other public colleges/universities. If you are in one of these schools, you’re already in a disadvantage because you’re not getting the same education as someone who is attending Lowell High School in San Francisco or other high performing schools. What I was learning in my English class was different from a student in an English class at Lowell High.

Teachers in honor classes tend to give you more work/ homework and have higher expectations. The “A” grade you get from an honor class looks better than the “A” you received in a regular class. Advance placement classes, aka AP classes are those classes that are equivalent to college level courses. These classes are much more intense than honor classes and require you to do summer homework and spend more hours studying because you take the AP Test at the end of the school year. The AP test score scale is from 1-5. If you get a score of 3, 4, or 5 from your AP test, then you can get college credits, which allows you to take one less class in college. Getting an “A” is 10 times better than getting an “A” in honors classes. It also boosts your GPA and can allow you to get over 4.0 (your high school counselors can tell you more about this). If you keep taking honor classes and AP classes and do well in them, you will have a competitive transcript. Most importantly being in these classes prepares you to survive college level classes because you will know what it takes to do well in them and the transition from high school to college won’t be as difficult. The one thing I learned when I first began UC Davis was the fact that college level courses required a lot of self discipline, independence and motivation. College professors don’t take attendance role and most of your grades are based on essays, tests and quizzes.

(To be continued)