How to guarantee your acceptance to many colleges

By a Student, Jenna Evans
Are your grades are not what you think they should be from high school? Do you think that your SAT score is not high enough for acceptance? Here is some advice to guarantee college acceptance. Take 4-5 classes in your local community college. Even if you do not want to attend community college, or plan on sticking around for more than one semester it will help for several reasons. First off, colleges view many applications from students' straight out of high school. They see grades based on a high school academic level. Universities are apprehensive about admitting students without exceptional grades from high school because of the dropout rate. Universities are worried about the reputation of their institution and view weak high school grades as an admittance risk. By taking courses at community college, this allows universities to see that you CAN perform on a college level academically. It also displays the seriousness of both your personal and academic capabilities. For the 4-5 classes, make sure that they are diverse. For example, you would want to include a math class, science, English, social studies class, and an elective (like a language). Keep your GPA over a 3.0 and you will be guaranteed acceptance to many more universities. Even if you are not able to sustain at least a 3.0 GPA, universities will acknowledge that you are a student performing on a college level. Because more students apply to universities for the fall semester, if you apply for the spring your chances of acceptance are much greater. General community college classes almost always transfer to universities so you will not be losing any time (you will be saving money too).

If you are dead set against community college and want nothing to do with these types of organizations I have another suggestion. Personally, I will never forget this completely odd type of advice given to me from a previous high school teacher. I was told that your grades may not reflect the potential that you can be as a student. Just because you obtained a C- in high school gym class does not tell your full potential in an academic environment. There is a limited amount of choice that high school students have when it comes to classes. Everything taken is 100% required to obtain your diploma. If there really is a specific area of academia that you have strong interest in, it most likely is not found in high school. For example, I have never heard of a high school offering an introduction to electrical engineering class. There is no such thing as any human resource or general management classes either. What my teacher suggested to do never even came to mind. She instructed me to read a lot about different subjects that are also college majors. For example, you can read a psychology book and also obtain a psychology degree. She then told me that instead of reading magazines, or short novels, find a text book in the subject that really peaks your interest. After gaining some general insight on the subject (which will be the major you are planning to study) contact the author. I was informed that the authors of text books are most always college professors at a specific university. Contact the professor and explain that you are really interested in this subject and that you are a supporter of their work. Explain how your high school grades do not display how passionate you are about this subject. Tell this person that you would like the opportunity to learn their subject on a college level. Explain your standpoint. If you are a high school student trying to get into a university say so. If you took time off from any type of school after high school, and now you want to go back after a given period of time state this. Another tip that I found out is that the author also has an advanced degree in this specialty and has produced other publications. Look into this author's other publications. The author of the text book either works for a university, or is closely associated with a university. Apply to this university. This is your ticket to getting in. Ask for suggestions from this individual. Perhaps they can write you a letter of recommendation. I was extremely skeptical about this advice for obvious reasons. I found out that this type of approach really does work out though. Professors are not accustomed to receiving emails complimenting them, or asking them for guidance. Someone contacting them like this stands out. You will get a positive response. After all, the nature of a professors' work is to help students succeed.