Hello readers.  I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday vacation. My vacation was spent with family and friends but also doing some college stuff. Yes, even during vacation I am still doing things for college. I am scrambling to finish everything as fast as I can because I am getting down to the wire on time. Part of the reason that I have not completed everything is because I didn't know nearly enough about timelines and deadlines when I started my college process.  So I decided to dedicate this blog to sharing with you what I didn't know before I started my college process in the hopes that you will be better prepared than I was.

First of all it is never too early to start looking at colleges. Many students think that they have to wait until they know what they would like to major in; but that’s not the case!  Every college has classes you need to take no matter what you are studying (general education classes), like your basic college math, English, and science. So even if you don't know what you want to study you can always start off with tackling your general studies classes while you narrow down your options.

A huge part of your college process is deadlines.  Deadlines are going to follow you no matter where you go in life. While there are deadlines all around you, be sure to pay attention to college deadlines. There are deadlines for taking SAT's or ACT's, when to have your letters or recommendation and transcript in, when to have your application completed and sent in, along with many others.  Create a realistic timeline for yourself and stick to it!  Trust me; it will save you a lot of rushing around as you make sure that all of the pieces have been completed.

Knowing your resources will definitely help you as you navigate your college process.  I did not know about various resources available to me or how to go about finding them. One resource that I now know about and has been very helpful to me is my guidance counselor at my high school. She knows that I am a first generation college student and that I don't know much about the college process so she is always there to answer any questions I have. She also gives me information about SAT's and ACT's, grants, scholarships, and lots of other things.  And if you are involved with the state or in foster care, your caseworker or foster family could also be very helpful to you (I know mine is).

Take advantage of tools that people did not have as available to them until recently: the internet!  In the past, people had to research colleges, the process, the applications, the campus (basically everything!) by reading about it in books.  The information may have been the same, but the process was more time consuming!  The internet can be very helpful by answering questions, helping you determine deadlines, and even allowing you to fill out applications. Nearly all colleges have a website that has a ton of information for people on them. Many colleges also have applications that you can do online, saving you from having to contact the admissions office and asking them to send you one. Some colleges are part of the common application meaning that you may be able to fill out one common application that can be submitted to more than one college.  Not all colleges offer their application on this website so it is important to check to see if the colleges you want to apply to offer their application on there. And finally there are also many websites that can help with information about scholarships, www.fastweb.com , www.nhcf.org and www.nh93.com just to name a few.

These are just a few things to keep in mind while you are doing things for college. I hope they help you.

Off to finish some more applications,

Meryssa