46. Knowing What to Do When

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Everybody knows that getting into college today takes work. But it’s possible to reduce the stress level if you use this cheat sheet. Here’s a list of what teenagers, and in some cases, their parents, should be doing beginning in the freshman year of high school.

Freshman Year

Enroll in strong college prep courses. These classes can prepare you for the workload that may await you in college. College admissions officers want to see that you’ve taken challenging courses. In fact, colleges routinely put more weight on grades and the strength of your high school’s curriculum than they do on standardized test scores.

Meet with high school ...

Get The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.