Hello Again! I'm back with another blog post! This week we decided to share some of our college application tips. It's been almost seven years since I have applied to college, however, when I look back, knowing what I know now, I would've done things a little bit differently. Here's some tips that I have for you all as you make your college choices.
Have an idea of what you want to study.
Everyone likes to tell you that you "have time" and you can figure it out as you go along. Well, I am here to tell you that that's not really true. Yes, you do have time to figure out SPECIFICALLY what you want to do, but you DON'T have time (or money) to just kinda be roaming around taking a bunch of random classes in hopes of them coming together. If you want to study engineering but don't know what specifically, apply to the engineering school. If you think you'll be interested in the sciences, take the general science classes your first year. You don't want to decide what you want to do later on and end up spending more time (and money) than you ended up needing to.
Look at the programs, not just the school.
I think this is probably one of the things I wish I did when looking at schools. Just cause a school has your major, doesn't mean they have what you're looking for. If you know what job you want out of college, look to see if your major will set you up to be successful when talking to employers. Check and make sure the program(s) you're interested in is accredited. That can influence where all you can get a job. Check out the opportunities that students are afforded outside of the classroom. What internships or job opportunities do students get? Do students get a lot of support throughout their time there? Are the organizations that you are interested in joining active at that school?
Look for scholarships.
College is expensive. Even if you apply for financial aid, you shouldn't rely on that to pay for your entire education. There's thousands of scholarships that you can apply for many different demographics of people. It may seem like a lot of work, but you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take so take them and see what happens. Being able to go to school for free is a blessing and doing anything that you can do to ease the financial burden will make your experience all that much better.
College can be such a fun time and a really great opportunity for you to learn and grow as an individual. It's a big decision to make so do your due diligence in determining the best place for you to go. If you have any questions about applying, feel free to reach out!
- The Engineer
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