|
Make up
your end-of-summer mind to maximize the results
of your college search!
The Biggest Decision
You'll Ever Make...
By Gina LaGuardia
August 2001
The CollegeBound Network NewsClick -- Okay, your
summer's winding down. You know what that
means... it's time to maximize your academic mindset
-- especially when it concerns college.
You know how everyone says
it's "the biggest decision you'll ever make?"
Well, it is, but you don't have to stress out
about it... there is a way to make up your
mind without going manic!
"Consider what you
really wish to accomplish," urges Beatrice
J. Elye, author of Jumpstart Ideas to Move
Your Mind (Gifted Psychology Press, 2001).
"Prepare a time chart, study your time for
possible improvement, and make a list of long-term
goals."
Goals are good. If you
know this is the year to kick butt in class to
bulk up your app's, for instance, then condition
your brain accordingly. Stay on top your
assignments, ask for help when necessary, and
tackle tough assignments as if it was a challenge
for which you'll be rewarded. After all, you will
be... once you make the college cut, that is.
Speaking of college, set
your mind mark on the decision-making process
as a learning experience. "Think of college
not as a test, but as an experiment," advises
Adele Sheele, Ph.D. in The Good Student Trap
(Kaplan, 2000). "You're experimenting to
find out what you like to study and what you would
like to do with your major.... don't turn college
into a big test."
Joyce Slayton Mitchell,
a 35-year veteran of college counseling, agrees.
"Turn the college
selection process from an emotionally-loaded,
no control, anxiety-ridden experience to a positive
educational experience that will provide you an
opportunity to learn more about yourself,"
she explains.
In her forthcoming book, Winning
the Heart of the Admissions Dean (10 Speed
Press, September 2001), Mitchell emphasizes the
importance of deciding what type of college will
be a best fit for you, both academically and personally.
"Students like best
what they know best," she explains. After
evaluating your academic strengths, look also
at your (character GPA). No matter how you spent
your summer, she says -- mowing grass, babysitting,
or attending Harvard summer school -- "it's
not so much what you do, but what you learn
that can distinguish you amongst your peers."
|
|
