ok cool. thank you

College generally has less homework and more projects and tests than high school. They expect that you have learned how to study in high school, so they provide less structure and more freedom for you to decide how you will learn things in classes, and which classes you want to take. Each student typically has a faculty adviser. You will be assigned a generic one initially, and then switch to one in your major area once you pick a major. This adviser is your best person to ask about planning your classes, and can usually answer questions about the way the school program works.

Most colleges are easier to transfer to than to be admitted to as a freshman, so if you want to go somewhere and you don’t get in, do your first year or two somewhere else (community colleges are fine) and then transfer to the school you want to attend. The only school that appears on your diploma is the one you graduate from, so it doesn’t matter where you start.

Federal Financial aid is based on an Expect Family Contribution (EFC). They expect you and your family to come up with some amount based on your income and situation, and they will offer loans and grants to cover the rest (more loans than grants). Scholarships are tough to get and most don’t cover a lot of tuition anyway. To get the best chances of being admitted and get the most aid possible, apply to multiple schools and apply early (in the fall of your senior year, or as soon afterward as possible). To receive federal aid and most school aid, you need to fill out a FAFSA at the URL below.
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Most applications require a few essays about yourself. Gather several applications and figure out how you can write essays can be reused. When writing the essays, keep in mind that they don’t care what you have done in the past, they only care what you are going to do with the rest of your life. People think they need to talk up their achievements. This isn’t all bad, but having a story to tell about what you would like to do with your education is even better.

SATs aren’t about intelligence. They supposedly measure aptitude of some kind, but you can raise your score significantly by taking prep courses. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) puts out good study materials that you can pick up at a local bookstore, and Kaplan has well-regarded books and programs to help you prepare. The most important thing you can do to prepare is to be familiar with taking the test, so that you are comfortable with the structure and format of it, and don’t get confused by the structure of the questions.

A lot of people fail out of college in the first year, mostly because they are overwhelmed by the freedom and get caught up in non-school activities. Socializing is good (you only live once) but keep in mind why you are there. Don’t skip classes, no matter how stupid the lecture seems, because this will eventually bite you in the ***.