New to College/University?

Are you planning to go to a college/university or you just joined one and you fell lost without knowing what to do?

You are in the right place, here are some tips you may consider reading to better understand how the system works:

# Entrance test

Try to do well on your entrance test so that you don't have to take any non-credit prep class, but if you failed it is not the end of the world, just take the test again in 90 days or register for the prep class required to fulfill the requirement. SAT, ACT, CPT, they are all accepted.

# Financial Aid/Scholarships

Scholarships should be applied for since high school, as you join a college/university make sure you go to your local school office and apply for financial aid before the school deadline, and moreover look up for scholarships both at your school and on scholarship web sites such as www.fastweb.com

Remember if you can join a college/university earlier as a dull enrollment/early admission student, that will get you ahead of the game by getting free classes to take while you still a high school student, sometimes counselors just assume you already know things, don't let that happen, try to get the most information you can get.

# Eliminating classes

If you know you do very well on a specific subject which you seen before and you don't fell like taking it again, you may take a CLEP exam on that specific subject and if you pass you will get the credits for that subject as if you had taken that class. But in the other hand if you just take that class and ace it, then it would be another 4.0 GPA class to boost your GPA. Be aware there might be a fee for the tests you take, so ask about it before taking any decisions.

# What classes should I take? How should I choose them?

1) Try to get your English/Reading/Math requirements done earlier because many of your classes may require to have those done before registering for the class you want to take.

2) If you can, try to get a break between your harder classes so you have: extra time to review before class, time to rest, eat something, etc.

3) Some classes might give you some sort of quiz/test every week, so don't get too many hard classes on the same day with little breaks, you might get over stressed trying to study for two subjects at once and might end up doing poorly on both.

After you have thought of those 3 steps, go to your school web site and search for the classes you are planning to take, then without closing it, open a new tab and go to http://www.ratemyprofessor.com this site will give you a better idea of how each professor works and which of them will better fit your expectations. Some students like to have easy A professors, some like to face a challenging tough professor, it is up to you.

# Take too easy and boring classes over the summer

If there is a subject you think it is way too easy or just boring to go to that class, my advice would be to take this class on a shorter 6 weeks summer period, these classes usually are more speed up and you are less likely to get bored because you get right to the point, moreover you might end up doing less work since you only have half of a regular term to work on that subject. Be aware! Make sure you know what you are doing, you don't want to take a too hard class and fail, things will speed up a lot on a 6 weeks period, thrust me.

# Honors classes

Only take college honors classes after talking to your counselor and if you really know what you are doing, failing them may hurt your GPA as well. Honors classes in college are very different from high school, in order to take them you will need at least a 3.5 Gpa to enter the honors program and still you may only reach up to 4.0 GPA. Why take it then? If you get a degree with a certain x amount of honors classes then you will get an extra letter next to your transcript which will sound good when applying for a job.

# What are other privileges I may have as a college/university student?

If not all, most schools should offer you:

* Free tutoring at your school

* Advising help to choose your classes

* Help to choose your major and career

* Access to Internet

* Access to fitness center/gym

* And much more

As out of the school you may be eligible to get discounts to movie theaters and when going to public places such as museum, parks, and other places for just showing your college id.

You may also qualify for a good student discount on your car insurance when you have a 3.0 or higher GPA.

High School Students

High School is an educational institution that provides secondary level education (grades 9-12) and not only that, it is an introduction to college.

Sometimes I come across a few friends who say that they don't like school, so they just go careless with doing their homework and decide to not study at all. But guess what? If you don't study and don't do your homework then you are most likely to fail your class, and therefore you will stay longer in school.

Try your best, earning a high GPA/grade can do you many goods such as:

• Get you a good student car insurance discount
• Free/discount on your college tuition
• Go to college earlier
• More likely to be accepted in the university of your choice
• You never know, your teacher might know someone that can hire you for a nice paying job on your field.

Be aware there are many programs out there offered at high school and you don't even know, the best advice is to go to your high school counselor and let him/her know your education goals and what you expect from high school so that you can get help.

Here is a list of some programs you could ask your counselor about it:

• Dual Enrollment/Early Admission - This program offers you the opportunity to take college classes and earn it's credits while you still a high school student. http://www.palmbeachstate.edu/x5304.xml
• Honors/AP Classes - These are high level classes offered to better prepare you to eventually go to college, they are usually harder and require extra work/effort. Honors GPA scale go up to 5 and AP GPA scale go up to 6, while regular classes may go up to 4.
• Sports/Clubs - Participating in extra curricular activities after school such as sports and school clubs may earn you a positive look on your transcript when looking for scholarships and transferring to a higher level education.

The purpose of this blog is to provide you free tips and let you know things that sometimes counselors assume you know but u don't. If you are interested in any of the programs or anything discussed above, make sure you get help from your high school counselor.

College Vs. University

College is an educational institution which primarily provides the two-year basic general knowledge classes for any major. University is a higher level education institution which provides all sort of levels of classes from a basic general knowledge class to a Doctorate Degree.

Having that said, many students will think going to college is bad because it would sound bad on their transcript. Guess what? It doesn't, colleges tend to offer smaller classes with up to 20-40 students depending on the class subject while universities may have hundreds of students in the same class.

How does that help? Imagine yourself within one class and only one professor sharing his/her attention with hundreds of students, if you ever have a question you will probably need to write it down to ask a tutor later or ask a classmate, while in college you can simply raise your hand anytime and ask your professor. Having that in mind we can assume at some point that college is easier and therefore you should be able to maintain a good GPA and be able to transfer to an University easy as soon as you done with your AA degree.

Moreover, if you look it up at your local school tuition, you will find that college is way more affordable, and pretty much anyone can join as far as grading. The downside is that you will be only taking general knowledge core classes while in college, unless you apply as a transient student to start working on your electives at an university while you still in college.

At the end regardless of which school you went to, you will always be looked up from your higher level degree/diploma and your work experience. i.e: If you have a masters or doctorate degree at Harvard University, do you think anyone cares where you got your AA degree from? Think about it.