It

1
Its Never Too Early to Prepare for College!

• A Freshman Seminar
• Mr. Adam Dobrick
• March 6, 2006
• Weinbaum Yeshiva High School

2
The Three Keys to College Admissions

• Grades / Challenging Curriculum
• Standardized Tests
• Extracurricular activities

3
College Admissions in a Flat World
4
How Do I Get Started?

• Start now! Think ahead.
• Stay organized
• Create a Timeline
• Understand the stakes
• of your decisions!

5
The Stakes Great Reasons to Go to College
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

• Youll increase your earning power!

6
Not to Mention

• Youll get a chance to focus on the things youre
  into
• Youll meet interesting people from all over
• Youll have a whole lot of fun

7
What You Have to Look Forward to

• Choosing the BEST college for you,
• based on
• Religious Appropriateness
• Geography
• Setting (urban/rural)
• Size
• Specialties

8
Steps to Take in Ninth Grade

• Build the foundation for your high school career
• Establish your academic and extracurricular
  credentials
• Create (and keep filling up) a
• folder showing all of your
• accomplishments.

9
In Ninth Grade and Beyond

• Challenge yourself the musts for your schedule
  are English, math, science, history, and a
  foreign language. Take each at the highest level
  you can handle.
• Try new things Get involved in theater, sports,
  or something totally uniqueit will pay off on
  your application
• Depth not Breadth
• College guidance

10
What You Should do NOW!

• Make the grade Keeping up your GPA is important
  throughout all four years.
• Chart your course Consider college goals as you
  choose tenth-grade classes.
• Make summer count by volunteering and
  participating in activities.

11
Then, In Tenth Grade

• Take the PSAT
• Maintain and deepen your involvement in
  extracurricular activities. Take a leadership
  role!

12
Test Prep 101

• PSAT 9th-11th
• SAT 11th 12th
• SAT II 9th 12th
• PLAN 9th-10th (all)
• ACT 11th 12th

13
Preparing with the PLAN

• When to take it 10th gradeDescription Prepares
  students for the ACT, testing the same four skill
  areas that the ACT tests (English grammar and
  rhetoric, math, reading comprehension, and
  science reasoning).More info www.act.org/plan/in
  dex.html

14
Planning with the PSAT

• When to take it 11th grade
• Description The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude
  Test is a shorter version of the SAT plus a
  writing component. It is given in October. The
  results of this test are used by the National
  Merit Corporation to determine which juniors are
  National Merit Semi-Finalists. This section is
  very similar to an ACT English test, requiring
  students to have a good understanding of grammar
  and sentence structure.More info
  www.collegeboard.com/psat/student/html/indx001.htm
  l

15
Achieving on the ACT

• The ACT is a curriculum based test that consists
  of four 35-60 minute tests in English usage,
  mathematics, reading, and natural science
  reasoning. Your performance in the classroom
  will relate to your success on the ACT. More
  info www.act.org/aap/index.html

16
Succeeding on the SAT

• The SAT Reasoning Test, formerly known as the SAT
  I, is a widely used college admissions test that
  measures critical reasoning, mathematical
  reasoning, and writing skills that students have
  developed over time. In March 2005 the exam
  underwent significant changes, such as
  eliminating the analogies section and adding an
  essay component. The SAT, a 3-hour-and-45-minute
  test, is designed to predict how well students
  will do their first year in college. Most
  students take the SAT in the spring of their
  junior year and again in the fall of their senior
  year of high school. More info
  www.collegeboard.com/sat/html/students/indx001.htm
  l

17
Specializing on theSAT Subject Tests

• The SAT Subject Tests, formerly known as the SAT
  II or Achievement Tests, are taken by students
  who wish to show mastery of specific subjects,
  such as English, history, math, science, and
  languages. Tests are one-hour, mostly multiple
  choice questions. Most students who take Subject
  Tests take them toward the end of their junior
  year or at the beginning of their senior year.
  Its best to take tests such as World History,
  Biology, Chemistry, or Physics as soon as
  possible after completing the course, even as a
  freshman or sophomore, while the material is
  still fresh in your mind. You'll do better on
  other tests like languages after at least two
  years of study.
• More info www.collegeboard.com/sat/center2/html/
  indx000.html

18
How WYHS Can Help You Get Into College

• Challenging academic curriculum
• Take PLAN and PSAT each year
• College guidance
• Community service and other extracurricular
  opportunities

19
Be a Leader

• I went to the woods because I wished to live
  deliberately, to front only the essential facts
  of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
  to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
  that I had not lived. - Henry David Thoreau