I highly support the idea that a student's experiences in high school shape their choices and experiences in college. Throughout middle school and the beginning of high school I was an average student. I figured I would go away to college but which college did not matter to me. I felt I would just go to whatever school I was able to get into. That all changed when my teachers and guidance counselor had a talk with me at the beginning of tenth grade. They thought I could do better, they knew my potential and realized I just wasn't applying it. I had always been a lazy student, I have the capacity to learn information and do very well but it takes me a lot of time and effort to be able to study and remember information for exams. I have always exceled naturally in English, a place where I can write and express my thoughts and opinions freely without restrictions of an A or B answer. So when my teachers and guidance counselor gave me that push I immediately saw a dramatic difference. I began getting A's in all of my classes and eventually was encouraged by my teachers to move into honors and then APs. My guidance counselor knew when I was pushing my limits but not taking on too much, she worked with me on my course choices and then on my college applications. I was pushed to apply to schools which would be target schools for me. I could have accepted my admittance to one of my many safety schools but after careful consideration and support from my educators I decided to push myself once again and attend a more acadmecially challenging school. If I never had those pushes and those educators on my side I probably would have settled for a different SUNY school that required less credentials for admittance. This website offers the DO's and Don'ts of college admissions and I knew all this while applying but it makes me wonder if everyone knew all of this while applying. http://www.quintcareers.com/college_admissions-dos-donts.html
Like it has been said before, this all comes back to unequal resources. The state should mandate that all schools release the same accurate and maximum amount of information to ALL students regarding college admissions and SAT prep. I always just assumed that all students understood college admissions as well as I did until just a few days ago. A family friend asked me to review her daughter's college entrance essay and it was completely out of context. Her writing was choppy and her topic came out of left field. She had no idea what colleges were looking for or where to begin. I could not understand how her guidance counselor did not help point her in the right direction. There needs to be strict guidelines concerning something as important as college. Getting an education is the reason why we all go to school, so why not educate the students on getting the most out of schooling they could possibly get?