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This winter I'm turning 14 and I'm currently a freshman in high school. My high school's pretty decent(top 100 in nation and most students go to UC schools). i'm wondering if there's anything i should be doing right now to prepare for college. the classes that i'm currently taking are: oral composition, precalc honors, biology, drama, pe, spanish 2, and lit/writing. outside of school (not including clubs) i REALLY love practicing wushu (chinese martial arts) but i've only been doing it for a year. my coach is good enough to get me to nationals in a few more years, but not in time for high school. i'm also thinking of starting a wushu club at school. i also enjoy playing the piano, but i still need some time to get better at it (only level 7). as for clubs, i tried key club, speech and debate, and FBLA this year. they were all kind of disappointing though, since most students around here aren't that passionate about what they're doing; they're merely doing it for the college credit. so i'm kinda confused about clubs, since im not really INTO any of them.. i'm also wondering if i should pursue writing a little more, or at least improve my skills, since i was recognized by the NCTE promising young writers program (for 8th graders) last year, but i kinda need to brush up on my writing.. *where can i go to improve writing?* and i'm probably gonna take the math2c test at the end of this school year. sorry for the long message! if anyone could give me tips/ or at least tell me what i should be doing right now, i'd appreciate it! thanks :D

By Tellmewhy (Tellmewhy) on Thursday, December 25, 2003 - 02:14 am: Edit

the fact that you took the initiative to post up in herre proves you know what to do. follow what you think is best.

By Foreignboy (Foreignboy) on Thursday, December 25, 2003 - 04:41 am: Edit

What the??
You're a freaking HS freshman!!! Why are you thinking about college????

Btw, I've been doing wushu for >8 years, and have national medals. Muahahaa..

By Dschnapps (Dschnapps) on Thursday, December 25, 2003 - 05:14 pm: Edit

you know, everytime an 8th grader or freshman posts at a college website, people go crazy and say they should just be enjoying their childhood.

I really disagree, in that a lot of the choices you make freshman year have ramifications for college. That doesn't mean you should be a college-whore when you're making all your decisions.

Do what you like, but be involved. If you don't like the clubs you were in, start a new one based on something you like. The wushu club sounds great, especially if you know that other people would be interested. That kind of initiative is what colleges will like.

On the other hand, DO enjoy yourself. You seem very driven, and it's quite easy to get burned out with education before you even reach college. It's easy to take all the classes, do extracurricular activities and sports until 10 at night, get 4 hours of sleep, and be miserable. I've done a little bit of that.

I'd say it's better to stay with your class schedule *if you are handling it alright*, stick with piano, join a club that you like or create one. However, if you really want to stand out, pursue something that you love and really excel at it. That could be piano, wushu, or something else you haven't even guessed.

Good luck, and enjoy yourself.

By Britneys2 (Britneys2) on Friday, December 26, 2003 - 11:23 pm: Edit

choose a few unique things you like, things you are really passionate about and stick with them. dont go crazy with 50 different clubs just for college stuff. get good at a few activities, learn about them, become an expert of sorts... get really good grades,take challenging courses.. make sure to stay with extracurriculars, but dont overdo it. dont stress yourself out.. be cultured. travel if you can. also, think about places youd like to go for college...city, another country, opposite coast, whatever, and then do some research. get a rough idea of what you want to do, and then find colleges that have good programs. learn what there guidelines are.. GPA, SATS, etc..and then budget your time to meet those guidelines. well, thats all i wish i had done when i was in 9th grade... good luck!