What Should YOU Be Doing This Fall
to Prepare for College Admission?

• Seniors
• Juniors
• Sophomores & Freshmen

What Should Sophomores & Freshmen Be Doing?

During the first two years of high school, preparing for college consists of building strong academic and extracurricular records.

Building a Strong Academic Record
Colleges expect you to take a broad and challenging curriculum. You should graduate from high school with a minimum of:

Four years of English
Three years of math
Three years of social studies
Three years of a natural science
Three years of a foreign language

Fill in the remainder of your courses with those courses that interest you the most.

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Work together with your guidance counselor
to develop an appropriate course load.

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Don't overwhelm yourself, though. Bad grades in good courses are no answer. Work together with your guidance counselor to develop an appropriate course load.

Do Well
To point out that grades are important is stating the obvious. Nevertheless, given their importance, it is worth emphasizing. In college admission -- and in life -- how smart you are isn't nearly as important as how hard and effectively you work.

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How smart you are isn't nearly as important
as how hard and effectively you work.

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Building a Strong Extracurricular Record
Extracurricular activities - clubs, organizations, the fine & performing arts, athletics, volunteer service - are viewed differently by different colleges. All consider extracurricular activities valuable because they provide wonderful opportunities for students to build skills, exercise leadership and develop special talent. Typically, however, public universities admit or deny applicants solely on the basis of their academic records and standardized test results (SAT's or ACT's).

Private colleges, on the other hand, value extracurricular activities and typically consider your school and community involvement in making their admission decisions.

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An applicant's extracurricular record
plays a role in our admission decision.

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At Albright, we encourage high school students to be involved outside the classroom, and an applicant's extracurricular record plays a role in our admission decision. We recommend that you choose two or three activities that interest you, and get involved. We value applicants who show consistency (by sticking with an activity), rise to a leadership position, and/or develop talent.

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