How do I know if I am taking the right classes in high school for the colleges and universities I want to attend?

Academic rigor is the name of the game. If you want to gain admissions to a certain program or area of study, then your paper trail should reflect your commitment as a student. What do I mean by paper trail? Your transcripts, for one. And your activities and resumé, maybe even your letters of rec! 

Let me explain. Let’s say you want to study acting in college. Then your transcripts should demonstrate that you took advantage of the available coursework that your school offered for performing arts. This is one way to demonstrate your commitment to your chosen educational path. Let’s say your school offers 5 drama/theater courses. For some reason, you only took one of these courses while you were in high school. This might not be enough coursework for you to really explore your craft. As a result, you might want to engage in some performing arts enrichment outside of school. What does this enrichment look like? Whatever you want: free online courses, private acting lessons, starting an acting club, attending performing arts events, writing a blog about performing arts, creating video content of your own acting efforts… the options are endless. 

The same goes for any other discipline. Let’s say you love robotics and want to go to college to learn how to build the next generation of Mars rovers. Then you might want to make sure that you exhaust the math and science course offerings at your school. Only took three years of math because that’s all you needed to graduate? That doesn’t really demonstrate commitment to your chosen path of study. Are there more ways to explore your craft outside of school? Yes! Completing online college courses, attending seminars or guest lectures at your local university or college, joining the robotics club, starting your own robotics club, going to robotics fairs or conventions, creating a blueprint for your own robot… again, the list is infinite. 

You owe it to yourself to explore whatever path you have chosen in your education. It’s worth it because it will probably help you end up at the college or university that is right for you.

Need help choosing courses or finding enrichment outside of school? Or maybe you still need to figure out your chosen areas of study? I’m here to help guide you through your academic journey! Feel free to reach out to me and set up a consultation.