Searcy (LP) As seniors around the country prepare for college, many thoughts are constantly circulating in their minds. The college preparation is tedious, and some students don’t know the steps to take to ensure their college ready! It’s important before you ever start thinking about college to talk to your counselors and teachers. As Mrs. Julia Roddy from our own high school thinks, “It is best to apply to all colleges and see what you’re qualified for. You need to tour as many campuses as possible and talk about them with your parents/college faculty advisors.” By touring tons of different colleges, you can see the differences in their programs and see what majors and minors they focus specifically on. Every campus around the country is different, and many offer different scholarships and activities to do around the campus, so you should mainly focus on the major you are trying to obtain. What exactly is a major in college? A major is the field that you are studying in and are trying to obtain a degree in. Majors can vary from engineering to business, and after you leave college, managers will look at how well you performed in your field. Because of this, you need to go to the college that offers the best classes for your major and has opportunities in that field after college! One of the next most important steps in the college process as stated by Cruz Dillard is to “Work on increasing your gpa so that you can keep the requirements for certain scholarships. I also encourage everyone to save tons of money for the things you are going to need in college. These are smart plans and if you have money in college, you can eat whatever you

want and have money for things that you might really need! Also, seniors are encouraged to take the Act as many times as possible. If you are able to achieve a high score on the act, colleges offer scholarships for your academic achievements! The more money that the college is willing to pay you, the less money you will have in loans when you graduate! Eventually there will come a time when you need to narrow down your top three colleges. By looking at these suggestions, it should be a little bit easier to finalize your decision and get ready for a new opportunity in your life!