America's Best Colleges for B Students - Tamra B. Orr

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sealing business and did great. Paint, mow lawns—show initiative. It will be a great topic for the essay you should be working on before summer ends.

      When school starts again, take the most challenging curriculum you are capable of handling. If your school is small and does not offer the more advanced courses, look elsewhere: go online, take distance learning classes or check out the community college.

      —Shirley Bloomquist, MA,College and Educational Counselor

      Don't wait a moment longer to go and visit schools. Seeing is believing! Reading about a place in a book or online is fine for background information, but it is a visit that will give you the true feel of the college's atmosphere, attitudes and activities. (To find out what college tours are like, check out the website www.campustours.com).

      Patrick O’Brien, former admissions officer and consultant-ambassador for the ACT, says, “The more opportunities to visit college campuses as a junior or in the first part of senior year, the better. And don't just go for the standard college tour of the campus and facilities. Check out the dorms and dorm life,” he advises. “Insist on visiting a class in a field of interest—it will show you how the college academic system really works.”

      Try not to visit colleges during summer, however. As O’Brien says, “Never visit a campus when school is not in session; that's like visiting your high school on a weekend—dullsville.” Don't depend on Mom, Dad or your guidance counselor to contact the school for a tour either. Do it yourself; it shows that college that you have initiative.

      When you go for a campus tour, take part of your college-finding team with you so that you can get their impressions of each place too. Don't spend your time exploring the things you can get from the school's website. Pretend you are an anthropologist from the future and study the place like we study primitive cultures today. Watch the students interact, check out the food sources, find out how the place accepts those from different ethnic, political or religious backgrounds, gays or married couples. Read the posters in the buildings and the bulletin boards in dorms. What announcements do they have? What are some of the upcoming events and activities? Do they have a choir, band or orchestra? How about a drama group? Hang out in the student union and see what goes on there. Is there a lot of diversity on the campus? Go by the bookstore and see what souvenirs you like. Check out the shopping area around the campus. Pick up a campus newspaper to read later.

      Remembering all your impressions of the places you have seen will not be easy. After you have seen a couple of campuses, facts and opinions will begin to mesh and soon you will find yourself asking which college had that great library. Do you remember what campus had those huge trees and large green lawns? To prevent this from happening, make up a form to write down your thoughts as you tour a place. You can create a form that reminds you to give schools a score of 1 (horrible) to 10 (perfection itself), and that offers a spot for general comments, thoughts and questions to follow up on later.

      On Page 15 is an example of the kind of form you could use. If you don't like it, my feelings aren't hurt. Create your own! Design it the way that fits best for you.

      Once you start looking for colleges, you'll be overwhelmed at how many great choices there are. In fact, your problem may be that you have too many options!

      After you have a list of colleges, the next step is to fill out the applications. This is your opportunity to make your case (why you should be accepted) to each college. While most colleges do look at the numbers from your GPA, SAT and ACT scores, they will also look to your character. They will want to know your aspirations, your passions, your level of responsibility and maturity and how you choose to spend your time. Who inspires you? Who influences you? What do you expect of yourself? College admissions officers see countless numbers of applications, many with high numbers, but it is the student that shows integrity, curiosity, originality and independence that will catch their eyes. Unlike grading those little #2 pencil-filled dots on the standardized tests, this kind of information is much harder to measure. The college application will go a long way to help paint that very unique portrait of you as a person.

      But before we hit the application, let's take the next chapter to look at some things you can do now to make sure you maximize your time in high school and set yourself up to create the strongest application possible.

      Many students get totally caught up in the college admissions frenzy without actually realizing that there are more than 4,000 colleges in the United States that have to stay open, so they are looking for students. In other words, you have a much better chance of getting in than you think.

      Some advice for you:

       Remember that it is not what college you get into but what you do while you are there that matters the most.

       Even if you think you cannot get into a college, apply anyway.

       Make sure to apply to colleges other than just your favorite one. Even if you consider them a back-up plan, take the time to make a list and apply.

       Be true to yourself about what you want out of a college experience. If you really do not want one that is academically rigorous, that's totally fine. Just be up front about it.

       If one certain college is your dream but you don't fit the academic requirements, apply anyway. If you stand out in any way at all, you just may make it in after all.

       —LAURA JEANNE HAMMOND,Editor in Chief, Next Step Magazine

      Name of school:

      Date visited:

      Who went with me:

      Contacts I made at the school:

      TOTAL SCORE: ________

       Questions:

      How does this place make me feel?

      Best thing about this place:

      Worst thing about this place:

      What is the city like?

      What special services are offered to help B students?

      Overall comments:

      CHAPTER TWO

      IT'S NEVER TOO LATE: TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS TO MAKE A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER RIGHT NOW

      Procrastination (pro-kras-ten-a-shun): that annoying habit that tends to follow us throughout our lives, convincing us that we can easily put off until tomorrow what we should be doing today (or yesterday) and not have to pay any consequences. (For an example, see the character of Scarlett O'Hara in the classic Gone with the Wind, who coined the phrase, “Fiddle-dee-dee, I'll think about it tomorrow!”)

      We've all done it. You will start the project/diet/chore/report/whatever tomorrow. Tomorrow, as little red-headed Annie reminded everyone in a relatively annoying song, is always a day away. It's eternally full of promise and potential. Unfortunately, when tomorrow arrives, it's today already, so we just repeat the mantra and everything is bumped one more time.

      When it comes to getting ready for college, procrastination can be positively lethal. You already know that multiple forms have to be turned in early, from applications to financial aid requests. It doesn't stop there.

      If your grades and test scores are not where you want them to

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