Starting the School Year Right

ByCheree Liebowitz

Advice from an expert college advisor

For anxious new freshman or confident seniors, heading back to school signals a time of transition: new classes, new teachers, new opportunities. For all grades too, this is a time to prepare for college by making the most of this year.

To help start the school year right, our college counselors at International College Counselors made a general September checklist.

• Consider your courses and teachers and decide if you’re happy with your choices. Ask yourself if you’re sufficiently challenged or overwhelmed, and if you should switch some classes. It’s important to take challenging courses, but it’s equally important that you do well in them.

• Build your vocabulary. READ. READ. READ. The PSAT and SAT both count on your having a good vocabulary. It is much easier to build this slowly and naturally than to try and cram it in before a test. If you see or hear words you don’t know or can’t grasp the meaning from the context, jot them down and then, use a dictionary or www.dictionary.com to learn the word’s definition.

• Take a good look at what your high school offers like clubs, activities, sports, and classes. The beginning of the school year is the best time to make some decisions about what interests you. Did you like what you were doing last year or do you want to make a change? For freshmen, this is a chance to try something completely new. Once you decide what you want to try, find out how you can get involved in those specific organizations. And remember, to try something new. You may never know if you’ll like something until you try it and you can always change.

• Start looking into scholarships and consider which ones you will apply for. There are many freshmen are eligible for as well as sophomores, juniors and seniors. Write down the deadlines and stay on top of them.
Stay tuned, in our next blog we’re going to reveal the International College Counselors scholarship. We’re awarding 4 scholarships worth $250 each.

The college advisors at International College Counselors are available to help you. Please contact us with any questions you may have.

International College Counselors
Main office: 954.253.5719

Mandee Heller Adler
[email protected]

Barry Liebowitz
[email protected]