How to Prepare for College | How to College | Crash Course

In this episode of Crash Course: How to College, Erica talks us through what preparing for college could entail and how we can be active in that preparation. Applying to college is exciting and stressful and lots of other things that cause a whole lot of emotions. But you can take steps now that will make the college admissions process a lot easier once you get to that point.

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Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:51 - Getting organized
1:24 - Goals
2:25 - Courses
3:36 - Standardized tests
6:12 - Figuring out your interests
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Links to the resources listed in this video:

Crash Course: How to College is part of Study Hall, a partnership between ASU and Crash Course. Head over to our new Study Hall channel to check out our Fast Guide series which break down different college majors.

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[studyhall]

What tools do you use to stay motivated and organized? I like to set up to-do lists with a column dedicated to "urgent" tasks, and another for "important but not urgent" tasks, and keep it visible on my desk or in my bullet journal. -Paola

[m_e_nere]

So glad this series exists while I'm still in high school

[beepbeep]

i’m graduating college next month and here’s my advice (from someone who was drunk their entire first semester, even during all online exams):
- if you plan on going to university or are taking a college program to get into another college program, look up the prerequisites so you can pick the right courses and maintain the grade average you need.
- MAKE A STUDY SHEET FROM THE BEGINNING AND STUDY EVERY LESSON EACH WEEK!!! i cannot stress this enough. college professors do not like to budge on marks most of the time, and cramming isn’t fun. from the beginning of the semester, make a study tool for the week, and go back to it each week to make sure your memory on it is sharp for exams. this will save you time and stress.
- you are given a course outline at the beginning of the semester that give a description of what you will be doing and what is due that week - write down what is due and the due dates to help keep organized.
- don’t leave your work until the last minute. you’re paying thousands of dollars to be there; always stay on top of your assignments and show your best work
- make weekly to-do lists and write down what you need to complete that week.
- figure out what time of day (or night) you are the most focused and plan a study/school work schedule accordingly. i’m the most focussed and motivated at night, so i do most of my schoolwork from 8pm - 5am
- always try to be ahead. first semester i saved all my schoolwork for the day it was due and always submitted the last thing due at 11:58pm (1 minute before the deadline). submitting things before the deadlines is always less stressful and you’ll thank yourself for getting it off your plate early.
- keep track of your total average (gpa). my professor once told me that she had a student who received a conditional offer from a university and she need to finish with an average of 85% to receive an official offer. she finished with an 84.75% and they rejected her.
- partying every night is overrated. don’t be that person who peaks in college and those will be the best days of your life. making memories is great but don’t sacrifice your grades to go get drunk and fall out of a window
- follow the rubrics of all assignments to ensure you’re meeting all requirements at the highest level
- come to terms with the fact that you have to sacrifice the things you love doing sometimes in order to finish with a great mark. keep in mind that you will get the summer off and can do whatever you want with the time that you had spent doing schoolwork

[thewordshifter]

An additional benefit to shadowing/volunteering: those connections you make of people working in the field often have insider knowledge about how to get ahead in those careers, such as which colleges to attend, how hiring tends to work, if internships are really worth it, etc. Ruthlessly pick their brain about not just their position, but if their position is typical, and what will fast-track you into success in the field. And never just talk to one person - most will have something that they insist puts them or others ahead- but that's their own bias and limited information at play. You'll get the most accurate information by judging the experiences and opinions of as many people as you can talk to.

[Viriatha]

If you haven't already planned for this: videos helping older people who are returning to school as well. What college was easy for me - I live here. At 53, going out of town for more schooling isn't really an option but older adults have challenges too.

[Phantom.]

College instructor here. This video is pretty decent but so breezy. Hearing this advice is VASTLY different than actually DOING what must be done in college. Like Oh yeah, just start a podcast. No problem! Sure. Easy to say, hard to do.

[elliotthehistorian]

as a first generation high school, undergraduate, and graduate student, this is life saving!! thank you so much for doing this series, it's going to help so many people and still helps me as a graduate student!!

[GKSTR]

Me, a 30 year old with an MBA: Hmm, let me write this down just in case 📝

[Noncyclic]

As someone in my second year of university, this still helps! :)

[meejinhuang]

Find a good isolated place to study. Pre read course materials if you can. Lots of distractions in college, so you must schedule everything.

[luisaalmeida]

Hey! Is it possible for you guys to make a video in the same topic but reffering to international students? It would really help xD I understand if you cant though

[WarSkills]

Great video! Really like the preparation of it all as well with building up your career while having fun as well. I think too many people see all these extracurricular activities as some pain to go through, while it opens so many opportunities and relationships. And if you don't like it? Then quit... no one is stopping you and you can always say you have tried!

[VangaurdTDS]

How do you even get into college? My schools guidance counselor quit and they did not bother with a new one because it was a school full of rich kids getting legacy admissions. But I did not have that background and after my dad kicked me out when I turned 18 and then the pandemic hitting just surviving was hard enough. Now I'm stabile and looking at how to get into college and it costs an arm and a leg? I'm not going into tens of thousands of debt for a paper that's worthless once I get my first entry level position.

[chungusmaximus]

Just applied for a transfer a month ago after getting kicked out of my old school in Cuba for going against the Party line. Hopefully UT is accepting of other people's beliefs. If not, I can always apply to ASU!

[Sakshi-bjoi]

Thank you for making my college journey easy.

[kingrainofthekingdomofdark]

This was very helpful, thanks Crash Course! :)

[safaiaryu]

Lots of great information here. I almost wish some of this had been broken out into its own videos, because you covered like ten subjects that could each have had an hour's worth of information. But heck, it's probably better to get it all named quickly to deal with people's short attention spans nowadays.

[bluejedi]

My biggest tip: Just because you placed into math 104 doesn't mean you should start with math 104. take make 102 or 103. Brush up on your computer skills before going on to college- you don't need to be an expert on MS word, but at least know how to save a document and upload one, and use spell checker. Know basic functions of Excel, and how to use power point and google slides sort of thing.

[paulrichardson]

Even though I'm from Europe most of the tips were helpful.

[squidgummies]

Where was this video before I started college. 😮‍💨