How High School Can Help You in College

By Jennifer Hoang
Senior biochemistry major and pre-dental student

In high school, I always thought that college was a far-away concept. In the midst of classes, studying, friends, and extracurricular activities were college visits, SATs, and applications.  It was only when I started college that I realized how valuable high school had been for me, since I was able to transition from high school to college easily. Here are some of the things I did in high school that paid off immensely in the long run and prepared me for college.

Take Advance Placements courses/exams

AP courses were my saving grace for college. Not only did this save me time and money, it also allowed me to dedicate more time to classes in my major. Many universities accept Advance Placement scores for college credit.  Taking AP tests in high school allows you to challenge yourself while also preparing you for college courses. I can still recall the countless times my teachers in high school said these AP classes were like college classes. I remember taking this with a grain of salt. In retrospect, they were right. The adjustment from these high school classes to my college classes was much easier because I was use to the demand of a challenging class. While APs may be hard, you can save yourself many hours of college credit. Upon entering UST, I was able to transfer in 24 credits.

Take dual credit

During the summer before my senior year of high school, I enrolled in government and economics dual credit courses at my local community college. With dual credit, students receive high school credit as well as college credit. All I had to do was request my guidance counselor’s approval, and I was able to enroll. Another plus was I did not have to pay for the course because it was through high school too. Not only was I able to complete courses to graduate high school, I was able to receive college credit as well.

Determine how you study

When I started UST, I already knew how to “study.” For me, this meant sitting at my desk for hours looking over course material. You might be different. Everyone studies differently; however, the sooner you determine how you study effectively, the easier the transition to college will be.

Something I heard a lot from others during freshman year was that they didn’t know how to study.  High school is the perfect time to develop your study habits because of the structure.  You’re in school for eight hours a day, and when you come home, there’s homework and tests/quizzes to study for.

In college, it’s a bit different. The workload will be the same, if not greater; however, you find that you have a lot of time outside of class. There lies your double-edged sword. If you’re not used to managing your time to study or you don’t know how to study, a major adjustment will need to occur and that may happen at an inopportune time. If you have effective study habits before college, transitioning to college will be much easier.

Visit colleges during your junior year of high school

Senior year of high school was pretty hectic for me with all the college applications, homework, tests, APs, and extracurricular activities. I was fortunate that I visited all my prospective colleges my junior year to see the different campuses. By the time senior year came, I was able to narrow down the colleges I applied to, saving myself time and the feeling of uncertainty.

Take your SAT toward the end of your junior year or the beginning of summer

The sooner you know what time period you want to take the SAT, the sooner you can register and create a study plan. It’s best to register as soon as you know when you want to take it because spots fill up quickly. I knew I did not want to take my SAT the fall of my senior year because I wanted to apply to colleges knowing what my SAT score was. I would say the end of your junior year or beginning of summer would be best, so that you start your last year of high school without worrying about the SATs; however, this is only my opinion based on experience.

These are some of the things I found helped me the most in preparing for college. Most of these things I did without the foresight of knowing it would be useful for me in college. It was only retrospectively that I realized the value of these experiences.

As a UST student, Jennifer Hoang has published two journal research articles and traveled to Austria to present her research on biomass.