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I’m going to take a quick break from posting about UCSC’s colleges to talk about something I found out today.

Before I decided to attend UC Santa Cruz, I switched back and forth between two majors: economics and aerospace engineering. I chose aerospace engineering as my major for the schools that offered it, and I chose economics for the others.

I applied to Cal Poly, UC Davis, and UC San Diego all under this major. Davis had guaranteed me admission into my first-choice major through the ELC program, but I figured just in case I didn’t get in, Cal Poly would be my alternate. UCSD I wasn’t sure if I would be accepted to, but if I did, UCSD would become my #1 choice for aerospace engineering.

Basically, Cal Poly was last on my list for engineering schools.

However, after reading this list about the 25 best engineering schools, I realized that Cal Poly deserved far more credit than I gave it — it’s ranked second, above such schools as Stanford and UC Berkeley. Cal Poly apparently is one of the best schools for engineering, by giving students the experience and tools to begin a new career in their field.

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As we come closer and closer to the time when many colleges start to inform applicants of whether or not they were accepted, you’re likely to start stressing more and more over the future.

Sure, you’ve done all you can up to this point, and it’s just a waiting game, but there’s always going to be that nervousness of if you got into your schools or if (God forbid) everything went haywire.

I’ve been looking around online to try to find websites to help answer that very same question for my girlfriend. I’ve found two very helpful sites:

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Now that your college applications are (hopefully) submitted, it’s a good idea to start applying to scholarships. Many kids put them off until March or so, so by applying now you gain a few more opportunities to  win than you would otherwise have if you procrastinate.

Occasionally in high school, we would have opportunities to work on scholarship applications during classtime in a computer lab. Wherever I looked in the classroom, people were working on online scholarship applications, most found on the website FastWeb.

Although online scholarships are worth applying to, in actuality, they are not as effective uses of your time as a local scholarship.

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Although of course every college has its due date, a huge amount of colleges have their applications due tomorrow.

Hopefully you haven’t put it off too long, as by now it’s nearing the end. Try not to cut it any closer than you have to. When my brother turned in his UC applications, he was technically too late, but they ended up giving another day because the server crashed from all the last minute applications being sent in. You don’t want to take that chance.

Good luck with your applications. Now you can take a rest from the stress of them and simply wait to see where you get in :)

Last year when I submitted my college applications, I remember wondering often if I was sure enough of where I wanted to go to school. Now, my girlfriend is beginning to apply to schools, and she’s feeling anxious because she’s really not sure where she wants to go still.

You do not need to know which school you want to attend when you submit your application

Obviously, before turning in college applications, you have a nice variety of colleges to choose from. But once application due dates start hitting, your options will become much narrower. This can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it.

But whichever way, it’s important to feel at least some level of certainty with the schools you chose to apply to. You want each school you send an application to be a potential choice for you, not just some school you choose for the sake of choosing. Unless you have enough money to apply to schools simply for bragging rights, applying to schools on a whim is going to cost a lot of money (and time).

Here are some ways of helping to feel good about your choices:

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Alongside the SAT, the ACT is a major factor colleges use to determine whether or not you should be admitted. For colleges, these test scores are a way to compare you to all students who apply. While the scores aren’t everything, they are definitely important and it’s crucial that you do your best.

You do not want this to be you at the ACT :)

If you’ve never taken the ACT before, chances are you’re a bit nervous. You’ve probably heard of kids taking a Saturday morning. If this is your first time taking any standardized test needed for colleges, you’re probably even more nervous and unsure of what you’re in for.

Don’t worry, this post will give you the rundown on what to expect when you first take the ACT. While the test might be a bit intimidating, if you take it seriously, you can come out of it with flying colors. Keep reading »

Your student resume, sometimes referred to as a ‘Brag Sheet’, is a collective list of all of your accomplishments as a student. When you fill out scholarship/college applications and ask for letters of recommendation, you’ll find yourself referring to it all the time, so it’s definitely best to get a head start on it.

My biggest recommendation is to add to it as you go. Keep a list saved on your computer of what you have done. If you take part in something that should go on the list, add it and save it before you forget. Of course, very few people are that dedicated — myself included — so chances are you’ll find yourself struggling to think of everything to write a good one at the last possible moment.

Not to worry!

The important thing is trying to remember everything you’ve done that’s noteworthy. Don’t worry about what’s applicable yet, you just want a nice big list of your accomplishments. You can always take some out based on the circumstances. Here are some aspects of your life to consider:

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The deadline to sign up for the next ACT test is on the 12th of this month. If you’re up for paying a late fee, you have until the 22nd, but who wants to do that? If you sign up, you’ll be taking the test on September 13th (no, it’s not a Friday).

If you’re interested in taking the SAT soon, you have a little bit more time. The deadline for the next test is September 9th, and, if you’re into late fees, you have until the 16th of September. The actual test is on October 4th.

The main reason for this reminder is to make sure that you start thinking about what tests you still need to take in order to be finished with it. It’s always best to take a test early. If you do poorly, you can always take it again, and you’ll be glad to at least know that you have some score to turn in if you need to.

As I’ve said, it’s important to keep an eye on deadlines. Believe me, it’s important to have fun in summer, but you do need to be aware that there are deadlines that can hit you even this early. If you need to take a test, it’s best to sign up now and avoid the stress later. It takes no time at all.

Here are the sites for signing up for each test:

• SAT

• ACT