NSHSS Student Council members are college students who offer advice to high school students and are invited to participate in member events. Serving on the Council can provide a great leadership opportunity. NSHSS members graduating from high school in 2008 are eligible to apply for the Student Council next year. Applications will be posted in the Spring of 2008. Meet the 2007-08 Student Council Members.
Advice from Rice - Before committing to your college, consider this …
Ye-jin Kang
Cypress Falls, Texas
National Scholar Award Recipient
My experience at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has been a vast and varied one. There have been many new enjoyable aspects, such as a considerable more amount of freedom and flexibility in scheduling events. The residential college system at Rice definitely builds up a sense of community because of the many college traditions that have developed over the years. There have been large number of new opportunities to search for, and many new scholarships and fellowships to apply to that I am extremely excited about. However, there are a few things I wish I would have had the insight to foresee before coming to Rice, and so have a bit of advice on what to look for when searching for the perfect college.
While college may seem at times like an end goal, of course, it is only a transitional experience to help you arm yourself with skills to advance your career. It is about discovering who you are. You grow into independence and begin to rationalize and develop the skills to start something new. Therefore, when searching for the right college, ask if there are specific programs to meet your needs. For example, if you are likely to be a premed student, make sure to check out if there are any local hospitals nearby so you can get volunteering or shadowing experience easily. Look up the specific strength of the department that you want to major in. Do you think that they guide undergraduates well? If you would love to pursue a specific area of research, make sure your college has a department that covers that specific area.
As a high school student getting ready to enter college, you need to keep in mind a few things over the summer. Make sure to read some key support books that will help you. An example of a great book is “Been There Should’ve Done That II.” Look over the course catalog for your university and email professors if you have any questions. Try to get in contact with a person already at your university and ask for advice on professors and classes. If you are pretty certain that you will enroll in a class, there are plenty of things that you can do to prepare for it. You can buy your text books early and start reading up on the first couple of chapters. If you are taking an English class, you can buy the books that you are reading, and read them over the summer. If you think that you would like to double major, make sure to plan out your schedule for all four years so that you can fit all your classes in.
College is definitely one of the more enjoyable four years of anyone’s life, and I look forward to the upcoming years at Rice and to giving more advice to high school students.