Yale, Harvard, Robert Morris, Pitt, Chatham, Geneva, Slippery Rock, New York University; these are just some of the colleges many seniors, juniors and even freshmen are looking into. Many students look into colleges based on its programs, campus, dorms, teacher to student ratio, costs and its location. Students love having options, but they don’t realize that they could have already limited their college’s options.

Many freshmen and sophomores don’t realize that they can already be hurting their chances. Students, especially younger students, brush off their homework and think that colleges won’t pay attention and think it doesn’t matter, when in reality, it does. Grades and classes from all four years are included on your transcript, which colleges are usually interested in.

Surprisingly, many colleges don’t specifically pay attention to SAT scores. The ACTs are becoming a test that more and more colleges are taking an interest in, especially on the eastern coast. The SAT, or Standardized Assessment Testing, is more based on the reasoning and logic capabilities of a student while the ACT, or American College Test, is more focused on the knowledge the student currently has.

Colleges commonly have a preference towards either the SAT or ACT and most do pay attention to GPA, or grade point average. There are multiple GPA scales, such as the 6.0 scale, but most schools and colleges are based off of a 4.0.

Colleges are also interested in after-school activities, any clubs or forms of volunteering. Being involved and capable of staying organized is a huge thing colleges look for. NHS, or National Honor Society, is also a good club or group to be involved in. To join the club, you must be invited, and the honor of being invited is only given to people with a 3.7 GPA or higher.

What happens if someone doesn’t receive satisfying grades? Besides the disappointed parents/guardians, colleges become less and less interested in you.

Even if students do realize that they are limiting their options later on during their high school years, they can’t go back and change what they did before. They can’t take back the bad grades or absences.

If you notice that you haven’t done the best that you could have, it’s never too late to improve. Although colleges will notice that you haven’t done so well, they will notice when you suddenly start having consistently good grades, start participating or volunteering.

Another way to improve your chances with colleges is going to different college workshops, or talking to your school’s counselor. You could talk to the counselor that’s at the college you’re interested in about how to improve your chances.

There are many people who had not realized they were damaging their odds and couldn’t go to college because they didn’t get any scholarships, or weren’t even accepted into any of the colleges they applied for.

Community college is always a good school to look at if you make sure to check their programs. The cost tends to be extremely low compared to other big colleges.