No middle school promotion ceremony, completing freshman year through Zoom, coming back to school for weekly COVID-19 testing, and finally experiencing a normal high school year during their junior year, are all things that the class of 2024 has had to go through.
Although their high school journey was off to a rough start, they all managed to adapt and are now ready to leave off to college. But before they leave, here are some pieces of advice.
Applying to college
At Middle College the first semester of senior year is usually entirely dedicated to college-related activities, college applications being a main one.
Senior Gabriel Cortes will be attending Chapman University as a psychology major. He recommends that you dedicate yourself to perfecting the personal insight questions required for UCs.
“Before starting the application process I would’ve liked for them to tell me how thorough and specific universities may have wanted [the PIQs],” Cortes said.
Because not everyone qualifies for the fee waivers when it comes to applying to college, Cortes recommends looking into the graduation rate for the universities you are applying to, along with the chances of being accepted.
“Honestly knowing that I wouldn’t have been accepted to most of my UCs I probably wouldn’t have applied to them but apply to other UCs with a higher graduation rate,” Cortes said.
Senior Saul Miguel will be attending the University of Southern California as a chemistry major. He recommends that you apply early action in which you hear back from colleges a lot sooner from regular decisions.
“One piece of advice I wish had been given to me is to apply early action. I ended up doing so because I found out I could. But, no one had told me that I had the option to register earlier for the colleges I wanted to attend. I feel like if someone had told me that sooner then I would have been more prepared for the applications once they opened,” Miguel said.
Working while studying
As students begin to reach the age requirement for the majority of workplaces, many decide to begin working part-time while in high school.
Cortes is one of the many students at MCHS who has worked for the majority of his time while being here. He suggests learning/practicing time management if you are planning to work.
“Manage your time correctly. You know money comes and goes. The time that you spend with your friends matters most. Look at time as money instead; would you rather spend it on your friends or at a job that you probably don’t like and stresses you out a bit. Every now and then hanging out with your friends is a lot better than going to work and being stressed about it,” Cortes said.
He also shares the importance of prioritizing your assignments and the importance of not relying on others to do it for you.
“Do your work, it’s not worth being stressed about it. And don’t rely on someone else to do it for you because then you’re just going to deep yourself a bigger hole and it’s going to be on you and not on them, for putting your trust on that person,” Cortes said.
Scholarships
AVID and biology teacher Amy Holte nominated more than five seniors for the Angels College Scholarship.
Saul Miguel was a recipient of this full-ride scholarship.
“I decided to do it to see what would happen and if I would get it. So I finished my application the same day it was due, but I managed to secure an interview through Zoom. And I was very surprised because I thought I wasn’t going to get through the second round but I guess once they saw the extracurriculars that I was a part of that put me high on their list of consideration,” Miguel said.
He believes that his extracurriculars were what made him stand out from the other candidates.
“Probably the extracurriculars I did. So, I did Wizards for Water where I fundraised money to help underprivileged children get clean drinking water. I was a part of that for two years and this year I served as the president of the club and helped make it an official club this year. What also made me stand out was that I helped out at my church as well as the community clean-ups I did as part of Team Streets as the president,” Miguel said.
To future candidates for this scholarship here is his piece of advice:
“I would say to join as many extracurriculars as you can and also try to apply to scholarships even if you really don’t want to do the application because it seems very lengthy. And, you never know whether you are going to be chosen or not, so it’s better to try, than to not try at all,” Miguel said.
