Preparation Pays Off

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Sarah Jackson, left, helps Miranda Lunsford, right, to study vocabulary words at West Monroe High School.

Having teenagers in the house, and if they’re college-bound teens, requires patience and organization. Between shuffling back and forth to school, activities and social events, a parent needs that focus that requires strong organization and preparation. Preparing for college can be overwhelming without that organization and focus on the goal.

I ran across an article this month about a young girl that understood the value of preparation and how it plays in the college admissions process. Sarah Jackson, of West Monroe High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, experienced the benefits of that preparation first hand. She snagged herself a full-tuition scholarship at the University of Alabama in the fall. How did she do it? Research, preparation, focus and determination during her high school career.

Sarah and her family began researching colleges during her sophomore year. According to an article in the Shreveport News Star:

Jackson and her family began researching colleges and universities when she was in her sophomore year of high school and started campus visits in the spring and summer of her junior year.

Those visits, Jackson said, changed her mind on what she thought was her “dream school.”

“Alabama was the last college that I had planned to visit,” she said. “Washington University in St. Louis is where I wanted to go.”

But she said her experience at the University of Alabama was different. “It was just a feeling,” she said. “I knew it when I walked around campus.”

The clincher, according to Sarah, was the promise of a full-tuition scholarship with an ACT score of 32. She worked hard, studied, took practice tests and managed to bring her score up to 32 after several attempts at the test. She took the test her freshman year as a baseline, but found after several attempts, her score did not improve. So Sarah buckled down and put some work into it, determined to hit the mark. And she did!

What’s the lesson here? Preparation pays off. The college admissions process doesn’t just happen senior year. The early years of high school are just as important as the final one. All the components of preparation from course selections, to college research, to scholarship applications, to college visits, to the essay and recommendation letters, to the final application require planning and focus.

Encourage your college-bound teen to take the time to do the research and prepare. That preparation might just pay off!

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One thought on “Preparation Pays Off”

  1. Great job Sarah!! I do want to add that most universities will give a full tuition scholarship with a really high ACT. But as we found out with my daughter, you still need to research for more scholarships from outside sources. Tuition waiver scholarships from the university will not pay for room & board, books or fees. Those alone can add up to thousands of dollars each semester. Search diligently for scholarships, and apply for each and every one you qualify for.

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