4-Year College Planning Guide for High School Students

March 30, 2017

College planning and strategizing is a long and difficult process, and we’re here to help. 

We see a range of students and parents using our platform. From high school freshmen to high school seniors, AdmitSee’s platform is able to be the resource that helps you plan your college application strategy. Download the free 4-year PDF guides here!

Discover Your Options

Going to a 4-year college isn’t for everyone. It’s important that all high school students know the different options that are available upon graduating in 4 years. Our content team works to make sure all high schools students know what the options are, and if they choose to apply to 4-year colleges, how they can do so to increase their chances of success. For more, check out our blog. 

Explore Hobbies and Career Interests

There’s a myth that you must be involved in 8+ extracurriculars, all in different fields and interest. False! In fact, 23% of our College Admits were only involved with one extracurricular activity. What does that mean? Do what you love. Don’t volunteer, or join the school newspaper just to have it on your resume. Use our database of college application files to discover how an extracurricular activity can develop into a passion and get you into college.  

Learn about Summer Programs

Summers are a great opportunity for you to pursue an interest or learn something new. Many U.S. boarding schools and universities offer summer programs. Take college classes, or start a research project. Or, just be a high school kid and get a job. Compare the options and see how they have benefited our College Admits.

Plan out High School Curriculum

How many APs should I take? What IB classes should I take? Our College Admits have been through it before and share their GPA, classes and test scores. Learn from their experience and advice on what classes to take and how many to take.

Discover Schools

There are so many more universities than just the Ivy League schools. There are so many public universities to choose from that will be more financially affordable for in-state students. You can consider small liberal art colleges, or religious affiliated colleges. There are 2,000 4-year U.S. universities. Use our exclusive data insights to see what the most popular majors are at each university, or use our database of profiles to see where students similar to you have applied.

“Gives a good view of the “typical student” at any given college. This helps you compare your profile to theirs in order to determine if the school is right for you and if you should apply there.” - Maria, HS Class of 2017

Gauge Selectivity

What does a 9% acceptance rate even mean? Students who are interested in applying to the top selective universities can compare profiles of admitted students to better understand what to include in their college application and what each university is looking for in their student body.

“I get to compare the admitted students’ profile and gauge the selectivity of certain schools. I liked advice section a lot because the lessons and suggestions from the students who have gone through the cycle are invaluable.” - NYU Class of 2020

Where do I stand?

Search based on your test scores, GPA, home state, ethnicity, and more to see how you compare with near-peer students who have just successfully been through the application process. You can even use our interactive data insights to see where you rank with your GPA and SAT/ACT scores, and click through to see the profile behind every data point.

Better Informed

People often talk about how expensive it is to go to college, but most forget applying to college isn’t cheap either. Each application fee is $75-$90, and students are applying between 8-10 schools. Our exclusive data and profiles allow users to make better informed decisions about where they should apply.

“Finding students who were similar in profile and seeing that they were able to get in. It helped us decide where to spend our money when it came to application fees.” - Jennifer. Daughter was accepted to Cornell, UCLA, UC Berkeley.

Essay Inspiration

Use our database of profiles to inspire your college application essay. From brainstorming to refining your essays, our profiles are a great resource to turn to. This best part? You can do this with personal statements and supplemental essays.

“AdmitSee helped me when I was struggling with my personal statement. I wanted to see what other wrote about and what they got accepted with. The personal statement, in my mind, is the hardest. Without AdmitSee my personal statement would have taken me way longer.” - Marissa, HS Class of 2016

Confident Boost

AdmitSee’s mission is to democratize college access by empowering students with data. Take control of your application journey with the information you should have about applying to college. The ability to see similar students get accepted to top colleges, or to see students who have gone through similar experiences write about it, is both reassuring and empowering.

“It gives you an extra edge compared to other students. I am very thankful for all of the examples and articles offered. It has helped me become more confident when applying for college and is truly a great experience.” - Julia D., HS Class of 2016

Applying to college next year?
View the application files, essays and advice of accepted students.
LEARN MORE

Create a free account and give it a try! Then, let us be your guide to the college application process. Upgrade for access to our database of college application files and exclusive admissions data! 

About The Author

AdmitSee Staff
AdmitSee Staff

​We remember our frustration with applying to college and the lack of information surrounding it. So we created AdmitSee to bring much-needed transparency to the application process! Read more about the team here.




Browse Successful Application Files

mlotfi_
Georgetown


Accepted to Georgetown, American, GWU, BU

Georgetown Transfer from UMass Boston going into my Sophomore year (AFROTC, ATHLETE)
jpm13
Rochester


Accepted to Rochester, Rutgers, Fordham, College of NJ, Drexel

Hey! I'm a freshman at University of Rochester Class of 2020 interested in double majoring in Biology and Spanish, eventually applying to med school. I'm passionate about studying science, doing research and learning new languages.
juliawang143
UPenn


Accepted to UPenn, Illinois, UMich

lover of the Bachelor, avocadoes, hikes, and rewatching Harry Potter for the 1000th time.
ArkBuilder
Stanford


Accepted to Stanford, Wheaton, Pomona

I love languages, exercising, and eating!

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