When I first got to high school, college was number one on my list of “things to put off until later.” However, I should have realized that even though I wasn’t getting ready to apply anywhere yet, I still needed to do well in school in order to better my future.

It’s understandable that the last thing you want to think about right now is college, but even though you aren’t as involved in the process yet, you still need to keep it in the back of your mind. Take it from me, if you don’t start preparing yourself now, your actions could ultimately stay with you and negatively affect your high school career.

You may not be deciding upon your major, looking at schools, or even trying to understand what college is all about yet; but you have to prepare yourselves for when it becomes a reality. You might ask yourself, “If college isn’t a top priority for me right now, why do I even need to think about it?”

Everything you do in high school ultimately measures up to how your college application will look. Your application will include the volunteer service you do, the sports you play, the clubs you join, your standardized test scores, and, most importantly, your grades.

Your grades should always be a top priority because they will end up not only on your transcript, but it will also be reflected in your GPA.

Looking back on my high school career, I think my biggest regret was slacking off during freshman and especially sophomore year. I know that I could have gotten a better GPA if I had only applied myself more and made my schoolwork a top priority.

Applying to college is closer than you think, and you only have a little bit longer to make your grades count. If you have phenomenal test scores with a low GPA then it could show that you don’t try, which is ultimately an unattractive trait on an application. This is even more of a reason to try your best in school.

If you slack off, I promise you that you will regret it. You’ll have to kick yourself junior year in order to try to gain back the grades you’ve lost. This happened to me, and I realized that no matter how hard I tried to get back the GPA I lost,  I still hadn’t tried hard enough to achieve my fullest potential. As a result, I unfortunately couldn’t have applied to some of the colleges I would have liked to.

Yes, I had other things going on in my life, but school should have been my first priority. So if this letter doesn’t influence you to try harder in school, hopefully that college application will. If you create good study habits now, I can promise that you will do better in school in order to prepare yourself for the additional workload in the years to come. My challenge for you is to start challenging yourself now before it’s too late.

So when the guidance counselors call you down for “college planning” meetings, don’t blow them off. Their advice is valuable, and when they give you those booklets about what you should expect next, don’t be surprised when it constantly says,  “KEEP YOUR GRADES UP!” Trust me, it’s for a good reason.