Sat Test

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about life, it’s made up of a lot of little choices and some very large decisions. The choice to eat bran cereal or pancakes for breakfast won’t alter the course of your life too much, unless you have issues with sugar and/or fiber. Decisions about whether or not to study for the biology test tomorrow or signing up to take the SAT are decisions that matter in the long run. You’re making responsible choices. I know, I know. You’re thinking that being responsible sounds an awful lot like being boring. Adult. Well, you’d be correct on that count. It is being adult about things, which despite what you may have thought in the past, does not mean it’s a bad thing. You’re about to leave high school and enter the adult world where your decisions have more weight.

I’m not trying to harsh your mellow and make your future seem like drudgery and dullness forever because it’s not. There is so much after high school that is fun and exciting but you have to balance that with good choices. Emily Stolzenberg, a Princeton Review columnist, wrote about feeling conflicted when making decisions that would affect her future when it felt like those choices to be made were interfering with her present. Her column is entitled ‘Conflicting Decisions’

So many times since graduation, I’ve longed to return to the time when my parents took care of my important decisions. I would preserve the choice of which friends to frequent, which books to read, which clothes to wear, which pastimes to pursue. They would be accountable for scheduling and transporting me to doctors’ appointments, completing insurance claims and filling prescriptions, doing laundry and paying bills. They can keep the responsibility, and I’ll just have fun. Like Peter Pan, I never want to grow up. I’m perfectly willing to act the adult and to demand adult treatment, but I never want to have to make adult choices.

(http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/04/07/opinion/10157.shtml)

The problem with that feeling is that eventually you have to
grow up and take control of your life.

Remember jumping off a dock into ice cold water? The shock to your system is quite profound. I’ve found that slowly dipping my toes into the water and gradually getting my body used to the chill enables me to finally enter my entire body into the water. It might be like that with you and making the decisions you need to make on your way to becoming an adult. Hopefully your parents are there to help you and guide you slowly in this process. They’ve nudged you in the direction you need to go, reminded you to do your homework, study for your tests and prepare for the SAT. Now it’s up to you.

In one of my previous blog posts I presented you with some off the wall scholarships for the use of duct tape as prom fashion, learning to speak Klingon and for having been born left-handed. Oh sure, anyone can get the scholarships for having a perfect SAT, a 4.0 grade point average and having been president of your senior class and volunteer of the year in your town.

But not just anyone can get a scholarship in mold. Yes, mold. The Mycological Society of America (http://www.msafungi.org/) offers a graduate fellowship to those who would study spores, mold and fungus. Who knew your love of mushrooms could help you in school? When your mom complains about the moldy smell of your gym sneakers, tell her that you’re just working your way up to the mold scholarship!

A lot of people have begun to eschew meat in their diet and are becoming vegetarians. If you prefer tofu over breakfast sausage and eggplant over a nice medium rare steak, then you might wish to look into the Vegetarian Resource Scholarship. (http://www.vrg.org/student/scholar.htm) They’re handing out 2 five thousand dollar scholarships each year to graduating high school seniors who promote the vegetarian lifestyle in their communities.

If the thought of tofu cheesecake makes you feel a little queasy, and you’re not that interested in giving up your Big Mac habit, then you may be qualified to receive the Beef Ambassador Program scholarships. (http://www.floridacattlemen.org/Natl_Beef_Ambassador.htm) If you know your tri-tips from your ground rounds, and you’re not afraid of public speaking, you can grab some money for your college education while promoting the beef industry.

If you shred the gnar on your shredsled (translation: doing gnarly tricks on your skateboard) then you might qualify for the Patrick Kerr Scholarship Award (http://www.skateboardscholarship.org/about/) It’s a totally sick (cool) award, dude! Now you can tell your mom that all that time you’ve spent grinding rails and doing half pipes wasn’t in vain.

Those are just a couple examples of strange scholarships that you might be interested in. There are many, many scholarships available to graduating high school seniors and you’re going to need to do some searching and applying in order to win them. A great deal of scholarships are available at specific colleges or universities, so when you apply to your college make sure you look up what grants and scholarships are available for you there. Apply for every scholarship you can and chances are you’re going to be awarded something. Education isn’t cheap and sometimes you need some creativity in order to get ahead of the game.

I’ve talked a lot about how to prepare yourself to take the SAT exam while you’re in high school. Yesterday I spoke with my hairdresser and we were talking about school, jobs and careers. She said she’d never taken the SAT while she was in high school. She hadn’t thought it was that important and really wasn’t thinking ahead about what she wanted to do after she graduated. I told her I was writing about the SAT and she asked me some questions about the exam and how to sign up for it. Then she asked me if I thought she could still take it.

I felt badly for her, because she was a few years out of high school and was feeling remorse for not having really thought about all her options regarding schooling after graduation from high school. Sometimes, for whatever reason, students hear about things like the SAT or advanced placement classes or even running start, but don’t consider them important enough to follow up on.

Perhaps their parents never went to college and so they might not understand the importance of taking the SAT in order to get admitted to college. Some students are self-starters and learn about the SAT themselves, sign up and take the exam. Other students might need a little prodding and help from their parents in order for them to register for the SAT and actually take the test. However you get there, just get there. The SAT is that important.