Welcome back to Lets Talk with Kate and Alexa, in this podcast we talk about many different topics and give our opinions, reviews and feedback on the topic at hand.

In this months episodes we will have one written story as well as a podcast episode. So stay tuned for the January podcast topics.

As Juniors and Seniors you realize college is coming faster than you think, so how are we supposed to prepare for what is coming, and choose where we want to go and make sure we are choosing what is right and the best for us.

We have researched some helpful tips from Sallie Mae, and Best Colleges to see some professional tips:

1. Research potential colleges- what programs, majors/minors are offered, location, financial aid 

2. Filling out a FAFSA( Free application for federal student aid)- Helps with scholarships, and grants

3. Visit the campuses- Experience what the campus is really like, imagine yourself going there

4. Meet with your High School counselor

5. Apply for scholarships- Sallie Mae´s scholarship search can help you to find all sorts of different scholarships 

6. Consider your interests and goals- fields your interested in, goal, career path 

7. Research different types of degrees- 2 year, 4 year etc. 

We have asked some juniors and seniors of ADM High School, what they did to prepare/plan what they wanted to do and where to go for college and some advice they can give:

Jake Alexander: ¨I’ve gone on 6 college visits and it has definitely helped me to figure out where I want to go, especially because I was commiting to that school for sports

so it was a lot of pressure. Some advice is make sure you get good grades so you can get money off of scholarships.”

Alexa Seidel: “I am planning on going to Northwest Missouri. I have visited a lot of colleges and Northwest felt very homie and safe to me. My senior year especially I have been ke

eping my grades up because its really important for college. I have taken a lot of DMACC classes, and I did have to research the colleges I was interested in for what classes I need to take to help me get in. My biggest piece of advice is don’t follow your friends, obviously you love your friends but going to different colleges helps you to meet new people, and you can choose the college that is best for you not influenced by friends.”

Hanna Grossman: ¨I have gone on a couple of college visits, and done lots of research on the programs of colleges I am interested in, for example their acceptance rate, what I need to be able to apply there. I am interested in going to The University Of Iowa for Business, so I have attended lots of Iowa games since I was little to help me realize and know that I want to go to Iowa. My sister is a senior right now so for me its helpful to see what she has done her senior year to prepare for college, my overall tip is to research ahead of time for sure to get an idea of what to expect.¨

Easton Korell: ¨Advice that I can give is, search early so you aren’t stressed out about it your senior year and pick the wrong college because you were pressured. ¨

Tori Van Langen:“I want to go to Iowa State, for criminology. I think DMACC or Highschool classes based off what you want to do are very helpful. Go on as man

y college visits as you can and find scholarships.”

Zach Lohman: “I am going to be going on some college visits next semester and I have taken lots of DMACC classes to help knock some classes out so I don’t have to do them in college. I’ve also had some teachers set me up for some opportunities for colleges. In Highschool definitely take some DMACC classes if you can.”

Aubrey Winter: “For me figuring out early on my Junior year helped me because it can help you to better understand the classes that you need to take for your future in college.”

All of those tips can be very helpful and resource full for Juniors and Seniors who are starting to think about college.

Since this is a podcast full of opinion, reviews and feedback, Alexa and I will be sharing what we have done to help us plan/prep as juniors for our senior year to be ready for college, and what our potential plans for the future are.

Kate: I have gone to 3 college visits already as a junior because my parents wanted me to get a feel for what college is like, and to help know where I want to go, so senior year I can always go back to that college and visit it again before I fully decide. I have visited Iowa State University, The University Of Iowa and University Of Northern Iowa. I would definitely recommend going on college visits. This personally helped me a lot because when I went to the UNI visit I thought I would like it but then going there and touring it, I realized it wasn’t for me. I did have the opposite feeling for when I visited Iowa State, I liked Iowa State a lot and even though it is a bigger campus I felt like I could see myself going there. As a junior in High School I obviously have another year to figure out what I want to do, but for me I would like to go into my senior year knowing either what I want to do or have an idea for what I want to do, so I can put myself into DMACC classes that I could be interested in for college. Our school also had a career day which helped me to know I didn’t want specific careers, like a counselor for instance. The last thing I want to say about what helped me was researching what Iowa State provides, for some of the things I am interested in.

Alexa: Right off the bat I know I want to go to UNI because a lot of my family has been there and said they love it and it is very close to home. I have been on two college visits to Iowa State and Iowa, but I am planning on going to UNI soon to visit. I know a lot of people would love to leave Iowa and go out of state but personally for me I am to much of a home body to be able to go far away. I am not sure what I want to major in yet, I have been thinking of some type of therapy because I am very interested in that. Some things I have do

ne to prepare for college is doing multiple DMACC classes as well to get some college credits, and working really hard to keep my grades up.

Thank you for reading our written episode of Lets Talk, stay tuned for the next episode where we will be talking about “Popular Christmas gifts of 2022”.