APPLYING TO college

How to start

Starting the college search doesn't just mean beginning a college list or starting to fill out applications. (Although if you're looking for that information, you can easily find it in more detail on the pages linked at the top of this one, as well as the grade-specific pages for Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors.) Starting the college search also means beginning to cultivate a certain mindset, one that is process-focused rather than simply outcome-focused.

Although 100% of Greenhills students who want to go to a four-year college or university do so, the fact is that this process involves uncertainty for just about everyone. There are few guarantees in college admissions, especially these days. Because the outcomes we hope for are not certain, it isn't practical to get overly attached to any particular one.

But these uncertainties don't have to feed fear and anxiety--they can also fuel creativity, possibility, and exploration. We're convinced that what's far more important about the college process is not where you get in, but the chances it provides for reflection, for learning more about yourself, others, and the broader world around you. Done right, looking for colleges gives you the chance to figure out who you are and who you want to be. That's why we want you to think carefully as you explore, and be open to possibilities: What do you already know? What do you not? What you can you learn, and how can you use it to find a list of colleges that will help you become the person you want to be?

That ability to know yourself is ultimately more valuable than a list of college acceptances, and if cultivated it will last you well beyond the four years of college. We invite you to jump right in.

And remember: you're not doing this alone. You're doing this with us.