School's like their student population to be well-rounded, not one student to be well-rounded. They want each student to be a master of one. Think about it, if a school had a bunch of students that were each a jack of all trades, then the school would remain average. No individual student would excel. What they want is one student who is a grandmaster at chess and another who is a published author. Each excels in a particular area making the school, as a whole, above average.
Try to find something with national exposure that you can really excel at and work your hardest to be the best at it. Even if you are not the best, you will learn so much about yourself that your experiences will make you unique.
I had a friend in high school who was really good at programming. Even though his grades were not the best, many schools wanted to recruit him. He even went on to receive a Microsoft scholarship.
4. Persistence
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of uneducated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -Calvin Coolidge
Call it hard work, dedication, or whatever else, persistence is the most important trait a person must have to succeed. Take your favorite athlete. She or he did not achieve greatness simply through talent alone. A persistent person knows their goals and works steadily to achieve them.
Be persistent. Recognize that the hard work you put in will pay off. Persistence will help you overcome challenges and overcoming challenges makes you a more competitive applicant.
3. Time Management
Waiting till the last minute produces inferior results. (Hold yourself to a higher standard, an inferior result is one below your full potential not a result that is worse compared to your peer's results.) Last minute heroics are nice, but planning ahead and avoiding the need to be heroic is by far more important.
I remember how cool it was in high school to get a good grade on an assignment after procrastinating to complete it. I seemed to be the master at this skill. What I did not realize was that waiting to the last minute was an excuse. I was afraid that if I spent significant amounts of energy working on an assignment I would still receive an average grade. The extra energy spent would have been in vain. Waiting till the last minute meant that if I got a bad grade I could always look at it and say actually it's a good grade for the amount of time I dedicated. Clearly this mentality limited my potential. I understand now why my parents and teachers were so frustrated with me. I did not work consistently and therefore I wasn't achieving what they knew I could achieve.
Manage your time so that you can produce the best results possible!
2. Read a lot
I did not realize how important reading was for the longest time. Read anything you like. Just read! Reading comprehension is a vital skill that helps you teach yourself. Nowadays, I am forced to do lots of research which requires a lot of reading. Learning how to read and comprehend will prove vital in college and later in your career. It is the basis for gaining knowledge. And knowledge is critical to success.
1. Pursue your passion, improve your options.
You might know exactly where you want to be in five years, you might have absolutely no idea. In either case, my suggestion is to follow your interests. Because when you follow your interests you are more likely to remain happy.
Inevitably when pursuing any passion, you must make a decision on how best to proceed. My advice is to pick the option with the most available options after. This is rather vague advice, but say you are deciding on a college. You want to do engineering. You might get accepted to the university rated highest in engineering and you might also be accepted to a university rated second highest in engineering but also highly ranked in other areas. Either way you are going to get a top education in engineering. But on the off chance you don't like engineering wouldn't you rather hedge your bets and attend the second university?
