I'm taking my SATs soon and my main goal is to break a 1000. For some it's not a high goal, I'll admit, but I can live with it. Yet everyone else who cares about my college career may have a problem with my goal. It seems to me that the SAT is a game of strategies with confusing rules and regulations that only geniuses can play, and win. Unless, of course, you have between $300 and 1,000 (and I am not exaggerating here) to pay for SAT classes.

What else do colleges look at? School, of course, GPAs (usually 3.0 or higher), extra-curricular activities, advanced and honors classes, and while doing all this, you have to study for SATs. Having a part-time job looks good on the application, and helps with the astronomical cost of application fees. Did I also forget to mention the horrendous interviews with the most bizarre questions imaginable? Guess what? They have nothing to do with getting accepted at all (or so they say), but it still does provide some emphasis on getting accepted! You see, doing all this can give you a good chance of getting accepted, but it could also give you a nervous breakdown.

We have to do this to get into "good" schools. Okay, maybe I'm over-exaggerating the situation, I have a tendency to do that when I am stressing myself out. It may also sound like I'm not ready for hard work (which is not true), but compared to what our parents went through to go to college, they had it easy. They call us, Generation X, a bunch of lazy kids not willing to work. Well, tell that to any kids applying for and they will laugh in your face.

By next year this process will be over and all I will have to worry about is paying for college. But at least I will know where I will (or will not) be going to school in the fall. So what is my advice to all you college-bound juniors: good luck!! I don't know about all of you out there, but I'm going to need all the luck I can get! f