As the new school year looms closer--or has already begun--it's time to think about your goals for the upcoming year. One mistake many students make is waiting until later in the year, often when something is going wrong, to think about their goals and aspirations. Of course you think about your goals and aspirations, but I mean thinking in a deliberate and analytical way. To do this, you're going to need to write your goals down. Let's take three typical goals for smart, ambitious high school students: make good grades, get a leadership position, and have less stress.
Thinking about pleasure
I understand if you don't normally associate college applications with pleasure, but perhaps you should.
The first and most important step to treating the college search like a relationship is working on knowing yourself better. If you're going to really get what you want out of college, then you have to know what you want. And thinking about what brings you pleasure is one of the more fun ways to do that.