The journey toward becoming an engineer starts early, while you are still in high school. To work in the field, you must earn at least a bachelor’s earn a bachelor’s degree, and, perhaps, a master’s or doctoral degree.

In your junior or senior year of high school, you will start applying to college. You will ask teachers to write letters recommending you, and you will probably be asked to write essays for your applications about what is important to you. You may have to explain why you want to major in engineering and talk about the area in which you would like to specialize. The college will want to see your academic record, and also may want to know about organizations you belong to, summer jobs, part-time work, volunteer work, sports activities, or anything else you have done of which you are proud.

So, when does the application process start? Now! Here are five tips for getting started on applying to college:

1. Talk with some of your teachers and your guidance counselor about what you plan to do at least one year before you actually apply to college. Remember, you want your math and science teachers to write letters of recommendation. Get them thinking about it early, so they can write about watching you grow into a responsible, intelligent young person.

2. Practice writing college admissions essays about yourself. Most colleges require them. (For some tips on essay writing, visit the College Board’s website [linkto: www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/essay-skills/index.html].) Writing about yourself may not be the easiest thing to do, so practice it. If you hear a song that you like or see a good movie, write an essay about why you liked it and what it meant to you. By doing that, you end up writing about what’s important to you. You may even learn a thing or two about yourself.

3. Take the hard courses. A lot of people think that grades are all that’s important. That’s not true. If you take an advanced course and get a “B,” it will do more for you than getting an “A” in an easy course. Colleges like students who aren’t afraid to challenge themselves.

4. Get involved in extracurricular activities. Playing sports develops good teamwork skills. Music involves mathematics. Art calls on creativity. Belonging to a community or religious organization suggests that you care about others. Becoming president, vice president, secretary, or another officer of a group or organization indicates leadership. All of these are important to engineering, and any of them will help when you are applying to college.

5. Take a summer job or do volunteer work. This demonstrates that you are mature enough to handle responsibility and that you can follow instructions without a parent or guardian looking over your shoulder. This is very important for college. A lot of good students don’t make it because they don’t know how to handle responsibilities. For more information on applying to college, order a copy of The NACME Guide to Engineering Colleges.