Want to go to College? Get AVID About it!

There comes a point for all students where they start to consider their grades and how much grades can affect their lives.

For me and many others, this happened during middle school when I was introduced to AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program.

Through AVID I learned how to make the most of my education by utilizing the sources around me.

AVID is used at 4,800 sites in the United States and the skills that are learned in the classroom surround college and career readiness. That only reinforces the primary focus of AVID itself, which is getting into college.

The AVID program was established by Mary Catherine Swanson in 1980, according to the AVID website. Having been a teacher, Swanson realized what skills were needed for students to truly succeed in the classroom. Emphasis on a nontraditional classroom environment, collaboration, academic reading and writing, and support from proficient tutors all contributed to the foundation of AVID. As a result, AVID spread to about 5,000 schools in 44 states and across 16 other countries/territories, becoming an influential program.

AVID isn’t mandatory. But the things learned in the class are crucial to someone's learning experience, such as learning to take notes using the Cornell note format. Binder checks, GPA calculation, and tutorials are also common in AVID. One thing specifically that makes a huge impact on AVID students is the twice-a-week tutorials. Students are assigned tutors based on the subject of their questions and receive group tutorial sessions.

Another thing specific to AVID curriculum is career evaluation. Students take personality and career assessments and are matched with professions that might interest them.

Next is the opportunity to visit college campuses, I’m on my fifth year in AVID and i’ve visited six universities already. It’s especially great because we go to an array of different colleges. This helps students see that there are many types of schools and they will find one that suits them the most. In fact, 78 percent of AVID students were accepted into four-year colleges or universities.

Not only do we discuss going to college but we talk about paying for it as well. AVID students are taught to recognize that there are many scholarship programs, along with financial aid, student loans, and the choice of doing a community college transfer to a four-year university.

When there’s a will, there’s a way and that’s especially true when you’re in the AVID program.

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