In less than a year, I will be an alumna of my high school, and step into what is known as college life. But before I can do that, there is the infamous SAT. Frankly, the first time I took it, I thought I did pretty well. I was actually very proud of myself - until I started looking at college scholarships and requirements. It was like a slap in the face when I realized that to get great scholarships you had to score higher than 1300 and some even required scores of 1600! What is that?

I woke up very early that Saturday I would take the SAT for the second time, and am proud to say I raised my score 50 points. But still, it isn’t quite up there enough to get the really “good money.” So I ask, how do people get extremely high scores? The answer is SAT prep courses, like the Princeton Review, which promise to raise your score by hundreds of points and get you into any college. That sounded great until I heard the price: $300. This course was offered at my school, but when you don’t have the money, $300 is a lot.

Why is SAT prep not available to everyone? If scores are so important, why do students whose futures are at stake not receive the same opportunities? It is unfair and keeps people where they are. The same kids from families with money are getting top-dollar educations, with no new faces, no diversity.

The way I see it, it’s all about opportunities. There are those who are given more options because of financial means and I see that as a form of discrimination. And then there are those who struggle to get the scores they got on their own, and end up not doing well enough for scholarships and certain colleges.

I feel colleges should take into consideration whether a student has taken an SAT prep course, or if they got their scores on their own. Or maybe, I know this may sound crazy, SAT prep courses should be available to everyone.