A good choice for your best friend is not necessarily the right choice for you. A great book that can help you do a self-assessment is College Match by Steven R. Antonoff and Marie A. Friedemann. Do an academic assessment. Knowing your academic picture will help you determine which colleges are within your reach for acceptance and which ones may be a long shot. Your guidance counselor can figure out your GPA after your freshman year.
Class rank is an important piece of the admissions puzzle.
The higher your class rank, the greater number of colleges you'll have to choose from. Find out from your guidance counselor your class rank. The PSAT test is given prior to your senior year. Most colleges require the SAT or ACT test score, although, there are some colleges who have begun to drop their test score requirement all together. Different colleges require different test scores.