Beat the SAT or ACT: Don’t let these tests beat you!!!
Read this advice my current expert column on Unigo. http://www.unigo.com/expertnetwork
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NEWS: USC is now on The Common Application for 2011-2012. Follow these tips and buy my ALL COLLEGE ESSAYS application on the IPhone, ITouch, and IPad as it will list all the common application supplemental essays and requirements for each college.
Tip 1:
Sign up for the Common Application (www.commonapp.org). It went live July 31, 2011.
Account Set Up.
- Use an email address you check often.
- Set up an easy user name and password. Your user name and password are okay.
- Text yourself and save in a million places your user name and password.
- If you school uses Naviance, you need to sign the Common Application waiver on Naviance to allow you to submit teacher recommendations via Naviance.
Tip 2:
Overall Application. You can keep changing info until the minute you submit the application. So don’t worry. You can go back and make changes. Any requirement with a YELLOW DOT in front of it is MANDATORY to fill in. If you plan to apply for financial aid, you need to add your SSN. If you don’t have one, enter all 0s.
Tip 3:
Left hand column. Learn that the left hand column provides the links to each core section of application.
Tip 4:
Future Plans. Each college asks for different info so don’t freak out. You can have different majors and plans for each college on your list. Each college selects the questions for you to answer from a specified list of questions.
Tip 5:
My Colleges. Click on it. Add all your college choices. You will see core information about each college. Application. Supplemental. Payments. School Forms. School Details. Enter your teacher and counselor recommendation information here.
Tip 6:
Academics. The Common Application is asking more academic information this year. You can list every college that you’ve taken courses since 9th grade. It also asks for GPA and test scores. If there is not a yellow dot in front of an item, you do not have to put it in. Do not put in low GPAs. Let them see that later with your transcripts. If you are waiting for test scores, do not enter any test scores here.
Tip 7:
Supplements. Click on this tab on left. You will see information about supplements for each college on your list. Start a master list of the supplemental short and long essays. Color code overlapping prompts. My Iphone/IPad application provides each supplemental essay you will need to write: ALL COLLEGE ESSAYS.
Tip 8:
Honors and Activities. You can list up to 5 honors and 10 activities. You can move the order of your 10 activites around but focus on the most significant and most recent. Focus on leadership and initiative. Put them in order of your most important honors, activities and jobs. Put your positions (all leadership roles) in the short line to the right of the chart. Preview the page as the Common Application cuts off answers even though you can type them in without getting cut off. If you have more than the allotted number of activities, you can combine some common activities or put extras under additional information. You must identify each honor as S (School), S/R (State/Regional), N (National), or I (International).
Tip 9:
Essays. Start working on essays now. The Common Application limits your short activity statement to 1000 characters (includingwith spaces) even though it says 750 characters max. We measure it so go with the 1000 character max . The Common App now says you have 250-500 words to write your essay. But since you upload it, there is no actual limit. But try to keep it to one page single spaced. Unless you have written an award winning essay, readers don’t want to read much more. Grab their attention through amazing stories that are short and sweet. Use essays more than once for different applications.
Use my Into, Through, and Beyond approach for both long and short (activity) essays. Grab readers attention!!!
Tip 10:
School Forms and Payments. School forms are the forms for your counselor and teachers to complete. Most schools require that freshman (non-transfer) applicants complete these forms online and control the number of teacher letters so select your best teacher as teacher one. Beg some technology reluctant teachers to allow you to use their email addresses. Payments. You pay for each college separately. With fee waivers, you can contact the colleges directly or get fee waivers from NACAC. Ask your counselor for help or us.
Tweet- Finalize summer and fall plans to focus on leadership and initiative. Be busy this summer.-Spend-at least 20 to 30 hours per week taking classes, working, volunteering, doing internships, and more. Take leadership roles this fall in and out of school and really push the initiative factor.
- Make a resume. Focus on your major accomplishments in each listing.
- Do all you can to prepare for fall standardized tests. There are three ACT and three SAT dates you can take this fall. Hire a tutor if you really need to improve your scores.
- Really refine your college list. Have a range of schools that match your interests and abilities. Don’t have only reach colleges on your list. Use Naviance’s scatter-grams to help show you your likelihood of getting in or other online tools. The Fiske Guide is great as is Unigo.com to help you learn about colleges.
- Book fall trips and arrange interviews either here or there. Plan to meet with professors, students, and other campus representatives that interest you. See if you can stay in a dorm and eat in the cafeteria.
- Start writing your major essays—for Common and UC applications. They are the same as last year. Tufts (http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=195). Connecticut College (http://www.conncoll.edu/admission/11189.htm), and Johns Hopkins (http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays.html) share essays that real admitted students wrote. I can send you others. Only write stories that are unique and interesting to read.
- Begin completing the Common Application on August 1 when it goes online (USC is now on it). Follow the yellow dots-only they are mandatory to fill in.
- Save all passwords on your computer and your phone.
- For artists, musicians, etc…collect all audition requirements. Begin preparing audition materials and developing repertoire lists as well as specialized resumes.
- First gen, Latino, and African-American students should apply for some free fly-in programs to top colleges this fall. Applications go online this summer and early fall. Undocumented students can apply for most of these programs.
- Research the scholarships that are due in the early fall–Questbridge, etc. and start preparing their requirements.
- BUY MY ALL COLLEGE ESSAY IPHONE AND IPAD APP THAT LISTS ALL COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY REQUIREMENTS. BUY IT NOW FOR $1.99. THE COMMON APP AND UC ESSAYS ARE THE SAME. ONCE THE NEW SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS COME OUT YOU WON’T NEED TO BUY THE AGAIN.
Summer is coming, and college readiness does not stop for your students, especially those entering their senior years and going off to college. Here are some tips for ending the school year and helping you and your students use their summers well.
1. Remember, college students are back in town. Ask current college students who are just now returning for the summer to speak at your school before school ends.
- Have them speak with different grades and share real life examples of how they prepared for college and what college life is actually like. They can bring pictures to show.
- Videotape them while they are there. Get short video clips of different kinds of advice. Post these tips on your website.
- Get them to write tips to share with your students on various topics—active engagement in high school, how to write great application essays, how to survive your first few weeks of college, etc.
- Ask them to mentor students with great potential and who could go to the same kinds of colleges.
2. Invite college admissions officers to visit your campus. It’s not too late. June is a quiet time on most college campuses, so you can ask them to visit your school as long as no one has asked them so far.
- Since most college admissions representatives are already booked for fall visits, call and see if they have any time now to come in and speak with your juniors and even interested freshmen and sophomores.
- They are very interested in speaking to first generation and other under-represented students. You can find their names on college admissions websites.
- Think of public and private colleges in your area.
- Also many out of state colleges have representatives in your area.
- If you need suggestions, email us for some colleges to contact.
- Make sure you invite students from other classes to attend
3. Build in college readiness lessons and workshops for your end of year lessons.
- Share real college admissions applications
- Have students develop a resume.
- Prepare activities for kids going off to four year colleges, attending community colleges, and preparing for senior year.—paying for college, finding scholarships, visiting colleges for free, beginning their application essays.
4. Let kids know that many colleges will pay for them to visit during the fall. These visits are called fly-ins and are competitive. Many deadlines are in the late summer. We have attached last year’s list. We will email you the updated list later this summer. But kids who are interested in a particular college on the list, can contact them for their current dates.
5. Post information on scholarships.
- Many major scholarships are due in the early fall.
- So kids can begin working on them during the summer. Questbridge, Gates, Dell are some major scholarships.
- Help kids do some scholarship searches in your class or show them a sample application so they can see the kinds of essays they will have to write for a scholarship.
- Here is the Gates Millenium Scholarship application. https://nominations.gmsp.org/GMSP_APP/docs/NomineeForms.pdf
6. Please, please plan some summer workshops for seniors on applying to public and private campuses. Ask two of your colleagues to sponsor a boot camp with you. The Common Application comes on line August 1. Public campuses come out later but you can have students enter grades on CSU mentor and other public sites. You can include workshops on college application essays—We can provide all kinds of materials if you want.
7. Tell your students to be busy this summer. Colleges expect students to use their summers for jobs, internships, volunteer activities, and more. Tell them to contact local non-profits. If your students don’t have a plan, give them some things they can do for you over the summer. They can help you build a website or do other college or class readiness activities.
8. Remind students who are taking the ACT in the fall that the sign up is during the summer. August 12 is the deadline for September 10. If they need a fee waiver, arrange for them now. http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html. They can take the ACT twice for free.
Now more than ever, we need to help counselors and schools prepare our students for college. Join our group of lay-college counselors, aka high school teachers, with these 12 May 2011 tips. Use TAs and seniors to help you. I can send you a word version of this document, if needed.
- Develop a college readiness area in your classroom.
- Post deadlines for testing, summer programs, and major scholarships.
Friday, May 6 is the deadline to sign up for June 11th ACT
Tuesday, May 10 is the deadline to sign up for June 4th SAT and SAT Subject Tests
Saturday, May 7 is the current test day for the SAT. Kids can try to walk in if they must.
- Put up A-G requirements and tips for advancing and for making up failed or missed classes
- Post posters of major tests. You can contact the College Board http://www.collegeboard.org/ for SAT deadlines and the ACT for ACT deadlines http://act.org.
- Post pictures of former students at their colleges.
- List names of the colleges your former students have attended.
- Feature different colleges each week or month.
2. Ask current college students who are just now returning for the summer to speak at your school.
- With seniors-they can talk about getting ready to start college.
- With juniors-they can talk about getting ready to apply and find financial aid and scholarships.
- With young kids-they can talk about being serious in school and getting active in their communities and activities.
- With parents and teachers-they can talk about why college is awesome and provide some useful tips for surviving and thriving in college.
3. Put up a college board of your own college years. Post pictures, a copy of your diploma, and some memorabilia. Contact your college to send you free stuff.
4. Begin to collect books about college readiness. Start with
• The Fiske Guide • College Finder •College Board’s Book of Majors
• CSO’s College Access and Opportunity Guide [1]
5. Make college awareness and readiness websites as favorites on your classroom computers. Some great ones to start with…The College Board. ACT. Unigo. Cappex, Center for Student Opportunity, CSU Mentor, Hispanic College Fund, Latinos in College, and my site: Get Me To College
6. Collect lists of colleges that offer fly-in programs for under-represented students and provide some kind of major aid to undocumented students. I have these lists if you want them.
7. Participate in online workshops with your students. College Week Live has ongoing free workshops, online college fairs, and so much more. http://www.collegeweeklive.com/
8. Sign up for college information tips.
- The UCs have a counselor newsletter you can receive.
- Unigo sends out expert advice daily.
9. Use FB. If you have a teacher FB page, like as many college readiness sites as possible. My college name is getmetocollege freeadvice. CSO, Hispanic College Fund, Latinos in College, California Dream ACT, Undocumented Students, AB 540, and hundreds of colleges have pages. Have your students friend me as well.
10. Develop college readiness links into your lessons. For example, use California Reality Check to help students see links between occupations, income, and college. http://www.californiarealitycheck.com/start.htm
11. Help seniors planning to go to community college get ready. It’s the toughest year yet to go to community college. For example, help them understand how to afford textbooks or find programs to help them transfer. http://www.cccp.ucla.edu/docs/CCCP%20Scholars%202011%2012.pdf is a great program for kids interesting in transferring to UCLA.
12. Contact Dr. Joseph to see if she can offer free workshops or connect you with folks who can.
[1] (lists colleges that offer major support to first gen kids and even comes with lesson plans how to use the book.
http://www.csopportunity.org/whatwedo/guidebook.aspx
TweetThese steps will help you guide through your financial aid package and college costs.
1) Look at how much of your financial aid package is made up grants and scholarships.
Williams is paying for college through scholarships and grants!!!
2) Look at the variety of loans they are offering you.
- a) Make sure you pay attention to the interest rates that the loans gives to you and to your parents.
- b) Pay attention to the date you have to start paying back the loan.
3) Pay attention to the amount of work study money they are offering you.
- a) This money goes directly to you to pay for your expenses.
- b) You can offer work more than stated and you keep that money too
4) Think about other costs that demand more money.
- a) Transportation (airfare, gas, bus pass)
- b) Food
- c) Other costs (cell phone, clothes, etc.)
5) Did you receive any external scholarships?
- a) If so, make sure your school doesn’t require a refund check as it may deduct that money from your package.
- b) If school does reduce your financial aid award, it takes away loans first–yeah!!!
6) Finally, compare your package and other costs thoroughly with each college.
- a) Which college requires the fewest loans?
- b) Which college provides the most additional resources?
1) Look at the course catalog. This is, after all the most important part. Compare the courses offered not just for your prospective major/academic interest but the courses for other departments as well. Which school makes you really exciting about learning?
2) Join the Facebook page for all the colleges you are interested in. This is a great opportunity to have conversations with other admitted students and to get a feel of the student profile. Also, it’s a great chance to get more of your questions answered by current students. You might get an idea of why other people choose to apply to that school.
3) College Websites. Some really helpful websites to get to know each college:
- Princeton Review: This site tells you a little bit about the general nature of the college, admission difficulty, characteristics of the student body, etc. It also provides lists such as “Best College Radio” or “Best Classroom Experience”, that may help you narrow down you search.
- Unigo: Unigo provides student reviews for each college. I found this helpful because it gave me an idea of student life and student likes/dislikes.
4) Look for first-year courses or programs. These are courses specially designed for first-years and are usually unique and interdisciplinary. They are meant to be eye-openers that stimulate a passion for learning. They are also great bonding experiences for first-years.
5) Don’t compare colleges based on ratings. U.S. News likes to make generalizations about the academic quality of certain colleges. In all honesty, the 50 top-rated colleges and universities can provide a similar education. They all have the potential to cultivate a brilliant student who has tremendous potential to change the world. For example, grad schools don’t care if you went to an Ivy League or a state college as long as you have something brilliant to offer and are passionate about learning. It is ultimately up to you – not your college – to get good grades, choose enriching activities, and make yourself marketable to the post-college world.
TweetI am a second semester senior. Life is good. That is all.
Actually, just kidding. J There’s a lot more to it than that. Why? Because even though I am a second semester senior and even though life is good, there’s still a little thing called school work that doesn’t just disappear because I’ve finally reached the final moments of my high school career. Realistically speaking, I must admit that this semester I have not worked as hard as I usually do—nevertheless my grades remain solid. Sometimes it’s hard to find motivation to keep up with school work, but it is absolutely necessary. Senioritis must be crushed.
Sheryln
It really is all about attitude. In order to keep your grades up and stay motivated, you first have to DECIDE that you are going to do it. Once you’ve made a mental commitment, you can then proceed to set standards (which may or may not be slightly lower than your usual standards, but not by much J would be my suggestion). You can let loose once in a while—just remember that balance is key.
I loaded my schedule with all Honors and AP classes this year. Inevitably, this means that school work must still be completed. Although sometimes it feels like my teachers are smiting me with all that work, I have to remind myself that they are simply following the College Board’s AP curriculum—I chose this, after all. When my motivation reaches an all time low and I am tempted to give into the seemingly sweet temptation that is senioritis, I remind myself that I will be taking an AP test at the end of the school year which could potentially allow me to place out of college introductory courses. Invest a little work now and save room in my college class schedule to explore new interests!
Of course, don’t forget that there’s a lot of value in simply learning for the sake of learning. Enjoy your classes—get interested. I am currently taking AP Comparative Government. While I do plan on taking the AP exam at the end of this school year, I find that this course is highly applicable to real life. I read articles on nytimes.com and economist.com before class every other day and try to apply what I’m learning to how those countries currently interact with each other and with their people. I am now more informed about international news than I’ve ever been! Maybe even explore a new interest: take that art class you never thought you’d be good at just for the fun of it!
Moreover, as a scholarship recipient, my grades still remain important. For some, keeping your grades up second semester senior year could even allow you to obtain a scholarship depending on what college you choose to attend. These grades do matter.
So yes, second semester senior year is meant to be fun and exciting and everything you always dreamed of. But it is possible to keep your grades up and remain motivated through this wonderful closing to this wonderful phase of our lives.
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