Dear Teachers and Lay College Advocates:

Happy holidays. December goes by so quickly, so please help kids with their college and scholarship applications. There is still so much we can do to help these amazing kids.

Note: I spoke at LA Cash for College December 7 and 8. You can access presentations from dozens of presenters at http://www.lacashforcollege.org/home.html

Find similar events in your cities or regions.

Here are ten college access tips to get you through the rest of 2011.

1. More applications. You have survived many public application deadlines, but there are numerous private college and scholarship deadlines coming up. Please encourage your students to apply for these. Private colleges are desperate for interested under-represented minority and first generation students. Center for Student Opportunity has a great guide of colleges friendly to these students and has an Opportunity Scholarship for them. http://www.csopportunity.org/

2.  Free applications. Did you know that there are multiple ways for students to apply for free to private and many public colleges?

• Free or reduced lunch gets kids four free apps on the Common Application. They can apply for free to lots of out of state public colleges.
• NACAC provides fee waivers that most colleges accept. The forms require official stamps. Trio programs can provide these stamps. http://www.nacacnet.org/studentinfo/feewaiver/Pages/default.aspx

3. Educational Opportunity Program. Please assist and encourage students to complete their EOP applications and applications for other support programs at college. Each college, including CSU, has a separate deadline. http://www.csumentor.edu/admissionapp/eop_apply.asp

4.  Scholarships. Scholarships. Scholarships. There are multiple ways for first generation and under-represented students to pay for college. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is due December 15. Many colleges have specific scholarships. Encourage students to find national, state, local, and college specific scholarships. USC for example has the USC Norman Topping Fund that provides scholarships. It is due February 10. http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/ntsaf/prosp_overview.shtml. Undocumented students: Dated but still working links: http://www.maldef.org/leadership/scholarships/2010_Scholarship_List.pdf

5.  Test scores. Students need to send their test scores. Make sure they send them as soon as they can. Students with free or reduced lunch get to send scores for free to eight colleges. If they can’t afford to do this, you can contact a college and see if you can fax the scores to the college for the students. Remember, the UCs and Cal States allow scores to be sent only once. Cal States: CSU Mentor for SATs and ACT Score Manager for ACT. UCs: Just send to one campus and the scores will be distributed.

• January SAT: The next SAT, which can be used for Cal States and UCs, is January 28. Registration is December 30.
• February ACT: Next ACT is February 11. Kids must register by January 13.

6.  Essays. Kids need to keep write powerful college and scholarship application essays. Remind them, they can use essays more than once. They need to push themselves to write specific, empowering essays.

7.  Recommendations. Please, please write as many great, specific letters as you can. Students needs these letters and often ask you rather late. But they need these to get into college and EOP and to receive scholarships. Short letters don’t work. Give specific examples from their assignments, so you may need students to give you their former graded work to remind you. If you don’t have something nice to say, then perhaps refer them to someone else.

8.  Alumni. Remember, your alumni are back in town and eager to help. Ask them to wear their college sweatshirts and to be able to describe how they manage their workloads, social lives, and more. Sophomores are ideal as they have already navigated freshmen year and are not so embedded in upper level experiences yet.

9.  Application Crunch Game. With your younger students, begin to do college access work with your younger grades. USC just released a game. It’s relatively cheap. Perhaps someone can get you this game for a holiday present. http://interactive.usc.edu/2011/09/07/application-crunch-reviewed-on-play-this-thing/

10.  Enjoy your holidays. Please, please help students with any last minute college application questions. Perhaps hold an application party during the break. They shouldn’t wait to the last minute, but they do.

Again, you are the best at what you do. Your students are so lucky. Enjoy this time of year!!! Let me know if I can help in any way.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Rebecca Joseph

www.getmetocollege.org

rjoseph@calstatela.edu

FB: getmetocollege freeadvice

Twitter: getmetocollege

Ten tips for Working from Deferral to Acceptance

Getting deferred from a college are good and bad things at the same time. It is good because the college is still interested in you and has put you into the regular applicant pool. It is good because the college can now see your fall grades and learn more about you. It is bad because the odds of deferred admissions are lower than applying regular, and waiting another four months for a potentially negative answer is agony. So these tips are all prefaced on the assumption that you are submitting other outstanding other applications. You will find a college that suits you and makes you happy!!!!

1.  When your first trimester or semester grades come out, write an updated email/letter of interest to the school.

• Highlight your fall accomplishments and stress how these grades reflect your true commitment to academics.
• You can mention a project or paper of which you are very proud.
• Also stress any other updates…such as leadership, athletic or other fall updates.
• In the letter stress your renewed interest in the college.

2.  Make sure your counselor sends in your fall grades along with a mid-year report.

3.  Ask a senior year teacher, who has not already written you a letter to this school, to write you a letter of recommendation. This letter should really emphasize all your talents and reasons why you belong at deferred school.

4.  If possible, put together a portfolio…of one special talent

5.  Get an updated letter of recommendation from your guidance counselor or even have counselor contact the school personally.

6.  Contact your alumni or campus interviewer–if you think you had a good interview…Thank the interviewer again and then ask for any advice about moving from deferral to admissions.

7.  Do not ask people who do not have major contacts with school to contact school. Do not have anyone other than school teachers and officials write letters. The only other exception would be someone for whom you did a major project this year…volunteer leader, youth group…only someone who can attest to new work this year and who knows you really, really well.

8.  If possible, visit the institution one more time and revisit the admissions office to remind them of your interest.

9.  Basically, do at least one new contact with the school per month until April.

10.  Remember, now also focus on the other schools on your list and devote significant time to those applications. There is more than one great college option for you!!!

November College Readiness Tips for Teachers and Lay College Advocates

1.      End of senior year testing reminders.

• November 11 is the new deadline to register for the December10 ACT. http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html).
• November 8 is the deadline for the December 3 SAT. http://sat.collegeboard.org/registerhttp://sat.collegeboard.org/register
• Remember kids can take each test twice for free and send four test scores for free per test.

2. Good news for undocumented students:

• In October, Governor Brown signed AB 131 into law enabling undocumented students to qualify for California financial aid. Bad news. It doesn’t go into effect until the 2013-2014 school. Year.
• Earlier this summer he signed AB 130 into law that allows undocumented students to qualify for private scholarships at public universities. That goes into effect January 1, 2012.
• So tell your undocumented students to have patience and to apply for scholarships from this list. http://www.scholarshipsaz.org/collateral/scholarships.pdf. For high school seniors attending public school in Los Angeles, there is a $500 scholarship available. Students must attend a workshop on November 12.  Students can download the College is For Everyone (CIFE) application and get more info at the CORE website at http://www.ca-core.org/resources.

3.  The UC applications can be submitted November 1- November 30. Remind students to apply for EOP. It doesn’t require an extra application. Just a short explain why. Low-income students (including undocumented students) can apply to four UCs at no charge. Remember, students can send test scores to one UC, and that UC will send the scores to the other UCs on the students’ lists.

4.   The Cal State applications are due November 30. The EOP application is separate. http://www.csumentor.edu/admissionapp/eop_apply.asp/ Please remind them to provide details in the EOP short answers. Low-income students (not undocumented) can apply for four Cal States for free. Students can send SAT scores to CSU Mentor and ACT scores through ACT Score Manager.

5. Essays, essays, essays!!! Tell your students to spend time on their essays. This is the only way they can differentiate themselves in the application process. They need to tell specific stories and make clear their leadership and initiative. I have attached my 10 tips for writing powerful college application essays below. Ideally, in at least one essay, students should describe the world they come from and show how they have made a difference in it.

6.  Scholarship applications. Many scholarships are due this fall. Please beg your students to apply to as many scholarships as possible. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is a great place to start.  Students can reuse essays that they write for their college applications. http://www.hsf.net/.

7.  Private colleges. Encourage students to apply to four or five private colleges. Again, these applications are free for low-income students. The Center for Student Opportunity has a list of colleges that are friendly to first generation/under-represented students. http://csopportunity.org/. Many private colleges offer full scholarships to top undocumented students. For a list of these schools, go to http://getmetocollege.org

8. Remind kids to keep their grades up. Private colleges see fall grades. The UCs and Cal States don’t see grades until the end of the year, but they take away acceptances from kids whose grades fall and who receive any Ds or Fs.

9. Encourage kids to get ready to apply for financial aid. Kids need to apply for financial aid. Attend Cash for College events in your area and other events to encourage kids to apply for financial aid. The LA Cash for College is December 7 and 8. Book a bus to take your students to this great event. http://www.lacashforcollege.org/home.html

10.  Plan alumni visits. Please invite kids who are attending college to come visit your classrooms in November. Many can come in the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Ask them to describe what makes college so fun. Ask alumni to mentor a student or two in your class.

1. Help students with their state university applications. In California, the Cal State and UC applications came online October 1. Both must be submitted by November 30. The Cal States can be submitted October 1-November 30, while the UCs can be submitted November 1-30. Both applications have students self-report their course and grades, so they need access to their transcripts. Please help them with their application completion. Other public university systems are all online. Help students!!!

2. Encourage seniors to apply for EOP and other support programs. These programs provided amazing support for low-income students throughout the admissions, college readiness, and college survival process. The Cal States have a separate EOP application with several short responses and two required recommendations. As space is limited, have students apply as early as possible. http://www.csumentor.edu/AdmissionApp/eop_apply.asp

On the UC application, students just have to check that they want to be considered for EOP.

3.  Inform students about college application fee waivers. Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch qualify for fee waivers for most college applications. The Cal States and UCs allow students to apply to four of their campuses for free. Private colleges accept NACAC or College Board fee waivers or will waive fees if counselors, teachers, or students request them for students. http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/applications/fee-waivers

Undocumented students qualify for fee waivers for most colleges, except for the Cal States and public colleges in Arizona and some southern states.

4. Hold college application and college essay workshops before, during, and after school. Your students need help with their essays. These essays make them pop for college admissions officers who are desperate for your students. Make the essays requirements for English or hold workshops after school. Help them read great samples and see ways to use their essays more than once. They need to tell unique stories that grab reads from the first sentence. See our ten tips that we have attached with this email. Read the article about our approach in the New York Times. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/nacac-essa/

5. Remind seniors of upcoming standardized tests. Yes, students can still take the SAT, ACT, or SAT Subject Tests. They can qualify for two fee waivers per test. Encourage them to keep trying as their scores usually go up.

SAT/SAT Subject Tests (http://sat.collegeboard.org/register/sat-dates)

• Nov 5 (Oct 9 registration). Listening part of foreign language tests offered.
• Dec 3 (Nov 8 registration)
• Jan 28 (Dec 30 registration)

ACT Tests (http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html)

• Oct 22 (Late and walk in registration)
• Dec 10 (Nov 4 registration)

6. Help students learn more about colleges by attending college and non-profit events in your area. Colleges are in your area in October. Find out where they are or take your students to a college fair. If your high school doesn’t have a college night, perhaps you can crash one at a local public high school in your area. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is holding free Steps for Success on Saturdays this fall in key states. http://www.hsf.net/workshops.aspx

7. Continue to encourage students to research colleges online. Colleges want your students. But students need to apply to match colleges. The Center for Student Opportunity (CSO) has a great guide that features colleges that welcome diverse students and free resources. http://www.csopportunity.org. You University offers great video tours of colleges. http://www.youniversitytv.com/ Take advantage of College Week Live. This free website offers amazing webinars and workshops for students applying to college. http://www.collegeweeklive.com/

8. Write great letters of recommendation. Please write recommendations that make your students pop. Follow our Into-Through-Beyond approach so that you can help colleges see why these students belong on their campuses. Give details about their academic performance if you’re a teacher. Highlight their leadership and initiative if you’re a counselor. If you can’t remember or just don’t know them, have them submit detailed brag sheets. These letters can make or break an admissions or scholarship decision for a first gen student. PLEASE WRITE YOUR LETTERS ONLINE!!!

9. Connect with current college students. Keep ongoing contact with your graduates. Ask these students to write tips for your students and post them around the classroom and college center.

10. A PLEA…Help homesick college freshmen. We send out students away, and in October they begin to get very homesick. Their parents often can’t visit them, and they are beginning to struggle, at times, with their workload. So please keep in touch with freshmen. Send them care packages. Or just FB message or text them. They need your ongoing support.

There are many different types of college admissions. Keep track of college acceptance types and make sure you don’t apply too early if you need to wait for higher test scores and fall grades.

Some colleges have specific deadlines, while others accept students as they apply or who meet certain minimum criteria. Some have binding early decision options, while some let you get in early and then still apply to other colleges. Many state colleges have only one fixed deadline. Be smart in choosing how you will apply to a college.

Early Action (EA)- Many colleges enable you to apply Early Action in November-December, and you receive a decision by mid-December (or January). Early Action is NOT binding. You can apply to as many Early Action schools as you like. You have until May 1 to accept.

• Pros- 1. You can get an early acceptance to a great college before the winter holidays and eliminate some colleges from your list. 2. You don’t have to accept the EA college.
• Cons- 1. Colleges don’t see your fall senior grades or late November-December test scores. 2. Early Action doesn’t really offer any increased chances of admissions.

Early Decision (ED)- Many private colleges offer Early Decision which is an early BINDING route to college admissions. You apply in early to mid November to ONE college, and you find out by mid-December. You must attend if you get accepted.

Some schools even offer Early Decision II which means you apply in January and find out in February. You should really investigate this college in person by visiting it or meeting with college representatives in your city. You should contact admissions officers, alumni, and classmates who attend this college. Take this decision very seriously.

• Pros- 1. If accepted, you know where you will go to college by mid-December. 2. Colleges deny it but there are distinct advantages to applying early especially if you have a connection to the college or a true passion.
• Cons- 1. You must go. You cannot accept another college if you are accepted Early Decision.2. You cannot always get the best financial aid package as financial aid forms aren’t due until January. So Early Decision is not for those students whose financial resources are iffy. 3. Early Decision colleges don’t see your first semester senior year grades or late November to December test scores.

Note Brown allows ED students to apply to Early Action schools. We think this is because they reject so many ED students that they want these students to have other options. Check to see whether an ED school will let you apply EA to other schools.

Early Response or Notification- Many public colleges are now offering Early Response or Notification which is very similar to Early Action. You submit your application in the fall and find out within a couple of months whether or not you are accepted.

• Pros- Same as Early Action.
• Cons- Same as Early Action.

Guaranteed Admissions-Many public universities offer automatic admissions to students who meet certain academic and/or test scores requirements. Students must still apply but get admissions offers earlier than other students. Some state colleges accept all students who meet certain guidelines. Some guarantee admissions to schools in local service areas or at certain sets of colleges. UC eligibility is now for students who are in the top 9% of their high school class and who meet UC admissions requirements. They are guaranteed admissions but not to any particular campus.

• Pros- You know early on where you can go to college.
• Cons- Really strong kids not in the top % set by a college have a harder time getting admitted.

Priority Applications- Some private universities send priority applications to highly qualified students reducing some application requirements and guaranteeing earlier admissions. They reduce or waive application fees.

• Pros- You can get a great scholarship to such a college.
• Cons- These schools may be too easy for you.

Priority Deadlines- If you apply before this deadline, you have a higher chance of getting admitted and/or receiving a scholarship to a public university. Many state and/or public universities use priority deadlines to encourage early applications. They do not guarantee admissions to those who apply afterward the priority deadlines but do accept some of those applications. The University of Maryland, for example, has a November 1 Priority Deadline.

• Pros- You get a greater chance of receiving a scholarship and getting admitted to competitive majors and programs.
• Cons- Earlier application preparation. Same as Early Action.

Regular Admissions- This is a set deadline for applying to a college. You apply by one date-usually January 1-February 1 for freshmen and February-April for transfers. You find out in March-April for freshmen and March-June for transfers whether you get admitted. Freshmen must let the college you accept of your decision by May 1. Some major public universities have fall regular admissions deadlines. The University of California and the Cal States have a November 30 deadline for freshmen and transfers. The University of Texas has a December 1 deadline.

• Pros- 1. You get to submit your fall grades and all fall test scores. 2. You get to apply for Financial Aid and compare offers. 3. You get stronger consideration if too many kids from your high school are applying early. 4. You can ask a senior teacher to write a recommendation.
• Cons- You have to wait until springtime to find out.

Restrictive Early Action or Single Choice Early Action-These are the same as Early Action-early deadlines and not binding. ONLY, you CANNOT apply to another other school Early Decision or Early Action. Harvard and Princeton just re-introduced this option.

• Same pros and cons as Early Action.
• Two additional Cons. 1. Also a risk for kids in very competitive classes as you may get deferred, and regular admission may be the way to go for stronger consideration. 2. You can’t apply to another other private college Early Action or Decision.

Rolling Admissions- Many public universities and some private colleges offer Rolling Admissions. You apply as soon as you can and within a few weeks you can find out whether or not you get in. This goes on throughout most of the admissions cycle for a college. Once your application is complete, you can get a decision. Some of these colleges do defer students to see fall grades.

• You can get an admissions decision really early.
• If you apply really early in the fall, schools won’t see fall grades or test scores. Kids at really big public high schools sometimes have a challenge getting all the paperwork work in early.

“There’s a 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it. So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it. Like maybe…”

Phineas and Ferb

Summer vacation is a perfect opportunity to explore and develop your interests. With your months off school, you finally have the opportunity to do the things you wanted to do during the school year but just didn’t have the time. I used my summers well, and now I’m into my top colleges.

Interested in science after sophomore year, I spent my summer learning about stem cell research in a lab in the Texas Medical Center. I enjoyed it so much that the summer before my senior year, I went to Pittsburgh to partake in a cancer research internship. I learned so much about myself and the field of science during those two summers—I was able to see the difference between classroom science and real life science. In a classroom, all your experiments are set up to work—they’ve been done before. In the lab, however, you don’t know what your results are going to look like before you try an experiment. Through my summers I discovered the satisfaction of being able to turn a mystery into a known.

To plan your summer, I suggest you make a list of your interest and priorities. Are you interested in career exploration? Sports camps? Community Service? Animals? Learning a new language? Tutoring younger kids? Once you have that list, do some research online to find opportunities available in your area. You could also ask one of your teachers if they have any suggestions for opportunities. You could volunteer at the zoo, the hospital, or even your favorite museum! You could even do multiple things if time permits.

One thing that I learned early: a lot of these summer opportunities require applications and even teacher recommendations. Start these early! There are a vast number of applications that are due in February and March and some even work on a first come first serve basis—this is no time to procrastinate! These applications will determine how you spend 1-3 months of your life.

Using your summer months wisely could enhance or complement your school curriculum, as my science research complemented my biology and chemistry classes. Summer activities are a great way to learn more about yourself and your interests. What if you also did research in a lab one summer and hated it with a passion? Did you waste your time? Not at all — at least can you rule that career option out. But what if you campaigned for a candidate in a local election and realized you loved politics? All I can say is that the risk might be worth the reward.

Advice to juniors:

Juniors! Start the college admissions process early! Ignore the friends who call you lame and say that you don’t need to start early, because you do.

Once the Common Application comes out (or any online application), definitely take the time to fill in the basic information stuff. When you are close to the end of your application, the smallest jobs will stress you out, so there’s no reason to add that to your list.

Next: Make a list, with all the kinds of schools you can see yourself at. If that list ends up bringing together liberal arts schools with polytechnic institutes and large, state schools, so be it! As your interests change, the list will become smaller. Eventually, it will reflect where you really see yourself, and it’s totally fine to have that level of diversity in type of schools you are looking for.

Don’t be afraid to set standards for yourself. If you want to be in an environment that is at least 40% students of color, then go for it! Find the things that mean the most to you in a college experience. Out of the hundreds of schools to choose from, some of them will fill your needs.

Most importantly—work on essays, and start them early! Your essays really do hold so much potential. It’s your only chance to create something completely individual to yourself, and your slacking off freshman year can’t ruin it (the way we all claim our GPA was lowered). I know if your school requires five four essays, it might cause you to have a mini freak out, but keep this in mind: the more essays they ask for, the more opportunities you have to talk about yourself. The five essays I had to write for my first choice took me a long way. In fact, I got into my first choice! And since then, my admissions officer has sent me letters quoting parts of my essays. So trust me, when you search yourself and find the motivation and effort to write your essays, they will notice, as long as you write the story that  “only you can write,” something a wise woman once told me.

And here’s one more thing. In the midst of your college application process, find something you love doing—whether it’s singing, dancing, or sleeping, and do it. Make sure that your first semester is more than just stress. Try and make it enjoyable for the times when you aren’t working on college apps. It’ll keep you alive.

Good luck guys!

Makshya

Firs generation college goer

Admitted Early Action to Stanford University, Class of 2015