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.

In this short and sweet video, one Latina mom lets other parents know it is okay to let their children go away to go. Both her daughters went away to schools.

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

1. 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.
2. Make a resume. Focus on your major accomplishments in each listing.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Save all passwords on your computer and your phone.
9. For artists, musicians, etc…collect all audition requirements. Begin preparing audition materials and developing repertoire lists as well as specialized resumes.
10. 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.
11. Research the scholarships that are due in the early fall–Questbridge, etc. and start preparing their requirements.
12. 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.

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.

1. 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

These 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?

I 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.

Using your summer vacation wisely is definitely important even if you are unsure of your career goals. One thing I have noticed about my classmates is that many are applying and planning on doing internships over the summer. They did all kinds of internships before college also.

I was busy during my high school summers also. I volunteered at my church. I worked at my high school for the testing coordinator. BUT no one told me about summer internships, but NOW I KNOW!!!

Because I am interested in becoming either a vet or a doctor, I am making plans to explore both fields. Right now, I plan to volunteer at either the vet or medical hospital while still here at Penn, and over the summer, I plan to do an internship at the Los Angeles Zoo and get hands-on experience as well as decide whether or not the veterinarian field is where I want to continue.

It is, without doubt, imperative that college students, as well as incoming freshmen, start exploring fields they’re interested in and start building a resume for applying to grad school.

So find places to

…volunteer

…do internships

…work

So don’t sit still during the summer.  Your future is just around the corner. And colleges love busy, active students.