A quick summary…Pick a great senior year schedule.  Do well on May and June tests.  Plan a busy, interactive summer. May 3rd is deadline for June 8 ACT. May 7 is deadline for June 1 SAT and SAT Subject Tests. Meet with your counselor to develop/refine your college list. Visit and research colleges.

1.     Academics

1. Senior year—Pick a rigorous 12^th grade schedule.

• Choose senior year courses that push you further. AP and honors classes
• If you stop a foreign language or math, remember, colleges have placement tests and they are harder if you don’t take a class senior year.
• If you do stop a content area, you should take an elective in its place.
• Colleges are very worried about kids who take light senior years.
• Remember you must keep grades high all year most colleges ask for 1^st semester grades and often take back admissions if second semester grades go down.

If you can’t find summer classes at your school or district, consider

• Adult Schools
• Online courses
• Regular four-year university classes-many have regular summer sessions.
• Extension courses that provide regular transfer/college credits.
• Community colleges, if you’re lucky try to find one that is taking high school kids.

2.     Test Readiness and Taking

Remember, you can take each test—SAT, SAT Subject Test, and Act—twice for free if you get fee waivers. You can’t take the SAT and Subject Tests on the same date. Remember, you get to send out your own scores.

      SAT

• May 4 is here…Take a candy bar or something sweet to energize you during the test.
• May 7 is the registration date for the June 1 SATS. http://sat.collegeboard.com/register/sat-dates

SAT Subject Tests

• May 7 is the registration date for the June 1 SAT Subject Tests
• Remember, the UCs no longer require them but why not?
• Take up to three of the one hour tests.
• Take US History, Math 2, and Literature. There are several other choices.

ACT

• May 3 is the deadline for the June 8 ACT   http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html

3.     Summer Plans

• You need to be busy this summer. Colleges do not understand high school juniors who do not use their summers productively.
• Plan to do something at least 30 to 40 hours a week.
• Get a job. Any job counts. Use connections.
• Volunteer. Any volunteer position counts. Ideally, find one that pushes your interests further.
• Intern. Again use connections.  Follow your passions.
• Take Classes.
• Making Up. Take summer classes to make up any missed or failed classes. Districts have very few classes. So sign up now.
• Moving forward. Take classes at a community college or local colleges

4.     Meet with Your Counselor

• Go over your current list of colleges
• Get some more colleges to research
• Develop a strategy for picking teachers to write recommendations.
• If any teacher is leaving, get his or her email address for recommendations

5.     Research and Visit College Visits

• Sign up for Unigo. This free site sends out weekly tips and college profiles that are hip, interesting, and helpful. http://www.unigo.com/
• Sign up for Princeton Review’s college major finder. It sends you lists of colleges that match your major interests. http://www.princetonreview.com/majors.aspx
• Buy The College Finder by Steven Antonoff. It lists colleges by a million interests topics and themes.
• If you’re a first generation college goer, become an I’m First member and get free resources and links to colleges that want you. http://www.imfirst.org/?legacy=csopportunity.org
• Go to College GreenLight and get free online help with finding colleges that want you and manage your application process for free. http://www.collegegreenlight.com
• If your school uses Naviance, make sure you have an active account and start using the many resources, including the resume builder and college research functions.

Welcome back from spring break. I know how busy you are, but we have so much to do before the school year ends.April is a busy month for seniors as they decide where to attend and for other students as they get ready for testing and other core college readiness efforts. In this newsletter, we provide April college readiness tips for freshmen through juniors and general tips for current seniors.

Remember, we are here to help you anytime.

1. Attend College Readiness Conferences. There are organizations in every state that have spring and summer workshops and conferences. In California, WACAC is May 20-22. It also has the IDEA conference, which addresses college access and success for under-represented students, is May 20. http://wacac.org/Resources/Documents/Conference/12-133%20WACAC%202013_FPP.pdf  There are always scholarships available.

2. Summer Plans. Your students need to be busy this summer.

1. There are many summer programs that recruit at-risk students. Most deadlines have passed but there are still many accepting applications. Please start collecting programs for next year. Some programs are due the end of April.
2. The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is holding free workshops around the country. The spring and summer schedule is here. http://www.hsf.net/workshops.aspx. Many workshops are in April. They also have Hispanic Youth Institutes that run several days. Their apps are also up. http://symposiums.hispanicyouth.org/. The LA workshop is June 18-20.
3. Seniors-who got into top colleges should consider applying to USC’s amazing free college bridge program for all kids (Not USC only—all kids going to top four year colleges. The application is due April 26, 2013. http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/research/projects/summertime/
4. Push your students to consider going away to a program.
5. If not, encourage them to volunteer, get an internship, or do something else significant this summer. Colleges want under-represented students to be active during their summers.
6. There is no one comprehensive list. But here is a site that lists some programs.i.     https://www.teenlife.com/  ii.     http://www.usummer.com/

3. Standardized Test Readiness.

These tests make or break your students’ access to top colleges. With the tough competition for at-risk students, our students need to take the tests as prepared as possible. We need to push kids to see the importance of these tests.

1. Many schools help connect kids with free or reduced test prep programs. Some bring providers in. Others link kids to programs in their communities. Programs exist. But help is not available for all.
2. College Spring is a new service that provides links to free online services and free in –person programs. http://collegespring.org
3. Varsity Tutors, a private tutoring company, just released free practice tests for the SAT, ACT, and AP tests along with questions of the day and free flashcards. http://www.varsitytutors.com/practice-tests

4. Standardized Testing Schedule Planning.

1. Please encourage your students to take the SAT twice, the ACT twice, and SAT Subject Tests twice.
2. Low-income students receive fee waivers to do so. Your counselor or administrator needs to order fee waivers. Make sure your counselor calls early to arrange for these waivers as they do not arrive quickly. Privileged kids take the tests several times.
3. We recommend students take the ACT in April or June and then September or October
4. We recommend students take the SAT in May or June and October or December.
5. We recommend students take SAT Subject Tests in May or June and November as foreign languages offer their listening tests only in November. 

•  i.     SAT FEE WAIVERS-http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/waivers/guidelines/sat   
• ii.     ACT FEE WAIVERS-http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/feewaiver.pdf

5. Standardized Testing Sign-Ups. The registration deadlines coming up are

1. Standby only for April 13 ACT
2. April 5 for May 4 SAT/Subject Tests
3. May 3 for June 8 ACT
4. May 7 for June 1 SAT/Subject Tests

6. College fairs and visits. Try to get a bus to take your kids to the free NACAC College Fairs.

1. April 25 the date for the Greater Los Angeles fair. 9am-12 noon and 6pm -9 p.m.
2. Check the dates for fairs in your area. http://www.nacacnet.org/college-fairs/SpringNCF/Pages/default.aspx
3. Have kids register so they can bring the bar code so colleges can immediately place them on their mailing lists.
4. Give them a treasure hunt sheet to help them find colleges within their academic and interests range
5. Take them to see colleges before they close in May or June. Contact the admissions office and arrange a special tour. Colleges used to provide busses. They rarely do anymore.

7. Seniors. No…we have not forgotten them.

1. We are providing our tips for seniors who were admitted to four year universities, especially Cal States and UCs about what to do.
2. For your top seniors, please help them find a summer bridge program. USC has Summertime for LAUSD seniors accepted to top four year colleges. http://www.usc.edu/dept/chepa/SummerTIME/student.php
3. Please, please encourage them to fight financial packages that are top heavy in loans.
4. Your students can still apply for scholarships. Help them find ones from their state representatives, city council people, school districts, and more.
5. We are also providing a list of the UCS and their summer bridge programs.

i.     Berkeley. http://summerbridge.berkeley.edu/index.php Deadline to apply: May 1.

ii.     Merced. http://summerbridge.ucmerced.edu/program-overview/2013-brochure-and-application Deadline to apply: May 3.

iii.     Santa Barbara. http://eop.sa.ucsb.edu/Home/STEP.aspx. Deadline to apply: June 1.

iv.     Irvine. http://www.due.uci.edu/sss/bridge.html. Deadline to apply: June 3.

v.     UCSD. http://students.ucsd.edu/academics/_organizations/oasis/transition-programs/summer-bridge/dates-info.html.  Deadline: 6/19.

vi.     Riverside. Not yet available. http://summerbridge.ucr.edu/

vii.     Santa Cruz. Not yet available. http://eop.ucsc.edu/content/bridge. Also has an engineering bridge program. http://mep.soe.ucsc.edu/home

viii.     UCLA. Summer program not yet available. Engineering & Diversity summer program. http://www.ceed.ucla.edu/programs/undergrad/bridge

All day today and yesterday, I have talked, emailed, and texted with teens and their parents about college decisions, many of which have cut the high school seniors to the core. Most have been admitted to several amazing colleges. Yet the pain of their rejections seems to prevail.

These are the parents and children that I have been speaking to all year about the unlikeness of their children getting into many of the schools on their lists. The college admissions process is more brutal than ever.

Selective colleges around the country experienced another dramatic increase in application numbers for the class of 2017, leaving even more room for rejections, the rejections of talented, spectacular students. Sadly, numbers don’t lie. New York University apps went up 17 percent, Tufts University apps increased 11 percent, and the University of Chicago apps skyrocketed 20 percent. Public universities also saw record numbers of applications as the escalating price of college has driven students to apply to several more colleges than usual. The Ivy League admitted fewer students than ever, making other colleges even more competitive.

These stats didn’t mean that their children shouldn’t apply. It just meant they should have applied with their eyes wide open.

However, many parents, their children’s rightful advocates, have held unrealistic expectations despite evidence — statistical and qualitative — that their children would most likely not get into some of the top colleges on their lists.

Yet, these high school seniors have outstanding choices. We need to help our high school seniors make some college acceptance lemonade.

One young lady I know got admitted to Wellesley College and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Another got into George Washington University and NYU-Poly, while another got accepted to Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and the University of Oklahoma’s musical theatre program. These students have wonderful choices, and yet they are not as happy as they should be. They believe they should have had better options.

Those feelings are natural, temporarily. No one likes rejection. So it’s our job to help guide and focus these students. They were admitted to wonderful college with great professors, amazing study abroad opportunities, specialized internships, and other programs that will make other students jealous. No college is so unique that attending it will limit a student’s future, except maybe the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. And yet even clowns from different backgrounds make it into the Big Top.

These students have great options. The University of California Santa Cruz, for examples, allows students to conduct unique research projects with a team of professors on college retention rates. NYU-Poly offers students the ability to work in four cutting edge labs, while Point Park provides students with access to its Pittsburgh Playhouse with three student companies and 18 annual productions.

So go visit the colleges that want your children. Some will even fly your kids into visit for free, while others will offer merit scholarships. Help your seniors see how the colleges that admitted them will help them experience the joys of higher education in astonishing ways.

Yes, some students will go to community college — by default. Others will plan to transfer from their four-year college from day one. These are students for whom I feel sorry, as we are not encouraging them to discover, imagine, and taste the lemonade in the colleges that have accepted them.

Now let’s start our difficult, yet irreplaceable jobs as parents, mentors, and counselors. I make really tasty pink lemonade.

The University of California received a record number of applications this year. Each campus admits its own class and notifies students separately. Here are the dates for the students planning to enter as freshmen and transfers for the fall of 2013. We follow with info on the complex waitlist and appeal processes.

Admission decisions

A few UC campuses already have started sending out freshman admission decisions on a rolling basis, with other campuses soon to follow.  Below is a list of admissions decision release dates by campus for both freshmen and transfers.  Please note that these dates may be subject to change:

Freshman            Transfer

Berkeley              3/28                      4/26

Davis                   3/15                       4/19

Irvine              first week Feb. rolling    first week March rolling

Los Angeles       3/22                      4/19

Merced                2/15 rolling          3/01 rolling

Riverside            2/01 rolling          3/01 rolling

San Diego           3/16                       3/16 rolling

Santa Barbara    3/19                      3/19 rolling

Santa Cruz           3/15       3/17 rolling

Waitlists

All campuses, except Merced and possibly Berkeley, will use waitlists for their freshman pools. Davis, Irvine and San Diego will have a transfer waitlist, and Riverside will have a transfer waitlist for a small population of applicants. Santa Barbara is considering the option for transfers.

What students need to know:

•             They might receive waitlist offers from more than one campus. Students can be on more than one waitlist, but they will only be allowed to accept one offer for admission. Waitlist offers will be made by the end of March for freshman applicants and the end of April for transfers.

•             Once offered a spot on a waitlist, students must opt in by the stated deadline. Instructions for doing so will be included with the waitlist notification.

o             Freshman applicants:

•             Waitlist offers will be made by the end of March.

•             The waitlist opt-in deadline is April 15 (for all participating campuses).

•             Waitlist notification status will be made no later than June 1.

o             Transfers

•             Waitlist offers will be made by the end of April.

•             The waitlist opt-in deadline is May 15 (for the participating campuses: Davis, Irvine and San Diego) .

•             Waitlist notification status will be made no later than July 1.

•             UC campuses strictly adhere to all stated deadlines.

•             Even if they accept a waitlist offer at a UC campus (or several), students should submit a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by the stated deadline to a UC campus, or other institution to which they have been accepted, to ensure they have a place to attend in the fall. If they later accept an offer of admission from a UC campus where they have been waitlisted, they will forfeit their deposit at the first campus and must submit an additional SIR and enrollment deposit.

•             UC Santa Barbara will send preliminary financial aid awards to students who opt in to the waitlist. UCLA and UC San Diego will provide financial aid awards once students are admitted from the waitlist.  For all other campuses, preliminary awards will be sent at the time students are notified of waitlist offers.

•             SIRs of waitlisted students will be considered on time for purposes of housing and orientation, provided they are submitted by the deadline stated in the offer of admission.

•             California applicants who are guaranteed admission through ELC or the statewide admission index, and don’t receive an admission offer from any campus to which they applied, will be in the referral pool even if they are on the waitlist at another campus.

Appeals

•             Campuses will still consider appeals received by the deadlines specified below. Applicants who feel they have grounds for an appeal should submit one, but they should keep in mind that the purpose of the appeal process is to address compelling new information or correct a possible oversight in the initial review. Students cannot appeal for a spot on the waitlist.

o             Freshman appeal deadline: April 15 (March 29 for Santa Cruz)

o             Transfer appeal deadline: May 15 (before May 15 for Santa Cruz)

This is a time of agonized waiting for many high school seniors. They have submitted their college applications and supporting materials. Now their fate lies in the hands of admissions officers who are busily reading through applications. During this often agonized waiting game, students, families, and schools can use this time wisely. Here are some tips.

1. Check that that college files are complete. Check your status regularly. Colleges will send you unique ways to track your applications. Check right now that everything is complete. It would be a shame to miss out on admissions because a college didn’t get your first semester grades or your final set of test scores. Colleges will also communicate your acceptances and other key information via their sites. Check them regularly.
2. Complete all financial aid applications now. March 2 is the major deadline for the FAFSA and many state grants, and the sooner you submit them the better. Please beg your family to provide all their financial information now as waiting will significantly reduce potential aid you can receive.
3. Apply for scholarships and contests. You have written application essays. Don’t let them get moldy. Use them again for scholarships. Apply for at least two. Visit college websites for merit scholarships. Find local ones for students in your area. Be creative. You can even submit your essays to writing competitions.
4. Submit any necessary updates. If you were deferred to a college, send them an updated email or letter. Send in another letter of recommendation. Keep in constant contact. February is a great month for a final contact with some great news or update. If you changed spring classes, you also need to contact schools.
5. Keep grades high; don’t fall victim to senioritis.  I know it’s tempting to fall victim to senioritis. But fight it off. Keep working and doing your best. Colleges will see your spring grades. While they expect some small slips, they have no empathy for dramatic plunges. Teachers, parents, and counselors should be in constant contact. Don’t assume everyone is on the same page. Prevent disasters early. I have known several kids who lost their spots because they entered the black hole of senioritis, and no one intervened.
6. Prepare for April college visits.  You will most likely get accepted to several colleges. Prepare to visit them in April before the national May 1 intent to register deadline. The colleges will have open houses. You can spend the night in dorms, visit classes, and meet currents students. Plan ahead.
7. Apply for honors programs. Many colleges on your list have honors programs that have winter and spring deadlines.  Apply now, and you can get priority enrollment, housing, and other benefits.
8. Plan active summers. This is the time to plan for your summer. What are your goals? Do you want to work? Do you want to be a camp counselor? Do you want to do an internship?  If you’re planning on going to community college or transferring, this is the time to do something career related or to take classes. There are many great opportunities for all high school graduates.
9. Consider a gap year. Yes, you are about to complete high school. You may be burned out or just eager for a change. A gap year may truly benefit you. You can experience something new and enter college refreshed. I know a teenager who is trekking through New Zealand as we speak. He will be attending Stanford next fall as a freshman after also completing an art internship. There are many programs that are no cost as well including City Year). Teen Life has a great set of resources for those interested: https://www.teenlife.com/pages/gap-year-programs/
10. Leave a legacy. Think about what your high school or places of community service. Could it use any additional resources? Could you prepare younger students to take over your groups? What can you do to help leave your high school or community stronger than ever? Plan a fundraiser. Do some significant training. Become a peer college counselor and motivate your students.

Read the rest of this entry »

Transfer applicants must write powerful essays to get into the colleges of their choice. They should NOT reuse high school college applications essays because the prompts differ and colleges are looking for different qualities.

While colleges still want diverse students, they also want transfer students who have found and explored academic passions, been active on and off campus, and met transfer admissions requirements. Therefore, long transfer essays are much less creative than freshman essays, yet even more powerful tools for admission to desired colleges.

Here is the Common Application transfer prompt:

So as you work on your transfer essays, really focus on the story of your evolution and exploration of your reasons for wanting to transfer. Community college students can write about second chances and the ways community college and various experiences helped them find their academic and career passions. Four year college students can talk about experiences that led to wanting to transfer but please, never ever blame your original college. You can talk about outgrowing a major or wanting a different setting, but never sound bitter.

Most importantly, you should discuss experiences from your college years, including the summer after senior year of high school and between first and second year of community college.

Email us, if you want to see successful transfer essays.

We will be posting other tips for transfers in the following weeks.

Many college freshmen had a challenging first semester of college. It was hard being away, classes were not as interesting or easy as expected, friendships were hard to make, and activities hard to find. They came home moaning and groaning, and many want to transfer to another college.

Yet for potential transfer students, freshman year is junior year of high school all over again. Colleges want active, engaged, successful students. So students need to take freshman year as seriously as possible. Depressed freshmen are not powerful transfer candidates, and in fact, when students get more engaged on campus, they end up wanting to stay at their original college.

Yet if students want to transfer, there are things they must do to maximize their chances of success in transferring and ideally finding happiness at their current college.

1. Successful freshman year grades. Grades are the primary factor in transferring, and if a student does not do well first semester, transferring sophomore year is nearly impossible. Also high school matters, especially senior year grades.

2. Correct selection of classes. Students who plan to transfer should be very selective in the classes they take. They should be taking as many general core classes as possible so that they can transfer these classes into their next college. Each college has its own transfer requirements. Many students avoid classes first year such as math or a second English class. If students are not sure if classes count, they must contact colleges, which may want to see syllabi and course descriptions.

3. Engagement and involvement on and off campus. Colleges want engaged and active students. So freshmen need to be active. Ideally they worked or did something substantial the summer after senior year of high school. Ideally students joined activities and did internships or volunteer work their freshman fall. Ideally they are working or volunteering during the holidays.. Transfer colleges want students to be very involved in their college experience. I recommend at least two activities fall and spring, a winter job or volunteer work. Students can get internships, join a fraternity or sorority, but no matter what they must be active.

4. Happiness and focus. Colleges want happy students, not sad or depressed students. Many kids forget to exercise. High schools mandated sports or they were on varsity teams. When they get to college, they don’t exercise, and that exacerbates depression. So join a team-intramural or club. Go for a run. Do yoga. Find ways to get involved. Follow a passion and join a singing group; volunteer at a local school; go to a campus sporting event. Many students may need to speak with a professional who can guide them through this challenging time.

5. Major readiness. Most colleges want transfer students to come in knowing what their intended major is. Some will accept undeclared sophomores, but no matter what, students need to be making some progress towards their major. They can explore their major academically as many colleges have major prerequisites and extracurriculary through volunteer work or internships. Take advantage of your career center, get a job, talk to a professor about research, or do volunteer work related to your major.

6. Tracking of all application requirements. Transferring is more complex than freshman year as each college has its own transfer requirements that no master application—not even the Common Application—tracks. So you need to go to each college’s admissions website and collect transfer deadlines and requirements. For example some schools want test scores no matter what, while others waive them if a minimum number of units are completed. Students will also need to submit transcripts from their high schools and colleges. They need to find out how each one sends these out.  Students will also need to put in an adviser’s or counselor’s contact information. They may not know their adviser at a larger institution, but need to find someone for application purposes only. At a smaller institution, students will know advisers. They may not need to explain anything, but if they do, they should white lie and not lay blame on the current campus.

7. Campus visits and transfer representatives. All campuses have dedicated admissions officers for transfer students. They are usually quite friendly and willing to speak with students—never parents. Students can contact them via email and even visit them during campus visits. Also if possible, students should visit their transfer campuses –not only to demonstrate interest to the colleges but to also make sure they have want they want.

8. Leaves of absence. Colleges will allow you to take a leave of absence at no charge. Many students want to return after they transfer, so don’t risk losing a spot by not taking a leave of absence.

9. Powerful applications.  Applications are very important. Transfer essays are typically must more focused on reasons for a selected major and desire to transfer. Many colleges have supplemental questions. Spend time writing powerful essays that do not focus on unhappiness at your current college but rather what you want from your major and how you are working towards that right now.

10. Community college challenges. Many students ask if they can leave their current college and attend a local community college. While that is much cheaper, it is very challenging for many students to get their needed classes as they have lower priorities than everyone else.

Following these tips, may just help freshmen get happier on their original campuses. For others, it may confirm that they want to transfer.

Transferring works for many students who do well and are active. It is harder for those who are missing requirements, doing poorly in classes, and not engaged. Sometimes students may need to apply more than once, and earlier rejections do not usually affect later chances of transferring once transfer candidates strengthen their profiles.

Let me know how I can help, as I have a great track record of helping students transfer as sophomore and juniors.

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.

Here are ten college access tips to get you through the rest of 2012.

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. Students need the encouragement to find schools that are looking for students with their profiles. I recommend students apply to 4 to 8 other colleges. Students with low test scores should add some test optional colleges. Fair Test lists 850 colleges with test optional possibilities. http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional 

2. Essays. Kids need to keep writing 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 for private college. They can keep on revising and adapting for other schools and write powerful supplemental essays targeted to specific colleges.

3. 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. For schools with overwhelmed counselors, others can write counselor letters. Please help students with getting great counselor letters as well.

4. Free applications. Did you know that there are multiple ways for students to apply for free to private and many public colleges? Students who took the SAT or ACT get four free apps on the Common Application. They can apply for free to lots of out of state public colleges as well for free. 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

5. Educational Opportunity Programs. 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. Call colleges to see if deadlines have been extended. http://www.csumentor.edu/admissionapp/eop_apply.asp

6. 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. http://www.hsf.net/Scholarship-Programs.aspx. 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/ Undocumented students: Dated but still working links: http://www.maldef.org/leadership/scholarships/2010_Scholarship_List.pdf

7. 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. College sophomores are ideal as they have already navigated freshmen year and are not so embedded in upper level experiences yet.

8. Preparing for financial aid. Please get families and students ready to complete financial aid forms. Families need to complete taxes early in 2013, and students need to determine how they will declare income. Sometimes, students need to put an explanation in an additional information paragraph explaining their complex family, living, and financial situations.

9. 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 the ACT.

• January SAT: The next SAT, which can be used for Cal States and many other colleges is January 26. Registration is December 28. http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/register/test-dates
• February ACT: Next ACT is February 9. Kids must register by January 11. http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html 

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.

Happy Thanksgiving. So many of our students are waiting to hear from early action, decision, or notification colleges, as are students who applied for Posse and Questbridge Scholarships. Sadly, all of them will not get admitted, and they need to have other applications ready to go. If they don’t, they will have a horrible holiday vacation, and drag you into it.  So please, share these tips to get students working on their other applications now!!!

I’m so proud of you for applying early action, decision, or notification to a college. In this brutally horrible waiting period before you hear your fate, please prepare other applications. Several public, rolling, and scholarship applications are due before you find out, and you must submit them. Other applications should be ready to go before you find out.

If you hear that are deferred or argh—rejected, there is nothing worse than spending your winter vacation completing last minute applications because you didn’t have them ready to go. That’s going to sabotage your family vacation plans and test fate.

So here are some tips to guide you from mid-November to mid-December.

1. Look at your college list, and make sure you have a range of colleges that you will be willing to attend, if your early college should opt not to accept you right away or at all.
2. Please, prepare applications for at least 50 to 100% of those colleges between now and mid-December.
3. Submit the applications that you must apply to before you find out from your early college. For example, the University of California and Penn State apps are due November 30. Other colleges have scholarship deadlines that you must meet before you find out as well. Don’t avoid these applications even if they require additional essays or recommendations.
4. Recycle and revitalize essays that you wrote for other applications. Just make sure not to put the wrong college’s name in the wrong place. Create new endings that relate to the particular prompts you are answering.
5. Prepare applications for several other colleges on your list that have regular deadlines. It’s bad karma not to. It’s going to ruin your family vacation, if you don’t and you get deferred or rejected, you will have a horrible vacation.
6. Look through your supplemental essay requirements and find out ways to write additional essays that push your core qualities. Don’t try to squeeze too much into one essay, so view each additional essay as an opportunity to share another one of y9our core qualities.
7. See if another college on your list has Early Decision 2. More and more colleges are adding this new option. You apply in January and find out in mid-February. You then must pull out your other applications if you are accepted. The plusses are your fall grades count and you can show your progression through your most challenging courses. Of course you only do this for a college that truly thrills you.
8. Keep your fall grades up. You never know if your early action or early decision college will ask to see your fall grades. If you get deferred, that college will want to see your fall grades. If you get rejected, you are back to the beginning and need to show your fall efforts to the other colleges on your list.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you will hear good news in less than a month. But if you don’t, I promise you will find other even better colleges that want you and where you’ll be incredibly happy!!!