College Help

On the left  is a collection of information that may help you to survive the college application maize. Check back regularly as this page will be updated regularly.

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College Application Timeline While the whole process of applying to college can seem complicated and overwhelming at times, it is actually quite logical. This section serves as a handy guide for identifying the key milestones in the process and for keeping you on track. Junior Year March of Junior Year April of Junior Year May of Junior Year June of Junior Year July/August of Junior Year Senior Year September of Senior Year October of Senior Year November of Senior Year December of Senior Year January of Senior Year February of Senior Year March of Senior Year April of Senior Year May of Senior Year June of Senior Year Junior Year Maintain good study habits. Participate in extracurricular activities. Identify career interests. Identify locations for community service activities. Take Advanced Placement courses, prepare for AP exams. Take the PSAT. Prepare for the SAT (and take the SAT , usually in May or June ). Begin the college application process (identify colleges, seek scholarship information, etc.).   March of Junior Year Select senior year courses. Remember to continue challenging yourself academically. Consider or plan to visit colleges over spring break. Register for May SAT I .   April of Junior Year Register for June SAT I. Look for and attend college fairs.    Begin thinking about summer plans.   May of Junior Year Take appropriate AP exams. Take SAT I exams now or in June . June of Junior Year Another opportunity to take SAT I.   July/August of Junior Year Work – save money for college.  Consider taking a summer course, such as SAT prep or essay writing. Visit colleges that interest you.   Senior Year Maintain good study habits. Participate in extracurricular activities. Take Advanced Placement courses, prepare for AP exams. Complete the college application process. Seek financial aid. Take SAT and other required tests.   September of Senior Year Check your course schedule with your guidance counselor. Make sure you are taking all required courses. Review your transcript, available in the College Bureau (make sure it is correct as to courses, grades, and weighting of grades). Develop college application plans with your counselor. Identify 6–10 colleges that you would like to apply to; get applications. Begin working on college applications; note deadlines. Set up your college applications filing system; keep track of all correspondence with colleges. Register for any additional SAT I  exam. If some colleges you like require you to take the ACT exam, register for it. Look for scheduled visits of college representatives. Schedule is posted in and near the Guidance Department office. Attend all Guidance Department-sponsored programs about college admissions. Be aware of your Guidance Department’s college application procedures. When a college rep comes that you want to talk to, sign up in the Counseling Center. Get a pass. Get permission from your teacher to leave class for the appointment, if necessary. Plan campus visits and interviews, or take “virtual tours” and make appointments to have interviews locally. Look for and attend college fairs. Request letters of recommendation from your teachers. . Submit requests for transcripts and counselor recommendations from your counselor at least three weeks before the application deadline.   October of Senior Year Take SAT I if needed. Continue preparing and finalizing college list. Continue meeting college reps, visiting colleges (if possible) and interviewing. If applying Early Decision, prepare application, request all necessary documents. Begin researching financial aid and scholarships. Begin drafting college essays. Review the essay with your counselor, English teacher and parents.  Apply for ROTC scholarships, if interested. Register for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), if interested.   November of Senior Year Visit colleges. Attend college rep visits. November 1st and November 15th are the deadline dates for some colleges’ Early Decision. November 1st is a priority deadline at state universities with Rolling Admissions. Take SAT I. You are running out of chances to take the tests. Finalize college list. Take advantage of assistance within O’Hara, such as help writing your college essay. Visit Guidance Department as needed. Complete college applications and submit them to your counselor. Keep copies of all forms and applications you complete. Maintain grades and extracurricular activities. ASVAB given.   December of Senior Year Regular Decision admission deadlines are December 15th or January 1st – check your college application materials. Submit college applications with January deadlines by December. Rolling Admission and Early Decision students, look in the mail. If accepted, see what deposits are required for tuition and housing. Plan to go to an orientation session at your college. Pick up financial aid form (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) in the Guidance Department, or get it online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.   January of Senior Year Check your course schedule. Meet with your guidance counselor to make any necessary changes. Review first semester grades with counselor. Regular Admissions deadline for most colleges is this month. Submit your completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Keep a copy for your records. Keep photocopies of all forms and applications you complete. File FAFSA as soon after January 1st as possible (use estimated income figures.) Begin requesting scholarship applications.   February of Senior Year Regular Admissions deadline for some Historically Black Colleges falls this month. Start looking for summer work or internship opportunities. Talk to your guidance counselor about any Advanced Placement exam registration and test dates. Continue looking for scholarship money. Receive Student Aid Report (SAR) from the Federal Student Aid Program, and review for accuracy. Respond to requests from colleges for any additional information needed. Maintain high level of academic performance.   March of Senior Year Regular Admissions deadline for some large state universities falls April 1st. Complete and submit all applications during March. Don't commit if you have not yet received all of your award letters from the colleges to which you have applied. Call the college admissions offices and ask for extensions. Schedule overnight visits at top-choice colleges. Sign up for AP exams. Register for ASVAB, if interested.   April of Senior Year Begin receiving financial aid award letters from the colleges you have applied to, and make comparisons. Investigate payment options with each college. Accept all or part of the financial aid offered; sign and return acceptance letter. Many schools will require commitments to attend by May 1st; deposits will be required. Don't commit if you have not yet received all of your award letters from the colleges to which you have applied. Call the college admissions offices and ask for extensions. Don’t let your grades slip; you want to graduate in good standing. ASVAB given.   May of Senior Year Notify by May 1st the college you plan to attend and send final transcript. Send deposit to college. Make loan arrangements. Report any private scholarship to the financial aid office of the college you will be attending. Notify the colleges that you will not be attending. This is very important. Send thank-you notes to teachers and counselors who advised and assisted you. Take AP exams. Continue to work hard at your studies. June of Senior Year Request a final transcript. Complete senior clearance. Graduate.     COLLEGE ADMISSION  CONSIDERATIONS     Following is an explanation of some of the things that college admissions boards look at in deciding if a student is to be accepted.   While high school grades remain one of the best predictors of success in college, a new trend is evident: admission bodies are taking a closer look at the RIGOR of academic preparation; the kinds of courses a student takes. Major colleges and universities want to know why a student chooses NOT to take honors courses if they were offered at the student's high school or why a student did not retain a rigorous academic schedule in the senior year. Too often students of past years, attempting to achieve a higher GPA, elected lighter programs in the senior year, having fulfilled college entrance requirements earlier. Sloppy work habits carried over into the first year of college, and some students dropped out. For these and other reasons a good number of colleges and universities have recently raised their subject matter requirements for admission when evaluating a transcript. They also give extra points for college prep courses taken beyond the minimum entrance requirements. Many admissions boards have devised formulae to weight grades in Honors and Advanced Placement courses. This practice encourages students to take the more challenging courses because it increases their chance of admission. How important are SAT scores?A basic rule of thumb is, large schools tend to have decisions made by a computer while smaller schools tend to look at the entire application. A computer can't read an essay or letter of recommendation; the computer looks at GPA, SAT score, class rank. Smaller schools will look at the essay, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation and other specific qualities. Use this information to your advantage when choosing a college. Extra-curricular activities are still very important on a student's record but not to the exclusion of academic requirements. The intensity of interest in a single activity seems more impressive than a smorgasbord approach. Colleges have increasingly looked at a student's service to the community. Colleges want students to render such service while in college and emphasize it should begin in high school. Students who have been involved in service activities while in high school should be sure to include that information in the application. The importance of having a family member who is a graduate of a college. While this is certainly not true of every college, statistically a student who has an immediate family member who is a graduate will increase the likelihood of admissions by 40%. Not only that but a letter of recommendation written by a teacher who is a graduate helps as well.  SEVERAL STUDENTS HAVE ASKED ABOUT SUSPENSIONS: Many colleges now ask counselors to report if a student has been suspended from school for any reason. Students should understand that counselors must respond fully to all such requests. While this does not happen often, it is a possibility.     What’s in a Name?: College Prestige and the Quality of Life.   Many parents think that the end of the world is at hand if their children fail to get into an “elite” college. A sense of parental inadequacy follows and college-related conversations at cocktail parties are avoided. Malaise sets in; sadness is on the prowl. The Chronicle of Higher Education published an excerpt from Thomas Sowell’s “Economic Facts and Fallacies” (Basic Books, 2008). In the excerpt, Sowell essentially debunked the theory that the quality of education at a prestige college is necessarily the cause of later success in life. He noted: Most prestigious colleges get much of their fame from the research of the staff which takes them away from teaching. Sowell found that professors in research institutes spend less than half of their time with teaching as compared with teachers in liberal arts colleges who spend two thirds of their time with teaching duties. “Small colleges dominate the list of the 10 institutions with the highest percentage of students going on to receive Ph.D.’s.” In 2006, Sowell found that out of the 50 largest American corporations, only 4 had Ivy League degrees and “just over half graduated from state colleges, city colleges, or community colleges”.   Sowell also pointed out that it is especially hard to measure the impact of the education at the elite colleges since many of the entering students come from privileged families. So independent of the quality of education at the college, they are likely to rise to the top of many professions as a result of the family’s connections. Some might suggest that there may be an example of this effect residing in a large white house inside the Washington Beltway. Moreover, since more qualified kids often get into the prestige universities, it is hard to measure the school’s effects as compared to less selective colleges who deal with less academically gifted students. When the personal variables have been reduced in studies (kids who were accepted at Harvard but who chose a less prestigious college or students with similar SAT scores who went to Harvard and less selective colleges), the impact of the “name” college was still unclear. As such, the conclusion may be drawn that the added value of a name brand doesn’t matter as much as the qualities the student brings to the institution. It may be that it is not the name or even the education by a college that counts in the long run but, rather, the effects of bringing gifted kids together on a selective campus that constitutes the primary operative variable. Maybe it is not what you know that is behind the alleged benefits of attending an elite college but who you know. In the final analysis, it may be something as simple as the circle of friends that creates measurable benefits among colleges. Those kinds of talented students are present at any post-secondary school across the nation but there are likely to be a higher percentage of them on a very selective college campus. I always tell my young advisees that, everything else being equal, you should try to attend the college with the smartest kids. That network, marked by talent and purpose and often begun in college, is likely to yield certain benefits throughout one’s life. Thus it may not be the college’s name that creates opportunity but, rather, the student’s vision, talent, character and circle of friends that make the difference regardless of the prestige or ranking of the college. So the message is: find a college that is likely to be a place where the student’s potential is likely to take root. It doesn’t matter what someone else thinks about the place; the sole judge should be the student. If it isn’t an Ivy League school, parents will get over it as they focus on the person you have become, not necessarily the person your parents wanted you to be in their search for parental validation. Both of my daughters attended “second-tier” colleges and became “first-tier” human beings. Sowell reminds us to pay attention to the important stuff, a place that works for the student and a place that over a lifetime will be remembered as some of the best years of one’s life.       Faring Well at College Fairs   National College Fairs offer an exciting opportunity to talk to the people in the know. Admission representatives from a variety of colleges are all gathered in one place, just waiting to answer your questions. But it's easy to get caught up in the crowds and confusion. Soon you're criss-crossing the room (or many rooms), stopping at any booth that catches your eye or seems popular. When that happens, you end up with lots of pretty brochures, but not a lot of clear impressions about which colleges you may be interested in. Making the most of a college fair means planning your strategy before you enter those double doors. "Treat a college fair like a buffet dinner," advises a director of undergraduate admission from Florida . "There will be more there than you can possibly take in, but then again, not everything is to your taste." Experienced buffet diners know that it's best to scope out their choices before they start filling their plate. Savvy students can do the equivalent by looking over a list of college fair participants before the fair. Choose the colleges you most want to find out more about. If you have time, research these colleges by reading information in your guidance office or by checking out guidebooks or Web sites. "Know what you want to find out at the fair," says a director of admission at a college in Ohio . Write up a short list of questions to ask admission representatives. To compare several schools, plan on asking the same questions at each table. The questions you ask should be unique to your interests and not easily found in standard college materials. "The college fair is a good time to talk person-to-person with the representative of that school," says one guidance counselor. "Your job is to think of good questions." So cross out the questions like, "How many people are in the freshman class?" Instead, ask what the two or three most popular majors are (that can give you a good idea of the main interests of the majority of the students). If you have a particular major in mind, don't ask "How good is major X?" No college representative will tell you that a program is bad. Instead, ask how many students take that major; what research faculty members are involved in (and the opportunities for undergraduates to participate in it); or what courses you would take your first year in a particular major. Students who are undecided should ask about what services and support are available to help them explore various majors. Other things you can ask about: extracurricular activities, what kinds of students the college is looking for, what percentage of students receive financial aid, and other concerns unique to your interests and situation. Mapping out a strategy Before you leave for the fair, make sure you have the following supplies: a small notebook with your list of colleges and questions you want to ask; a pen or pencil; and a backpack or tote-bag to hold all of the college information you'll be collecting. Students with access to computers may wish to print up a few sheets of self-stick address labels. Include your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, high school, year of graduation, intended major(s), and any extracurricular activities you're interested in. At the fair, slap the address labels on the college information cards to save you time in filling out the same information over and over at each college's table. At some fairs, colleges, rather than using information cards, may use scanners that collect your contact information electronically (name, address, phone number and email address) onsite, leaving you more time to speak with representatives at the fair. Ask your counselor before the fair whether scanners will be available or go online to http://www.nacacnet.org/fairs and search for the fair in which you’re interested. You must sign up beforehand to have your information electronically scanned. Although this may be a lot to consider, the real strategizing begins when you arrive at the fair. Look for a map of where each college is located and map out your route. Note where each college is located and plan the most efficient way to visit the colleges on your list. (For example, you want to make sure to visit all the colleges of interest to you in one room before moving to the next.) Also, make sure to check out the schedule of information sessions: many fairs have sessions on the search process, applications, financial aid, and other issues run by experts in the field. These sessions are a great place to ask general questions about the college admission process. Your notebook and pen are great tools for keeping all those conversations straight. After you leave a table, jot down your impressions of the college and the answers the admission representatives gave you. Try to do this before you visit the next table, while your impressions are still fresh. Teaming up Depending on the time of day of the fair, both students and parents may be encouraged to attend. If a family member attends the fair with you, talk about your plan ahead of time. You may decide to split up--perhaps a parent can attend the financial aid seminar so you can visit more colleges. Another option is staying together for part or all of time. You may find that your parents or siblings ask different questions than you do. Also, it can be helpful to get a second opinion on your impressions of particular colleges. Browsing Planning ahead ensures that you get to visit the colleges that most interest you. But also make sure to leave time for browsing. "Be adventurous! Don't just focus on 'name' schools," says an admission director. "You may find that a school you've never heard of offers the exact major, extracurricular program, etc., that you're seeking." Following up By the time the fair is over, you'll have a bag filled with information about colleges--and a possible case of information overload. Don't succumb to the temptation of just piling all those brochures in some obscure corner of your bedroom. If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a day or two away from the college search. Then get out all of those brochures, along with the notes you took while at the fair, and read through them. You may find that some colleges aren't as interesting as you first thought. Others only look better the more you research them. For those colleges, follow up by filling out the information cards in the brochures or by starting to schedule college visits.         Getting Great Recommendations A great teacher recommendation can add depth and excitement to your college application. But many recommendations end up sounding alike—especially to tired admissions officers reading their fiftieth application of the day. To make your teacher recommendations stand out from the crowd of compliments, try these suggestions from the experts. Choose carefully You got an "A" in Mrs. Smith's class—your favorite subject. You barely squeaked out a "B+" in Mr. Jones's class, and that was by working harder than you've ever worked in your life. Which teacher do you ask to write a recommendation? Believe it or not, Mr. Jones could be the better choice. He can write about your determination to learn a subject that was difficult for you. If you had to ask Mr. Jones for extra help, he might know you better than Mrs. Smith does. On the other hand, Mrs. Smith can attest to your natural aptitude for her subject. If her class is related to a college major you're interested in, or if you completed a significant project or paper for the class, she may be a good choice. (Of course, if you need more than one recommendation, ask both teachers.) "Students should ask teachers from classes where they have been most engaged intellectually, and especially where they have done a special project requiring independent work, follow-through, and imagination," says Jon Reider, director of college counseling at San Francisco University High School (CA). "Just an A in the class is not noteworthy." So don't choose teachers based on grades alone. Think about the work you did in their class(es), the relationship between you and the teacher, and how your experience in the class could fit with your college choices. If the teachers don't know you very well or the class wasn't very demanding, you'll end up with so-so recommendations. "Find someone who really knows you, warts and all," says Richard Adam, college advisor at Albuquerque Academy (NM). "It is better to have a knowledgeable report that is balanced than an antiseptically clean but generic one." Ask early Often, teachers are asked to write recommendations for a lot of their students. Ask your teachers about recommendations as early as possible. (How about right now? Go ahead, we'll wait.) You're more likely to get thoughtful, unique recommendations when yours is one of the first the teachers have written this year. By the tenth or fifteenth recommendation, teachers could end up running low on inspiration. "The early recommendations often tend to be better (before teacher burnout occurs)," says John Boshoven, counselor for continuing education at Community High School (MI) and director of college counseling for Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit. Nudge their memory Some high school teachers may have more than a hundred students per year. Don't make them rack their brains trying to remember exactly what topic you chose for your research paper last semester. When you give teachers your recommendation forms (and don't forget an addressed, stamped envelope!), include one or more following items: Copies of papers you wrote for that teacher's class, with his or her comments written on them. A list of which of the teacher's classes you've taken and when you took them. A short (one page or less) summary of your academic achievements and activities. Also, find time to talk to your teacher about your experience in his or her class and your dreams for college. "The best thing to do is to tell the teacher what you got out of his or her class—how it changed your way of looking at the world," says Reider. If possible, relate that discussion to what you're looking for in a college. For example, perhaps what you enjoyed most about a particular class was the interesting classroom discussions. As a result, you decided to look for colleges that encourage a lot of interaction between the faculty and students. "If you make clear to your teacher why you are applying to each college—how much each college matches your learning styles and objectives—and if you ask the teacher to cite examples of these in his or her class, you will have a recommendation that is much more helpful to the admission office," says Robert Massa, vice president of enrollment, student life, and college relations at Dickinson College (PA). Also, if you asked your teachers weeks or months before the due date (you mean you haven't asked yet? What are you waiting for?), check on the progress of the recommendation a week or two before the due date. Don't be a pest: just ask politely if the teacher needs anything else to complete the recommendation and mention the due date. Appreciate their efforts Teachers write recommendations because they care about their students—that's you! Write your teacher a thank-you note. If you want to be more creative, attach the note to a plate of homemade cookies. Too many students don't realize that writing recommendations is hard work for teachers. Make sure that your teachers know you appreciate their efforts!         THE COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY   ·       Be positive; don’t write about sad times, write about good times (times when you learned an important life lesson) ·       Begin with an outline. ·       Include accomplishments subtly. ·       Schools are looking for intelligent, well adjusted, well rounded students; make yourself look that way. ·       Some schools are looking for evidence of volunteer work. Check US News.com to see if your school sees this as important. ·       If you are asked why you chose a particular school, the ONLY answer is because you feel it will give you the best education, not because its close, your friends are going there, they have good parties. ·       If someone from your family went to the school, be sure to mention this! ·       If appropriate, show how you have overcome adversity to triumph. ·       You will be judged by this essay. Make it representative of who you are: MAKE IT PERFECT. ·       After writing the essay, put it away for 24 hours. Then take it out and read it as if you never read it before. ·       Have your parents read it and listen to their advice. ·       If you are close to another English Teacher, ask him/her to review it. ·       Be sure to use compound sentences. ·       Use a thesaurus. ·       Remember, the person who is reading your essay will read hundreds of them. Make yours stand out… humor is a positive (if you can pull it off. If you try to be funny and are not… ewe).   Financial Aid Below, are answers to several questions you may have about financial aid. Click on the topic below to see more. Who should apply      Types of aid     How Financial aid works     What determines expected family contribution Sources of Financial aid     Forms of financial aid      The Financial aid award    Outside Scholarships