Stay on Track for College
Freshmen: How are your grades? Do you know what career you want? Have you thought about saving for college yet?
College today costs a lot of money and it’s important to talk to your parents about planning for college expenses. If your family already has a savings plan, continue to add to it. If not, now is a great time to start saving for college. You can figure the cost of colleges you are interested in, on the college’s website. Students can also begin applying for scholarships as well.
Keep your grades strong because they will impact your GPA and class rank. Although college seems like a long way off right now, grades really do count toward college admission and scholarships.
Even though you don’t need to know what job you want now its important to start figuring it out. Talk to your guidance counselor, friends and family and look into skills or interests you have. Once you figure it out, choosing schools will be so much easier. You can figure the cost of colleges you are interested in on the college’s website.
Sophomores: Are you being involved? Have you thought about LEAP classes?In after-school activities?
Get or stay involved with extracurricular activities and work toward leadership positions in the activities you like best. Don’t forget to become involved in community service and other volunteer activities.
Taking LEAP classes look great to colleges because you prove that you can handle the hard course work and you earn college credits. If you are interested you should see your counselor or Mr. Clutterbuck.
Juniors: Are your grades strong? Are you ready for the SAT or ACT? Have you visited any colleges yet? Have you looked at scholarships?
Junior year grades will say a lot about your academic performance. Colleges will look at those grades the closest because they will not see your senior grades until the summer.
Discuss with your counselor when you should take the standardized tests and your previous PSAT scores, in order to decide if you should get any extra help via test prep classes. Along with discussing, when to take the tests you should explore which test is right for you, the SAT and ACT are two different tests. The difference is — the SAT determines how prepared you are for college, while the ACT tests you on things you learned in high school. Both ACT and SAT scores are used for college admissions and merit-based scholarships but the biggest differences between the tests are that the ACT has a Science Test, and there’s one SAT Math Section where you cannot use a calculator.
Visit colleges! You will get a feel for the school and see if it’s the right fit for you. It also helps you figure what type of school you want, such as small, big, urban etc. Try to make plans with your parents to visit one every month, near or far from your home. It’s important that if you like the school when you go; that you get as much information on how to apply to them and what they offer, such as study abroad opportunities, honors college requirements and internships available etc.
Talk to your counselor or look up online scholarships that are right for you. There are all types of scholarships, not just academic based; some are silly like how tall you or the best couple’s prom picture. Millions of dollars in scholarships goes unclaimed every year. Get scholarships for college by starting your search today.
Seniors: Have you applied to your schools? Did you do your FASFA or CSS Profile? Did you send out your SAT or ACT score? Have you applied for any scholarships?
You should know your deadlines and requirements for each school. Like if they need one essay, and supplemental essay or no essay at all. Do you have your recommending teachers? Make sure they submit it through Naviance.
The FASFA is how you get government aid when applying to schools. You should get this done before your college apps deadlines because once you are excepted then you will get a financial aid package with the acceptance. You have to apply to this if you want federal aid. (Don’t forget to do the state’s Pell Grant.) Most people do not know what the CSS Profile is. It is in connection to College Board and is basically like the FASFA but isn’t free to all, unless you received a fee waiver for the SATs. Not all colleges require this but some do, especially private colleges. It’s just another form of government aid.
Don’t wait last minute to send in your standardized test scores! It can take one to three weeks for colleges to get them and if you want it rushed you have to pay a fee. Also check if the schools you are applying to need each SAT score, a Super Score, or just one set of scores.
After applying to colleges, honors programs and submitting everything your schools need, don’t stop the momentum. Keep working, find and apply to scholarships. https://www.scholarships.com/ and https://www.raise.me/ are great websites to start with.
