College Admission Process - Spring Grove Area School District...• Telluride Association Summer...
Transcript of College Admission Process - Spring Grove Area School District...• Telluride Association Summer...
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College Admission Process
A Guide for Students
And Possibly Panicked
Parents/Guardians
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Where to start?
• The questionnaire for parents and kids in
Panicked Parents Guide to College Admissions
is a great starting place
• Parents and kids fill it out separately, plus
the kids complete “What are your goals?”
• Talk about it together - including how much
parents will contribute financially
• Start early in hs, and feel free to repeat, since
kids’ ideas change over time
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Other Questions from Admission Matters
• What are your academic interests?
• What kind of student are you? (need to be #1?)
• How do you learn best? (large/small class)
• What activities outside of class matter the most to you?
• How important is prestige to you?
• Do you want a diverse college?
• What kind of social/cultural environment would you like best?
• Where do you want to live the next few years?
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The two sides to choosing a college
Practical
• Cost/financial aid
• Distance/location
• Field of study
• Job opportunities
• Career opportunities
• Can you get in?
Personal
• “Fit”
• “feels right”
• School culture
• Comfort level
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Choosing a type of college
• 2 year program
• Start at 2 year school, transfer to 4 year
• 4 year college
– Liberal arts
– Pre-professional
• University – undergrad and graduate
school
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Gather possibilities
• Check with your guidance counselor and
teachers you are comfortable with
• Books such as Fiske Guide to Colleges &
Insider’s Guide to the Colleges
• College Fairs
• Online sites
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Online sites
• www.collegeboard.com
Finding the Right College
• Peterson's StudentEdge college
compatibility tool
www.petersons.com/college-
search/college-compatibility-tool.aspx
• www.collegeconfidential.com
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Make a list
• Start with schools that seem to fit
• Pare down by using www.collegedata.com
to find schools that are affordable and
where you fit with freshman profile
• Some schools have financial aid
calculators to estimate costs on their sites
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Final list
1 or 2 long-shot /dream colleges
2 or 3 possible colleges (at least a 50% chance
of acceptance)
1 or 2 good bets/safety schools
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Plan for Final List
• Visit during the school year (info session
and tour)
• Sit in on a class in your area, if allowed
• Read the campus paper
• Stay overnight fall of sr. year
• Decide which schools you want to apply to
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Applying to College
Different schools ask for different things,
which may include:
• an application form, possibly with essays
• standardized tests (not required by all)
• letters of recommendation
• transcript
• financial aid info
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Applying to College with the
Common Application
• Many schools accept the Common
Application, which can be filled out once
and submitted online to a number of
schools.
• Some schools also require a separate,
school specific essay.
– Use details specific to the school (learned
during a visit or online) to show why you are a
match
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Early Decision
Early decision is for those who have a definite #1
– Apply to only one school in Nov.
– Find out early (Dec 15)
– Pros
• larger % admitted than thru regular decision
• pay fewer application fees (which can be up to $75 per
school)
– Cons
• Binding decision, except if financial aid offer isn’t ok
• Can’t compare financial aid offers
• If you don’t get in, regular apps due in 2 weeks
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Early Action
• Can apply early to more than one school
• Find out early
• Is not binding
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What tests are required?
• PSAT is used for National Merit and other
scholarships, not admissions
• PSAT is given in school in October
• Some students take the PSAT in their
sophomore year for practice
• Junior year scores are used for
scholarships
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Most colleges require the SAT or ACT
SAT includes: • Critical reading
• Math
• Writing (multiple choice grammar and usage, hand-written essay in response to a prompt)
• Good to take in March or May of jr. year
• Can take again in Oct or Nov of sr. year
• Students can take early – 7th grade – take in Dec of 7th grade after prepping
SET (Students w/Exceptional Talent – score 700)
– 8th grade – Johns Hopkins CTY – programs and scholarships (J)
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Prepping for the SAT I
• The Official SAT Study Guide contains 10 actual
SAT tests. Do a timed Saturday morning test,
see what you miss, study those areas
• Solution manuals can help (Tutor Ted)
• Self motivated students can prep on their own
(Kaplan cd)
• Some may need the structure of a course
• Courses at SG, local colleges, online
• A tutor can help (Sam W @ York College)
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The ACT is an SAT alternative
• Math counts for 25%
• Has a science section
• Some colleges accept the ACT in lieu of
both the SAT and SAT Subject Tests.
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Selective colleges require the SAT ll
• SAT II is a subject test (eg. physics, econ,
languages with listening component)
• Some colleges require 2 or 3 subject tests
• It’s good to take them right after the
subject is taken at school (even after 10th
grade, if that’s when the subject is taught)
• It’s better not to take 3 tests on one day!
• Prep books on each subject are available
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Applying to a selective college Admission Matters: What students and parents
need to know about getting into college says it’s harder to get into a selective school (< 50% acceptance rate) because
• Demographically there are a larger number of high school age students
• More hs grads are going to college, and the Common App makes it easier to apply online
• Selective schools offer excellent financial aid, which causes more competition during hard financial times.
• Yale – 72% accepted in 1932, 6.7% in 2013
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What do selective colleges look for?
• Transcript
– Grades
– Difficulty of classes
– Class rank
• Tests
– SAT l (or ACT)
– SAT ll or subject tests
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Academic Index calculator
Ivy League colleges use a tool called the Academic Index to summarize the academic performance of applicants. The Academic Index combines numeric values based on a student's SAT I and SAT II scores plus his/her class rank or GPA. Calculators are found at:
www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index3.htm
www.hernandezcollegeconsulting.com/resources/calculator.html
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What else do selective colleges look for? • Essay - theme/why you are a good match
– Editing (English teacher, Essay edge)
• Teacher recommendations
– Ask early, give an info sheet with theme (Admission
Matters, p. 273-276)
– Colleges want to know what you’re like in class
• Extracurricular activities (start list in 9th gr)
– Depth in a few areas vs. lots of little stuff
• Hooks and non-teenage activity (NTA)
• Each college ranks the importance of different items at
www.collegedata.com
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Example of an Activity List
Honors
• Lenfest Scholarship
• One-course college scholarship from
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
• National Merit Commended Student
• Scholastic Art and Writing Award (Gold
and Silver Keys for Writing at Regional
Level)
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Extracurricular Activities
• National Honor Society President
• Recycling Club President
• Varsity swim team and tennis team
• Trumpet (school band, symphonic orchestra,
jazz ensemble, and district jazz band)
• Quiz bowl (states) and Brain Busters (captain)
• Model UN
• School representative to HOBY (Hugh O'Brian
Youth Leadership)
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Church Activities
• Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School Crew
Leader
• Brass Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble
• Synodical Youth Leadership Camp Counselor
• National Youth Gathering Participant (New Orleans
2012)
• Crossroads (week-long social and advocacy ministries
program in NYC - 2011)
Employment
• Lifeguard and swim instructor – Spring Grove HS (2013)
• Genova's Family Restaurant - Helper and Dishwasher
(summer and fall 2012)
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Volunteering
• Bread for the World Hunger Advocate, Washington DC
• Democratic Committee of Hanover (2012 Election
Canvassing)
• Football Stadium Cleanup
• Informal Tutoring
• Painted School Affected by Hurricane Katrina (2012)
Other
• MMLA (Middlebury Monterey Language Academy) - 4
week Spanish immersion at Green Mountain College, VT
(summer 2010)
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Hooks A hook is a special characteristic a college deems
desirable, over and above the qualities it is generally seeking in its students.1
• Legacy – family members graduated from school
• Significant donors
• Underrepresented students
• Recruited athletes
• Socioeconomic and geographic diversity
• Special talents
Also • Non-teenage activity (NTA)
• First in family to attend college
1 Admission Matters, p. 36
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Socioeconomic diversity
For families with income under $60,000:
• Many selective colleges charge nothing!
• QuestBridge is a non-profit program that links bright, motivated students with educational and scholarship opportunities at some of the nation's best colleges. (family of 4 income $60k or less)
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Socioeconomic diversity
• The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Scholars Program offers financial help and academic resources to qualified 8th grade students, and continues to provide services through their remaining pre-college years. The Program builds a pipeline for high potential students from diverse backgrounds that leads from middle school, to college, to careers and into key leadership roles.
• The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's Young Scholars Program annually selects 50 - 75 exceptional 7th grade applicants from across the country as Young Scholars. Each receives ongoing individualized academic services designed to cover the costs of CTY and other educational programs.
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Helping your child identify a passion
The most important secret to motivating a
teenager is to establish a set of goals and dreams
– and a game plan to make those goals
reachable.1
• Ask your teenager to choose 3 or more goals from
the “What Are Your Goals?” list2
• Design a plan together that includes summer
programs in their areas of interest
1What High Schools Don’t Tell You p. 5 2 “ pp. 13-14
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Summer programs
What skills would they like to pick up during the summer?
Courses/programs – see What High Schools Don’t Tell You for a great listing by subject
• Middlebury Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) – 4-week language immersion (J tested out of 2 years of Spanish)
• Middlebury (after sr. year) 7-week language immersion
• Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) – based on SAT performance
– summer programs at F&M, Dickinson, and Johns Hopkins
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Other Summer Programs
• Telluride Association Summer Programs (TASP) – free 6-week humanities program for 64 hs juniors (1000
applicants,107 interviews)
– stipends for travel and to replace work earnings are available
– application includes 6 essays
• Telluride Association Sophomore Seminar (TASS) – 36 sophomores focus on history and cultural experiences of
people of African descent
• Research Science Institute (RSI) for juniors at MIT – MITES for minority students
• Summer Science Program (SSP) at Ojai, CA – Astronomy, physics, calculus, and programming
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Other summer options
Internships – www.VolunteerMatch.org
Jobs – try to help them get a job that is
relevant to their ultimate goals
Day trips
Vacations
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Applying for Financial Aid
• FAFSA – available Jan. 1 – calculates
Estimated Family Contribution (EFC)
• Some schools require the PROFILE, which
includes home value and retirement account info
• Cost of attending – EFC = financial need
• Different schools meet different % of need (see
www.collegedata.com)
• Fin aid packages may include grants, loans, and
work-study
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Financial decisions
• When comparing financial aid packages, figure
out the bottom line – What is the bill going to be?
• Are loans a part of the package? Some colleges
have a no-loan policy, replacing loans with
grants (CJ/Swarthmore, MB/Columbia)
• 2013 grads average $35,200 in total debt
($26,000 in fed. loans, plus state and private
loans and credit card debt)
• How is the financial aid package affected by
scholarships?
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Final thoughts
• Private schools can cost less than public schools
due to more financial aid
• It is possible to graduate without loans (see Debt
Free U by Zac Bissonnette)
• There are great scholarships out there!
Lenfest, Local, Coke, etc.
• Don’t sacrifice your retirement savings. You can
get loans for college but not for retirement.
• Students should not take out loans more than
their estimated starting salary
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Comparing Penn State and Princeton
• http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/colleg
e/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=59
• http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/colleg
e/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=111
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Discussion
• Questions?
• Comments?