Holliday High School Seniors 2014

Your guide to college & career planning for the REAL world!

Senior Contact & Record Release Page

Plan of action – fill out the senior information sheet & return it to your teacher for an easy 100 daily grade!

In order to help you in the best way possible, I need to know which colleges you are interested in & the types of career fields you are looking at so I can locate the right information.

An authorization to release school records needs to be signed by you (along with your parent’s signature if you are under 18) in order for the office to send out your transcript or test scores.

College bound planner – fall updates

FALL :

Review your transcript to make sure it is accurate and up to date – check with Mrs. Anderson if you have any questions

Narrow down your college choices to your top three or four – application fees can add up! Remember that UT and Texas A & M have scholarship deadlines December 1st so have

your stuff taken care of before you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner! If you are interested in an apprenticeship program or the military, ask about setting up

an appointment to discuss your options. Register for ACT/SAT tests if you have not already taken care of this! Mark the deadlines for applications for admission, financial aid & scholarships – colleges

don’t extend deadlines or accept excuses! Ask for recommendation letters in the fall. You will usually need 2 or 3 from school

(teachers, counselor or principal) & 1 from an employer, community member or family friend.

Register with NCAA Clearinghouse if you are interested in sports Build your own resume listing all of your activities, community service , work experience

& awards

College bound planner – spring updates

SPRINGThis is usually the busiest time for scholarship opportunities –

make sure you are keeping up with the deadlines & pay attention to the bulletin board outside my office for scholarship postings.

FILL OUT THE FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1st 2014 – this is the most important thing you will do for college financial assistance!

Finalize your admission, financial aid, housing & meal plans. Register for AP tests in the spring, look at information about CLEP

tests at the colleges you are looking at & meet with an advisor or admissions representative to make sure you have taken care of everything you need.

Request your final transcripts to be sent out & make sure to request transcripts from other colleges if you took classes during high school.

ACT/SAT- College Entrance ExamsIf you have NOT taken an ACT or an SAT or

if you need to make a better score….register this fall if possible!

If you have trouble registering for a national ACT/SAT date, contact the college testing office you want to attend and ask about taking a “residual” test.

Check your TSI exemption status to see if you need to take the TSI Assessment. You can be exempt through TAKS scores, or ACT/SAT scores.

ACT test informationThe ACT is designed to test your skill levels in English,

math, reading, and science reasoning. On the test, you will have four sections of multiple choice questions for each subject area. ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS on this test! You will also need to register to take the writing section of the test at least once. The total cost is $49.50 for the ACT plus writing. Most colleges are interested in your composite score (combined score) which ranges anywhere from a 1-36. Nearly half of all test takers fall in the 17-23 range.

YOU have to register for this test on your own at www.actstudent.org - this site has practice test questions & several other resources to help you in your college planning.

SAT test informationThe SAT is designed to test your skill level in math,

vocabulary, and reading comprehension. You will also be required to take the writing section every time you take the SAT. The SAT is scored on a scale of 200-800 for each section. A perfect score for all 3 sections – critical reading, math, and writing is a 2400. The national average in each area is usually somewhere between 480-520 in each section.

YOU have to register for this test on your own at www.collegeboard.com – there are practice test questions & a lot of resources available to help you with college & career plans.

Texas Success Initiative The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) is a program which was developed by the 78th

Texas State Legislature (and modified in 2013) under which all undergraduate students, who are not exempt, are required to take the TSI Assessment.

The basic skills tested are reading, writing and mathematics. The writing component includes an essay. Students who fail a section of the TSI Assessment may be required to enroll in a developmental course(s) in that area.

TSI EXEMPTIONS: Students are exempt from TSI requirements if they meet any of the following:

1. ACT composite* score of 23 or higher, with individual math and/or English scores of no less than 19.

2. SAT combined* score of 1070 or higher, with at least 500 math and/or reading (former verbal section). * The writing components of the ACT/SAT tests are not currently used in determining TSI exemptions.

3. Eleventh grade exit-level TAKS scores of 2200 or higher on math and/or 2200 or higher in English Language Arts with a writing composition rating of at least 3.

The application processYou need to create an account at

www.applytexas.org – keep your username & password in a safe place (you might also give it to Mrs. Anderson to keep in your file in case you misplace it)

Apply Texas makes it easy to create duplicate applications & save you a LOT of time! Almost all of the 2 & 4 year public colleges are listed through apply Texas.

The Common application is used for around 300 select universities (Tx schools –Rice & SMU)

Private schools generally have their own applications as well as schools outside of Texas – see Mrs. Anderson if you need help!

The financial aid processFAFSA is your friend! Apply after Jan. 1st your senior year!Free Application for Federal Student Aid – all grants,

federal loans & work study programs are determined through this application. This application is a fairly easy process if you will prepare ahead of time by gathering the necessary information. You can plan ahead right now by going to the site to see what you will need & get your pin # (your online signature) for both you & your parent. You can also look at the fafsa4caster this fall to get an early indication of what you might qualify for. Go to the website at www.fafsa.ed.gov - NEVER go to fafsa.com because that is a “knock off” website that will charge you a fee & the FAFSA is always FREE!

Other useful informationImportant information & links can always be found on

the www.hollidayisd.net website – click on high school- & then on the counselor’s corner.

Overwhelmed about college costs, applications, or just curious to hear from someone else besides Mrs. Anderson?? You can go to a new site at http://youcango.collegeboard.org to see real student stories & learn about your options.

Registration sites such as www.cappex.com or www.zinch.com allow you to “market” yourself to colleges…you will also find that most colleges have a Facebook profile.

The scholarship processThere are a LOT of scholarship resources out there, but YOU

have to be the one to take charge in the process! Be on the lookout and apply….apply…APPLY for everything you can find!

Register at www.fastweb.com to fill out a profile & see what scholarships you qualify for – you will get updates frequently in your email – some will be useful & some won’t, but you can make that choice. There are other sites such as www.CollegeForAllTexans.com ; www.finaid.org ; www.schoolsoup.com that will be very helpful.

I will post scholarships on my board as they come in, but most won’t be until early spring. The BEST scholarship we have locally is the Bingo Kinder award & I should get that information around mid November. The other local scholarships won’t be posted until around spring break.

Your best scholarship opportunities can be found on the financial aid/scholarship website page of the college you will be attending.

Other resourcesIf you are interested in taking dual credit/college level

courses in the spring you can go to www.txvsn.org to find out what courses will be offered at a discounted price. (Some of the courses will be less than attending Vernon)

You have 2 college days to use this year – use them wisely! Please make sure to get a sign out sheet a couple of days before you go – we need to keep records of your college days in your file.

I have some career resources/links on my webpage if you are interested in learning about future job prediction growth, salaries, & education requirements. http://www.bls.gov and http://www.texashotjobs.org (career interest inventory)

Questions??

• Take care of as much as possible this fall because the spring semester is such a busy time!

If I can help you in any way, please don’t hesitate to come by my office. If I don’t see you….I can’t help you! You can reach me by email at aniece.anderson@hollidayisd.net. My office # is 586-1515 and I do have an answering machine.

Watch out for “senioritis”….it’s a disease that spreads quickly & can rage out of control!!

Remember the GOAL : Walking across that stage on May 31, 2014 with a PLAN for your future!