See my post from last January about applying for financial aid. All financial aid documents should be completed by January 30 for best consideration. Also, check the financial aid web page for each college to which you will apply. Many schools require a school-specific form in addition to the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. Failure to complete all forms means thousands of dollars less in financial assistance.
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Spend a morning learning more about the college admissions process. Reed College is offering two free opportunities for high school juniors to see their campus and learn about college admissions. This is well worth your time. Sign up here for the Junior Visit Day. This is offered on days when Portland schools are not in session.
So many of the college athletes (mostly D3) I have spoken with have really enjoyed their athletic experience is college. Athletics takes more time than you can imagine. At the D1 level, 40 hours a week is more of a minimum, regardless of what the NCAA rules say. However, this does include homework time with the team and tutors. At the D3 level, 20 plus hours is common, depending on the coach. It is often a bit less during your off-season. Some students have told me that this schedule helps them stay organized and on top of academics. Here is a Huffington Post article with some interviews of student athletes.
Rising seniors! The summer before your senior year is a great time to work on your essays and begin your college applications. Here is an essay writing workshop being offered by the Oregon Writing Project at Lewis & Clark College. This should be very helpful with brainstorming ideas. It will also put you in a situation to finish an essay! Yay! At least one down and many to go. Here's the essay workshop link.
Filing your FAFSA (https://fafsa.ed.gov) puts you in line for financial aid. Some financial aid is limited and is allocated on a first come, first served basis. In addition to the FAFSA, a number of schools require the CSS Profile (https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile). Unlike the FAFSA which is free to file, the CSS Profile is a fee-based form. (If you are low-income, the fee may be waived when you complete the form, if you meet the CSS Profile's criteria for being low income. If you do, they will send the Profile information to six schools for free. If you need it to go to more than six schools, you will have to pay for those). Finally, many colleges have additional financial aid forms to file, so be sure to check the financial aid pages for each of the colleges to which you applied.
You will need the following documents to fill out the FAFSA. Please make sure you enter your Social Security number correctly. That is the only piece of information that cannot be easily corrected.
Here is a list of places where you can get help with your FAFSA in Portland. Saturday, January 10, 11:30am – 2:30pm (Session One: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Two: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ) Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Sponsored Workshop University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd. Waldschmidt Hall, Room 218 http://www.hmccoregon.com/events/ Tuesday, January 13, 5:30 registration, 6 – 8pm PCC Pay for College Night, Sylvania Campus 12000 SW 49th Ave http://www.pcc.edu/enroll/paying-for-college/financial-aid/apply/day/ Wednesday, January 14, 5:30 registration, 6 – 8pm PCC Pay for College Night, Rock Creek Campus 17705 NW Springville Rd http://www.pcc.edu/enroll/paying-for-college/financial-aid/apply/day/ Thursday, January 15, 5:30 registration, 6 – 8pm PCC Pay for College Night, Southeast Campus 2305 SE 82nd Ave http://www.pcc.edu/enroll/paying-for-college/financial-aid/apply/day/ Saturday, January 17, 9am – 12noon College Goal Oregon Warner Pacific College, 2219 SE 68th Ave. Egtvedt Hall, Room 203 http://www.warnerpacific.edu/college-goal-oregon-event/ Saturday, January 24, 9am – 1pm College Goal Oregon Mt. Hood Community College, 26000 SE Stark St (Gresham) Orientation Center room 1002 http://www.mhcc.edu/news.aspx?id=3798 So many young women tell me that they do not want to consider a women's college. I say, "Get some information before you close that door." So many women have had wonderful experiences at women's colleges. I encourage you to attend a local presentation by representatives from five women's colleges: Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Wellesley. The presentation is open to students and families and will be held at Catlin Gabel School, 8825 SW Barnes Rd, on Tuesday, September 9, at 7:00pm. Find out why you might include a women's college on your list!
I just learned about this program and wanted to share it with you! I have also added it to my summer activities page. It is a free program offered by the US government to study languages that they deem a priority: Mandarin, Arabic, Korean, Hindi, Persian, Russian and Turkish. They also offer a year long program for recent high school graduates which is a great idea for a Gap Year. It the National Security Language Initiative for Youth program.
The Common Application (commonapp.org) is live! This allows students applying to college to fill out one application for multiple schools. The majority of colleges that use the Common Application are private schools, although a number of public colleges and universities have signed on in recent years.
August is a great time to get a lot of application work done. Once school starts, you will have homework and extracurricular activities on your schedule as well. Applications take more time than you expect and colleges can tell if you threw yours together at the last minute. I like to say that applying to college is like adding an AP or advanced course to your senior year schedule. Take the time now to fill out demographic information (your name address, etc), and start writing some essay drafts. Many students think they can just think about an essay and it will magically come together. I have found that sitting down and writing out many of your ideas will result in essays that are more cohesive. Also, it takes time to remember all of your activities and to describe them meaningfully in the small amount of text space provided on the application. If you are applying to state colleges and universities, make sure you are filling out applications for the year 2015-16. Some universities do not have their application available until September. If it is not clear, please call and ask them. It's no fun to fill out the application twice. If your family earns a lower income or if you are on the free or reduced price lunch program, talk to your school counselor about fee waivers. Fee waivers allow you to apply to colleges without paying the application fees now. Some colleges defer the fees and take them out of your financial aid award when you arrive on campus. Most counselors will be back in the office at the end of August, but will be swamped the first few weeks enrolling new students and working on schedules. Be patient! Good luck! Enjoy August! The New York Times is looking for college essays written about money. If they publish yours, they will pay you their regular free-lance rate.
Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/your-money/applying-for-college-writing-about-money.html?_r=0 Here's the article describing the essays they picked to publish last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/your-money/four-college-essays-that-stand-out-from-the-crowd.html?pagewanted=all The Oregon admissions officer for Duke University blogs about her perspective on the holistic admissions process here. This may seem a little confusing if you are just starting the application process, so talk about it with your parents, counselor or friends. Let me know if you have any questions.
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AuthorKathy Garrett has been a school counselor for over 30 years, and a college counselor for well over a decade. Archives
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