Class of 2018 and beyond…

Senior Conferences Your counselor will call you up in September to talk to you about your “plans after high school” Don’t miss your senior conference – your plans for after high school are very important and we are here to help! Last Name A-E Ms. Smith Last Name F-Ll Ms. Hoff Last Name Lo-R Ms. Habjanic Last Name S-Z Ms. Navel 504/Grad Coach Ms. Miller

Your options Going straight to a career Going into the military Going to a two year Community College Going to a four year College or University

Top 10 Things Colleges Look for in High School Students

Senior Athletes If you plan on trying to play a sport in college, you need to: be signed up with NCAA (www.ncaaclearinghouse.com) be aware of your GPA for college admissions as well as NCAA requirements per division have at least 3 credits this semester (office/library assistant does not earn a credit)

Senior Notes Be sure to read Senior Notes each month. They will be emailed to you, put on the webpage, and a hard copy will be available in the guidance office. (September Senior Notes will be available on the webpage soon.) These notes will include important information for that month and scholarships with upcoming deadlines.

Be sure to let your parents know that September 13th is the Open House “Meet the Teacher” at 6 pm and immediately following that will be a Senior Parent Night at around 7 pm. We will give your parents information on the college application process, financial aid, etc. County wide College Fair will be October 18th from 6-8 pm at the Cabarrus Arena.

Resources You have received a folder that will help you stay organized during the college application process: Frequently Asked Questions from HRHS Seniors Senior Timeline Request for Letters of Rec Campus Visit Score Card Transcript Request Form

More info for you to read Please read over the following information also as it may help you: Writing Your College Admissions Essay Federal Student Aid ID– don’t let money keep you from applying to a college you are interested in, if you have the requirements they are looking for – maybe they will offer you financial aid or scholarship money

FAQ/Timeline Please look over the Timeline and FAQs– they will make your life easier Deadlines are extremely important—this timeline can help you get organized Hopefully you have looked up when your applications are due to the colleges you are applying to (we would suggest that you apply before November 1st). Also, be sure to look at when scholarship applications are due – you not only have to get IN to college, you have to be able to PAY for it

Letters of recommendation Some schools will require letters of recommendation Use this “request for letter of rec” form to help the person know all about you – the more information you give us, the better (fill it out once and make copies of it – you may need it again for scholarships, programs, etc) Give the teacher or counselor 2 weeks to write the letter—we may have to deny writing it if you wait to the last minute When you ask for a letter of rec, be polite, be prepared with where it is being sent, etc……they are doing you a favor! Ask someone you know is going to write you a good letter – not necessarily a teacher you had back in 9th grade, unless you have had them since then You should receive the letter back in a sealed envelope or an email from the college stating your letter of rec was received electronically

Campus Visit Score Card Hopefully, you have already visited colleges you are interested in, but you can get up to 2 absences marked as “excused” during your senior year by using this campus visit score card and getting something from the college on their letter head (showing that you visited) However, to exempt a teacher made final exam, you have to have 3 or less absences (excused or unexcused) and at least a B in the class and have no suspensions If you can’t visit a college you are considering applying to, please research them online!

Admissions Essays Some colleges require college admissions essays. These can be very important as a way for the college to get to know YOU. Please have an adult you trust proofread the essays.

NC Residency In the past, each individual college or university was charged with deciding if a student is a resident of North Carolina. Now, there will be a single state entity in charge of this. You will answer questions online and receive confirmation of residency verification. Once the process is completed you will be sent a residency certification number (RCN) through text and email. You can then provide this number to colleges as part of the application process. This process can be completed before, during or after submitting the college application. You can get support in this process through the CFNC call center. It will be available on CFNC and at www.ncresidency.org .

SAT/ACT Scores Colleges will need your SAT or ACT scores – you decide which one or both you want to send If you aren’t happy with your ACT or SAT score, usually the last one to take for early college admissions is the October test dates You can not just mail in your copy of the test scores You must send your SAT/ACT scores to the college/university. You will do that by visiting their websites: www.collegeboard.org (for SAT Scores) www.actstudent.org (for ACT Scores) If you didn’t originally request they be sent to a college when you took the exam, there will be a fee but this is the only way colleges will accept them

Paper Transcripts A “transcript request form” is included in your folder (you will fill out one per college, scholarship, organization, etc.). All transcript requests go through Ms. Ryan—please give her 2 days to get your transcript ready (please don’t email your counselor for one, we are not allowed to give you a transcript like that) The first 3 official transcripts you request as a senior are FREE and after that $5 each You will receive a note in your class when your transcript is ready for you to pick up (it will be in a sealed envelope) and you put a stamp on it and mail it in

Electronic Transcripts You can send a transcript electronically through CFNC.org – (only to colleges in North Carolina) these are free since you put your ID number in You may also ask us to send a transcript electronically through SENDedu or CommonApp Since we do this, it is charged as one of your 3 free, otherwise $5 We have to fix all errors before sending out any transcripts –they should be available AFTER the first 10 days of school

Financial Aid FAFSA has to be filled out for you to be considered for financial aid. You can start filling it out in October this year. There will be a county wide Financial Aid night on October 24th at 6:30 pm at Concord Middle School. Tell your parents! There is a FAFSA Day on Saturday, October 28th from 9 am to 12 noon (location to be determined) Be sure to look at Scholarship and Financial Aid websites for the schools you are applying to – the best scholarship money is from the schools themselves

Fee waivers Students who are on Free and Reduced Lunch can get fee waivers: SAT tests ACT tests College Application Fees Be sure to speak to your counselor if you need any of these.

Online College Applications www.CFNC.org Be sure to look at the “supplemental forms” listed for each college www.commonapp.org NCSU UNC Asheville UNC Chapel Hill UNC Wilmington Many out of state schools Sometimes the colleges prefer their own online application (Future 49er for UNC Charlotte, etc.)

Most Common Mistakes on College Applications Misspellings/grammatical errors could be one reason your application may be denied – proofread EVERYTHING you send to a college Email address- use an appropriate name for your email address (example: bob.smith@gmail.com) – this is their first impression of you Be aware of what you post on facebook, twitter, etc.– colleges are looking at this! “Once a student 'friends' the school, privacy settings are moot and schools can view anything, everything, the student has ever put on their Facebook page, including personal posts and the list of other universities they have friended," Koenig said from The Chicago Tribune.

College Applications While you are getting everything together, start the online application When you get your official transcript, your letter of recommendations, etc. back from people, gather it all together and put them in a larger (manila) envelope so the college gets everything back at once (if not sending them in electronically) Your application is not complete until you send all your “supporting documents”

Declaring a major Consider declaring “undecided” as your major There are limited spaces in certain majors and that may result in denial of admission to the university of your choice Talk to the admissions counselors at the colleges you are interested in about “undecided” versus declaring a major

Questions? Be sure to ask your counselor during your senior conference any questions you may have about your after high school plans. Please bear with us as we call you up for your senior conference -- we are seeing about 420 students and will see you as soon as we can. There is no need to request a conference, we will be sure to see ALL seniors.