Xavier High School September 8, 2016 Guidance Senior Parent College Night “The College Application Workshop” Xavier High School September 8, 2016

Welcome Goals of Meeting – understanding of the post high school/college process Student Responsibility Counselor’s role in the process Where Seniors are in the process Appointments Communication Realistic Decisions Deadline Awareness

Check over for any errors on the transcript Check to make sure your son’s birthday is correct Only awards will be listed on the transcript Activities will not be on your son’s transcript, they will be listed on the application. Importance of 7th and 8th semester Check over for any errors on the transcript

Who’s Responsibility? Student Parents Xavier Guidance Send SAT/ACT scores Submit applications Draft/Edit/Revise College essay Request letter(s) of rec Request transcripts Apply for scholarships Parents Pay for SAT/ACT scores Pay for applications Complete CSS Profile (some colleges require) Complete FAFSA Check for work-based scholarship Xavier Guidance Send transcript/Q1 grades/mid-year grades Send letter(s) of recommendation Send school profile Send teacher and counselor Common App forms. Send final Transcript

The Guidance Office We need to know your son’s plans! They need to tell Mrs. Wyzykowski where they are planning on applying. If they don’t tell her, transcripts and rec letters won’t be sent! Know if they are applying early action (non- binding), early decision (binding) or regular and what the due dates are for each of the schools. Please give guidance a three week notice to gather and submit your son’s information to colleges.

Teacher Letters of Rec Who is writing your sons letter of rec? Did he tell Mrs.Wyzykowski? Teachers upload their letter of rec & the common app forms: then once all information is collected, the file is sent through Naviance to the colleges by guidance. Same procedure for guidance counselor recs and forms. No need to ask a counselor for a letter of rec as one will be written for each senior by their counselor. Teachers are reminded once Mrs.Wyzykowski is informed of the schools they are applying to. No need to ask counselors for recs, they are done automatically by the counselors.

Deciding Which Colleges to Apply Seniors sign up in Naviance for College Rep visits under Colleges tab/view all college visits. Visit colleges they are interested in; many have open houses on Saturdays or Sundays. Meet with your son’s counselor. Talk with your son! Attend College Fairs in area such as: Watch for East Lyme, and HK College Fairs this fall

When to apply to college? Transcript Permission/Requests/Deadlines Deadlines range from early November - March Apply early: competitive state universities or schools with rolling admissions. Oct – Jan Students need to know the admissions policies and deadlines for the schools to which they are applying! Early decision/action = early deadlines

Remember Have a counselor review the Common App before student pushes the SEND button! Ask an English teacher to review the essay before submitting it! Do not list counselor/teacher emails in the Common App forms. If your son has not asked a teacher for a rec yet, please have him do so ASAP!

Three sites working together 6 Your College File College Board SATs Common Application College Application Naviance Family Connection Transcript & Rec. Letters ACTs

October 1st (not at Xavier) November 5th (7:00am @ Xavier) The College Board Register to take the SATs: www.collegeboard.org Xavier’s CEEB Code: 070412 Request that College Board send official SAT scores to each college your son will be applying You have up to 9 days after taking the SAT test to direct your scores to 4 colleges for no additional cost, after that College Board charges $12 per college! It can take up to three weeks for colleges to receive the scores, so send them early! Remember that Xavier cannot send official SATs to colleges. Test Dates: October 1st (not at Xavier) November 5th (7:00am @ Xavier) December 3rd (7:00am @ Xavier)

What is the “Common Application?” Fill out the Common App online and save time; instead of filling out applications for each college, just do it once! (One application to apply to several schools) Over600 colleges accept it Reading directions is critical to success Begin the Common App in September – you only need to choose one college you’re interested in at first; you can add more later Begin the app by going to: www.commonapp.org Make sure to ONLY have ONE account!!!

Logging in www.commonapp.org Click here

Logging in Select Student

Tabs help students navigate through the application to complete various tasks.

New school lookup makes finding a high school much easier.

09/2013 05/21/2017

204

Testing page is driven by what a student wishes to report.

Activities page remains largely unchanged.

Up and down arrows let students rearrange the order of their activities

Essay Questions

Once schools are added to common app and common app is matched to your Naviance account, Naviance will automatically be synced with the schools listed in common app.

Family Connection/Naviance Your son should be actively working on Naviance, researching college and careers. Remember as your son adds schools to his Naviance list make sure they are listed as Early Action, Early Decision or Regular, so that the due dates are correctly displayed. Have your son complete the teacher and counselor survey resume forms in Naviance. They can not write a great rec on your son’s behalf without his input!

Why you really need Naviance! To see college visits and sign up for them To view scholarships that are available To research colleges To add colleges to your apply list To request transcripts be sent to colleges To fill out Guidance surveys To review application deadlines To check the status of teacher rec letters To check for new messages from counselors or Mrs. Wyzykowski To review college application status; have they been sent? To review scatter grams and find appropriate colleges To view college stats based on Xavier Students To help you get a handle on the entire application process

Surveys can be found under about me tab, listed on left hand side of screen.

Scholarships Naviance Collegeboard.org Princetonreview.com Fastweb.com Local scholarships Be aware of deadlines Start coming in late winter early spring right through graduation!

Financial Aid Night at Xavier on Sept. 26th What is the FAFSA? What is the CSS Profile? Financial Aid Night at Xavier on Sept. 26th @ 6:30pm

Mercy is hosting the NCAA workshop on October 5th at 7pm NCAA: register online at www.eligibilitycenter.org if your son is interested in playing Div I or II athletics in college. Request an official transcript be sent to NCAA

Contact Information 45 Call us: 860-346-1368 Email rmagner@xavierhighschool.org bpattavina@xavierhighschool.org jtomasiello@xavierhighschool.org mlambert@xavierhighschool.org Visit our website: www.xavierhighschool.org (Under parent tab, under Guidance)