College Information Night

Getting ready… High school preparation Choosing a college Admissions requirements

Grade Point Average & Class Rank Unweighted Vs. Weighted Courses Raising a low GPA or Class Rank Student’s most recent cumulative GPA can be found in Naviance under the “About Me” tab – click on “Profile”

JUNIORS Honors/AP Courses and GPA PSAT – Wednesday, October 19 ACT/SAT College searches and visits Extracurricular Activities

SENIORS Honors/AP and GPA Dual Enrollment SAT or ACT Visit Colleges Apply Financial Aid – “How to Pay for College” Night – October 18 at 6:30

SAT or ACT College entrance exams required by most colleges Recommended at least once during Junior year after completion of Algebra II ACT (Score 1-36) No penalty for wrong answers English, Reading, Math, Science Optional Writing portion SAT (Score 400-1600) With optional Writing portion (score range is 200-800

What can Naviance/Family Connection do for you? Colleges College Super Match Search Engine Scholarship Searches College Visit Sign-ups Organize Colleges you are thinking about Careers Personality Inventory-based on the Myers-Briggs Assessment Career Interest Profiler Explore Careers and Clusters

Getting Started with Naviance Go to the Family Connection website: http://connection.naviance.com/oakdalehs Log on using your User Id and Password Parents were emailed a registration code to set up accounts  

Oakdale HS Family Connection Welcome Page

Navigating the About Me Tab The “About Me” tab allows you to access other important inventories and surveys.

Navigating the College Tab: “SuperMatch College Search” **SuperMatch is a college search engine. You input specific criteria that you are looking for in a school, and SuperMatch produces a list of schools that fit your criteria**

Navigating the College Tab: Signing up for College Visits Under the “Colleges” Tab, click on “view all upcoming college visits.”

Navigating the College Tab: Signing up for College Visits Click “sign me up” Click on “sign up”

Navigating the College Tab: “Colleges I’m Thinking About” Click on the “Colleges” tab Click on the “Colleges I’m thinking about” link just below the “Colleges” heading Parents may add colleges to their student’s Family Connection – it will show that it was added by the parent

Navigating the College Tab: “Colleges I’m Thinking About” To start- click on the “Add Colleges to this list” link as shown in the picture below 4. On the college look-up page, click on the “lookup” link located in the last column on the right. Click on that link. YOU MUST CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS THE COLLEGE LIST.

Navigating the College Tab: “Colleges I’m Thinking About” You should now see the “College Picker” Type the name of the college from your list in the top text box called, “Search by Name” just under the “Search Options” heading. Click the “Add Colleges” button at the bottom of the page once you have created your list. This must be done or the college(s) won’t be added to the list. You will then be taken back to the “Colleges I’m Thinking About” page.

Navigating the College Tab: “Colleges I’m Thinking About” Click on the name of a college you have on your list to view more detailed information about that college. Each college should include: general information: enrollment, school type, campus surroundings admissions criteria: SAT scores, GPA, high school academic subjects required Financial Aid: cost of tuition, average amounts of financial aid given for entering freshman majors and degrees: list of majors and level of education needed to obtain a degree in each major student life: living and meal arrangements, housing descriptions, activities **Most colleges include a “video campus tour”…be sure to check those out!!**

Before Applying to College Choosing General Career Goals- Two year or four year school, liberal arts or technical school, etc. Researching potential schools- Use Family Connection to research and compare prospective schools Attend local college fairs Sign up for college visits in guidance using Family Connection Plan to visit and tour college campuses

Admissions Terminology Early Decision Early Action Regular Admission Rolling Admission

Sample Deadline Dates University of Maryland-November 1 James Madison University-January 15 Virginia Tech-January 15 Salisbury University-February 1 Towson University-February 1 West Virginia University-Rolling admission (These are regular decision dates- early decision or early action can be up to one month earlier)

Senior College Applications Seniors will apply to prospective colleges using the college-specific application or via the Common Application Naviance is where corresponding documents (transcripts, letters of recommendation, school profile, secondary school forms) are gathered to be delivered electronically

Students create a list of colleges they are applying to Submission (Delivery Type) Blank = College accepts applications electronically on their website CA= college that accepts Common App and you have linked your accounts CA with a slash= You’re not applying to this college through Common App or you have not matched your Common App with Naviance CO = Coalition Application ? = Submission unknown means you have not chosen a delivery type Postage stamp = mail only application We strongly encourage you to apply to all colleges through the Common App that accept the Common App.

Teacher Recs & Senior Info Survey The Senior Information Survey is in the “my planner” tab under “Tasks Assigned to Me.” Teachers and counselor use this information to write letters of recommendation.

If you are having any difficulty using any of the Naviance features, please email your student’s counselor!