Specific Counseling Issues At Each Grade Level
Freshman Year
- Transition to high school
- Introduction to the Counseling Department
- Academic Expectations
- Developing good study habits
- Involvement in athletics and extracurricular activities
Sophomore Year
- Developing a competitive academic profile for college
- Setting personal goals
- Developing leadership skills
- Introduction to Preliminary SAT (PSAT) and PLAN
Junior Year
- Coping with stress and pressure
- College admission planning
- Perseverance with coursework and importance of junior grades
- Preliminary SAT (PSAT) and PLAN
- ACT, SAT I, SAT II Subject Tests (second semester usually)
Senior Year
- Counseling on the college application process & importance of deadlines
- College representatives visitl in the fall semester
- ACT, SAT I, SAT II Subject Tests (first semester only)
- Click here for Additional Information/Forms for the College Application Process (PDF)
College Planning Help:
Freshman Year College Planning
What should you as a freshman be doing?
Fall Semester
- Meet with your counselor to discuss your college plans or post-high school plans
- Start a calendar with important dates and deadlines
- Get involved with extracurricular activities
Spring Semester
- Learn about college costs and how financial aid works
- Visit colleges while they’re in session
- Find out about college firsthand from past SMWS graduates who are home for the holidays
- Start familiarizing yourself with the PSAT and PLAN
- Calculate how much money you might need for college, and what you need to do to reach your goal. Talk to your parents about financing college.
Summer
- Look for a great summer opportunity- job, internship, or volunteer position.
- Check with your counselor and search online for summer school programs for high school students at colleges.
- Start a summer reading list. Ask your teachers to recommend books.
Sophomore Year College Planning
What should you as a sophomore be doing?
Fall Semester:
- Meet with your College Counselor to discuss your college plans or post-high school plans
- Start a calendar with important dates and deadlines
- Get involved with extracurricular activities
September
- If you haven’t already started, create a file for college
information (volunteer hours, summer experiences, graded papers you might submit to colleges) - Begin the year fresh and work hard to keep your grades up
- Nurture relationships with your teachers
- Be a leader in your community
October
- Colleges take grades into account beginning in 10th grade, so be sure to do your best in all of your classes.
- Begin researching possible colleges.
- Get involved in extracurricular activities
November
- Continue to focus on academics.
- Sign up for volunteer work at school and/or in your neighborhood.
- Start thinking about personal preferences, challenges and strengths
that you have
December
- Speak with alumni about their application process and about colleges they visited and applied to.
- Keep reading (books, newspapers, science magazines). The more you read, the higher your verbal scores will be on your SAT.
January
- Visit the College Counseling office and start researching possible colleges you might be interested in attending.
February
- Start looking into summer programs at colleges. Do the research now.
- Continue with volunteer work and/or extra curricula activities
- Schedule a meeting with the college counselor to discuss summer programs and college options
March
- Visit nearby colleges
- Continue to research summer courses, jobs and other challenging activities
April
- Visit colleges during Spring Break
- Attend a College Fair
May
- Repeat any classes you received lower than a C, look into summer school at local public high schools
- Create a tentative list of colleges you might be interested in exploring
June
- Research scholarships for colleges
- Visit colleges over the summer. Keep track of which colleges you visited in a file – take a picture so you don’t forget.
- Consider taking an ACT or SAT prep course over the summer
Junior Year College Planning
What should you as a junior be doing?
September
- Plan your extracurricular and community service activities for the next two years.
- Know your Social Security number
- Know where to find SMWS’s CEEB code number
- Strengthen your relationships with your teachers and counselor/s
- Get PSAT/NMSQT tips and a free practice test through www.collegeboard.com
- Read about various majors and careers
- Make lists of your abilities, preferences, and personal qualities. Use College Search through
- College Board to find colleges that match your lists
- Attend college fairs and financial aid nights
October
- Take the PSAT
- Your junior grades are very important, so work hard to keep them up
- Do community service work for your school and/or in your neighborhood
- Start reflecting on your personal strengths, challenges and desires
November
- Create a resume of all your extracurricular activities, community service work and anything else you can think to brag about.
- Research colleges
- Keep your grades up
December
- Speak with your college counselor about your PSAT results
- Keep reading; the more you read the higher your SAT score will be
- Be a leader in your community
January and February
During January and February breaks visit colleges. This is the time to send a letter or e-mail to the Director of Admissions (to your college of interest) asking for information from their college – ask also for information from a specific department, if interested.
- Start looking for local scholarships (look on the internet, library and high school office)
- Now is the time to get a tutor if you are weak in math and/or English
- And to do well on your SAT/ACT tests, sign up for a prep class.
- Register for March SAT at www.collegeboard.com deadline is January
- Do community service work, something you enjoy, for your school and community
- Do extra curriculum activities after school
- Keep a friendly and positive attitude toward your teachers and peers
- Work hard to keep up the good grades
March
- Register for April ACT at www.actstudent.org deadline is March
- Register for May SAT at www.collegeboard.com deadline is April
- Sign up for SAT prep class
- Make an appointment with your College Advisor for an April conference
- Do some practice SAT/ACT tests
- Continue your community service work and extra curriculum activities
- Only three more months to go and you’re a senior, so SMILE!
April
During Spring Break is another good time to visit colleges. Call ahead and see if the college/s offer overnight visits.
- Register for the June ACT test at www.actstudent.org deadline is May
- Continue to visit colleges
- Continue SAT prep work
- Make an appointment to see a college counselor
- Find a graded English and math paper you did well on and put it in your college folder to use for future college applications (some colleges require a graded
English and/or math paper as well as essays to be written on the application). - Continue working on keeping your grades up
- Continue community service and extra curriculum activities
- Take a deep breath and be proud of yourself, you’ve worked hard to get to where you are!
May
- Register for the June ACT test, deadline May
- Continue keeping your grades up
- Continue community service and extra curriculum activities
- Apply for a summer job or community service work
- Go to the beach and clear your head, yes you will soon be a senior!
June
- Continue to look for summer community service work
- Make appointments to visit colleges during the summer
- Enjoy your summer and be prepared to come back to school as an example for other students to follow
July/August
- Begin drafting your college application essay(s)
- Explore the Common Application website (www.commonapp.org) and create an account.
Senior Year College Planning
What should you as a senior be doing?
Fall Semester
- Narrow your list of colleges to between 5 and 10. Visit as many schools as possible.
- Make a master calendar with the following:
o Test dates, fees, and deadlines
o College application deadlines
o Financial aid application due dates
o Highland’s deadlines for transcript requests - Keep a file for recommendation letters, transcripts, and other necessary materials
- Ask for recommendations. Give each teacher, coach, counselor, or mentor your resume, a stamped and addressed envelope, and any other required forms.
- Write application essays and ask teachers or parents to read first drafts
- Attend financial aid information events in your area
- Learn about the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE
- Use Scholarship Search (College Board), review scholarship books, and ask your counselor about local scholarship sources
If you are applying Early Action or Early Decision…
- For early admissions, colleges may require test scores and applications in early November.
- Make sure you send your SAT scores at www.collegeboard.com.
- Also ask if your college offers an early estimate of financial aid eligibility
Winter Semester
Application Details
- Most regular applications are due between January 1 and February 15. Keep copies of everything you send to colleges.
- Have your high school send your transcript to colleges.
- Contact colleges to make sure they’ve received all application materials.
Financial Aid: Apply Early. Apply Right.
- You and your family should save this year’s pay stubs to estimate income on aid forms that you’ll file early next year.
- Submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1 as possible. Men 18 or older must register for the selective service to receive federal financial aid.
- Many priority financial aid deadlines fall in February. To get the most attractive award package, apply by the priority date. Keep copies of everything you send.
Spring Semester
When the Letters Start Rolling In
- You should get acceptance letters and financial aid offers by mid-April.
- Use Compare Your Aid Awards to compare awards from different colleges. Questions? Talk to financial aid officers. Not enough aid? Ask if other financing plans are available.
- If you haven’t already, visit your final college before accepting.
May 1: Making Your Final Choice
- You must tell every college of your acceptance or rejection of offers of admission or financial aid by May 1. Send a deposit to the college you choose.
- Wait-listed? If you will enroll if accepted, tell the admissions director your intent and ask how to strengthen your application. Need financial aid? Ask if funds will be available if you’re accepted.
Summer
Next Steps
- Ask your high school to send a final transcript to your college.
- Start preparing for the year ahead.
More Tips:
- If you are dead set on going to a particular school and don’t make it in, go to a community college first and then transfer over.
- Package what you already have! Make a portfolio with an assortment of your art work, main lesson books, and sewing pieces. Give some background detail regarding each of the elements in your portfolio; it will show that you are culturally literate
- Stand out! Show who you really are. Let your personality come through.
- If a school asks for first semester transcripts, send a composed letter as well. It won’t hurt!
- Don’t hire someone to fill out your FAFSA forms. I am always available if you need extra assistance.
- If you are interested in competitive sports, make sure you join a club league as well as a school league. It would be a good idea to have videotape of your performance(s)
- Come up with good, well-researched reasons for why you are applying to every school on your list. You should have already identified your top 3 or 4 criteria for a school. If you get easily homesick you may want to stick to schools in the Southern California area
- Make a list of 5 majors. Research them through College Board to see if they are still a good fit for you. Make sure those schools that you are applying to offer those majors.
- Extracurricular Activities: It isn’t so much about the amount of volunteering that you do, but an individual focus that you have.
- Make sure the essays that you write are coherent and carry a narrowed focus.
- If you are not a great test taker and do not want to apply to schools that look at test scores alone, please do your research! There are schools out there that give more weight to GPA, admissions essays, and personal achievements.
- Note that the Common Application has links to various resources through their website.
- It is best to submit the Common App online, but you must first set up an account with them. However, you must also take note that once you submit your Common Application there is no going back. You will not be able to makes any changes to it!!!
- You can submit the Common App to more than one school at a time. Also, check and see which schools have fees for submitting the application.