top colleges
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Top Colleges. Why Bother?. Quality of Education Only to some extent Primary variable to success is the individual Connections & Opportunities Environment/ Student body Great Financial Aid Prestige. Challenge Accepted?. Criteria to Meet. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Top Colleges
Why Bother?• Quality of Education–Only to some extent–Primary variable to success is the
individual• Connections & Opportunities• Environment/ Student body• Great Financial Aid• Prestige
Challenge Accepted?
Criteria to Meet• Passion (You can’t get there as a robot, get into what
you do)• Course Rigor & Grades• Test Scores• Extra-Curricular Activities• Talents/ Achievement• Essays• Recommendations• No single thing makes or breaks you (unless you’re
extremely talented)
Passion
• Make your interests and work synonymous• The things you do should support a life goal
so that you will work that much harder and be able to write that much better about it.
Course Rigor & Grades
• Relative to class availability of the high school– Take the most (or close to the most) challenging
schedule available• AP/ IB Courses• Four years of a second language = good idea• Keep grades up• Progressive grades are still good
Test Scores
• Practice before taking to yield best score– Official books (Red and Blue)– Take practices and look over mistakes
• The higher the score the better but it only goes so far.
• SAT or ACT (Practice your Junior summer and take at the beginning of the year)
• SAT Subject Tests (Practice Junior year, take during Junior year or study Senior summer and take at beginning of Senior year)
Extra-curricular Activities• Do not pile them on without doing anything• Active role is key to activities– Leadership roles– Events, projects– Awards
• Clubs allow you to do things you are interested in and make a difference for the school/community, take advantage of them.
Talents• Sports, Art, Performing Arts etc.• Greater recognition means more value• Regional is admirable• State is desirable• National/ International is very desirable
Essays• Allow admissions to see you as an individual• Originality = Memorable = Good• Write essays (rough drafts) during the summer– Universal prompts • Personal Essay• Future Aspirations related to major• Conquering a challenge
– Create a www.commonapp.org account
Recommendations
• Get to know your teachers or counselor.• Counselor – tell them your goals and
keep them updated• Teachers – be a good student, they have
to fill out a form that looks like this
What Colleges are in my range?
Time to see how you measure up
Students Me Shikar Kathleen Jemima Taylor Ryan Nikil
W. GPA 4.39 4.73 4.58 4.77 4.71
U.W. GPA 3.72 3.93 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00
SAT/ACT 215034
222033
2060 1970 208034
2350 227032
Subject Tests
M2–800Phy–710
Lit-750M1-690Phy-620
M2-710Phy-750US-710
Chem-800M2-760
Rigor 11 AP 6 IB, 1 AP 8 AP 6 IB 11 AP AP AP
Clubs Physics 1, NHS 2, MBand 3,Media 1,AcaDeca 1
NHS 3,Creative W 2
NHS 2,AcaDeca 2,Interact 3,MBand 3Dreamcatcher 1
FCA 4,Green 3,NHS 2,HHS 2,Fashion 2,M.A.T. 2,International 1
Mband 4,FCA 3,Mathletes 2,Physics 1,NHS 2
Math 3NHS 2Gentlemen 1
NHS 2Math 4Gentlemen 1
Other Activities
Family ,B-dancing 2 ,Work 4,Piano 3,
Boy’s State,Volunteering,Website,Babysitting 3
Assistant Soccer Coaching
Babysitting Rock Band 3EC-Classes 2AZ Benefit 1P2P SummitP Kiva 2
EC- Classes 1AZ Benefit 1P2P SummitHarvard SSPP Kiva 2
Awards &Achievement
AD Regional Physics Gold
Academic Letter,98% Club attendance
AD Regional Econ Bronze
Academic Achievement,Discus
NM-Commend Flinn,NM-Scholar
FlinnNM-Scholar,Tennis All-Region
Students Me Shikar Kathleen Jemima Taylor Ryan Nikil
Leadership Physics (CF, P)Media (P)
AcaDeca (Sec) Interact (Sec)Green (Sec)M.A.T. (Sec)
Band (SL, VP, DM)Mathletes (T)FCA (S, VP)
P Kiva (CF), Math (P),NHS (VP)
P Kiva (CF),Math (VP),NHS (P)Tennis (C) 2
Sports Rec-Basketball
Track & Field 4Soccer 3Volleyball 2
Softball 2 Tennis 3 Tennis 4
Special Talents
Schools rejected
Berkeley,Stanford, Caltech, MIT, Harvard, USC
Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke
Caltech,USC, Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard
Stanford, MIT (E)
Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Yale
Schools Accepted
ASUUSC (Appeal)
NWU (E)ASU (H)
Wake Forest, ASU, Pepperdine
Stanford,U Denver,U Portland, U Pacific
Harding, Pepperdine, UNC, Wake Forest
NWU, Wash U, Trinity
Duke, USC, NWU, Rice, Wash U
Schools Wait-listed
HarveyMudd Barrett
Will& Mary,Barrett
Duke U Penn, Harvard
Take a Moment…• Is this realistic for you?• Where should you put your time and
energy now?
Alternatives
Honors Colleges
• Still good• Easier to stick out of the crowd• Less competitive scholarship applicant pool• Decide earlier so you can take advantage of
all scholarship opportunities• Closer to home• Flinn!
Good Colleges• Still somewhat prestigious• Easier to stand out of the crowd• Less competitive scholarship applicant
pool–Merit Scholarship (Taylor’s
Pepperdine Example)
Scholarships to Watch For
• Presidential– Most schools have one, usually full-tuition or close– Usually based on GPA and test scores
• National Merit Scholarship– Study for the PSAT over Junior summer– Usually close to a full ride– Score about 215 or higher
• Flinn ($20,000 a year + benefits)– The in-state alternative to top schools
Scholarships to Watch For Cont’d
• Limit Competition–Region specific scholarships• Ex. Jade Woman’s Club scholarship
–University specific scholarships• Ex. Medallion Scholarship
Other Scholarships• The Key to many of them– Community Service– Leadership
Now what?
• No matter what your ultimate destination is, you are good enough to do something great.
• School is about more than good grades and test scores; get involved in clubs and sports, and save money.
Some more advice• Helpful College information websites–www.collegeboard.com–www.collegeconfidential.com
• Helpful scholarship website–www.fastweb.com