Experiencing something new each day, meeting different people, and learning how to finally become and adult in this world, beginning a new chapter in life all while stressing to receive an acceptance letter from that dream school.
Senior Rachel Ramirez plans to attend Texas Christian University (TCU) in the fall to major in mathematics. Ramirez chose TCU because she wanted to commute to and from school and still live with her parents.
“[TCU] has a good program and education in what I want to major in,” Ramirez said. “My whole entire life I’ve loved doing math and I’m pretty good at it.”
Ramirez started the college application process at the beginning of her senior year and she found it frustrating. However, her mom helped her get paperwork and fill out applications and overall Ramirez thought the process was simple but long.
“I started the process way later than I should have,” Ramirez said. “Because I didn’t, it made my life stressful at times trying to rush everything.”
Counselor Beth Morrison advises juniors to check the schools they are wanting to attend to determine their SAT/ACT goal. Begin taking the SAT/ACT toward the end of junior year and, if needed, again before senior year.
“Start early,” Mrs. Morrison said. “Use your two excused days to visit college campuses, research admissions criteria and deadlines of the schools you are interested in attending.”
When deciding on which college to attend, location, size, admission requirements, major availability and expenses are just a few things students should consider.
“Be realistic when choosing and applying [to a college],” Mrs. Morrison said. “Every school is different.”
Freshman Edith Carter’s future plans remain uncertain. However, Carter hopes to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and follow in her father footsteps, majoring in computer systems engineering.
“I think it’s going to be really hard to get into [MIT],” Carter said. “It’s one the of the best schools that specializes in computers technology. I always thought [computer engineering] was really cool because my dad knew how to fix the individual computer parts.”
Steps to applying for college:
• Sign up with College Board and ACT Student to take the SAT/ACT.
• Sign up for Apply Texas. Plan to have all applications done by October, making sure you don’t miss a deadline.
• Fill out the application for your school(s). Almost all applications requires an application fee around $50-70. Some applications will require an essay and/or recommendation letters depending on the school. Make sure when asking for recommendation letters, to give teachers at least a week. Don’t wait until the last minute to ask them.
• Send in your SAT and/or ACT scores through College Board and ACT Student. You can send your scores for free when you take your test or the fee is $11 if you send in your scores in later.
• Go to the counselor’s office to request a transcript. You can either ask them to send your transcript to your schools or you can pick them up to send in yourself.
• Depending on the school, you will receive either an acceptance or rejection letter in the mail or through their online programs.
• Once you have been accepted to a school, there will be forms or paperwork they will want you to do to complete the process.
• Start applying for financial aid, like the Free Application Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), before the priority deadline and as many scholarships you can.
The counselors can help students with the whole process from signing up for the SAT/ACT to helping them with financial aid and scholarships.
“The most important thing is to do what you can now by keeping your grades up in high school,” Mrs. Morrison said.
Sources:
http://www.collegeboard.org/
http://www.actstudent.org/
