1. SENIOR PARENT APPLICATION NIGHT – Naviance, Common App, College Applications! Important information to help get you started on the college process. Your individual counselor will meet with your child individually to go into more detail soon.

2. Purpose of Senior Parent Night Assist you with the college application process. Discuss application procedures, transcript requests, letters of recommendation, standardized testing, the Common Application, Naviance and sending documents electronically.

3. Top Factors for College 1.Grades in Academic Courses 2. Strength of Curriculum – Both the amount of course work you complete in high school and the quality of those courses 3. Admission Test Scores – Scores on either the SAT or ACT (schools accept both interchangeably) *Check if your school needs SAT subject tests* Source: National Association for College Admission Counseling

4. NAVIANCE - Log on to the SENECA website and click on Naviance (under grades)- then click on the Seneca link https://connection.naviance.com/family-connection/auth/login/?hsid=senecahs https://connection.naviance.com/family-connection/auth/login/?hsid=senecahs

5. Log on- email is school email and password is usually your 6 digit ID # (unless you changed it). If you can’t remember or can’t get in – email your counselor or stop down to the registrar, Mrs. Dzwill, to have her change it.

7. Click on College Tab (colleges I’m thinking about)

8. Colleges I’m Thinking About (+add colleges to this list). Note early decision, early action, regular decision deadlines). You can get to college websites and scatter grams from this page too).

9. Different types of Admissions Early decision is a contract between you and the college. You can only apply to 1 school early decision. If you are accepted, you MUST attend. BINDING contract! Early action is more flexible. You do not have to commit to the college if you are accepted. You can apply to multiple schools. NON-BINDING contract! Rolling Admission -Applications are evaluated as they are received. Regular Decision- decisions are made once ALL applications have been received by deadline. **Pay attention to deadlines**

10. Safe 1-2, Good Match 2-3, Reach 1-2

11. Check College Websites to find information about requirements ex. Rutgers New Brunswick *Notice different criteria for certain majors

12. Teacher Recommendations Ask two teachers politely in person. Give teachers at least two weeks notice. Put teacher recommendation request in Naviance 1. Click on Colleges 2. Click on Colleges I’m Applying To 3. Click Add/Cancel Requests 4. Select teacher’s name from drop down bar 5. Click Update Requests Check Naviance to see when letters have been completed. You will not be permitted to see the letter. When teachers write you a letter, they will also fill out the common application teacher form electronically. Counselors will automatically write a letter and fill out common application/counselor form electronically. You do not have to ask your counselor to write a letter.

13. Click on College Tab (colleges I’m applying to)

14. At the bottom of this page- you will find Teacher Recommendations. (2 recommendations)- You will not see the letter that is written – it is confidential.

15. Teacher Letters of Rec – 1 st ask in Person (2 teachers) and follow up with request here. Use pull down bar to find teacher and leave them a short personal note.

16. Colleges I’m applying to tab- shows when teacher letter of recs are completed and which transcripts have been send.

17. COMMON APPLICATION – www.commonapp.org The Common Application is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to any of 517 member colleges and universities in 47 states and the District of Columbiacollege admissionapplication There is a Common Application for first-year admission and a Common Application for transfer admission. Both versions allow the application to be filled out once online and submitted to all schools with the same information going to each. Once the application is submitted to a college online, it cannot be changed for that college; the student must contact the college directly if they wish to correct an error or provide more information. The Common Application also allows the student to submit and track other components of their application such as supplements, payments, and school forms. If a school accepts BOTH the Common App and a school application - student’s MUST USE THE COMMON APP (if you want your supporting documents to be sent electronically and not through the US Postal Service. )

18. http://www.commonapp.org/http://www.commonapp.org/ – create an account – use your Seneca school email and make sure to write down your password! http://www.commonapp.org/http://www.commonapp.org/ – create an account – use your Seneca school email and make sure to write down your password!

19. This is the screen you see once logged on. Common App Dashboard- list of schools and info

20. Common App- College Search – search to add the colleges you are applying to

21. My Colleges- list of colleges that you searched for and will apply to. Gives you deadline and fee information.

22. Please Note- different schools want different supplemental things- please look at the left side carefully!

23. Common App Info page – profile, family, education, testing, activities and writing

24. FERPA- you will be able to sign the FERPA release once you finish the EDUCATION sections and then match up your email in NAVIANCE!

25. Essay- 5 topics (250-650 words)- the essay should be not school specific – b/c it will be sent to every school.

26. Common App Matching- once you set up a common app account (if you need to) and you’ve filled out the education section- put your common app email address (your Seneca school email) in box below and click Match Click on College Tab and then Colleges I’m Applying to (just like teacher recommendations)

27. Applying to Colleges that DON’T accept the Common App…

28. For colleges that don’t use the Common App- go to the college website and start the process from there.

29. Another example of online application that is NOT Common App

30. Rutgers The Rutgers application process is unique Apply online on Rutgers website (State ID # is on transcript) Self report your grades on Rutgers website Rutgers does not want a high school transcript or recommendation letters. If you plan to attend, you will send a final transcript in June.

31. Rowan College at Burlington County

33. RCBC Application- Free – but you must have SS# to apply

34. All transcripts and letters are sent electronically. Please don’t print any counselor or teacher forms for us to fill out. We will process everything electronically!

35. SAT and ACT scores are NOT sent by SENECA. You must log on to those websites and request them to be sent to each of your desired schools. You can send single sittings or all of them. Some colleges will super score if you send all your scores. www.collegeboard.com www.actstudent.org

36. Parent Permission Slip Needed before any transcripts or letters will be sent!

37. Transcript Request form needed for each and EVERY college application sent and/or scholarship. **Please list which letters of recommendation you want to send in order of preference - check how many that college wants**

38. DEADLINES Please leave at least 2 weeks for the transcript request to be processed.  Deadlines approach quickly  Check individual college websites to verify deadlines *October 15 th due date for November 1 st deadlines *November 14 th due date for December 1 st deadlines *December 1 st due date for mailings before Winter Break and January 1 st deadlines We CANNOT honor same day requests for transcripts

39. Transcript

40. GPA and RANK will be distributed at the end of September. Regular/unweighted - /4.0 Weighted- /6.0 (English, Math, Science, History & World Language) Top 15% weighted rank – NJ STARS (?)

41. RCBC CAP credit: use this transcript request form for RCBC to send transcripts to schools you request. Registration for CAP courses this year soon http://www.bcc.edu/PDFFiles/Forms/(Online)TranscriptRequestForm1209.pdf

42. NCAA Students who are planning to play in a Division I, II, sport need to complete the following: 1. Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center: $65.00 http://eligbilitycenter.org 2.Send official test scores from College Board/ACT to NCAA 3.Send high school transcript to NCAA at end of junior year http://web3.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp

43. Home/Seneca/BCC/CollegeBoard&ACT

44. Military Branches Marines- www.marines.com Army- www.army.mil Navy- www.navy.com Air Force- www.af.mil ASVAB-Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (Military entrance exam) Each branch has required entrance score ASVAB administered Nov 12 th at Seneca-sign up in Counseling Center

45. Scholarships Mrs. Grace McCloskey – Chairperson gmccloskey@lrhsd.org Check the Scholarship eboard & Naviance weekly: www.gmccloskey.seneca.site.eboard.com https://connection.naviance.com/senecahs Complete local scholarship packet (distributed in homeroom in January)

46. Mrs. McCloskey’s E-board

47. http://www1.eboard.com/eboard/servlet/BoardServlet;jsessionid=E6B8A5D9BD107C4C46F28ECDFDF1F521?ACTION=NOTE_SHOW&ACTION_ON=NO TE&OBJECT_ID=2433544&SITE_NAME=seneca&BOARD_NAME=gmccloskey&SESSION_ID=700nqxdot06r82477&TAB_ID=244328

48. FINANCIAL AID Visit Financial Aid website-www.fafsa.ed.gov to request a password Complete FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) online after January 1 st Check college deadlines for FAFSA NJ Stars must apply for financial aid Financial Aid Night January 7, 2016 Auditorium

49. ??QUESTIONS?? Counselors will meet with all Seniors during September and October individually to review all this information and answer any questions. Thanks for coming to – SENIOR PARENT INFO NIGHT