CLASS OF 2015 SENIOR SURVIVAL GUIDE

CLASS OF 2015 SENIOR SURVIVAL GUIDE

Counseling Center Staff Mrs. Garber College/Career Center Coordinator Mrs. Carstens Counseling Secretary Mrs. Pattni Registrar Mrs. Perlmutter Students A Do Ms. Jones Students Dr Ka Mrs. Page Students Ke Rh Ms. Wilson Students Ri - Z

How to meet with a College Admissions Officer at Riverwood

How to take a day off for a pre-approved college visit

COMPLETE YOUR SENIOR RECOMMENDATION SURVEY ON NAVIANCE

REQUESTING TRANSCRIPTS Create your Parchment account (see handout). Make sure the name you use on your Parchment account is IDENTICAL to the way your name appears on Eschool or the transcript won t send. Parchment transcripts to almost all institutions are free. It only costs you $ if the organization isn t a Parchment member.

Check out the Common Application (https://www.commonapp.org) It s a great way to apply to many schools via one application Before you apply anywhere, it s best to see if your school is a Common Application member institution. HOW TO REQUEST A TRANSCRIPT FOR COMMON APPLICATION Create an account at www.commonapp.org and note your Common App ID. You will need it to make sure your transcript gets to the right place. Use the School Forms section of the Common App Online to invite your counselor to be a recommender. Doing this will trigger an email message to your counselor providing instructions on how to submit school forms online. Confirm with your counselor that he or she intends to submit school forms online. Log into your Parchment account and select the Common App tab. Provide your Common App ID when prompted, confirm that the Common App ID and information (i.e. your name, colleges applied to, counselor name) are correct. Your transcript will be sent directly to the Common App Online system where it will be matched by your counselor with your school forms and submitted on your behalf. Once you have submitted your transcript to the Common App, your transcript is ready for submission to ALL of your Common App colleges. You do not need to submit one for each C college.

Applying to UGA You need to submit the application online BEFORE requesting the counselor recommendation and transcript. The deadline for Early Action is October 15. The deadline for Regular Decision is January 15. Do not wait until the last minute!

Riverwood International Charter School Counselor Recommendation Request Form **This form should be used when a hard-copy recommendation letter/form is required. This form is not needed for Common Application or other online recommendation requests.** Before submitting this form, make sure you do the following: Submit your college application (directly to the school) and request your transcript on Parchment. Complete your Senior Recommendation Survey on Naviance Attach the hard copy counselor recommendation form/secondary school report form to this request. Provide an envelope (addressed to the college/scholarship organization) with postage. Do not write your return address on the envelope. Ensure you are submitting this AT LEAST 10 days prior to the deadline. ************************************ Student Name: Date of Request: College/Scholarship: Address: Deadline: Counselor Name:

Testing The SAT The SAT Reasoning Test (formerly SAT I: Reasoning Test) better known as the SAT, is a three-hour and forty-five-minute test that measures critical reading, writing, and mathematical reasoning skills students have developed over time and skills they need to be successful academically. Registration is $52.50. You can register at www.collegeboard.com. Fee waivers are available for students who are on free or reduced lunch (see Mrs. Garber). The SAT II consists of subject tests which measure how much students know about a particular academic subject and how well they can apply that knowledge. Before you decide which tests to take, make a list of the colleges you re considering and review their admission requirements to find out if they require SAT II scores and, if so, how many and which ones.

The ACT assessment measures how well you can perform skills in English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning (with an optional writing section). These areas are tested because they are the major areas in most high school and college instruction. Each of these tests (except writing) contains multiple-choice questions that offer either four or five choices from which you choose the correct or best answer. Registration is $38.00 without writing; $54.50 with writing. You can register at www.actstudent.org. Fee waivers are available for students on free or reduced lunch.

The answer is both. The counseling office recommends that you attempt both tests. Riverwood is a testing site for the ACT. Because they each test different skills, you will want to determine on which test you perform best. Be sure to also check the admission requirements of the schools to which you are applying to see if they have a preference between the SAT and the ACT.

POINTS TO REMEMBER 1. Pay attention to deadlines on all applications. Also make sure to see if essays and any other supplemental information are needed. Your application is incomplete until they ve received everything required. 2. Colleges will not accept SAT or ACT scores after their application deadlines. 3. Make sure to read the Counseling Department newsletter, which you ll get through Advisement or can read on the RICS website, for important information about scholarships, in addition to the Naviance website and doing research about scholarships on your own. 4. We strongly encourage YOU to be the person to fill out your college applications. Your parents are not the ones attending college next year. 5. Every family should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible after January 1. You can use your GACollege411 account to access and complete this form. You and your parents can get pin numbers prior to January 1. (www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov) 6. Look at the Net Price Calculator on college financial aid sections to see what the true estimate of what the first year of college will cost. 7. If you are a student athlete with a possibility of getting an athletic scholarship, make sure to register with NCAA (http://eligibilitycenter.org/ecwr2/ncaa_ems/ncaa.html). You ll need to register, send an official transcript and official standardized test scores. (Students who have an SAT or ACT fee waiver can also get a fee waiver for NCAA.) 8. Most colleges require immunization forms and will NOT accept your high school forms. Check on the school requirements. 9. Remember that all college acceptances are provisional. A college will need to see proof of your graduation (your final transcript). A college has the right to take back your acceptance if your senior year grades do not meet their standards. 10. Your counselor and Ms. Garber are available to help you with planning for next year. Feel free to set up an appointment to ask for assistance. 11. There are many definitions of a GPA. Fulton County calculates numeric averages on a 100 point scale. Colleges have different formulas for calculating the gpa. Check with admissions offices to see how they calculate. For example, some include honors points, some don t. Some count all classes you ve had, some only include core classes. 12. The HOPE GPA is calculated by averaging ALL core courses (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and World Language) from high school, including failed courses. Honors points are removed but.50 weighting is added back on for AP courses. (see the GACollege411.org website for details on HOPE).

ANY QUESTIONS?