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.

• 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.

1.Grades in College Prep Courses – Grades in AP, honors, or level 2 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 (most schools accept both interchangeably)
• Source: National Association for College Admission Counseling

- Log on to the SENECA website and click on Naviance (under grades)- then click on the
Seneca link

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.

(colleges I’m thinking about)

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**

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).

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

• 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.

(colleges I’m applying to)

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.

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.

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

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 Columbia
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. )

– create an account – use your Seneca school email and make sure to write down your password!

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

search to add the colleges you are applying to

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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.

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

before any transcripts or letters will be sent!

Transcript Request form needed for each and EVERY college application sent and/or scholarship

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

Regular/unweighted - /4.0
Weighted/6.0
(English, Math, Science, History & World Language)
Top 15% weighted rank – NJ STARS (?)

BCC CAP credit: use this transcript request form for BCC to send transcripts to schools you request. 10/23-
Registration for CAP courses this year http://www.bcc.edu/PDFFiles/Forms/(Online)TranscriptRequestForm1209.pdf

Students who are planning to play in a Division I, II, sport need to complete the following:
1. Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center: $50.00 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

Branches
• Marineswww.marines.com
• Armywww.army.mil
• Navywww.navy.com
• Air Forcewww.af.mil
ASVAB-Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (Military entrance exam)
• Each branch has required entrance score
• ASVAB administered Nov 13 th at Seneca-sign up in
Counseling Center

• 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)

• 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 8, 2015
6:30 PM
Auditorium

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