A Crucial Piece: The Campus Visit

Now that you have done research on a variety of colleges and universities, the crucial piece of your puzzle of college admission will be your visits to college campuses. Visiting the colleges on your list will provide you with a firsthand impression of the students, faculty, staff, facilities, and programs. A visit to a college campus should enable you to meet with admission staff in order to obtain an idea of what they expect from applicants and what the admission process entails, gain a feeling for the academic and social atmosphere, see the facilities to be used for study, living and recreation, talk with students, and gain an understanding of the surrounding community.

WHEN TO VISIT

While most admission offices are open throughout the school year, the best time to visit a college campus is when college classes are in session. Although summer visits may work better within your schedule; remember that while you can take a campus tour and talk with a member of the admission staff, you may be unable to talk with students and faculty or attend class. It may be difficult to gain a good feeling for the atmosphere of a college community if you visit during the summer. If you visit campuses in the summer, plan to make return visits to your top choice institutions when the institution is in session. Spring break of your junior year in high school is a good time to take a trip to get an overview of many different schools. Once you have narrowed your list in the fall of your senior year, you may want to make return visits to schools to which you have chosen to apply. Some students will apply to schools, wait to see where they have been admitted and then make return visits during April of the senior year as they are trying to make their final decisions.

BEFORE YOUR VISIT

1. Contact the school at least two weeks in advance to schedule your visit. If possible inform the college of your areas of academic or personal interests. This information may help the admission staff to plan a more meaningful visit for you. The college admission office can arrange for you to talk with an admission counselor and take a campus tour. Some colleges will offer the option of an individual interview or a group information session. Many offices will be willing to help you set up housing, classes or other appointments. Plan to spend as much time as you can on the college campus, a minimum of half a day. Keep in mind that a thorough, well planned visit of a college campus may take a day and a half. Make sure that you have good directions to the admission office.

When scheduling your campus visits the following things are important to include:
- Talk with an admission counselor.
- Take an official tour of the campus.
- Attend classes, preferably a freshman level class and an upper level class. List of classes to visit are usually available in the admission office.
- Meet with a professor in an academic area that interests you.
- Eat a meal in the campus dining facility.
- Speak with a coach or an advisor of an extracurricular activity that interests you.
- Spend the night in a residence hall.
2. Read the catalogs and brochures from each college you plan to visit. After reading, come up with a list of questions that are important to you.
3. Check with your high school or ask the college to get a list of the names of current students who may have graduated from your high school or who may live near your home. Contact them before you visit.
4. Ask for the names of faculty members in your areas of interest and try to schedule appointments with them before you arrive on campus.
5. Buy a notebook to keep a journal of impressions from your trips to all of the schools you visit.

AFTER THE VISIT

1. You will probably visit several schools on your trip and it is easy for your impressions to run together. Once you have left a school, while your thoughts are still fresh, write down your impressions. Be sure to note what you liked and what you disliked.
2. If you think of questions that you did not ask during your visit, don't hesitate to contact the people that you met.
3. Write thank you notes to those with whom you had appointments and to student hosts if you stayed overnight.
4. If the school gives you a campus visit evaluation form, take time to fill it out. Your thoughts and suggestions are important to the admission office and may help future visitors have productive, positive visit.

Best Wishes,
A2Z College Planning
www.a2zcollegeplanning.com
info@a2zcollegeplanning.com
919-450-0171

Prospective Student Athlete- What do I need to do?

Prospective Student Athletes-What do I need to do?

Freshmen and Sophomores
• Start planning now!
• Work hard to get the best grades possible.
• Take classes that match your school’s list of approved core courses.
• You can receive your school’s list of approved core courses at
www.eligibilitycenter.org.

Juniors
• At the beginning of your junior year, register at www.eligibilitycenter.org.
• Register to take the ACT, SAT or both and use the Eligibility Center code (9999) as a score recipient.
• Double check to make sure the courses you have taken match your school’s list of approved core courses.
• Ask your guidance counselor to send an official transcript to the Eligibility Center after completing your junior year. If you have attended more than one high school, the Eligibility Center will need official transcripts from all high schools attended. (The Eligibility Center does NOT accept faxed transcripts or test scores.)
• Before registration for classes for your senior year, check with your guidance counselor to determine the amount of core courses that you need to complete your senior year.

Seniors
• Take the SAT and/or ACT again, if necessary. The Eligibility Center will use the best scores from each section of the ACT or SAT to determine your best cumulative score.
• Continue to take college-prep courses.
• Check the courses you have taken to match your school’s list of approved core courses.
• Review your amateurism responses and request final amateurism certification on or after
April 1 (for fall enrollees) or October 1 (for spring enrollees).
• Continue to work hard to get the best grades possible.
• Graduate on time (in eight academic semesters). If you fall behind, use summer school sessions before graduation to catch up.
• After graduation, ask your guidance counselor to send your final transcript to the Eligibility Center with proof of graduation.

For additional information, visit ncaa.org

Best Wishes,
A2Z College Planning
www.a2zcollegeplanning.com
info@a2zcollegeplanning.com
919-450-0171

Climate LEAP - Opportunity for high school students in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC

Rising 9th-12th graders who are interested in science and math and who either live in or go to school in Chapel Hill/Carrboro are eligible to apply for the 2010-2011 Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program (Climate LEAP). Females and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Application forms have been posted at climateleap.unc.edu; a copy of the brochure and a flier are also available for download. A complete application includes both a completed student application form and teacher nomination form. Applications are due by 5PM on Friday March 26, 2010.

If you don't reside in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, please share with your family, friends, and coworkers who may live or know others in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. All program questions should be directed to Dana Haine, Program Director, at 919-843-5735.

Kind Regards,
Rhonda Manns, M.Ed., LPC, NCC
A2Z College Planning, LLC
PO Box 13056
Durham, NC 27709
phone (919) 450-0171 fax (919) 237-3416
wwww.a2zcollegeplanning.com

Specializing in helping college bound students climb the steps to success and achieve their college dreams.

College Planning Tips for March

Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors

1. Look for opportunities to attend college presentations at your
school or in your community. It’s not too early to start collecting
information.

2. If you have a career interest but are not sure about how to pursue
it, talk with people in your community who have found success in that
career track. Find out how they got started as well as the colleges they
attended and the programs they pursued. Record what you learn.

3. Start thinking about how you can use the upcoming summer months
productively. Waiting until school is out to start planning will only limit
your opportunities to pursue activities that truly interest you.

4. Choose summer-time activities that are natural extensions of your
interests. Resist the temptation to choose programs because they will look
good to colleges.

Seniors

1. Stay focused academically. As decision letters start rolling in, you
will be tempted to ease up in the classroom. Even though you might have
been accepted, colleges expect you to finish with the same performance (or
better) that justified your offer of admission. The last thing you want is
to receive a letter from the dean of admission sometime in July that
rescinds your offer of admission!

2. Continue to update colleges as well as scholarship-granting
organizations informed of new achievements, honors and awards.

3. Plan to take end of year exams for any Advanced Placement courses
you have taken in the last year. You have taken the course, you might as
well see if you can get college credit for it!


A2Z College Planning
www.a2zcollegeplanning.com
info@a2zcollegeplanning.com
919-450-0171

College Planning Tips- February

Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors

1. In choosing courses for next year, stay balanced across the five
core disciplines: math, science, social science, foreign language and
English.

2. If you are inclined to drop a course from one of the five core
disciplines in order to replace it with a course from another discipline,
make sure you are trading rigor for rigor. Dropping a fourth or fifth year
of a language in favor of an introductory course in another would be like
dropping Pre-Calculus in order to take Algebra I!

3. Read as much as you can. You might spend a lot of money on test prep
but the best prep comes from familiarity with words and concepts as they
are used contextually.

4. During spring break, take advantage of opportunities to go “window shopping” for colleges. This isn’t the time to worry about “buying.” Instead, see what you can see. Give yourself a sampling of all types of colleges and universities. Broaden your perspective so that when it’s time to work on a short list, you’ll know what you want.

Seniors

1. Make every attempt to complete your family income tax returns for
2009 as early as possible as this information will be used to verify the
information you reported on your financial aid applications.

2. If there are extraordinary circumstances that might limit your
family’s ability to meet a college’s costs, submit a written statement
that documents the circumstances directly to the financial aid office at
the institution(s) in question.

3. If you have been admitted Early Decision, make sure you honor your
commitment to enroll. More specifically, resist the temptation to let your
other applications remain active “just to see what might happen.”
That’s not part of the deal!

4. Relax. The admission decisions will come soon enough. There is no
sense worrying about things over which you have no control.

5. Say “no” to senioritis. Nothing good can come of it!


A2Z College Planning Team
www.a2zcollegeplanning.com
919-450-0171
info@a2zcollegeplanning.com

The Importance of Finishing Strong!

The Importance of Finishing Strong!

Source: The Admission Game (theadmissiongame.com)

High school seniors are entering one of the most critical phases of the college admission process. This is the time of the year when admission officers watch to see what students do when it would seem the spotlight is no longer on them. They want to see how you respond down the “stretch run” of the senior year.

Consider, then, the mile race. It is an apt metaphor for your high school experience. To complete the race, you must circle the track four times just as you must finish four years of high school in order to graduate. Winning the race—or finishing high school with distinction—requires that you endure the grueling pace going into the last lap and still have what it takes to sprint when the race is on the line.

Let’s suppose, then, that your race has gone exceedingly well through the first three laps. You jumped out to an early lead and have maintained a strong pace. With only one lap to go, you are by yourself at the head of the pack. You can’t even see the competition! This is a critical stage of the race because you begin to ask yourself, “Do I really need to work that hard in running the last lap? Should I save myself for the next race and spare the inevitable agony that otherwise comes with a sprint to the finish?”

The question you really need to ask yourself, though, is: “What have I won?” The answer is simple. “You haven’t won a thing!” You may have a “feel-good” feeling about where you are in the competition, but the race isn’t over. Moreover, changing your approach with a lap to go could prove costly as other runners are bound to be pushing hard to catch up.

The same is true of your high school experience where each year is like a lap of the race. Each year is important academically as you prepare to step up and meet the challenge of the year that follows. In all likelihood, your Junior Year really put you to the test as the work was harder and the expectations were greater. But you made it and that may have been cause for celebration in itself!

Having done well through your Junior Year may have left you feeling good about your prospects of graduating and getting into the colleges of your choice. Nonetheless, you need to ask yourself, “What have I really accomplished at this point? How many colleges have accepted me?”

The Senior Year is the all-important “last lap” of your high school experience—and all of it counts! If your objective is to not only graduate but to get into colleges that are selecting from among hundreds if not thousands of compelling candidates, you need to be attentive to how you finish the “race.”

Even now, in late February of your Senior Year, the outcome of the race has yet to be determined. In fact, admission officers at selective institutions are waiting and watching to see what you do academically when you don’t think you have to do anything. They want to see who among the competitive applicants will sprint—or stumble—when the race is on the line. And they will wait until the middle of March to make their final decisions.

So, stay focused academically. Continue to get the most out of your high school experience—even when it would seem that doing nothing is a viable option. Give admission officers every reason to be excited about you as you sprint to the finish!

It's Time to Submit Your FAFSA

FAFSA Tips:

(1) January 1 marks the start of the filing period for the 2009 FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).
(2) Complete sooner than later. You don't need to wait until you have this year's income tax return information to complete your FAFSA. You can enter a reasonable estimate of your family's income and update the information once the actual figures are available.
(3) Many colleges have deadlines for submitting your FAFSA. So check websites or contact Financial Aid Office.
(4) Information collected from FAFSA helps colleges determine how much support a college applicant is eligible. You must complete FAFSA to be considered for grants, loans and scholarships.
(5) FAFSA applications are available online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Student and parent will need a PIN number to complete online forms.
(6) FAFSA paper forms are available from High School Guidance Departments and College Financial Aid Offices.

FAFSA Day is Saturday, February 13. College financial aid officers and other volunteers will be available to help North Carolina students complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms. The program is open to students who plan to attend college in the 2010-11 academic year and will be held at more than 100 sites across North Carolina. To register visit www.cfnc.org