College Admissions

  Okay, good evening, everyone. My name is Julie Shields Rutina, and I'd like to welcome you to MIFA's webinar about college admissions this evening. So, let me just go through a few logistics. Uh, the webinar should be about, for about an hour, but we will leave plenty of time for questions and answers at the end.

Um, you have control of your audio. So you can, you can make sure that works for you. We have the chat disabled. So if you have questions, please type them into the Q and a section on your screen, and I will try to get to a couple as we're going along. And then I'll make sure that we answer all of those at the end of the webinar.

So please don't be shy about that. If you would like to use, use the live transcript. feature. Just press live transcript and you'll be able to see the words that I'm speaking across the screen. Also, one nice part of that feature is that you can choose the language that you want to see the words, um, in.

So, um, if English is not your first language and you want to choose a different language, that can work well too. And if you need to leave, feel free to go and know that, uh, tomorrow we will follow up with a, uh, A video recording of tonight's webinar and we will also have the slides attached to that. So you'll be able to still get the information or share with with a friend.

So, a few words about MIFA. MIFA is a state authority here in Massachusetts, although we do serve families outside of Massachusetts as well. We've been around since 1982 and our mission is to help families plan, save and pay for college. We have a low cost loan programs, private loan programs if families need that type of financing on top of the federal loan programs, um, that are available for students.

We also have, uh, the state savings programs that you fund 529 plan, the plan prepaid tuition plan. And the attainable plan for people with disabilities to save for a wide range of expenses. And then everything else we do is work with families, uh, work with high schools, work with colleges, all to help students, um, and families plan, save and pay for college, you know, at whatever stage your student is at.

So let me start right, right now and we'll even warm up the question and answer if you want to just. Let me know that you're seeing everything you're hearing everything and what age, your student is that you are that is thinking about college admissions, or if you're a student yourself let me know that, and then you, you will win my admiration this evening.

So, let me know and we'll just move on to, to the next slide. So the topics tonight are going to be we're going to talk about current trends. We're going to talk about creating your college list. Thanks. A very important step step, you know that maybe sometimes people don't think of as as critical as it is.

We'll talk about campus visits. The application process and we'll end by talking about financial aid and some free resources, but I would also encourage you when you come back to me to look at our other webinars, we have all webinar presentations and multiple webinar webinar presentations about the financing side so I encourage you to check those out as well.

Great. So we have some high schoolers. That's terrific. Good. Well, and some a little bit early in the process so congratulations to you for trying to get get all this information early.

Alright, so what are the trends in college admissions. These days and this trend has been going on for a while, students are applying to a greater number of colleges. And. That's okay. You know, I think that's, I think that's good. Um, and especially given that piece that I just ended on about the finances, it's really good to set yourself up so that in the spring of your senior year, you have some good choices for where you will attend, where you can attend and some options and making sure you have some affordable options.

So for that reason, in order to make sure that you will be at that stage. In spring of senior year, it's sometimes a good idea to apply to a good number of schools, whether that means a handful six, seven, we do see students applying to more than that. In fact, the key just being you should apply only to colleges that you know that you want to attend or think you might want to attend.

For sure. All right. Next, let's just talk a little bit about demonstrated interest and what that is in the admissions process. Demonstrated interest is In the past, before students started applying to a greater number of schools, colleges could pretty much count on the fact that if a student applied to their institution, that they really wanted to come.

And if the, if they admitted them, that they would probably attend. And that has changed with students applying to a greater number of colleges. And so now colleges. can't really be sure when a student sends in an application that they can count on that student attending. I mean, they really can't at all.

They know that students are applying to a number of places. And so because of that, some colleges use this, uh, this measure called demonstrated interest. As one of the ways to determine how interested you are in attending, and that could factor into the admissions process colleges want to admit people who are going to want to come right admit students who want to come.

So, some of the things that you can do to demonstrate interest, other than applying, are you can attend. a presentation. You can go on a campus visit. You can call an admissions officer with a question. You can look at the resources that the admissions office offers and see if you want to be connected, chat with a student, those kinds of things.

And not all colleges, but some colleges, when they see that you're doing those things, they will You know, put a little check mark in your file and that can can be a positive in the admissions process. So I just tell you about that. Um, another trend is social media. I think mostly that's a positive trend these days as what that means is this is a great way for students to connect with colleges and with what's happening on college campuses so colleges are using social media to talk about things that are happening on campus.

Students can learn from that. Um, and. So that's a great way to connect. Um, if there are some events, live Facebook events, things like that, students can be a part of those. So this is, you know, this is, we know this is the way of the world and that could be a real positive in the admissions process. The only place where this remains not a positive is we, we are still telling students what we have for many years now, that make sure that your social media profile, um, That is something that you're proud of and that you wouldn't mind sharing, um, with an employer with the college, you know, people see what's out there online.

And so just make sure that, um, that that is true of your online presence. Another trend cost is a bigger factor. College is expensive. What I'll say and we'll end with this is you, you probably will need to consider the financial aid offered and how expensive a college is in that, in that admissions decision and you probably should as well because that is a factor and you want this to be a great decision for the student and for you as a, as a family and The pandemic left us with some new ways to connect with colleges remotely.

It used to be that if you wanted to attend a presentation about admissions or have a campus tour that you had to visit the college and do that. And you can still do that and colleges want you to do that they welcome you to do that. But if it's far away it's going to cost money it's a it's a trip, there's travel costs.

You can definitely. Use some of those online and virtual resources that have stayed since since the pandemic. So colleges now while you can still go on their campuses and they want that and they welcome that they also have virtual resources for you to be able to do a tour to listen to webinars to listen to question and answer with current students, things like that.

So lots of ways to connect with colleges these days. There are more test optional Schools, and that means, um, that that it's optional to submit an S. A. T. or a C. T. score. So just know that we'll talk a little bit more about that. And because of that, um, there are more applications to test optional colleges because that's, you know, one barrier lifted.

So there can be more selectivity at colleges these days. And that's another reason. Back to the top that students are applying to a greater number of colleges because sometimes, um, you know, especially at some small institutions. Um, they just, they just cannot accept even close to the number of applications that they receive of qualified students.

So, um, there is selectivity and, um. So students want to protect themselves and make sure they have some good options and that also that selectivity causes longer wait lists. So sometimes a student might not be admitted, might be totally qualified, but get put on the wait list. And we'll talk about what that means.

So another plug I'll give right up front is just to stay organized with this process. There are a lot of pieces. So MIFA has a tool on our website called the College Application Manager. And you can download that for free. Uh, we created this because we saw what families were already creating themselves with spreadsheets.

So you can do it on your own with a spreadsheet. Um, and basically it's just a way to organize all of the colleges that the student is interested in and then collect information, um, on each of them so that they won't miss deadlines and they'll know what's required for the admissions application, the financial aid application, and any notes.

Um, students who visit colleges think they're going to remember everything, but you know, once you visit a few campuses, you. They all they can start to mesh together. So you want to take some notes and and make sure you're you stay organized with the process. So how do you begin the beginning part should be fun.

It should be sort of a relaxed fun exercise. I'll call it because you just want to research colleges. What's going to be. What are some good colleges for you and where do you start? So here are some great websites, all of them are great, um, in different ways that you can, you can go to these websites and you can put in information about yourself as a student and about your interests, about your academic interests, your non academic interests, about geography, do you want to stay in New England, do you want to be open to going all over the country, do you want to...

Go to an international school. Um, all of those things you will put in and then these, these tools will then give you a list of colleges that meet your criteria. And then at least you can start, uh, looking further and researching further through a filtered. List and that can be super helpful. So college navigator, college scorecard, big future is the college boards, college search and MIFA pathway is MIFA's college search.

So you can go to MIFA pathway. org, create an account and start to search for colleges that way. And what are you, what are you thinking about when you're thinking about what are some colleges I might like to apply to? I, you're thinking about maybe institution size and location. And as students you might not even know what that means when you're in high school, but the more colleges you look into a variety of types, you might start to get a sense of what you like.

Sometimes we'll ask a student, would you like to go to a college or university where you never will end up knowing everyone it's large enough that you're always meeting new people, and you'll never even come close to knowing everyone at that college. Some students might like that they, they. that sort of bigger campus atmosphere.

And some students might not. Some students might say, I'm. I prefer to be at a college where by the end of four years, I will pretty much have recognized everyone on campus and I feel more comfortable that way. And so students will have to figure that out in during this process and that comes from researching different types of colleges.

Also location. Do you want to be near home, far away from home, somewhere in the middle? Do you want to be in a city? Do you want to be in a rural area where you can go hiking? Those are things that. That students will will figure out the big one is you want to be at a college that's a good academic fit for you.

And that basically means that you want to be with students who generally have the same level of academic interest in success as far as grades and. I'll say grades your GPA from high school. Um, you want to be in with students who are going to basically want to study like you do. So, you will figure that out from from learning about campuses as well as well.

College has put out a report each year of what, what some, what are some of the What's some of the information about their incoming class? And you can see things like GPA and test scores and where they come from. And do you have a local population of students? Do you have students from all over the country, all over the world?

All those things are kind of interesting for a student to, um, Think about for that fit. Um, clearly you want a college to have programs in the major that you think you want to go to college for. So if you if you're absolutely sure of that, well, then you definitely want to apply to colleges that have that major.

Um, but I'll just say that high number of students, uh, change their major during during college at some point. So, um, maybe you keep that as one criteria. An important one, but not the only one. Also, your learning style, that could play into even the size of the institution. Do you like to be in small classes where you can sit with 12 people and have a discussion?

Every class is a discussion and you're very much a part of it. I know lots of students like that. Or, do you prefer to be a student who doesn't mind being in a big lecture hall listening and internalizing the information and then going home to study it more on your own. Some students prefer that, so learning style can can play in there as well as you learn about what type of classes are at an institution.

And then I'm going to lump some of these together like campus culture and activities. Um, you, you, do you love sports? Do you, would you like to be on a campus where every Saturday in the fall there's a big football game or something like that? Uh, that might seem exciting to you or that might seem like nothing you want to do.

Maybe you prefer to play a sport you like or you want to go. Um, so it's, it's nice to have an understanding of that. What's, what's, what's the culture of the campus? Like, what are the activities? Are there beautiful musical productions that you can attend or be part of acapella groups, things like that. Um, so ask a lot of questions about that so that you can be in a place where you.

Get to do the non academic things you like to do as well. Um, most colleges have study abroad programs and career and internship services, but it's good to explore those and see what some of the options are as you're as you're thinking about one institution to the next. And then affordability, of course, we'll talk again at the end about that, but you do want to make sure that that.

The college that you are going to attend is affordable. I wouldn't let that stop you from learning more and even applying to a college, but just keep an open mind. Sometimes I tell people not to fall in love with one college because, uh, you want to keep an open mind because you do want to All these things to fall into place and you want to attend an affordable college.

All right, so let's talk a little bit about campus visits. I've mentioned them a few times. You can always walk on a college campus. I saw there were some on this webinar with, uh, ninth grade students, um, tenth grade students. So at any time, you can walk on a college campus and, you know, spend the day. And.

That can kind of give students an idea of, are there sporting events? Are there theater productions? Um, what are the students, do they look happy out studying on the lawn? Um, all of that. Go eat in the dining hall. You can do lots of things like that. Um, but once your student gets to 11th grade, I'd say it's important to do a formal visit, either In person or virtually, but it's good to get on a few local campuses in person again just to get a sense of the differences among institutions.

Um, so you would look on the admissions part of the college website. And see what they have for admissions programs and sign up. And that way you're in the system that, you know, you're interested, demonstrated interest and, um, do that, attend the campus, have a campus tour, it's usually with a student who can give all kinds of good information and that will start you on your way to comparing colleges and getting an idea of what you like and what you don't like.

Um, another way that you can connect with colleges is at a college fair, and so that's really great if there are colleges you might like on the west coast, but you don't want to be spending money doing all that travel at this stage, you could attend a college fair. And there are colleges from all over the country at these fairs and really start to connect and ask questions one on one with an admissions representative.

So, check out NACAC fairs and neacac. org for upcoming college fair events. Um, there's some in person and there's some virtual.

So, basically then, when it comes time to develop that list, which will be senior year of high school, um, you really want to apply to, as I said, a few. A number of colleges and you want to apply to a few that are, it's likely you will be admitted that from what you learned about the colleges, the type of students that are there, um, the type of braids they had, um, If it seems like you would sort of fit in, then you can feel good that those are schools that you will likely be admitted, but that you don't have to stop there.

Many, many colleges are competitive, just given the sheer numbers of qualified students to apply. So you can apply to some colleges where it's possible for you to be admitted that you have. Sort of similar grades and you think you'd be a good fit at that institution, but, um, you know, it's not that all of the students at that institution have a B plus and you have an A average.

It's more you might be on the other side of that. Possible. Certainly apply. And then you can also apply to some REACH colleges. And that's just a college where you just don't know if you'll be admitted or not. And let me just say the Ivy League colleges are all REACHs. And that's purely because of the high number of applications they receive from qualified students.

They cannot admit every qualified student because due to size and number of applications. So for most students, those colleges are a reach. In other words, you're sort of taking a risk. You're applying. You think you'll be a good fit. You think you match up. Um, and that's wonderful. To make an application there.

Just make sure you have a lot of possible and likely colleges on your list as well.

All right. Now let's talk about the application types. So colleges have a number of processes for admissions. A regular decision usually means they have an early January deadline and then they let you know, March or April, and you have to let the college know by May if you will be attending. Many colleges have started to put these early processes in place and many students take advantage of them for one or all of their colleges.

So let's talk about early action. Early action just means that the college has an optional deadline in November or December. That's it. You just apply earlier and you hear back earlier, but you still have until May to decide. to say, yes, I'm going to attend. However, there's one process called early decision that is pretty specific.

And with early decision, the colleges that offer that they have deadlines in November, December, and you apply early. And what you're saying to the college, if you apply early decision is if you admit me, I will come. So you're making a promise. It's what we're calling a binding agreement. And Then the good news is, if you are admitted, you, you can attend and you can let them know right then and there, and then you withdraw your applications from any other schools.

And you know, nice and early where you are going. So there's some pros and cons to this process. Pros, I mentioned demonstrated interest. This is a way to demonstrate that you're interested by applying early decision and saying, if you admit me, I will attend. So that can help be helpful in the admissions process.

However. Because you are making that promise, you need to be sure of a few things. One, you need to be sure that far and away this is your first choice. No matter what else, who else would admit you and you need to make sure that you can pay for it. So if you're going to apply early decision, I highly encourage you to use all of the calculators, the financial aid calculators on those websites of those colleges.

Do the calculations, see what a potential financial aid offer would look like for you, for your family and talk that over ahead of time to make sure that that looks like a workable. Way to afford that college. Otherwise, what you're doing is you're promising that you'll attend. You'll get your financial aid offer and you have to withdraw all of your other applications and you'll never see the financial aid that was offered from any other college.

So you're, you're just not able to compare. So again, there's some pros to applying early decision, but there are also some cons. So keep that in mind and think that one through. Very closely. Then there's rolling admissions, and that just means that a college has an open date and you can apply at any time throughout the year, November through May.

In those cases, I'd encourage you to apply on the earlier side, mainly again from a financial aid perspective, just to make sure that you're eligible for any aid and that doesn't It's spent over time and then open admission. That is when a college admits most students for most programs anytime. So that would be like our community colleges in the state that, um, you know, you apply and they will admit you.

However, it doesn't mean you can necessarily get into any program. I know. Some programs might fill up quickly. You can always attend the community college and take classes, but you may not be able to get into every single program.

And then let me mention the college application forms. Um, many, many colleges use the common app and you can see that at commonapp. org. Um, your students will probably use that through their high schools. And the nice thing about the common app is you apply once. To the common app, and then you can send that common application to many, many colleges.

Um, many colleges except the common app. These other applications, universal college app and coalition app also applications like that, that you can apply and then send the application to the colleges that accept these applications. Some colleges will have their own application. And some might even have a paper application.

Um, so take a look at that right away from the admissions part of the website. What application forms do they accept? And some might accept multiple. So some colleges might accept the universal college app and the coalition app. So then you have a choice of which one to send. Let me just take a quick look at some questions.

See if I have any yet. Yeah, this is great. Thank you. Um, there's a great question that says with the FAFSA deadline moved to December, how does that play into early decision? So for this one year, um, So it is fall 23 spring 24 admission cycle, the FAFSA, which is the financial aid form for the last good number of years has been available to so that you could apply on October 1st for this one year, it's not going to be available until December.

And that's because there are many changes happening to the financial aid process, and there are. Systems that need to be updated, and so it won't be available. And so the way that plays into early decision is that most colleges that have an early decision program also require a form called the CSS profile from the college board, and that is available October 1st, and that is what they will provide.

They will do to make you an estimated financial aid offer. They will use that CSS profile. So you should be sure to complete that early if by chance, they don't have that a requirement for that form. Check in with them to find out what do they need you to do financial aid wise. Because I'm sure they, they, they need to give you an estimated financial aid offer.

Before you commit. No one would ever expect you to commit. to a college until you had a pretty good financial aid offer there. Thank you for that question.

All right, so here are the other components of a financial aid application. So your application will definitely include an application form, one of those we just talked about. It will definitely include your high school transcript. So those two things are given at every school. Um, Some colleges may require test scores from SAT or ACT, and some may say test optional, and that means you can make the decision of whether you send your test scores or not.

Many colleges require letters of recommendation. Usually two, but anywhere from one to three, usually, um, and that would be from high school teacher in one of your main subjects. And then most most colleges also require an activity list or a resume and a personal essay. But then I'll stop there. The last three.

Are less common. So some colleges, um, require an interview. Some colleges allow an interview and some don't have interviews at all. So you can, we'll talk about that and then audition and portfolio would probably be used if you are applying to a theater program, an art program, a design program, a music program, and you would have extra pieces of your admissions application.

Okay, and I have some other questions, so I'll cover them because they're appropriate to the time. So, if you're admitted early decision, is it possible to defer for a gap year? Um, yes, but then you will have to, um, yes, it is possible. So I would talk, I would talk that over, um, with the college if that happens.

Um, and then does applying early action give you an advantage over regular application? It can in some instances each college admissions process is a little bit different, but it can because you're applying early that that does indicate some demonstrated interest there so some colleges may take that into consideration.

And that might be good. Some colleges might just say. We're going to defer you to the regular pool, and then admit, admit you in the regular pool, so it depends, but it can't hurt applying early action. That's what I'd say.

All right, and we'll talk about a few other things because I think there are students of all ages on this call. So what are, you know, what are colleges looking for? They're looking for lots of things and the most important thing they're looking for is your academic readiness. Colleges want to admit students who are going to come to their college.

do well and be successful. So they just have to make sure first off that you can do the academic work. That is most important. So how do they assess that? The most important ways that they assess that are your grades, the type of courses you took and the rigor of those courses. So how do they figure that out?

Well, they get your high school transcript and there's some information on that high school transcript about About the courses and the program and the students, um, and then your grades are on there and they can also see, um, did you take some challenging classes? And that does not mean that you have to take every honors and AP class that the school offers.

Um, if that's going to stress you out as a student and you can't enjoy life in high school, that's, that's not what this is about. Um, it is good. For a college to see that you've challenged yourself. So maybe you take a couple of honors classes in subjects that you really like, um, and you take a couple of advanced placement classes, um, in subjects that you're thinking you want to learn more about and might like to have as a major in college.

So colleges love to see that you've challenged yourself. And in fact, they say they would probably rather you get an A minus or B plus. in a more challenging class, then just take the A in the regular class. They like to see that challenge, but also you want to keep your grades up and you don't, and you don't want to cause, um, stress on yourself.

You want to, um, be able to handle your classes and be learning and be feel good and feel good about that. Colleges also like to see improvement over time. So if you get a slightly less than stellar grade, but it's in ninth grade and you improve after that. You know, that doesn't really get held against you too much.

Um, if you can show that you've exceeded minimum requirements that the classes, as I mentioned, that you take maybe the harder courses or have relevance to your college plans, um, all of those things, colleges like to see, and you can look up for Massachusetts. There's a sliding scale for mass public colleges and universities about what GPA you need to have at different colleges and how that can be offset.

Thank you. With standardized test scores.

All right, so let's talk a little bit about standardized test. As I mentioned, more and more colleges have gone test optional, and that means that you can choose whether to send a test score. And the recommendation is if your test scores are going to be a real positive in your application, send them along.

Um, if you know that the. If your average SAT score at a certain institution is 1400 and your score is, is that or higher, send it along. But if your score is any lower than that, don't send it along because that's not going to be an additive to your, um, you know, test optional college. And colleges that are test optional really mean it.

The they're not expecting that you have to send that score. And yet, if you choose to, it's great. That might add to your admissions application. So I've listed here the fair test. org provides a list of over 1900 test optional colleges. If. The colleges you're applying to, or one of the colleges you're applying to requires a standardized test, then you should take it.

Um, so you take the PSAT and 10th grade and then when you get your results from that, the good news is the results from that can really show you what you did well, what you might need to work a little harder on. So that can be just And then you can decide whether to take the SAT or the ACT. Many students usually try out both tests, practice with both tests.

You can go to the College Board website, the ACT website, see which one. You do better at which one you like better because they're slightly different tests. And then the recommendation is that you just study and prepare and practice for the one that you're going to take. And there's a lot of free ways to practice at those two websites listed.

And then an AP exam. is the exam you take after you take an advanced placement class. You can take the AP exam and you receive a score. Um, and if you receive the highest score, then colleges may let you waive a class or they may at least let you waive out of an intro class. Um, sometimes you can Save money but more often it's just that you're waving out of an intro class, but it definitely can be a help to show that you've taken some AP classes because AP classes are college level work so that allows a college to know that you, you are academically already taking some, some college level work.

Okay, I'll get I'll get to some questions in a moment. That's great.

All right, so I mentioned that colleges will want to see an activity list and resume. That's mostly because colleges just want to see more about who you are as a person. What do you like to do outside of the classroom? So you can share information about extracurricular activities, showcase what you do, um, That can be anything.

It can be a sport. It can be music. It can be that you babysit after school. It can mean that you have a job, uh, that you take care of family members, that you, um, any of that. You just want to share what you're doing when you're not in the classroom. And that is helpful. And it doesn't matter what the activity is.

It's just colleges like to have an understanding of you. If you are on a team or something and you can show that you're captain, or if you started a club at school and you became the president or the treasurer of that club, all those things show leadership. But again, having a job, working in a community or, you know, in the community, helping with things with your family, all of those are really important too.

All right, I am going to answer some of these questions because you have some good questions here. So let's see.

So this is a great question if my student applies to a major like engineering and it's not accepted into that program. Is there still an option to attend that college, or are they out of luck. Can students put down a primary and secondary major, any suggestions. So I would say that different colleges are different and handle it differently.

So I would, I would look into, say, the engineering program, the colleges that you're looking to apply to and ask those questions. Those are great questions to ask of an admissions representative. But many times, yes, just if your student doesn't get into the major like engineering or nursing these days that seem to be small and very competitive.

Um, many times. They can still be admitted to the college and just not in that major. Um, because again, um, colleges know that students change their majors over time and sometimes students don't even have some colleges won't even ask you to require, uh, to put an intended major. Because they don't make you do that until sophomore year so each college does that a little bit differently.

But I would say, especially for a major like engineering. Um, Do ask that question, um, about what's the best way to go about that if you want engineering first, but you still want to attend the college, even if you don't get in to that major. So great question that I. You know, said it's it depends. Um, let's see how far into senior year can improve grades be valuable to increasing your chances of admission to college as well.

You know, I guess the fall grades senior year can be counted when you apply to the regular decision program, because all of your fall grades will be in and that can definitely be counted. In the admissions process. Um, but after that, I mean, your spring grades still count. In other words, you can't let them slide, but your spring grades are going to be too late because that admissions process is happening in the winter and spring of senior year.

So fall grades senior year are, um, are kind of your last chance to show off your, your grades. Really good questions. Alright, so now let's talk about the college essay. So this is your chance in the application process to just choose to write about something that is important to you, that you want to write about, and that shares a little bit more about you, because it You know, you have all the numbers, you know, you'll your grades, you'll have the recommendations from teachers, they can see the classes you've taken, but this is your chance to show something else about you.

Um, so make sure that you share something meaningful and personal. And I don't think there's any right or wrong you can write about anything. I know there, there's all this wisdom out there oh don't write about this topic it's, you know, Everyone's written about it. Um, but I've seen essays that are great on a wide variety of topics.

So as long as it's something that you want to write about that you feel good writing about, go for it. Keys start writing early. So just start writing. Some ideas so that you have lots of time to update, ask for opinions, can ask a friend, you can ask a teacher, you can ask a parent, um, and take, take feedback from people, but don't let anyone rewrite it, you know, students, you should write, write your own essay, that's going to show a little something about you, and it should be about you, you know, if you're writing something about maybe your grandmother or something, it shouldn't really be about her, it, should be about your relationship to her and how that has affected your life.

Um, so you want to start early so you can try different topics and approaches and plagiarism is taken very seriously. So don't, don't do that. And you want to leave a lot of time for careful proofreading. You do want to run a spell check, and you want it to be fairly well written, um, and you want to be able to proofread.

So, um, you want to take the time. And a nice tip that an admissions colleague always tells families when, when he presents is when you have your essay. Take it and read it out loud, maybe even look in the mirror while you're reading it out loud, and if it makes you smile, if you're happy reading it, if you're excited to read it, if it's interesting while you're reading it, that's probably how the admissions committee members are going to feel, too.

Whereas if you're reading your essay and it's just boring you to tears, and you really don't care about the topic. That's probably how the admissions committee is going to feel about it as well. So find something that you really feel passionately about. Now here are the Common App prompts for the essay.

And you can see there are a lot of them and the last one basically tells you you can write about anything. So these are, are set in stone topics you have to address. They're, they're prompts to get you thinking about what are some things you might like to write about. So reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea.

What prompted your thinking and what was the outcome? And then discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. So, these are just prompts. Read through them, think about what you might want to write about, and do it early, and get some feedback.

Letters of recommendation. Your high school will have a process, and Probably by spring of junior year, they'll ask, maybe have a form or they'll ask you to ask some of your teachers. Many times it's junior year teachers in your core subjects, math, English, history, science. foreign language. Um, but most importantly, it's, you want to ask a teacher who knows you and will be able to share some good things about you.

That's really the most important is to have it be someone who knows you and ask early, um, share whatever you can with that teacher about where you're applying, what you're interested in. That will be helpful. And then definitely thank your teacher. And interviews. So an interview is a face to face conversation that will let the colleges, you know, see who you are.

I know that now you probably have some virtual options for interviews as well. But a lot of colleges don't require an interview or don't even expect an interview. If a college does require an interview. Then do the interview. No question. Um, but there are two types. Also there's informational and evaluative and evaluative means that that's going to be part of your admissions application.

Informational is just that that's a chance for you to share a little about yourself and learn a lot about the college. So those are different and it's not necessarily part of the admissions process. Um, couple of things. to do before an interview is make sure you've researched the college so you know a lot about it and you don't go in and ask a question that could have been answered by looking at the first page of the website.

Um, and then just think a little bit about yourself too, which you're probably doing through this process anyway. But think through what you are interested in, what you've liked best in high school, how you spend your time, what books you like to read, what do you do for fun with your friends. Think through those things because that's the type of conversation that you'll be having with the person who's interviewing you.

And sometimes it's a former student, sometimes it's a person from the admissions office, um, sometimes it's a, yeah, a graduate, um, an alumni of the school. So, It can be a variety of different, um, types of interviews, but, um, anyway, follow the process of, of the college and know that whoever's interviewing Lee interviewing you likes to talk with students who are seniors in high school.

It's, you know, part of the job that they think is fun and they enjoy it so it should be a probably be a very nice conversation.

I'm going to look and see if there are any more questions as we near the end here. Okay. So then let's talk about the admissions decision. I mentioned that will happen, could happen in the fall if you apply to one of the early processes, or it could happen in the spring. And the options will be, your student will be admitted, the student will be deferred, not accepted early, but deferred to the regular pool, or the student will be denied, or the student will be waitlisted.

Just know, students, that you'll probably be denied. At a college or two most students are and please don't take that personally. It's hard not to I know but it is just that this admissions is a process colleges receive, as I mentioned, many applications, more applications from qualified candidates, then they can admit usually.

And so you can't get admitted everywhere. So just understand it as a process and it doesn't, it's not a, uh, it doesn't speak about you or who you are, all the great things you're going to do. And waitlist is a tough one, because it's basically saying, yeah, you're qualified, you're just on the waitlist, you just didn't make the cut to be admitted.

And so. What you'll want to do with the waitlist is you'll want to let the college know if you want to stay on it. Yes, I want to be on the waitlist. But you also have to shift your mind and make, start making your other plans. And find out, think about what college you are going to accept by May 1st.

Because then you want to accept colleges by May 1st. That's usually the deposit deadline. And... You may need to do that even if you're still on another wait list, and you probably will lose that deposit if you do that, but um, but you do need to move on and make a decision.

Alright, before we get to college affordability, let me just see what last questions we have here.

Oh, that's great. How many letters of college of recommendation to colleges accept? So it's usually one to three, and what I'm going to say is. Follow what they ask you to do. So, if they say, we want one letter of recommendation, and you send in three, they're going to read one. And they may not read your favorite one, or the one that you wanted them to read.

Um, so, send in the number that they ask for. And again, it's usually anywhere from one to three. Great question. All right, I'm going to talk a little bit about college affordability, but I'm going to say again that I highly recommend that you attend one of our webinars on financial aid one on one, and I believe the first one starts October 5 this year.

And. We will have webinars on that on completing the FAFSA, all of that, um, as the fall goes along. All right, but some pieces of information you can understand early on are what is the cost of attendance and what is the net price. So when you're looking at colleges. You're going to see the cost of attendance and that's the tuition fees, room and board, books, supplies.

It's a big number, but what really matters is how much is that college going to cost you. So what you're really looking for is to know, have an understanding of what financial aid you might be able to receive and what it's going to cost you. So colleges have something called net price calculators on their websites, and you can go in and type in some information about your finances.

And just get an estimate of a financial aid offer so you can have a sense if that will be affordable to you and your family. Um, it doesn't mean you shouldn't apply to other colleges because those are just estimates, but it means you should keep an open mind and make sure you have a variety of colleges on your list to leave options open for yourself.

What you also want to find out is what financial aid applications are required and when. So you want to find out, do they require the FAFSA, or the FAFSA and the CSS profile, or do they have their own institutional application? And what are the deadlines? The financial aid deadlines are usually close to the admissions deadlines, but a little bit after, and they're different for different colleges, and they're different if you apply early or apply regular.

So, Find out from each college what's required, and you can just read about online if they have need based aid or merit aid or both. Um, and so you'll read about that. And you can start to look for some private scholarships now. And that means scholarships that are sort of outside of the financial aid process.

MIFA, if you sign up for, if you follow MIFA on social media. Or sign up for me for emails. We host a number of scholarships that you can keep in mind to apply for. And I talked about net price calculators. And here are the financial aid forms. Everyone has to complete the FAFSA for every school free application for federal student aid.

And this year is unusual. This year, the FAFSA will be available in December 2023. We don't know the exact day in December, so I'm counting on December 30th. Um, so that's a little later than it has been in past years or will be in future years, but just know that that. You want to be ready to complete the FAFSA.

Um, in January, in December, January, as soon as it's available this year, if you're applying this year, it's going to ask you about your 2022 income and there are steps you can take like creating. Your FSA ID earlier in the fall. So you'll be right ready to go when this becomes available. So again, stay in touch with me for webinars and we'll teach you how to do all that.

Some colleges require the FAFSA and an additional form called the CSS profile and that's required. By about 200 colleges and scholarship agencies. Um, the CSS profile will be available October 1st. So if this year you're applying to any colleges that require that, you can get right on that October 1st and get that financial aid application in, which may mean that you can receive some estimated financial aid offers early.

We also have webinars about that. So come back and learn about that. And sometimes colleges will have their own specific financial aid application. I'll talk briefly about two other programs that you might want to look into mass transfer And you can find mass transfer at that website on the screen That's the program where students can start at a community college and then transfer to a four year college in massachusetts and receive a huge, a huge break in costs.

So it can be very beneficial. So take a look at that. And tuition break, which is a program that students can attend public four year institution in a neighboring state and pay Massachusetts in state tuition prices if they attend certain programs. So go to tuition break, look at that list of programs, and if you're interested in any of those, that can be, um, a less expensive way to go to college as well.

And here is your timeline. And I'll mention MIFA Pathway, which is our free web portal for students, and you can go in, register, create an account, and then use all the tools in here, like skills and interest assessments, career exploration, a college search. Financial aid and scholarship information. Um, and it's very, uh, user friendly, student oriented way to keep track of, um, a lot of things for yourself.

So go to me for pathway dot org to get started with that. Also, you know, you, I think now will be signed up for me for webinars and events. So check out the events page for all of the future webinars. Start researching your colleges and start creating that college list. All right. Let me see. I'll take a few questions here now.

Okay.

So someone asked, what is the data set that is now available by college? Oh, there is a common, it's called the common data set. So you could either Google it, or if you want to write to me tomorrow, um, let me just go to this next page. Here are here are social media ways to connect with us on all these social media platforms.

I'll come back to that. And here are ways you can always call me for with questions or email and if you email college planning at me for dot org. And just to say that I was on Julie's webinar last night, and I'm interested in finding the common data set. I think you could,

I think you can Google it, but I, I can find it. And let you know where that weather that is. And that just gives a lot of information about about the admissions process at different institutions. So, um, that's great, too. Thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, so this is a great question. How can the student apply for financial aid if the early application deadline may be November 1st, but the FAFSA is not available until December?

Yeah, it's a great question, and colleges are trying to figure that out right now because this has really thrown them to have the FAFSA so late. But, if a college uses the CSS profile, And you complete your CSS profile in October, they can probably do an estimated award for you. Some colleges might have their own application or some process where they can ask you a few questions and still be able to offer you an Estimated award.

Um, or some colleges may just send out an offer that is only your merit based award, which merit means it's based on non financial, um, parts. It means you know that that you're a strong candidate for admission, which made you receive some merit award. And then you'll have to wait to receive the other part of your financial.

Aid offer. So yes, it is going to be different from college to college this year, but I would say put in your applications. And then complete your CSS profile if you need to, and then just be ready to complete that FAFSA whenever it's available December or first of January. And. Then the colleges will work to get a financial aid offer to you as soon as possible.

And once they do, then you can make a decision. You do not need to make a decision until you have a financial aid offer in hand. But again, colleges are going to be scrambling to try to get you as much information as they can as possible, but it can't really be solidified until that FAFSA is completed.

So, um, but again, I know colleges are working. For ways to give you an estimated offer. Your question is one that's on my mind, too.

Alright, let's see. So some colleges offer college funding services. Is it worth paying for such services? So I always, uh, say that, you know, we, we make choices to pay for lots of services in our lives. You know, some people pay to have someone mow their lawn and some people mow it themselves, you know, and we do that for numerous reasons, um, personally and because.

MIFA is here with all kinds of free information that we really can walk you through this process. You can attend all our webinars. You can call us. You can email us. Um, I don't think you need to pay for these services because I know that they exist and they're free and great. So. And I will say the financial aid advice that that you will get will be non biased, and it is accurate, and all those things.

I can't speak for college funding services I'm sure there's some great. Groups out there. Um, but I can't I can't speak to that. And I just don't think you need to pay for it. So I wouldn't want anyone to think they needed to pay for this. Yeah, let me show the timeline. Someone's asking me to show that timeline.

I moved pretty quickly over that. And again, you will receive these slides tomorrow as well. But let's leave that up for a minute while I answer some of these other questions.

Yeah, so the common data set is just information about about colleges and their admissions process. So I will, um, you can either Google that or I'll find it and you can email me, email College Planning tomorrow and we can get that to you. We have another webinar, um, that we're doing later in the year where they, they actually show that and go through that.

It's a webinar with, um, about how to be strategic about the admissions process. So you can look for that on our website as well. Thank you.

And are there any other questions?

If not, I will move again to

the social media, the ways you can connect with us on social media, and also the telephone number for questions and the email for questions, and we're happy to help you with this process all along. So thank you for joining me tonight. Thank you for your terrific questions and stay in touch and have a wonderful evening.

Thank you.