College Admissions

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[00:00:00] Okay, good evening, everyone. We're going to get started. My name is Julie Shields Rutina, and I am the Director of College Planning, Education, and Training at MEFA, and tonight's webinar is about college admissions. All right, a couple of logistics, um, If you want to ask questions during the webinar, please use the Q& A section and you can put your question there.

I am presenting alone, so a couple of times I might go and read some questions and answer them, but I'll certainly look at all of the questions at the end. So feel free to put something in there if I don't cover it and we'll make sure we cover it. If you want closed captioning. Hit the CC live transcript button and that will show you the words that I'm speaking across the screen.

If you need to leave, that's fine. I hope you don't, but if [00:01:00] you do, that's fine. We are recording this webinar and tomorrow we will send you the recording and the slides. So you'll all have the slides and the recording. I think that is that. So let me tell you a little bit about MEFA. MEFA is a state authority, and we were, uh, created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1982, uh, with the mission of helping families plan, save, and pay for college.

And we're still doing the exact same thing today. Uh, we have, uh, some private loans if families need that type of, uh, financing when it comes time to paying for college. We also have the state's, uh, Savings programs. We have the 529 plan that is administered by Fidelity Investments. We have a prepaid tuition plan called the U plan.

We also have a savings plan for people with disability. It's called attainable, [00:02:00] the able savings plan. So we have savings plans and then everything else we do is all in the lines of providing guidance to students and families at whatever age and stage they are in the college process. So just like this webinar.

It is free to the public and, uh, we are always happy to work with you, um, with, you know, whatever questions, whatever help we can, um, we can share with you. Alright, so tonight, we're going to talk about admissions. And here, here are the topics we're going to cover. We're going to go over the current trends in the college admissions world.

We're going to talk about admissions. Something really important, which is building your college list. And then we'll talk about campus visits, the application process. We will touch upon financial aid, although financial aid needs its own full hour webinar, and we have lots of those. So, um, I will probably [00:03:00] advise you to find A financial aid webinar as well.

And all along the way, we're going to talk about free resources that MEFA has to be able to help you. All right, so what are those trends? One trend that's been really steadily, um, a trend for the last good number of years is that students are applying to a greater number of colleges. And that's, Due to a number of factors, um, one being that, uh, selective schools are get, seem to be getting even more selective and more competitive, um, just because of the numbers of people who are applying.

And so, in order to make sure that they have choices and options, students tend to apply to a larger number of colleges each year. And then that leads to the next trend. Um, because, um, Back, you know, past 10 years ago, if a college received an application for a [00:04:00] student, their first initial thought is, was, okay, this student really wants to attend here.

Um, now that may still be the case, but these days, colleges know that sometimes students will throw in an application or two, um, to a school that sort of Not at the top of their list. And so they can't necessarily count on the fact that every application, um, you know, is going to turn into a, uh, a student enrolling.

And so that leads to something at some colleges called demonstrated interest. And what that means is sometimes then colleges will look to a few other factors to understand it. If the student really is interested, has the student reached out to the admissions office? Has the student, uh, visited the college and gone on a tour and spoken with someone in admissions?

Um, things like that. Now, there are some colleges that don't [00:05:00] look at that at all because they just have such a robust applicant pool that they. They have other factors and they can never get to that demonstrated interest factor, but many do. So I think the lesson there is just for students to, um, if they want to apply to a college and they're interested.

Just find some way to show that as they go along through this process through connecting with the college, visiting the college, attending a webinar, asking a college admissions representative a question if they come to their high school or at a college fair, something like that. Um, another trend, and this is just a life trend for all of us, right, is social media.

So, the first thing I'll say about social media is all colleges have social media accounts and they post regularly, and actually it's a terrific way for students to find out what's going on at that college, um, and pay attention. So, [00:06:00] um, you know, students should, you Should take the time and look at the social media accounts of the colleges that they're interested in.

So, and that that has turned into a pretty great thing. Just another way to learn about a college, um, on the other hand, what I'd say about social media is that students have, you know, all kinds of accounts online and we just. Make sure that, ask students to make sure that whatever they post online, that they don't mind someone at the college seeing that.

They don't mind a future employer seeing that, um, relatives, all of that. They just want to make sure that what's out there on their social media accounts is, um, they're proud of it. And cost is a bigger factor. It's a, it's a big factor. And I think students and families are becoming more and more aware at how that definitely needs to [00:07:00] be a factor in making a good college decision.

So we'll talk a little bit about that. And, you know, one of the good things that came out of the pandemic is that When colleges couldn't have students on campus when they couldn't hold events, they couldn't visit your high schools because you probably weren't even at your high schools. Um, they developed all of these ways to connect with students virtually.

And the great news is they have kept all of those ways. And so most colleges now welcome students to their campuses. They want you to visit, they want you to be there so they can meet you in person, all those things. But they also have all kinds of ways that you could connect online through webinars, through virtual tours through question and answer sessions, uh, through zoom meetings.

So, [00:08:00] that has turned out to be a positive for students who, you know, maybe can't travel to every college they're interested in. And, Can really get a lot of information virtually now. Um, more and more schools are test optional, although there are some colleges that still require a standardized test, meaning the S.

A. T. or the A. C. T. But each year, there are more and more who are not requiring a standardized test and. Another piece is that there are more applications at those test optional colleges. And so, there is more selectivity out there. I mentioned that at the beginning. There's more selectivity, so students really do need to pay attention to creating that balanced list, so they will have good options and choices in the spring of their senior year.

And, uh, Also, there are longer wait lists, so [00:09:00] colleges want to protect themselves, they want to make sure that they can enroll a full class, so they sometimes keep a long wait list behind the scenes, so that they can make sure, uh, that they have people to fill in spots if people, if students don't attend.

So, being on the wait list can sometimes be difficult. Um, be a little unsettling because you really don't know where you stand or if you're going to be accepted off the wait list. So we'll talk a little bit more about that too. All right.

All right. Another general statement I'll make about a college admissions process is that there are a lot of pieces, a lot of details and a lot of pieces, not too complicated. But if details aren't your thing, find or anyway, find a way to stay organized with the process. MEFA has this college application manager that you can download online, but you can [00:10:00] also just create your own spreadsheet, or you can have a whiteboard in in your Bedroom or your kitchen or if you keep something on your phone, but a way to have a list of all of the colleges that you're interested in and the admissions deadline, the financial aid deadline, whether or not they need the SAT, uh, any notes if you visit.

Um, so it's really good to stay organized with this process and the fun part hopefully can be. really researching a number of colleges to try to find colleges that you might like to apply to. And there are all kinds of ways to do that, and some you can start right online, and here are some websites.

College Navigator, College Scorecard, Two federal sites, a big future from the college board, and MEFA pathway is a MEFA free [00:11:00] tool. So all of these sites allow you to put in some information about yourself, such as, you know, you want to apply to colleges within a 50 mile radius of your home. Or you want to apply in New England, or you want to apply out of state.

And you're interested in engineering. And you played soccer in high school and things like that. So you, you, you build a profile for yourself and then it narrows down, um, a list of colleges that have all the criteria that you are asking about. how you're describing yourself. And then some of these tools get into some more details about graduation rate, average annual cost, uh, the median earnings of their graduates.

I mean, some of these are big numbers, and it's hard [00:12:00] to know exactly how that's going to affect you, but overall, it's just good to see a lot of this data, as you're thinking about the colleges that you want to apply to. And these are some of the things that a student should be thinking about when thinking about colleges they want to apply to or just colleges they want to think about applying to and try to narrow this down institution size and location.

Um, you know, but this is a question that if. An adult asks a junior in high school, you know, do you want to go to a big college or small college? Do you want to go to a college in the city or in a rural area? A student might not actually know the answer to that. How, how, how would they fully know? Um, and so this is where visiting colleges, learning about colleges online, really connecting with people, asking questions can help.

Uh, because [00:13:00] Institution size and location is important. Let's say a student, um, You know, really wants to sit in a classroom and have all their classes be discussions. You know, they'd like to be in classes with 15 people or 10 people and, um, discussing issues even as early as being a freshman. Um, you know, some of those larger universities won't You won't be able to do that.

Larger universities will have larger classes. Um, so that's one thing a student might want to think about. Uh, but then again, some students might want to just sit in a lecture hall, listen to the lecture, take a lot of their own good notes, and then go home and study. And they might prefer to go to college that way.

So these things come into play with college size. Um, location. Also important and something that students will get a sense from visiting colleges and even [00:14:00] colleges that might not be the exact ones they're interested in but are, you know, in here in Boston, easy to visit. Um, and understanding, do you want to walk out of your classes, walk out of your dorm and be on a city street.

Or would you rather do that and be on a grassy lawn in a rural or suburban area? You know, so once students start to think about that, it will become clearer as they get further into this process. Academic fit is key, so it's good for students to go to a college where they're going to meet students who like to study as they do.

You know, who, who probably had similar grades in high school, um, are, you know, on the same level as far as challenging themselves academically. Uh, so, and, you know, maybe some students still want to challenge themselves academically, but they [00:15:00] also want to go to a big football game on the, you know, on the weekends.

And so that's where campus culture comes in. So students can really meet some students who attend the university college they're interested in and ask some questions about, um, you know, what does the week look like? What do the nights look like? What are the weekends look like on this campus? Um, definitely students want to make sure the college has their intended major, um, that learning style, you know, in, in talking about how a student learns best, that can go along with classroom size.

That can go along with, uh, work based projects, uh, things like that. Um, colleges these days have so many activities, um, but it's still a good idea to ask some of the more detailed questions. If you're really interested in a certain activity, um, you want to find out is, [00:16:00] is that a big program on campus or is it something that, you know, You could start, but you might be the only one doing it.

Um, so good to talk about some of those things. And again, most colleges have study abroad programs, career and internships. But again, ask those more detailed questions. If you really have something special in mind and then affordability. is very important. I will give you some tools to be able to get a sense of that early on.

Um, but, and you don't want to really rule anything out because you want to apply for financial aid and, uh, that may change how affordable it is for you, but, uh, something that you do want to think about.

So visiting the campus can be so important. And again, you may not be able to because of distance, and I mentioned you can do a lot online, [00:17:00] but if you're able to visit the campus, that's terrific. You can always do an informal visit just to walk around, maybe go to a sporting event, go to a theater production, go to a concert, something like that.

See how. The kids are hanging around on the weekends or the weekdays, but once you get to be a junior or senior, it's really good to make a formal visit to the college. And what that means is that you Uh, go to the website of the college, sign up, uh, to attend an admissions open house kind of, um, event where some people from the admissions office will talk to you about the college, you'll get to take a campus tour, um, that is just so helpful in learning more about what you like and what you don't like about a college.

Also, there are college fairs where sometimes [00:18:00] 200 to 500 colleges will set up a table and have admissions representatives there, and you can just walk up and down and meet those people. And there might be colleges from the other side of the country, which is terrific because, you know, you can't travel everywhere in this allows you to get some information from a representative from a college that's far away and then you can take that a little bit further.

So, um, a couple of places you can find college fairs are NACACfairs. org. And they will tell you about the upcoming events this fall. And if you can, just be a little bit prepared when you go, because these can be overwhelming. Check out the list of colleges who's going to attend beforehand. Make sure if there are colleges you want to talk to, you put those on your list so you know where to go when you get to the college fair.

If there are information sessions at those, College fairs, [00:19:00] take advantage of those, and schedule one on one meetings with college representatives if you can.

So then, all along the lines of coming to a place where you're going to develop a full list of colleges that you're going to apply to, I'd say keep that net wide at the beginning as you explore. Um, but eventually, you might want to narrow it down. And here is one way you could think about your final list.

So, there are colleges that you are likely to be accepted to. And how will you know? Well, you'll know because colleges, on their websites, give you a sense of what the last class they admitted looked like. Meaning, they will tell you, uh, what their grades were in high school, what their test scores were, if, if they, you know, require a test or accept a test.

Um, they will [00:20:00] also tell you more about the makeup of that class. Um, and if it seems like your profile matches that, you know, you're probably likely to be admitted. You want to have a lot of those colleges on your, uh, on your list. And then there are some that it's possible you'll be admitted. So it means your profile probably does match pretty well with what the college is saying.

They want in a student, but it could just be a college that is very competitive. There are some small colleges that might only invite, admit, 500 students per class and they admit from all over the world. So even if your profile matches what the college is looking for, you're just not sure. You know, you could be admitted and you might not be admitted depending on the admissions pool that year.

So that's kind of a possible. You probably want to have some of those colleges on your [00:21:00] list because it's likely or you know, it's possible you're going to be admitted. Your profile seems right in line with what the college wants, but it's not, it's not a sure thing. And then there are some colleges that We'll call a reach, meaning that they show you the profile of the student who's there and you, you sort of fit it.

Maybe not quite, but you have other attributes. And so you're going to throw, you're going to throw your application in because you really love this college and you think you could do really well there, but. It might be a little out of your range as far as your, your high school grades or test scores or, or other things that they'll say that they want.

So you might have a couple of those colleges on your, on your list, but, um, but you want to make sure you have some likelihoods and possibles as well. And [00:22:00] I'll just say this too, all of the Ivy, Ivy leagues and many of those elite colleges, um, are reaches mainly because they, They just received so many applications from qualified students and they can only admit a small number of them.

So, um, so if you are applying to a lot of very competitive colleges, make sure you have a good number of colleges on your list. All right. So then when are you going to apply to college? What are the types? Well, there's regular decisions. So, uh, that's the regular application process. And it usually has an early January deadline.

And, um, so you apply in, say, early January and you receive An admissions answer, let's say in March or April, and then you let the college know by May 1st, if you're going to attend or not, that's kind [00:23:00] of the regular decision process. Um, however, over the last number of years, many, many colleges, dare I say, most have an early action option.

And usually that means Same process, but you just apply early. You apply in November and December and you find out your answer a little bit earlier, maybe in January or February, but you still don't need to let college know until May 1st, if you're going to attend or not. And some students like that early action.

They just like to have an application in, you know, Before the holiday break at the end of the calendar year, and sometimes they even have an answer By then and it is just a little bit of a relief in this process of oh like that college I could see myself there. Well, we'll see what else happens, but I know I have that And that feels good.[00:24:00]

So people like that early action. Now early decision is something a little bit different and unique. So with the early decision process, also students apply in November and December, but it's a binding process. It's an agreement. So basically what a student is saying to a college in the early decision process is, I am applying to you, you're my top choice, and if you admit me, I will attend.

That's sort of the promise of Early decision. So what I would say to you as a student and as a family, number one, you want to make sure that is far and away your top choice. And you also want to make sure you want to look into the finances a little bit more and run some calculators with the college and I'll share those with you because you want to have a sense of if you can afford to attend there.

Um, so. [00:25:00] You really are making a promise. It's a, it's a promise. So you want to make sure that you do your research about it. And the issue is once you apply early decision, once you're admitted, you are agreeing to withdraw your applications from all of the other colleges. And that means you will never see what financial aid was awarded at some of those other places.

You will not get to compare financially. You'll just have to, you know, you'll accept and go. Then rolling admissions, um, just means that a college will open up their decision, their pool, and you can apply. Let's say they open it up November 1st. You can apply any time, November through May. Um, and they will let you know sort of on a rolling basis as well.

I would encourage you to apply on the earlier side if you can with some of those colleges, because if they do have some institutional financial aid, it may run out for those who apply later in the year [00:26:00] and open admission are colleges that admit most students for most programs, anytime. And an example of that would be community colleges.

So community colleges admit most students. Most of the time, just not always in the specific program. Sometimes there are small programs like a nursing or an engineering program, um, pre program or something, and they might cap that. So it doesn't mean a student can get into every single program, but it means they can go to that college, you, when they, when they apply.

All right, so what do you need to do to apply to a college? Um, well, colleges have an application form and here are some of the examples of the application forms. One is called the Common App. The Common App is very common and many colleges use it. [00:27:00] And what this allows you to do is apply. Apply using the common app.

It opened on August 1st. You go in and you complete the application online and then you're able to send it to the different colleges that either require that application or allow that application. So it does save time and it's a nice way to organize your applications. The universal college app And the coalition app works similarly.

So, um, but if a college requires one of those, you'll go in and complete that and send that to any colleges that will accept the universal or the coalition app. And some colleges will accept a couple of them. They'll give you options. So you can go in, complete those and send off which one you want.

Sometimes a college may have a website application or even a paper application.

And here are the components [00:28:00] of your application. It consists of the application form, whatever that may be, such as the Common App, your high school transcript, your standardized test scores, if the college requires that, usually letters of recommendation, one, two, or three. An activity list or a resume and a personal essay.

Now, all of those are very common and accepted at most institutions. The last three are less common. So An interview is required at some colleges, it's allowed at other colleges, and, you know, it's not an option at some colleges. So, just know that's not everywhere. And then the audition or the portfolio are usually for a student who's applying to a very specific program, like a, um, [00:29:00] a music program, or a theater program, or a dance program, or an art program.

So those are only used in those cases. Thanks. I'm going to take a moment. Someone has a hand raised, so I'm going to ask if you could type your question into the Q& A, um, and I will stop in a moment and try to answer any questions that have come in. I don't see any so far.

All right, so I'll keep going. So,

sometimes students ask what's the most important factor in the English process? And it is Your high school transcript. It really is because in in general, colleges need to know that you are going to be able to do the work at that college and [00:30:00] really succeed. That's what they're looking for. Someone who is going to come in, be able to handle the work academically, and it's going to be able to succeed.

And so what they look for in your transcript is they look for rigor. So they really look for a student who took on challenging classes. I've been in a lot of classes and did well. So, you know, the age old question is, is it better for me to get a B in a challenging class, you know, an honors or AP or get an A, you know, in a college prep or regular class?

And almost across the board, college admissions folks will say they like to see that students challenge themselves with challenging classes and that doesn't mean every class has to be, you know, honors or AP. But that students took advantage of those. That their high school offered and worked hard and did well on them.

So [00:31:00] that that's key. They also like to look at improvement over time, exceeding minimum requirements, uh, your grades relevance to your relevant to your college plans. So, you know, if you're going to be a math major, how, how did you do in your math classes? And there is a sliding scale for mass public colleges and universities.

So you need a certain GPA. Um, to go. And if the GPA isn't quite at that level, then you might need a standardized test to balance that. So you can look at that online as well. And I'm going to look at the questions.

Oh yeah, so someone's asking, what's the difference between having a resume and the activities section in the Common App? Should we have both? So, we'll get to that momentarily, but there really, there really isn't a difference. Those two pieces of the application are getting at [00:32:00] the same thing. They're getting at the fact that your student has a life outside of academics and can share, um, about what the activities are.

Are that they do. Do they have a job? Do they have some volunteer work? Do they have some leadership positions? Um, that can all be listed in the common app. Um, and sometimes they can attach, um, a resume to that if they feel it isn't fully shown. But either one of those is going to give the same type of information to the college.

All right, so we'll talk a little bit about standardized tests. Um, again, there are many colleges that do not require them. So fair test dot org provides a list of over 2000 test optional schools. But you might want to try to take A standardized test. You probably [00:33:00] have taken the PSAT, um, already or the, the pre ACT Test and then that, you know, gives you a sense of what test taking is like, and you can learn a little bit about how you did and what things you need to work on.

And then you can take either the SAT or the ACT, either one. So sometimes we recommend that you do some of the practice, the free practice tests of both. And really just see which one student likes better, you know, uh, sometimes students have a preference and then you pick one and you try to study for that and study means you just want to practice and there is free practice at both the S.

A. T. and the A. C. T. website. Um, look for free and low cost ways to practice for these tests. And truly, the more you practice, [00:34:00] taking timed tests, all of that will help you when it comes to actually taking the SAT or ACT. And then it's up to you. You don't have to send your scores right away. You can take it, see how you do, and then you can decide if you want to send your scores to test optional schools.

And then if you are applying to colleges that require it, you can decide which which score you want to send to those colleges. Lastly, there's an AP exam. So if you take AP classes, then you can take an exam at the end and receive a grade. And sometimes the college, I mean, that can look really good to a college because those are college level courses.

So that can help with admissions. And also it allows colleges to know how to place you in what level courses.

The other thing I'll mention about both SAT and ACT is they are now going to be digital. [00:35:00] SAT is now digital. ACT is going to be digital. The test is cut down to two hours, which is really a bonus for students because those long tests really are hard to sit for. And, um, yeah, the questions are shortened too.

So I, I think these tests will be easier for students to take in the future. And here we talked about the activity list and resume because it really is, Either or both. And what you're trying to get across here is that there are some extracurricular activities, you have some interests, um, showcase those that were most important to you, or you really took a leadership role.

But, you know, if you went home and, you know, babysat for younger siblings, or you left school and went to an after school job. All of those are [00:36:00] wonderful ways to be spending time and have given you skills. And so those will add to your admissions application. So there is no one activity that's better than another.

They, um, colleges just want to know who you are a little bit and how you spent your time and what skills you may have gained from your activities.

And so now we'll talk about your essay. You have a chance to write. An essay about really anything you want. I'm going to show you the prompts next, but really, you want to write an essay about something that's important to you that can sound meaningful and that may share something about who you are, you know, besides the numbers on your and the letters on your transcript and the numbers on a test.

Um, so a good recommendation for this is find [00:37:00] a topic. That is something you're interested in and start writing it early so that you can just edit and edit and edit and not be writing this at the last minute. This is something you want to work on a little bit and have a few revisions and add edits.

Maybe let someone else read it, give you some feedback, but still you want to make it your own. You don't want someone else to tell you what to write about. You want to write about something that's important to you, that shares a little bit about who you are and, um, But you want to write it as well as you, as well as you can.

And so the Common App, um, gives you these prompts for the essay. But they are just prompts. Because you can see the last one here says, Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. So you can really write about anything.

But if you want to [00:38:00] get some prompts to think about, what could I possibly write? Um, here are some good ones. You know, discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself and others. Um, reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful and is surprising.

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking and what was the outcome? So, some prompts to help you think about.

And then letters of recommendation. Um, couple of things. Colleges will say we want two letters of recommendation. Or we want one letter of recommendation. Or we want three. Follow directions. Because what I'm told is if a college asks for two letters of recommendation and you send four, they are going to read two.

And they're going to pick the two They want to. So, [00:39:00] you know, you may not have the top two that you wanted to be read, read. So follow those directions and give them the number of recommendations they ask for. Um, talk to your high school counselor. Usually the counselors have a process where there might be a form and you bring it to two teachers at a certain time of the year, maybe April of junior year.

And you ask, That teacher to write for you, you tell them when it's due, and um, always thank them as well. And you want to find guidelines, junior year teachers who know you well. In one of your core subjects, English, Math, History, Science, or Foreign Language. Um, are there exceptions? Absolutely. Can you have a coach write for you?

Can you have a minister right for you? Can you have [00:40:00] someone that you've worked for? Yes, you can do all of those things, but typically the guidance is defined to teachers from, who have been recent, so maybe junior year, who know you well.

And then I mentioned that interviews are not required everywhere. Sometimes they're required and sometimes they're, you know, They're an option. So basically, they're informational and evaluative. So if an interview is required, usually it's evaluative, meaning it's part of the admissions application. If it's informational, it just means it's there.

They want you to talk with someone in the admissions office and They want to learn a little bit about you, too, so you share information, but it's probably not a checkmark on the admissions application or a piece of it. So those are the [00:41:00] two types of interviews. If it is required, make sure you look at the deadlines and you do it.

And if it's optional, I'd still suggest that you do it. I think the more you can learn about a place and the more people can learn about you, the better. It's a face to face conversation, but these days it takes place on Zoom very often. And just Be prepared to answer open ended questions. You are, you know, 17, 18 year old students, the people in the admissions office who conduct these interviews know that they enjoy talking to people your age.

They just want to have a fun conversation. So, but the little prep work you can do going in is to have researched about the college so know the reasons that you're applying to that college, ask any thoughtful questions that you have. And just. Think about some things about yourself too, because you sometimes get asked questions like, what do you and your friends do after school?

What movies have you seen recently? [00:42:00] What books have you read recently? Um, how do you like to spend your time? Things like that. So, um, just give that a little thought up front as well, and then just relax and be yourself. I see another question, so I'm going to look at that.

Yeah, so someone asked, can a recommendation come from a teacher that isn't at the school? Like, for example, if a student is doing a coding class outside the school curriculum. So, the answer is yes, however, I would. Because it's it's definitely a possibility, but I would maybe check with a couple of the colleges that the student is applying to and ask that question of them or ask that question from the admissions, uh, representative, because some schools do prefer to have it be.

A teacher at the school. [00:43:00] Um, and some schools might be a little more open to having that outside teacher. So it's definitely a possibility, but if you're going to have an edge one way or the other, I just want you to know. So I would say that's something to just ask of the particular schools as well. Good question.

Ah, good question also is the interview before or after the application. I've seen both. So I can think of a couple of colleges around here that require interviews and they do them early during the application process. So they do them maybe in the fall of senior year. Um, and so you need to get on it and schedule those so you don't miss.

The deadline to be able to do that required interview many colleges, however, um, wait until you've applied and then they send you information about setting up [00:44:00] a college interview. So, there are different processes at different colleges. So, get on the website on the admission section of the website and look into the policies of the different colleges because I've seen, I've seen both.

All right, so, you know, you have your list, you do put this great application together, you have it sent to all the places that you want to go and at some point you will receive admissions decisions. The one you want, of course, is that you are accepted. Um, so that's exciting. Sometimes, these days, I hear this more often, um, students may also be accepted for a later semester.

So you could be accepted, but they could say, you can't start in the fall of next year, you're going to start in January. And then you have to think about, does that [00:45:00] work for you? That might be great for some students. Some students might say, oh, that's terrific. I don't mind having a little time to do something else.

And then starting in January. But some students may. Say, all my friends are going to be headed off to college. I'm kind of on that. I don't know if I like this January start, and that might factor into your decision. Deferred might just mean that you apply in one of those early action or early decision processes, and they tell you you're not admitted or denied, you're just going to be moved to the regular applicant pool.

And then, You might receive a denial and I will say you probably will. Most students are not accepted at every college that they apply to. And, um, please just know that that is not a reflection of you. It really isn't. It's I it's so hard to [00:46:00] say that because. Because of course it's going to feel personal, but really admissions offices at colleges have goals each year, you know, maybe they want to build up the biology department, you know, so they accept a few more students who are interested in that Avenue, maybe they need members of the band, maybe they need, um, More women, you know, I don't know, but each year when they they set out their admissions goals of bringing in their their great class there, there are these pieces to it.

And it depends on how strong the applicant pool is in a given year. And. As I said, most colleges receive many more applications from qualified students than they can accept. So if you're denied, it's part of the process. And waitlist. So that means you're not accepted, but you will stay on the waitlist.

Now that's a [00:47:00] hard one. I already, already mentioned that. If you are waitlisted, I guess you want to do a couple of things. You want to, if you really still want, you really want to go to that college, you want to write to them. And let them know you want to stay on the website, you're interested and actually you probably want to let them know that every couple of weeks, because they, they know that as students make other decisions, they may not be interested anymore.

You want to keep telling them that you're interested. If you are, but while you're doing that. You also need to move on and make sure you're choosing your next college that has accepted you, and you're making plans to go there as well. You're going to their open house, you're, you know, and by May 1st, you will need to deposit somewhere.

Now, if you deposit somewhere and then you get accepted off the waitlist, you may lose that deposit, but that's a, that's a decision you'll have to make. But, um, the waitlist is a hard one. And. Colleges [00:48:00] usually send the decisions via email these days, or they have an online portal that they'll tell you about when you apply, and you should set up an account on that portal and check it regularly, and they will tell you if you're missing something in the financial aid process, or, and they will then post decisions to that portal.

So, um, so those are the ways that a college will let you know. And then usually May 1st is the deadline to say yes. I'm coming and to put down your deposit to secure your spot.

I'm going to open it up. Just see if there are any other questions before we move on very briefly to touch upon financial aid, but I don't see any open questions.

All right, so we'll keep moving. And again, we're just going to touch upon financial aid, because I highly recommend that you [00:49:00] attend one of me first. Financial aid 101 webinars. We're going to start those in a couple of weeks and we have them almost every week and recordings on our website and that's going to tell you everything you need to know about financial aid, how to apply, you know, what's eligibility like, how do people pay for college, all of that.

But here's some things you can. Think about right now. Um, you want to know what is the cost of attendance at the colleges that you're attending. And so cost of attendance is tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies, transportation. The colleges usually put together a cost of attendance and that's for a full year.

You want to find out what financial aid applications are required by the college and what are the deadlines, because those can vary slightly from college to college. You want to understand if. The financial aid that the college awards is need based [00:50:00] or merit based or both, and it could be different deadlines for some of that.

And you can also start looking at some private scholarships now. So either through your town, your employers, um, some online search tools, um, just to get a sense of what's out there as far as other outside scholarships that are outside the financial aid process. Thanks. And I'll just introduce you to net price calculators.

These are calculators found on every college website, and it allows you to go in, put in some financial information about yourself and sometimes some academic information, um, and then get a sense. of what type of financial aid offer you could receive from that college. Now, these are all estimates, but they can be helpful, um, when you're thinking about building that college list and all of the colleges that you're going to [00:51:00] apply to.

And especially also really helpful if you're deciding to apply early decision to see what type of financial aid you're going to receive and if that's going to be affordable for you. And then when it comes time to paying for financial aid, the main form is the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and it's required by every college and university, and it will be available No later than December 1st this year is what they're telling us and it's going to ask about your 2023 income.

It's your 2023 taxes that you will have, you'll press a button and those will be brought in to the form. However, some colleges also require another form called the CSS profile and that's available October 1st. So you can really get a jump on that. Um, and you'll want to apply if your college requires that.

You definitely want to apply through that as well. And that one charges [00:52:00] a small fee. Sometimes a college might have their own specific financial aid applications, so look on their website for that as well. And then here are a few programs that you can just Look into at this early stage. One is mass transfer.

So that is a program that allows students to start at a community college and transfer to a four year public in Massachusetts. It can make college very affordable. So guaranteed credit transfer tuition, credit freeze on tuition, checkout. Mass transfer dot org. I think that's what it is. Um, I think so.

You'll find it if you google mass transfer, then brand new mass educate is brand new in Massachusetts as of now, and it basically makes community college free for all students in Massachusetts. In other words, it covers tuition and fee costs for all [00:53:00] students at community colleges. Period. I know there's no period there, but there's a period of that.

Um, you do need to complete the FAFSA because, uh, you want to make sure you are, if you're eligible for any federal aid, you get that aid. Um, but Massachusetts Community colleges will cover will cover the rest. Um, tuition break is a program through the New England Board of Higher Education and that allows students to go to a four year public institution in a neighboring state.

And potentially pay in state Massachusetts prices for certain programs. So you might want to go to that website, check out the programs and see is there a program at UConn or the University of Maine or something, um, that would allow you to go there and pay Massachusetts prices. And lastly, um, also [00:54:00] new, the Mass Tuition Equity Law now allows undocumented students to receive Massachusetts state financial aid and in state tuition rates.

And in order to receive that, um, these students are not eligible to file a FAFSA for federal aid. So there's another form called the MASFA, M A S F A. And students who fall into this category can complete that to apply for state aid, which may make it possible to be able to afford college here in the Commonwealth.

So that's really great. And here's a timeline, so you'll get these slides, you'll be able to see what you can be doing, uh, in spring and summer of junior year, fall of senior year, in the winter, and the spring. I'll also mention MEFA Pathway is MEFA's free college and career planning tool. And. [00:55:00] Here's some of the resources.

You can just go in, set up a free account. I'm a student. You can take some interest assessments. You can explore careers. Uh, you can do your college search in here. There's financial aid and scholarship information. And it's very, um, interactive and student friendly. Uh, so MEFAPathway. org to get started with that.

And some other things you can do now, sign up for upcoming NIFA webinars, you know, especially I mentioned the Financial Aid 101, there are some others about the CSS profile that I mentioned, understanding the CSS profile, ask an expert your CSS profile questions, and you can research colleges and start creating your college list.

And here are MEFA's social media handles. Um, so however you get your information, sign up for a [00:56:00] few of these. Do you like Instagram? Do you like LinkedIn? Um, do you like texts? Um, Facebook? So, uh, sign in here, follow us. link to us. And one of the things we do a lot of posting about is scholarships. So as we learn about scholarships, we post them on social media.

So that's a great way to learn about any scholarships that we hear about. I will share. We also have a podcast. I believe we're going to change the name because we're coming upon our hundredth Episode right now it's called the MEFA podcast and it's available anywhere you get your podcasts and we talk to terrific guests all about hot topics in, uh, college financing and college in general.

So, um, check, check that out as well. If you have any questions ever throughout this process. You can give us a [00:57:00] call or you can email us and we are so happy to answer quick questions or to work with you through longer discussions about about longer questions. And that's it. So I'm going to wait one moment to see if there are any other questions.

Put

this back up

and not seeing anything. I'd say thank you so much for listening. Please stay in touch and enjoy this. Lovely late summer evening. Oh, I see a question. Okay. You're so welcome. Thank you very [00:58:00] much.