001Hi. So, I'd like to welcome you here tonight. Um, I'm Kathy Nukem. I'm the director of school counseling and also a school counselor. Um, we're really excited to see so many people. We've had, you know, past years, we've had a lot of things that have been online instead of in person. And it's really nice that as we've come back to these in-person evenings that you're actually coming to the auditorium and being a part of this um, presentation. So, if you didn't pick one up on the way in, the um college admissions insider is at the back door and you're welcome to grab one on your way out. I wanted to just point it out that if somebody didn't get one tonight and for anyone who wasn't able to make it to tonight, um counselors will
002be giving these to every junior as we meet with them individually. at exiter at exit high school. We are really fortunate in that we are able to meet with every junior um individually more than once if they choose but definitely once and we started those meetings this week. So your kids have gotten some really great introduction to the whole um college process as well as any other pathways they might be considering after graduation. Um and I wanted you to know that that's happening right now. So in the back near the door you'll see Mr. York and Mrs. Bowen, two of our school counselors that are able to be here um tonight and we'll certainly be happy to answer questions as we move through this process. I also wanted to mention that we are really super
003excited this year. We have over 120 college representatives that will be at the college fair in midappril and all of your students, all sophomores, all juniors and all seniors will be able to attend that college fair and visit with those college representatives. So the real exciting part of the night is of course learning a little bit more about this whole pro whole whole process. Um and I will let Chris talk a little bit about Granite Advance and what that's all about and then take you through the slideshow. As he said it will be posted on the website, both the slideshow and the recording of tonight so that you can refer back to it um later on. And so please welcome Chris from Granite Advance. >> Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. So glad that
004you could join me this evening and thank you all for taking the time. So we are going to be talking about applying to college this evening. And so this is a really exciting process for a lot of students. It can be a very daunting process for a lot of students. But ultimately, we want to make sure that whether it's exciting, whether it's daunting, it's ultimately as easy as it can be and as successful as it can be. And so, we have a number of different things that we're going to talk about and unpack tonight to really help you guys understand each piece of the process, how to get through it, when you need to start thinking about different things, and all of that. But the first thing is we have coming up an event that
005will do a ton more even than this presentation can help with and that is Destination College. So it is a free event for high school juniors and it's going to be taking place Saturday March 28th so 10 days from now up at Plymouth State University. And so there will be seminars, there will be panel discussions, there will be workshops for really all things related to your students next steps. So there will be things about you know specifically you know studying abroad, building your college list. There will be um there'll be workshops specifically for students to get to know more about college for parents to understand more about college. So, there's so many other different things there. There will also be a college fair with over 60 different colleges and organizations that you can talk to.
006It'll happen from 9:00 a.m. until 2:30. And it is 100% free for you guys to attend, you know, get access to all of those different things. However, you do need to register ahead of time. So, if you want to scan that QR code, you'd be welcome to register. You can also go on our website and register for that as well. So definitely keep an eye out for that and I can answer more questions about that as we go as well. Also that admissions insider, I know that there are a lot of physical copies still by the entrance. If you would prefer a digital copy of that insider, get it in a PDF so that you can share it, that you can read along on your phone, consult it whenever you wish. You can go ahead
007and scan the QR code and get that as well. I can bring these QR codes back up at the end of the presentation as well in case you guys need it. And ultimately, there will be a lot of different things that you'll be able to get out of this particular um this particular booklet. It really has a lot of great information, some that we will cover tonight, some that goes even beyond what we cover tonight. So, definitely a thing worth grabbing. It's wonderful to hear that every junior will be getting a copy of this booklet. So definitely read through it. It will do a lot to set students, you and parents, your students up for success in this process. So quickly, a little bit about who we are at Granite Advance. So, for those of
008you that maybe had put an older sibling or an older student through college or you yourselves have gone through the college process, you may have known us by a slightly different name because up until about 2023, we were known as the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation or NE for short. But ultimately, our mission has remained the same, though our name has not, and that is that we are a free resource for New Hampshire students and families to really help you guys through the college and career process. And so, we do that by a number of different things, whether it is presentations that we give just like this one throughout the state, throughout the year on a number of different topics. Um, back in October, I was here speaking with the families of seniors and
009talking to them about the financial aid process. We'll most likely do that again in the fall. So, stay tuned for the dates for that. We give out presentations or sorry, not presentations, we go out publications just like the insiders that you have. We do big events like destination college. Another one that we hosted for the first year here at Exiter High School this year was known as Apply NH. And so it was a really great day because um students were able to come to the library. Seniors were and on that day they were able to apply to any college or university in the state of New Hampshire for free. we were able to wave their application fee that day and there was really really great participation. I want to say north of 80 students or
010so participated and we would love to see even more to have at next year's event. So definitely keep an eye out for that. As soon as we get dates, you guys will get dates. So they are some of my favorite days of the year, some of my favorite things that we do. But another thing that we do to kind of help further this mission of helping you guys out throughout this process is one-on-one appointments that we will make with students and families. So, we can meet and talk on any number of different topics. um whether it's career and aptitude exploration. So helping your student understand what their skills are, their sort of naturally occurring skills, what they're good at, and help see what corresponds to those skills in terms of careers. Um we do really
011well with exploring future options as well, helping your student kind of seek out those next opportunities for whatever their future may hold. We also will talk about financial aid planning. So, helping to kind of understand the dollars and cents surrounding your students future plans and maybe some strategies to help make that a reality. We offer a lot of assistance specifically with financial aid forms, including one that you will most likely all get to familiarize yourselves with, and that is the FAFSA form. So, we do a lot of help with filling that out as well as other financial aid forms and college applications for that matter. We also will help with reviewing financial aid offers. So, once your student has gotten some different offers from schools, we'll help you to understand what each line of it
012means, what you actually have received in aid, what the costs look like, and strategies to actually cover those costs. And then new this year, we have a what's called the college success appointment. So, this is for existing college students, and it is designed to help you find the resources on your campus to help you truly be the best student that you can be. And so, for any one of these appointments, we can meet either virtually, we can all hop on a Zoom call really, you know, kind of at your convenience. We have an office up in conquered that you can join us at. And the best part is these appointments, every single one of them, you have access to them for free, 100% no cost to you guys. So if that is something that you
013might be interested in, whether it is right now, whether it's in the future, please feel free to reach out to us. You can talk to me after the presentation. You can go on our website, graniteadvance.org. You can find us on social media, email us, call us. You can use the QR code on the back of your insiders. That will take you straight to our appointments page or you can talk to the counseling staff here at Exit High School and they would be more than happy to get in get you in touch with us. So now the first thing that we want to talk about when we are talking about the college application process is actually exploring your different options. And that is not a simple task. There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the
014United States alone. And so trying to figure out which one is the right one for your student can be really challenging. But there are ways that you can narrow things down and start to figure out what you want and what you don't want out of your college experience. And so when you are kind of considering what might be a good or not a good fit for you or your student, the first thing you want to think about are your needs. So start by thinking about your students major. So what is it that they want to study? And so that can really easily either add or subtract a lot of colleges from different from that list because colleges offer different things. Some have certain majors, some don't have certain majors, etc. And so you can then
015go a little deeper even because no two majors are designed the exact same. So that can be something that your student starts to think about. So if they want to, you know, say study accounting, there are a lot of different things within accounting that they can that they can look at that they can study and kind of what do they want to do within that. So you can think about that. Next thing is think about location. Where physically do they want the college to be? So, it could be that they want to be close to home. It could be that they want to be as far away from home as humanly possible. It could be somewhere in between or maybe that doesn't matter. And all of those different things are okay. But they are things
016that maybe you want to think about. And also with location comes the actual setting of the college. Maybe it is they want to go to college in a city. Maybe they want to be out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe they want to be somewhere in between. And so those are all different things that you can be thinking about as well. And then there's also the size of the school, whether it is, you know, the physical size of campus or it could also be talking about the population size. And so that can really spell a big difference in a student's college experience because if you choose a campus where there are maybe a couple hundred or maybe at most a thousand students, then it won't feel incredibly dissimilar from, you know, their experience in a
017high school such as this one where you got to know most if not all of the students on campus. there's kind of a set number of new students each year, but you end up getting really familiarized with everybody on campus. Now, that might be an example of a smaller school, but there really is, you know, it magnifies, it multiplies as, you know, you kind of zoom out. So, a midsize school, a good example might be say the University of New Hampshire, which is right down the road in Durham. Now, last I checked, they have between 13 to 15,000 students on campus at any one time. And so, you may end up getting to know some students around you, but there will be a lot of students that you know you don't know, you never get
018to meet. You get to meet new people and there might be a wide array of students from, you know, from within the state, from outside the state, from different places across the country or across the world. And then it can only get bigger from there. Last I checked, the largest school by population was Texas A&M's College Station campus. And they have over 78,000 students on campus. And so that's a lot bigger. And so that would mean not only would there be constantly new people in your life save you know the different people in your major but you also have to think about what that might mean. It means that there will be a lot of dorms and housing options. It means that class sizes are probably going to be a lot bigger. Meaning that, you
019know, your course, you know, your first course that you ever take in college might be in an auditorium twice the size of this one, full to the rafters. Is that something that your student thinks that they could handle or would they maybe want something a little smaller, a little more directed? And it's worth noting that there's not a wrong answer there. Some students can handle that. They could even thrive in that environment. Some don't want to and that's completely okay. You also want to think about activities. So what is happening on campus when class isn't in session? And so that can be sports, that can be clubs, that can be organizations, music, theater, etc. And so is that something that is important to your student or do they just want to sort of do their
020schoolwork and then they have other stuff they've got to do? So that's another thing that you'll want to be thinking about. Next one out there is services. So what is there to help my student be the best student that they can be? So whether that is tutoring, whether that is a writing center, whether that is, you know, just access to the professors or the faculty, or if that's accommodations, if your student has maybe an IEP, a 504 plan, there might be things that colleges are able to do to help your student be better equipped for success. And then finally, there's cost. And so when you are thinking about cost, there is a lot that might factor into that, it's not just, you know, what is the price tag, but also what is out there to
021help cover that price tag. And so that is sort of loosely kind of collected under the term financial aid. You know, the aid that there to help you guys. And so, like I mentioned, in the fall, I will most likely be back to talk to you guys more about financial aid, what it is, what it means, and it's really a great presentation, if I do say so myself, but definitely one worth attending to kind of help give more context to this. But for any one of these six different categories, it's up for your student to figure out what what of these is most important, what is less important, and what they actually want or prefer or need for that matter out of each of these. And so once your student kind of starts to make
022those preferences, those kind of personal judgment calls, and I do mean personal. So there are a lot of students in the room right now. I'm going to talk to you guys really quickly directly and that is that this decision of what college is right for you. This is one that you need to make on your own at the end of the day. It can't be what you know what your best friend wants. It can't be what somebody else wants for you to a certain extent. Not even what your parents want from you. It's what you want and what you need in order to be successful. Now, it's not to say that they can't help you to kind of know what it is you want or need, but at the end of the day, it's got
023to be what is right for you. So, now once you have that idea, kind of a general image in your mind's eye of what you would want or need from a college or university that could be a good fit. And there might be more than one sort of good or even best fit college for your student. The next thing you'll want to do is actually use college search engines to start to kind of sift through the different colleges that are out there to figure out which ones actually match up with what it is you've determined that you want or need. And so a few that we really trust out there. Um, the first one is Big Future, which that is owned and operated by the College Board, which a lot of parents and hopefully most,
024if not all students should know about already because the College Board is actually the same organization that owns and operates the SAT, the PSAT, and advanced placement testing. So, it should be a pretty known entity to you guys. And if you log in with your College Board account, you can actually save your searches, kind of track your results, kind of automatically port in your test scores against what different schools are looking for. So, that can be a really helpful um a really helpful tool to look at and kind of track your results over time. There might also be something that the school offers, whether it's, you know, Navian score. So, sounds like score is what you guys use. So, sorry, school links. Yes, >> we use school links and we've been introducing that to your
025um to your students. Uh we talked about it briefly um on Monday when we were in English classes, but as we work with them individually in those individual appointments, we will have them open up their um laptop and go into school links and we'll show them exactly how to access the college search um part of that and and and they'll use that for their college application process next fall as well. >> Thank you. So school links is another thing you can use. There's also the college navigator which is a function of the NCES the national center for education statistics. It is a very data dense site. So you will learn everything you maybe ever wanted to know about you know just about every school. It's maybe not as you know visually appealing as some of
026the other ones. Um but it is definitely a great place with a lot of great information. Peterson's is another really great and respected option as well. And then another thing that you can do is you can speak with your counselors. And so I know that um I know that you guys as juniors have if not already had a meeting with your counselor, but really quickly, if a student wanted to make another appointment with their counselor or wanted to maybe reach out again to their counselor to talk more about their either future plans, their college plans, whatever that is, and they wanted to make an appointment with their guidance counselor, how would they go about doing that? So a couple times throughout the presentation I am going to throw questions to Miss Nukem to be able
027to kind of tell you the exit specific answer. So there are three ways to make an appointment. We have a system that's called appointment lit which is right on the school website and we did have the students go through that process on Monday in their English classes. That's how they've made that initial appointment. Um, they also can email directly to their school counselor and let us know when they're available and we'll set something up or they can come down to the school counseling office in person and our administrative assistants will help set up that appointment. >> Awesome. Thank you. So, that can also be a great resource. Your counselors can help recommend schools maybe you've never heard of, never thought of, and they can help you really all the way through this process. So definitely
028keep them in the loop with what you're thinking. So now once you've done some of that research, you then start to get your chances to actually get to know them even better. And so one of the first ways that you can do that is an opportunity that's less than a month away for our juniors here, and that is attending a college fair. And so college fairs are great for a number of different reasons. Number one, it brings a lot of schools, not just the ones that are, you know, right here in the state of New Hampshire, but really throughout New England and the country. Um, you'll have a chance to get to look over each of the ones that attend, get to know a little bit more about them, and get to talk to an
029admissions rep. And that discussion, that interaction with the admissions representative can be incredibly incredibly important because number two, the person that is there at the college fair, that admissions representative, is more often than not going to be the exact same person that is going to be one day reading your application. Um, college admissions is a very regionalized business in that, you know, people are kind of assigned to different areas, different territories, and they are going to be the ones that, you know, you'll talk to at the fair and then they'll be the same ones, you know, that they're your application will end up on their desk. And so being able to kind of start to kind of build that relationship, that rapport from, you know, the first time you meet them at a college fair
030all the way through to when you've sent that application in. They will have notes of different interactions. You'll be able to get to ask questions, get personalized answers, be able to, you know, exchange contact information with them. So you could follow up on stuff later or they can follow up with you if you have a question that they maybe can't answer right away. So it's definitely a good thing to do. And if you don't get the chance to attend the one here at Exit High School, then you know there's always the one at Destination College um in like 10 days or there will be ones that happen in the fall as well. Um, there's an organization called NIAKAC or the New England Association of College Admissions Counselors that host a number of regional fairs and
031one very popular one that they host is usually the 3rd to fourth week in September and it takes place um at Southern New Hampshire University. So, really close by. They always have a lot of different schools there. So if you don't get a chance to attend these other ones, that can be another opportunity for you to just get to know different schools as well. So another opportunity is colleges and those exact same representatives will come back and will meet students directly at the high school. So another time I'm going to quickly ask a counselor. Whoops. Um, in the instance that a college is coming to do a rep visit, how are students and/or parents able to tell who is coming and when and if they'd like to participate, how do they sign up to do
032so? >> So, we post this under the events section in school links. Parents can access that. parents, you all have accounts that you are able to um go through and see the information that your students can see. You just can't change anything that they do. Um and students, you can see that as well. Students, you will be able to see through that same venue of events in school links. You'll click right on a registration button and that will sign you up for that particular college. >> Perfect. Thank you. So, this representative visit is a chance to either meet them for the first time, if you didn't get a chance to at a college fair or something else like that. But it's also if you have and this is your second or third time meeting with
033them, it's a chance to delve a little deeper, maybe ask more specific questions, follow up on a piece of information that you wanted to know. And so this can be a really great opportunity to kind of continue to build that rapport. And so definitely keep an eye out for when schools are coming. If there is a school that you want to know more from that isn't scheduled to show up, it could never hurt to talk to your counselor. Maybe they can request that a representative come by and talk to you and others as well. So just because they aren't on the schedule to show up doesn't mean that they won't if they're asked to do so. So don't don't stress if you don't see them on that list as it kind of comes through to
034the fall and the spring. Now the other chance is instead of the college coming to you like in a college fair or a representative visit, you have a chance to go to the college and visit the campus. And so there will be a lot of opportunities for you to do that whether it is something more formalized like an info session, an open house, a tour, an accepted students day, things like that. There might also be less formal chances that you can do that. You can maybe go up and, you know, attend a sporting event, attend a play, a show, uh, you know, some other event on campus. I know that when I was in high school, I was given the opportunity to shadow a class in my major that I was really interested in. So,
035that could be another great opportunity to do that. And the one recommendation that I would give, it's not necessarily here, but I would still want to give you this piece of advice is if you can try to visit campus while school is in session, at least once. Now, it might be logistically a lot easier to visit over the summer or during school break or something like that. It is much harder for your student to really actively gauge what campus feels like and if they are actually going to be a good fit on campus if they don't get to see it with all of the students there. Um, a great example of kind of the difference in in environment is, you know, I mentioned that Durham is not very far away from here. If you've ever
036driven through the town of Durham while UNH is in session versus when it's not, you know, it's a very, very different place. And so, you'll want to kind of keep that in mind as you go. And another thing to keep in mind is over the summer especially, that is when a lot of colleges do all of their maintenance projects. So you could end up, you know, if you try to take a tour, walking through a lot of active construction. So don't be surprised if you see that when you tour a campus over the summer. Now, when you are going to, you know, visit campus, whether it's, you know, during school, after school, during a break, anything like that, make sure that you are still prepared for what it is you're going for. If it's something
037more formalized, make sure that you are, you know, dressed nicely, you have questions ready, you're ready to, you know, sort of follow up, you know, do the right things. And even if you are not there formally, make sure that you're still on your best behavior because they'll still kind of know or notice if you are if you're on campus. And through all of these, whether it's the campus visit, the rep visit, the college fair, it is every bit as much you evaluating them for if they're a good fit as it is them evaluating you to see if you are a good fit for them. So, always, always, always be putting your best foot forward, giving the best impression that you can. So now once you've done those different things and maybe you've really kind of
038developed a good yeah kind of a good feeling about certain schools, you can actually build this list of the schools that you actually want to apply to and that you would be excited and ready to be accepted and get your education at these schools. And so what you're going to want to do is focus on fit in terms of what is truly the best thing for you. So we're thinking in terms of academics, you know, is my major a good fit? Are there, you know, good research, internships depending on what I want to do with different majors? So location might play a factor with this as well. So you know if for example you want to study accounting then maybe make sure that there is you know a good internship at an accounting firm that
039you would have the chance to go for or people end up going to work at certain accounting firms or another really common one that I give is if for example your student wants to study marine biology it might not be the worst idea if their campus is located near a body of So that way they can actually do that research close to home. Um, think about the academic support services, the career center, you know, what kind of outcomes does this place provide for your student? So when they graduate, what do they end up doing? How often are they successful? Think about it in terms of the social fit for activities, clubs, you know, Greek life, campus events, the location. And then also think about the financial side of things. So what kind of financial aid
040is out there? And there are different types of aid. And so really quickly, um there might be merit-based aid that your student can get. So that's either something that your student has accomplished or some sort of ability that your student has. Whether it's they got awesome grades in high school, whether they're a superstar athlete, whether they are talented in the arts, different things like that. There might be need-based aid, so based on your family's financial situation, the school might be willing or able to give you some extra financial help there as well. Um, you might be able to participate in what's called work study. And so that's money that's set aside for you to get a part-time job while you're on campus and have a steady source of income while you're taking classes. There might
041be other different things out there as well that you'll find out whether it's from the federal government that you might be able to get aid from, the school itself, you might be able to get aid from. And it really all depends on your situation on the school. So there's a lot of different questions out there, but ultimately regardless of the cost, the aid, etc. Ultimately, you'll want to talk with, you know, as a family about money, about affordability and all of that. But the one thing that I would just remind students and families when you have that conversation is don't look at the price tag of a school simply as an expense or as a cost. Think of it instead as an investment. It's an investment in your students, in their future, in their, you
042know, in their earning potential. And all of those different things really help to kind of reccharacterize or kind of recalibrate that discussion. And so that's something that we can help with to kind of help determine what kind of ROI exists with different opportunities and different plans because colleges have wildly different prices and sometimes that higher price tag, you know, by the outcomes of the students that go there is very much justified and sometimes it's very much not. And so you'll really want to talk about, you know, is this, you know, not just the least expensive school or the most expensive school, but is this the right investment for my student and their future? And so when you are trying to actually kind of build and finalize that list, try to balance it out. And what
043I mean by that is try to have a few different things that you're factoring in. But one of the biggest things that you need to factor in is the likelihood of admission to the school. The likelihood that you will get accepted. And so we have kind of three categories that we try to have students look at. And so I always tell folks to kind of imagine it like a bell curve where you know the most people are kind of right in the middle you know the lowest people are at one end the highest people are on the other in terms of you know scores etc. And ultimately that is what they're talking about in terms of your students academics. So most schools will have a range of kind of what they're looking for in terms
044of GPA, sometimes in terms of test scores, sometimes in terms of class rank. And so with all of those together, when we look first at high probability schools, then those are the ones where your student has a really high likelihood of being accepted. So if we're thinking about that bell curve, they're on that far side. So they are either at the top of that range or maybe they're even exceeding that range which means that they are you know very qualified if not maybe slightly overqualified for what this particular school tends to look for. Then there are sort of medium probability schools where your student is kind of right at the top of the bell curve of what it is that they're looking for. And then there are sort of lower probability schools where maybe they're
045at the tail end or maybe they just miss what it is that the school is looking for academically. And so they are all kind of different opportunities, you know, different levels of, you know, risk or probability, whatever you want to call it. But it's important to have a mixture of each of them because I would never want a student to immediately disqualify themselves because they think they are either too, you know, too, you know, overachieving or too underachieving for a school in a lot of cases. There are some instances where like it's a very pronounced gap, but I wouldn't necessarily have someone count themselves out. Now, for each school that your student is thinking of, you know, in terms of whether or not it's actually worthwhile to apply, my recommendation is try to have two
046or three good specific reasons for why that school and not another school. Now, I know the slide says two to three specific reasons. I would say two to three good specific reasons. And so here's kind of the difference that I'm talking about. And this is a and this is based off a conversation I actually had with a student. Um, so a good specific reason might be I want to go to school X because they have the program that I'm looking for as well as an internship that I would really love to participate in. Those are two really kind of good specific reasons right there. or one that's kind of, you know, kind of in together. Now, that's specific. That's good. If a student comes up to me and says, "I want to apply to the
047University of Indiana because their football team won the national championship last year, and they don't even play football." Still specific, but not good. So, that's what you want to be thinking about. good specific reasons why this school and not another school. And so also try to diversify your different options whether it is two-year schools, four-year schools, in-state schools, outofstate schools, and public schools versus private schools. All of them might have different opportunities that are available for you, different price ranges, but also with the financial aid that is there, there might be a very significant difference between the price you see on a school's brochure and the amount that you actually pay. And so, next fall, we're going to talk a lot more about that, and you'll kind of be able to see in action what
048that ends up looking like. But that's just another thing to consider is that, you know, the number you see on the brochure isn't the isn't the amount that's actually coming out of your pocket in a lot of cases. So, be thinking about that when you're actually balancing out that list. And so, like I So, yeah, kind of like I mentioned, make sure that you are looking at not the sticker price, which is that sort of cost of attendance, you know, number you see on the brochure. Instead, think about what's called the net price. And so that's the cost minus any financial aid that your student receives. And so a lot of times that number can be thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars lower than what you actually thought you were going to be
049paying with that sticker price. And it can sometimes mean that, you know, public schools or private schools or sometimes even instate or out of state schools may end up being a lot more competitively priced than you originally thought. So, one way that you can maybe get an idea of what that might look like is by employing what's called a net price calculator. So, just about every college in this day and age has a net price calculator. somewhere on their website. And so the way that it works is you'll be able to put in some information about your student. Maybe it's their GPA, their test scores, pardon me, some information about their income and assets, then some information about your family's income and their assets. And it'll be able to provide not only what kind of
050the estimated cost of attendance is going to look like, but then the aid that your student might be able or eligible to receive. And then it will give you kind of a net price by subtracting those numbers from one another. And so when you enter in accurate information, it can provide a pretty accurate estimate, but it is still just that. It's an estimate. So it can't be you know taken as you know as in any way like binding but we found it's given pretty good you know ballpark areas and kind of gives you a range to work with of okay this may end up costing this amount of money. So definitely check those out and consider the different types of aid that's offered at each school. So some schools offer just needbased aid. though they
051have a finite amount of, you know, of dollars that they can give out for aid. So some schools choose just to put those dollars towards the people that need it the most. And so that's the need-based aid. Some put a try to kind of put a balance out of, you know, some for the need-based aid, but they try to put some dollars towards merit-based aid as well. So the highest achieving folks whether it's athletes, whether it's, you know, academics, different things like that. So you can ask, you know, is there merit-based aid offered at the school? Is it just need-based aid? And then you can kind of make those determinations from there. And then ultimately discuss as a family what that budget needs to look like once you have that proper context of what school
052might actually cost. and get a better idea of based on your family's situation, what is affordable, what isn't affordable, and sort of where that conversation needs to go from there. So once you've kind of done all of those things, made that consideration, built that list, now we actually talk about preparing to apply and actually applying to college. You know, the fun the fun part. So, this will be something that dominates a lot of kind of the back end of this year for your student and the very start of their senior year. And so hopefully we can answer as many questions about sort of the what, the where, the when as we can. And so the first thing is think about your timeline of when you are going to apply. And so there are a few
053different options out here that your student may or may not be able to take advantage of. Each school has kind of their ideas and their options and their timelines. So you may have very different sets of dates for different schools. And some schools may offer multiple of these options. So you might kind of have your choice of when you actually want to apply to different schools. So, we'll go through each option. And the first one that we're going to talk about is, ironically enough, the rarest option, and that is early decision. So, your student's only going to be allowed to apply to one school early decision. And the reason why is because by filling that out, you are effectively signing a contract. And I mean that literally. In some cases, the student, the parent, and
054sometimes the school counselor will need to sign it saying that if I apply and I am accepted to this school, I will automatically say yes to this school and thanks but no thanks to every other school that I've applied to. Now, there might be some different kind of timelines to it. Usually, they happen, you know, anywhere from November to December. There might be two different dates in there, but it is certainly an option and it can have its merits, especially if one school in particular is so far better a fit than any of the others for your student. But it is still a very serious option and requires a lot of, you know, thought and consideration before choosing that because it's the only one that's sort of making your decision for you. should you apply.
055Now, the next one is early action. Now, this one as well as all the other ones are non-binding, meaning that just because you have been accepted doesn't mean you have to choose that school. You can always choose another one, and that's 100% okay. Now, for early action, it really just means that you are applying earlier than the regular deadline, and in turn, you're finding out earlier than the regular deadline. So most early action deadlines are in kind of the November December area. I know for example like most of the New Hampshire schools their deadlines for early action is November the 15th and so that one is non-binding. So you can still you know choose another school and that's completely okay. Now, regular decision is what most people think of when they think of the application
056process. And so, it just means that there's kind of one hard deadline. Schools take in all of the applications that they're going to get. They are going to read them over, make decisions, and send it all out to everyone at once. And so, this is also non-binding. So, just because you're accepted doesn't mean you have to go there. And then the last one that we'll talk about is rolling admission. And so this is more of a first come first serve system where colleges will take a you know they'll take an application, read it, say yay or nay, send that decision out, take the next one in yes, no, send it back out, rinse, repeat until they've filled their class, they've, you know, accepted as many people as they are going to accept. And so while
057this might seem, you know, a little more advantageous for some because there's not necessarily a a hardf fast deadline like the other ones or the deadline is much much later in the year than the other types. That is a very double-edged sword because if you know say a school is going to accept 800 students and while you are the perfect student for them if you are the 801st student that they see then there might not be anything they can do for you. And so what I would say as sort of a rule of thumb is I would be aiming to get your rolling admission applications out at the same time as your regular decision applications. And so deadlines for that are usually anywhere between like like January to April somewhere in that neighborhood or February
058to April sorry. So, those are the different options that your student may employ to um to apply to college. And as far as what is right for your student, it depends on a number of different factors. How quickly they can get everything together, you know, how ready they feel. And one other piece of advice that I would give is that I've heard repeated by several admissions counselors is if your students um if the best grades of their academic career happen their first quarter of their senior year, then I would not apply early action because for early action admissions, they are not going to be able to see their first quarter grades in time. So, that would be one of the only instances in which I would recommend a student wait. The only other one would
059be if their application just isn't ready and like they would be in a position to like rush or submit an incomplete application. Don't do that. Now in terms of understanding your different application options sort of the where to apply. So the first thing that you can do is or the first place that I would look is for lack of better words the most common place that applications are housed and that is the common application. So they um their application is accepted by over a thousand different schools um across the United States. And so it is really kind of welldesigned in that there is sort of a general application that every school accepts. And so you'll fill that out and then you'll actually be able to choose individual schools and then you'll fill out the specific
060questions for that school. And so every school sees the general application, but then each individual school only sees the pieces that they ask about. So they'll never be able to know what other schools you applied to, what you said to other schools. There's just what did you say on the general section, and then what did you say to them? and that's it. Now, um, college applications, they do a lot of times cost money. The average cost is between like $50 to $80 per application. However, a lot of schools offer different ways that you can wave that fee. Sometimes you'll be able to receive that just by virtue of your, you know, your circumstances and then you'll be able to apply for free. Um, sometimes you'll get specific codes from schools whether it's by attending an
061event on campus. Um, we are given a number of waiver codes to use for the apply event. However, those are only good on the day that the event happens. Um, but also you could always just talk to a school and ask, "Hey, do you have a waiver code?" And sometimes an admissions officer will just send you one and then boom, just like that, you've saved yourself 50 bucks. So, definitely be on the lookout for those and, you know, try to use them when you can. Another site that is sometimes used is the coalition application. This one is considerably less common. There's only about 150 ones that are 150 schools that use the coalition application. But then also some colleges just house the thing on their own website. So you go to their website, you apply
062on their website and that's that. And sometimes they'll charge a fee right there. Sometimes they won't or they'll be able to wave the fee as well. So the most common places are either the common application or the colleg's website itself. And so another thing that they will ask about are extracurricular activities. And so these are the things that you did when you weren't in class. So that could be work, it could be um it could be sports, volunteering, clubs, orgs, music, theater, drama, whatever it is that you did, they'll want to know about it and so you will have a chance to talk a little more about it on any of the different applications that you'll fill out. Um I know especially for the common application there are I think 10 slots that you can
063fill out. Now just because there are 10 doesn't mean that you should be striving to fill out all 10 because they're also going to be asking you know what are your you know what roles did you play in this particular activity? What kind of accomplishments did you have? How much time were you putting in a week for this particular thing? How many weeks per year were you active? Different things like that. So really make sure that you are, you know, I would always stress quality over quantity. And I also want to quickly address students that maybe just because of their circumstances, the only thing that they are really able to do after class is either work or take care of their family. And this might be a little bit of a stressor because they don't
064have all of these different, you know, you know, all these different things that they've been able to do. Don't worry about that. Colleges can and will understand that for some people that's just the way that their life is that they have to either take care of family, work to support family. You'll have a chance to provide context there as well. So you can help them understand, you know, this is what I had to do or, you know, just because of the way my life was, I didn't get the chance to do all these different things, even though I'd like, you know, I would have liked to. Now, colleges, they're not going to hold that against you if that's kind of the way that things were. So please don't stress too much about that. Now, also,
065there are standardized tests. And so this has been kind of a hot button issue for the last decade or so because a lot of colleges and universities have kind of begun to rethink their you know their philosophy and policies surrounding standardized testing and through it has come some policy changes that have happened. Um, so some have adopted what's called test optional admissions, meaning that um they will give the student the choice. You can either send us your test scores or don't send us your test scores. If you choose not to, they're not going to count it against you for admissions purposes. However, some schools, not all, but some, might still ask you for your test scores for like merit scholarships. So, if you are going to get, you know, some sort of academic scholarship, they
066might ask for your test scores anyway. Some have gone what's called test blind, meaning that they just won't ask for them. They even if you send them in, they're just not going to do anything with it. Like, they just don't factor it in. And so some are also what are called test flexible, meaning that you can choose which of your test scores that you want to add in. And then even for schools that do still require their um that require standardized tests, they allow you to do what's called supercoring. So if you have taken a standardized test multiple times, then they will allow you to take the highest of each of your test scores. So let's say, for example, you take the SATs twice and the first time on the on kind of the English
067section, you get a 610, but the next time you get a 720 and then like the inverse happens with your math. So you score higher in your math the second time, lower this or sorry, higher in your math the first time, lower the second time. Then you would be able to use the higher of each of those scores to get kind of a new composite score. So there, I'm guessing, is going to be a testing day coming soon. April 7th is going to be SAT day here at Exer High School. If you want to take the test multiple times, which could be helpful for some students, I would recommend looking at the College Board's website to do that. As a means of preparation, I would also check out either act.org or the Khan Academy. They
068are both really helpful links and resources to not only help better understand the different concepts that are taught or that are tested rather on different standardized tests, but they do a really good job of helping students to understand the actual kind of language and logic behind standardized tests. So definitely check those out as well. And then you'll also want to ask for letters of recommendation. And so this is a really important part because it's something that really gives a chance for somebody else to really help kind of corroborate all of these great things that you might already know about yourself or that you know that you've done, but this gives you a chance to really do that and really kind of let that hit home. And so your counselor will be able to give you
069a letter of recommendation automatically. However, a lot of times they will require one if not two from a faculty member as well. So, Miss Nukem, if you really quickly want to tell students and parents how students at Exit High School are recommended to request and kind of obtain those different letters of recommendation both from counselors and from teachers. >> So, again, that's something that we're talking about with your students in those individual meetings. So, we'll we'll guide them very specifically, but in general, we're asking them to talk face-toface with the teachers that they're hoping to write those letters of recommendation and have that agreement from that teacher before they fill out the brag sheet. Um, there are two brag sheets that we use. They are both on school links and we're showing the students how
070to use those as well. the brag sheet um that's called brag sheet will go to the teachers that are writing that letter of recommendation and what's called the confidential student form will go to the um school counselor for the recommendation that we write. >> Awesome. Thank you. So, another thing that you'll just want to do if you you know if you do get a letter of recommendation is a thank you note is always going to help as well. So just always remember the effort that went into that and definitely you know be proactive about that because some teachers they might just kind of have a kind of internal limit of you know I'm only going to write 20 letters of recommendation and even if you know you are their favorite student have this amazing rapport
071if you are the 21st person that asks you might end up out of luck. So, make sure that you are thinking now about who your teachers are going to be that you're going to ask and make sure that you are following all of the necessary procedures to do it. So, next up is the college essay. And so, that can be another really, you know, kind of unique piece of the application in that it's a chance for you as a student to kind of express yourself. let your voice be heard in an otherwise very standardized application. And so that can be both really exciting and really daunting. And so definitely, you know, make sure that you prepare ahead of time. Think about what it is that you want to write about. You will be provided a
072couple of prompts at least by the common application. However, there is always the opportunity to just write about whatever topic you want. There's always that option that you can choose. It's what most students choose. And then you're free to really write about anything. So then once you kind of have an idea of what it is you want to write about, then practice, you know, keep writing, you know, do different things, you know, try to edit different pieces. Don't have anyone else edit for like the voice of it. Have someone else definitely check spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. But make sure that you know it's ultimately you who are talking because if too many other people step in and edit it, it might sound better or it might sound, you know, more correct in a sense, but
073it's going to stop sounding like you after a while. And ultimately, instead of the perfect essay, they want the personal essay. They want to be able to kind of see and hear you and your voice. And so, make sure that you run through a couple of drafts as well to make sure that it is truly a good piece of work. And so if this is something that you are stressed out about, if it's something that you know you've maybe never thought of and just kind of want an idea of where to start, then over the summer, Granite Advance is going to be offering college essay workshops where it'll be either on Zoom or on different campuses across the state where you can, you know, spend a, you know, spend a morning with us and we
074will Not only will it be us, but we'll bring in admissions counselors from colleges across the state to talk to your students specifically about what they like in college essays, what they don't like, you know, different things that they've seen, different strategies that have worked, and ultimately, who better to get that information from than the people that read these essays for a living. So definitely keep an eye out on our website. Dates will be going up for those pretty soon. So, if that's something that you're interested in, definitely come seek us out for that. >> Yes. >> Just to decrease that anxiety, those summer workshops sound great and those admissions officers are not people that we invite into our school to give that same kind of information. But we do have an assignment in every
075senior English class. You will spend somewhere between two weeks up to a month really working on that college essay as well. that's built into our curriculum to just kind of decrease the stress level for our seniors. >> Yep. Absolutely. So, it's good to know that, you know, the actual writing of it is something that will be covered in class, but if you know, especially one of the things that we work on is figuring out what to write about because for a lot of students that is the single biggest obstacle is choosing their topic. once they've chosen it, you know, the rest of it can be a lot easier. So, even if that's something you're looking for, definitely a thing worth checking out. So, now in terms of next steps, thinking about sort of what you
076guys will be able to kind of take out of this and kind of what to do moving forward. So first thing and especially for students another time I'm going to talk specifically to you guys. This is your chance to really kind of take ownership and agency of your future and your next steps. And so there are a number of different ways that you can do that. And the first and biggest way is to advocate for yourself. Make sure that other people, you know, the people that are in this journey with you, they understand what it is you need, what it is you're doing, you know, if you are stuck, how you're feeling about different things. And also that you are the one who is responsible and in control. And so some of the ways that
077you can do this, um, you know, when you are reaching out about college admissions things, create your own email address for that. And more specifically, do not use your high schoolisssued email address for anything college scholarship, anything kind of higher ed related because a lot of times that email address is going to get shut off the second you graduate. So, it's going to be really hard trying to follow up on, you know, a scholarship or a college or something like that, trying to use an email that you can't access anymore. Now, make sure that you are kind of checking emails pretty frequently because colleges communicate a lot by email. So, if you have maybe a specific email address for college, it can literally be something as simple as your first name.you last name.col at whatever
078domain it is that you want. That can really make your life a lot easier because a it will save your personal inbox a lot of for lack of better words spam. But it also means that when the important things come through, because when I say colleges send a lot of emails, I mean it can be anything from, hey, we have a new hoodie at our bookstore. Please go buy it to here is your admissions decision. Find out if you go here or not and everything in between. Can and will come to you via email. So, it means that your personal inbox will be saved a lot of spam, but when the things come through that you really need to find, you'll have an easy time finding it because it can only ever be in one
079place. Make sure that you're staying organized as well and you're asking questions of teachers, of counselors, of, you know, other people around you that really want you in this process as well and that want to see you succeed. And so ultimately when you do all of these things, not only are you taking control and kind of taking the lead in the situation, but you're also giving yourselves these skills that are going to translate beyond college into your hopefully very successful future. And so I mentioned that we've got some summer activities coming up. the most popular of which are the essay workshops, but we're also going to be having seminars, webinars, and things like that all throughout the summer talking about this and a number of other different topics. So, please feel free to scan the
080QR code on the left for that. And then on the right, you can also use that as well as the QR code on the back of your um insiders to make a one-on-one appointment with us. And then I'm going to open the floor up for questions in just a minute. I do want to take a quick second to thank each and every one of you for for coming this evening. Huge thank you to Exter High School for having me. Um these other QR codes, the first one is to find us on social media, keep up to date with what we've got going on throughout the state. middle one. If you have other questions or also want to, you know, get in touch with us to maybe make an appointment, you can use that middle QR
081code. And then finally, the last one, we always want to hear feedback. If this was the greatest presentation you have ever heard, first off, thank you. Second off, please feel free to let us know if there are ways that you can think of that might make this presentation even better in years to come. We would love to hear that as well. So please feel free to use that. And so one last reminder, um this is being recorded this evening. So the recording will be sent out in the morning. The slides will be sent out in the morning. A digital copy of the insider will be sent out in the morning. So you will be able to see all of these things after the fact as well. But at this point, I am going to open
082the floor up to any and all questions that you guys have. Once again, if you maybe want to chat with me a little more one-on-one and maybe, you know, nod into a microphone, I'm going to hang out up here after the general Q&A for as long as I need to. I've also got business cards if you want one of those. So, at this point, yeah, what questions do you guys have? That good, huh? Sure. >> Yep. So, that was a great question. So, on average, how many schools would you recommend that a student apply to? I would say like generally, you know, as many schools within reason as you can give those two or three kind of good specific reasons for. I would say maybe two to three per those three different categories. So like
083maybe at the most around like 10. Some students have gone a little higher. For example, my wife applied to 23 colleges. That's too many. But I would say yeah, probably, you know, maybe three per category. 10 if you can, you know, have two to three good reasons for each of those 10 would kind of be my threshold that I'd be looking at. But that is a great question. Any other questions? All right. Well, like I mentioned, I will be right up here for as long as I need to if you would like to chat with me. I also have business cards if you would like those. Once again, a huge thank you to Exit High School for having me. Huge thank you to all of you for joining us this evening. Thank you all so
084much. I wish you all the best of luck and a very good night. Thank you.