If you are solicited by mail to pay for information on scholarships, be very cautious.
Your best resource is the Guidance department and it is free. If at all possible, visit the various colleges you may be interested in. Be aware that the colleges are not just looking for grades; they want students who have been actively involved in their community and their high school. A refined resume is worth spending time on. Books and tapes are available on loan at your counselor. Don't be surprised if this process of applying for scholarships or admissions is more difficult than buying a car.

FOR YOUR APPLICATION YOU WILL NEED:
1. Your application – mailed by you
2. Your transcripts – mailed by counselors
3. Your recommendations – mailed by teachers (2-3)
4. SAT I and SAT II scores – mailed by College Board at your direction
5. Financial aid forms (CSS & FAFSA) – mailed by you
COPY EVERYTHING YOU SEND! Mail can get lost!

TIPS FOR KEEPING APPLICATION PAPERWORK UNDER CONTROL:
1. Make a file for each college. Keep any correspondence, copies of your application, all response cards from colleges saying they received materials from you, copies of any checks you send them for application fees, etc.
2. Keep a notebook, chart, or index card file for each college in which you record the admissions office and financial aid office addresses, phones, faxes, e-mails, and office hours. Record deadlines for all materials and dates you mailed them. Write down names of any admissions contacts you make. Some admissions offices assign workers to students from certain areas of the nation. Deal with that person as much as possible. Some admissions offices are cordial; others are not. You can also e-mail many offices.
3. Write up 3 envelopes for every Admissions Office and every Financial Aid Office for all your colleges to which you are applying. This way, when you get any additional forms to fill out, you can just pull out an envelope, attach a stamp, and mail.
4. Keep a file for SAT I and SAT II materials.
5. Keep a file for financial aid materials.
6. Keep a file for tax returns.
7. Keep a file of copies of any extra information that you sent with your applications to use for alumni interviews in November-February, such as a list of awards you've won, a list of your extracurricular activities, and articles about or by you. Alumni interviewers can write stronger recommendations for you if they have these materials.

CREATIVE MARKETING OF YOUR APPLICATION ("Controlled Aggression"):
Send with your application to admissions and/or a college faculty member:
1. A copy of an award or citation received in senior year
2. A news clipping about your achievement
3. A particularly striking word of praise from a teacher about a school paper or project
4. A prize story or art piece
5. A paper or project report of particular merit
6. Software you developed
7. A tape of a speech, musical performance or ceremony honoring you
8. Photos of works of art
9. A translation from a foreign language to English or vice-versa to the appropriate language department
10. Outstanding essays, creative writing or newspaper articles written by you
* Ask an outside professional to help you select your best work; some schools are very picky and your choice could work against you.
* Don't be bashful; committees like to see "Controlled Aggression." Make sure your guidance counselor gets copies, too.

TEACHER RECOMMENDATIONS: HOW TO GET THEM:
1. First, do not wheedle teachers to up your grades; work harder to earn them.
2. In September/October of your senior year, check your college application materials: How many teacher recommendations will you need? Are any particular subject teachers needed? Select one teaching your possible college major and one other (colleges usually demand two, some three). Find the teacher recommendations form in each college application, rip it out, and make one copy of it for each teacher.
3. Select a teacher for whom you have performed well, teachers who have praised you for a paper, and exam, a project, etc.
4. Acquaint them with your college objectives on a single sheet of paper (a memo): your college goals, colleges you will apply to and why (good department of your interest, size, location, liberal/conservative, etc.). Tell which of these schools you have visited.
5. At the end of your memo, ask this single question: "Do you think you could write a strong recommendation of me to these colleges?" If the teacher declines, ask another. Most teachers WANT to write positive recommendations to see their students get into excellent colleges.
6. Give a copy of your memo to your guidance counselor so that teachers can consult with her if needed.
7. Along with your memo, include stamped envelopes addressed to the Office of Admissions of every college to which you will apply, with the appropriate teacher recommendation sheet for each college.
8. Teachers will send their recommendations directly to your colleges. The deadline for teacher recommendations to reach your colleges will be around the end of December.
9. Tactfully check to see whether your teachers have sent in their recommendations. When they've done so, sincerely thank them for doing so verbally or with a thank-you note.

THE COLLEGE INTERVIEW:
1. Interviews are either conducted on campus by an admissions officer, or by a college alumna who lives in your region. In some cases, admissions officers will interview distant candidates by phone, if you request it.
2. Before going to an interview, find out as much as you can about the college on their websites and viewbooks. Take along a file of extra information that you included with your application, as mentioned above. These materials will help an interviewer write a better recommendation for you. Also, take along a notebook with any notes or questions that you want to ask your interviewer – about the college, etc. – as well as space to write down info that they give you.

QUESTIONS TO ASK A COLLEGE INTERVIEWER:
1. Will my choice of major affect my admission?
2. If I'm accepted into one department, how easy is it to transfer into another department if I change my mind?
3. What is the average class size (in my department especially)?
4. How about the size of "intro" classes?
5. Are there research opportunities for undergrads?
6. Tell me about your college's career guidance office.
7. What are the pros and cons of different housing options?
8. Does this school have a stereotype? How accurate is it?
9. What happens here on weekends?
10. Do fraternities or sororities dominate the social scene?
11. What political issues concern students most?
12. What do students like best about this school?
13. What do they complain about?
*If you get tongue-tied, ask an admissions office interviewer:
1. What do you like about living/working at the college?
*Ask the interviewer or his/her receptionist for a business card. Use this to find out the interviewer's address, and send an immediate thank-you letter to enforce your interview experience. (Keep a form letter on your computer.)

QUESTIONS A COLLEGE INTERVIEWER MIGHT ASK YOU:
1. What classes have you enjoyed most? (Or, what do you like best or least about high school, or who is your favorite teacher and why? Why will be asked after every "yes" or "no" answer, so go ahead and elaborate right away.)
2. What do you do outside of class? (Showing commitment to SOMETHING is far more important than what that interest really is, as long as it is not a time-waster.)
3. What do you do in the summer? (Something constructive: take courses, go to a camp, work, volunteer, travel, etc.)
4. What books have you found enjoyable but challenging? (Choose more academic ones, not Danielle Steele. But don't choose Moby Dick or stuff you had to read in English. Tell one you really like and why.)
5. Whom do you admire? (No rock or movie stars.)
6. What are your post-college plans? (You don't have to have decided, but you can always say something like, "I like art and computers, and graphic design seems to include both; but I want to study Japanese and economics, too, so maybe I'll end up in international business.")
7. What are you looking for in a college (or, what brings you to this one)? (Don't say, "I have a friend from home who loves it here," but instead things about size, major, extracurriculars, a particular professor or a course that you saw on the web, etc.)
8. What will you contribute to this college (or, why do you want to come here)? (You should prepare for this one ahead of time and mention courses, professors and programs that sound interesting to you; also, know stats and facts about the school.)

PREPARING FOR YOUR INTERVIEW:
1. Study the college – know its basic stats, its philosophy, curriculum type, etc.
2. Explain. . . that a C- in English was the best grade in the class; any family crises affecting your grades; etc. You don't need to go into details, but don't be mysterious. Don't whine; problems can be sources of strength.
3. Boast. . . "My club sponsor selected me to set up and maintain the club's webpage," or "I was proud of the fact that I got the highest grade on the mid-term." If you FOUNDED a club instead of merely joining it, say so.
4. Expound. . . offer info beyond the minimal "yes" or "no," but don't rattle on forever about one subject.
5. Questions for the interviewer – three or four to show that you've done your homework on their school.
6. If you haven't covered everything with the interviewer's questions, say, "There's something else you should know about me..." to let them know about your recent award, dramatic role, etc.
7. Practice interviewing with a sibling, parent or classmate. Videotape yourself! Watch for tics, negative body language, etc.
8. Try to set up your first interview for a college that is not your top choice, so you can practice and get used to the process.

HOW TO SELECT A COLLEGE AND BEAT THE PROCESS:
The college application process is daunting even for parents who may be educators themselves. If your child is in middle school or early high school, it is not too early to begin looking at colleges, which range from a free education using the Hope scholarship to $36,000 a year for private colleges.

Your college search goal is to find the college that fits you best in size, location, climate, financial aid, availability of intended major, price, SAT score range, etc. In the last five years, computers have reinvented the college search. Every college now has a website where you can find out a great deal of information before you even go for a visit or decide to apply. However, some websites are easier to navigate than others. On some, it is very hard to access information; on others you can learn a great deal. Brown's website, www.brown.edu, is a good one. Possibly because of this, Brown sends very little printed material out to students, almost to the point where it seems they don't really care. I seem to recall that Wake Forest's has a good website, www.wfu.edu. Wake Forest's brochures are very cool, too. Some college materials are very sophisticated and classy. It is your job to separate truth from fiction in these materials. The more brochures you look at, the easier it is to do that.

NINTH GRADE
In your high school freshman year, develop good study habits. Be organized. Write all assignments and club duties in an assignment book. Check them off as you complete them. Meet your guidance counselor and stop by periodically with any questions. Of all people in school, your guidance counselor is the person you want most in your corner. The guidance counselor will be your liaison, or "go between" between you and your colleges during the application process.

Put time into your studies and join one or two clubs where you can make a difference, learn a skill, or attend some major conferences, events or fairs. Build your resume on your computer. Add to it periodically anything special you do at school; club officerships, solos, any academic or sports awards you win, fairs you attend, or work you do at church or in the community. Your resume is the basis for your college application, and if it is complete, filling out your applications will be a breeze. Colleges prefer deep commitment and accomplishment in two or three clubs or organizations rather than a shallow commitment to many. They absolutely LOVE it if you show initiative and invent a new club or create a new program to help others in school, town or world.

Begin to make up a resume, or a list of information about yourself: name, address, social security and phone numbers, the address of your school, and all clubs and activities you do, even if it is a one-day thing like car wash. Estimate the time you spend at each activity because your college application will ask the number of hours per week, and weeks per year you spend at each activity. You'll have to estimate in some cases. Add to this during each year of high school. Check and add to it every month during the school year and forget nothing. Begin collecting items you might include with your application, such as your original poems, short term papers, essays, your published works from newspapers, articles about you and so on. Keep this in a file.

SOPHOMORE YEAR
In your sophomore year, see your guidance counselor for lists of colleges that have the best departments in the majors you might pursue. You do not have to have a firm idea of majors yet; you will have until your sophomore year in college to declare a major and even after that you can change it. You do not have to be a genius to go to college. There is a college for you even if your SATs or grades are not that great. In fact, community colleges are for those who may want an inexpensive, easier solution to college. Go there for two years and then transfer to a four year college. You merely have to find those schools that fit you best. Where to begin:
1) look at college websites like those listed above.
2) check your school library for college videos and view books (glossy brochures.)
3) on trips out of state, stop at colleges you may not necessarily be interested in, to get a feel for different types of campuses, climates and settings.
4) videotape a student-led campus tour. Ask personalized questions. Not like, "how is the food here?", but "what did YOU have for dinner last night?" Not, "how is campus security?", but "have you ever had anything stolen or felt unsafe walking at night on campus?"
5) visit their admissions office; get free information. Sign up to obtain a view book and application in your senior year, even if you decide not to apply later. Have lunch in a campus eatery. Dorms are usually off-limits, but do go into a classroom building. See if the seats are arranged in rows which imply lectures or in circles which imply discussions. Which do you prefer? Does the campus look inviting or dismal?
6) during the summer buy a good college guide book listing basic facts about each school and their web site addresses, and several magazines such as US News and World Reports' college rankings. Be consumer savvy–you are shopping for a college and you want to get the best education for your money. You also want to have good, safe fun and new experiences. You will be living there for four years, not your parents, so you must have the most input.

JUNIOR YEAR
In your junior year, study for and take your PSATs. The scores of this test determine whether you could become a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist. You can study for these tests with sample test books from the public library or a bookstore. Keep prowling your favorite college websites. Look at everything from dining hall menus and dorm life to course offerings, clubs, religious chaplaincies, and campus security. E-mail some students and ask them questions. Some colleges do your laundry. Some allow small pets or fish. Some have fireplaces in dorm rooms. Some are very restrictive and treat you like babies; others are open-minded or activist and treat you like young adults. Many boast of honor codes, but you need to do some digging to see if their honor codes are taken seriously. Serious honor code schools let you take unproctored exams in your dorm room, and things don't get stolen, even if you leave your backpack in the library for three days. Some dorms are all single-sex, but most are coed by floor, wing or even hallway. Students treat each other like brothers and sisters. Common rooms (dorm living rooms or kitchens), have TV's, ping-pong tables, microwaves, stoves and the like. Most have laundries. Some dorms have photography or pottery studios, live theater or dance space, and grand pianos. Some are primarily beer-guzzling, football-playin' party schools, some completely "dry" (no alcohol at all), even at parties.

Narrow your choice down to 4-8 colleges. One or two could be a dream school, two could be schools you are pretty sure you could get into, and one or two could be safety schools, ones you absolutely KNOW you can get into. What happens in some cases is that your second round of SATs rise so much that suddenly one of your dream schools comes into reach. Get as much information as possible on your short list of schools. Sign up online for view books, brochures and applications.

Around midyear, you will begin to get these and many more unsolicited view books, postcards, letters and mail from colleges. Find a cardboard box and an accordion file. Save the "best fit" colleges in the file, with a slot labeled for each school. Anything further you get from these few schools goes in these files. Keep the rest of the view books in the box in your closet in case you decide to apply to one later, or save them for your siblings or friends. Try to visit your best fit colleges over Thanksgiving, Easter break, or the summer after your junior year. You do not want to go to a college sight-unseen.

SUMMER AS A RISING SENIOR:
Study for your SATs using books of practice tests. You will not have time once school begins; SATs usually arrive in October just as your first fall tournaments, concerts or plays take place.

The College Essay: College essays are written for part 2 of your college application and have to be sent in by the end of December of your senior year. Do not wait until Christmas vacation to write it! This is one of the most important parts of your application because a good essay makes the admissions officers remember you. It distinguishes you from the rest of the group, and makes you come alive. Otherwise you are just a bunch of numbers and statistics.

In summer before your senior year, begin thinking about possible themes for your college application essay or essays. Many college websites have the essays listed online so you can work on them early. You may need more than one essay, but they are so loose in theme that one may work for all. Your essay should be so unique that it could have only been written by you alone, in other words, it has to illuminate or define something that makes you YOU. What makes you truly unique? Not the best, or the smartest, but the most unique.

There are many books in the public library about writing a good essay. I suggest you read at least one of these, because there are a number of common mistakes seniors make when picking themes. Don't write about trivial high school matters about "How I Won (or lost) the Big Game and What I Learned from It", or "How I Planned the Senior Prom with All of Its Trials and Tribulations." No religious epiphanies about how you found God, no political diatribes (you might offend the readers), no essays about bodily functions (YUCK!!). No travelogues about "How I Went to China and Found that People are the Same the World Over"(they are not).
But something as unique and simple as "Watching Jeopardy with My Dad Who Has Alzheimer's", or "That Special Labor Day at Our Cabin in New Hampshire," "Our Escape from Bosnia," "What it is Like to be Gay in Des Moines," "How I Resemble the Characters in Checkov's The Cherry Orchard," " Raising Goats in Montana," "How Tuba Players Never Get to Play the Melody and Why They Should be Allowed To"......all these things will tell the admissions officer something unique about you. Do not treat it like a blow-off. Sound sincere. Do not use big words. Write naturally as if you were talking to a new friend; be polite but not pompous or stuffy. Do not try to sound like you think admissions officers want you to sound like, but sound like YOURSELF. You can be self-effacing and witty but don't try to be hilarious–leave that to Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Barry. You don't have to give your essay a title, but you can if it is particularly clever, or a play on words.

Remember that admissions officers read HUNDREDS of essays a NIGHT! UGH! Those students who write about "How I Won My Wrestling Match" all blend together, but few write about something as unique as raising goats or how to react to a grandparent who is slowly losing his memory. Which do you think the admissions officer will remember best? That is what I mean by unique. So find a quiet place to think and jot down some ideas. By the way, never make up stuff on an essay, like "how my brother died of leukemia and what I learned from the experience" if you never even HAD a brother, much less one who died of a dread disease.

Get out your file of written work and articles about you which you have been collecting since ninth grade. If you state that you enjoy writing poetry, include your best two poems. If you write for a newspaper, or invented your own paper at school, include articles in your application. If you will major in music or art, performance tapes and a selection of color slides or prints of artwork are a must.

If there are extenuating family circumstances such as a divorce, death of a family
member, extreme poverty, chronic illness, etc. which caused you to get lower grades, quit your extracurricular, or that you worked through, your parent should write a letter about this and it should be included in your college application. It should not be whiny, but simply a statement of the facts. You can run it by your guidance counselor. They will often include such letters as well if they know your circumstances.

Part II
SENIOR YEAR:
All this year, continue to add to your resume. You will be doing a lot! By now, you should have a rough draft of your application essay to show to your counselor and your English teacher from last year or this year.

In August of your senior year you will begin getting view books with applications stapled into the center fold. Decide on your final list of schools. Take your SATs twice if you want to raise your scores; they may go up and colleges take your best verbal and best math from any and all tests you took. Take your 2-3 SAT II subject tests (check which ones your colleges want). Seek out college scholarship opportunities with your counselor.

Pick a college application secretary in the family. This person will need good handwriting or printing to fill out applications. Use your resume as a guide. Filling out applications on college websites is a pain. We personally found it much easier and less frustrating to fill them out by hand. Some colleges use a common application which makes work much easier–you just fill them out all at once the same way. Send in part 1's of all applications and filing fees ($20-65) by mid-October. Your family secretary should keep a chart of all your colleges, with a space for each of the following deadlines: Part 1, Part 2, address of admissions office, alumni interview names and addresses, teacher recommendations, whether the college will let you know if you are missing any application materials and when these reminders arrive, etc.

You will need teacher recommendations from two of your favorite and best teachers, usually in academic subjects in which you shine. Ask them in mid-September whether they could give you a good recommendation. If they say yes, give them the forms and stamped envelopes addressed to the admissions offices of your colleges. If not, ask someone else. It helps to give teachers a list of the schools to which you will be applying and a detailed list of your awards and activities.

Finish your personal college essays in October. A few colleges do not want essays at all; others have, in addition, several short answer questions. Essays should be typed on your computer so you can do a number of drafts. Your English teacher and guidance counselor cannot write them for you, but they should proofread them for theme and grammar. Print out your final copy, cut out, and tape in place on your application. Ben's counselor at Spruce Creek took all of Ben's completed applications, read over them to make sure there were no mistakes, added the teacher forms and her own guidance evaluations and sent everything in for him (we gave her a ton of stamps). Other counselors do the process differently; and have you send in your part 2's yourself, and then they send the teacher recommendations and guidance evaluations separately. Some colleges like Emory want everything sent in at once. In November sign up for your CSS (college board) and FAFSA (US government) financial aid applications. Send in part 2's of your applications with your personal essays and short-answer questions by Christmas, better yet, mid-December to avoid getting lost in the Christmas rush. Make copies of EVERYTHING you send to colleges, especially your application. If it gets lost in the mail, it is easy to make a copy and send it out again. A trick we learned from an application book was to address several envelopes for each school's admissions and financial aid offices. Then when you have to send something to them (and you will), just use one of those envelopes.

January and February are devoted to interviews and getting your financial aid applications in order. Make your interview visits to local college admissions officers. If it is a distant school, you can interview with specially-trained alumni who live in central Georgia. In some cases, you can even have a scheduled interview by phone with an admissions officer from a distant school. Many public, large colleges do not do interviews at all. Some interviews are evaluative, others are just informational. At the beginning, ask which this interview will be. There are many books which list questions admissions officers may ask you. Do not answer questions just with a yes or no. Talk about yourself in a positive, confident manner. You want your interviewer to know that you are a wonderful person. Practice with a friend or family member. Get a business card from the alumni interviewer and send a thank-you letter upon returning home. Make a sample letter on your computer and you can simply fill in a new name and address and college name in the paragraph you write. This makes those thank you letters easy to do.
From March to May, you play a waiting game. Will you get accepted? On May 1st the offers start to roll in. Do not be devastated if you do not get into your favorite or top school. If you did your homework right, you should be happy to go to any school on your list. Colleges are very careful to select a well-rounded class. They don't want all drama majors or all athletes. A school that rejected your wonderful self (and you ARE wonderful) may have been looking for a tuba player for their orchestra, a fast swimmer to beef up the swim team, or a brainy Latin student. C'est la vie. From here on in, the tables are turned and YOU get to do the choosing from among your acceptances.

Colleges often go to great lengths with bombardments of letters from professors, and nifty college catalogs. Go back and look over the web sites, talk to some students online at the colleges before they leave for the summer. But don't drive yourself silly. Try to remember the feel of each campus. Go with your gut reaction. This is a decision your parents cannot make for you although many try. YOU are the one who will be living there for four years, the one who will put up with the weather, the location, the subways, or the cow pastures of your new environment. Cost is the main factor for parents–they may just not be able to pay for the school you want. Remember, you could go to a Columbus State University for almost free, and then go to graduate school at a more prestigious school later for a year or a year and a half. Some colleges give very little financial aid and others are very generous. As a fallback, remember that most colleges will keep your file on backup for a year, so you can transfer to another school that accepted you, if you are really miserable at your first pick. So you can relax! Your decision is not irreversible.
Once you send in your decision cards around June 1, you can go about your summer fun and work and travel. You will get information periodically through the summer from your chosen school–medical forms, freshman seminar and advanced standing booklets, religious organization information, a calendar of your freshman orientation week, freshman catalogs and course catalogs. You will assemble all your college belongings and figure out how you will get to campus, whether you will fly or drive. You will get your bill for your first year of college. Some colleges allow you to pay by the month. If you intend to work on campus you can often fill out applications online before you even get to campus.
Colleges differ on what is allowed in your dorm room. Usually halogen lamps are a big "no-no." Other things to leave at home include exercise bikes, pool tables (!), microwaves, hot plates, etc. Most of this stuff is available in athletic centers on campus or in common rooms, and you can decide what you need, and chip in for things once you get on campus. In early to mid-August you will get the names and addresses of roommates. Call or e-mail them to introduce yourself. Discuss where you live, how you'll get to campus and who can bring what.

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