College Planning for Parents of Juniors

On Tuesday, February 24th, the school counselors hosted two parent workshop sessions on the college planning process for juniors.  More than 45 parents attended the presentations to get a better idea of what is in store for their juniors.  There were a lot of questions about everything from SAT prep to teacher recommendation letters and many things in between.

For those parents who weren’t able to attend, here are some of the important “take-home” ideas:

• It is important to start the college planning process early.
• Students (with their parents) can start researching schools on Naviance in order to create their “colleges I’m thinking about” list in Naviance.
• Juniors should plan to take the SAT for the first time in May or June, or the ACT in April or June.  Some students choose to take one of each test and then pursue the one they feel better about for a second round.

Register for the SAT

Register for the ACT

• SAT or ACT preparations should start at least 7-8 weeks before the scheduled test date.  Test prep can involve taking a class, meeting with a tutor, or studying individually.
• Students must complete the Counselor Letter of Recommendation Survey (Naviance) and parents must complete the Parent Brag Sheet (paper) by the end of this school year.
• Throughout the spring and summer, students should research and visit schools, compile a list of schools, talk to teachers about recommendation letters, start to plan the college essay, and gather personal information for applications.
• In the fall, there will be another parent workshop to go over the nuts and bolts of the actual application process, along with a financial aid presentation.

Below is the Prezi that the counselors followed to present all of the information. Please feel free to take a look! 

Click the image to go to the slides presented.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your child’s counselor.  We are happy to email, talk, or meet with you in order to make the college planning process go as smoothly as possible!