The College Admissions and Application Process

1. The College Admissions andApplication Process Presentation for the class of 2012

2. Who is my counselor? • Ms. DeBow A - Chidambaram • Mr. Glock Choi-Gansfuss • Mrs. Ritson Garinger - Kibler • Ms. Musial Kielek- McKenna • Ms. Watson McKeown- Rathauser • Ms. Pino Ravitz - Tavares • Ms. Hampton Taylor - Zhou

3. By now students have: • Visited colleges • Made a tentative list of colleges • Organized and reviewed their list • Checked to see if they have met all of the requirements needed to meet the application deadlines • Spoken to teachers about writing letters of recommendation

4. Letters of Recommendation • Ask teachers well in advance, and be sure to know how many you need. • Ask the same one or two teachers to provide all of the recommendations, do not ask a different teacher for each school. • Provide teachers with stamped/addressed envelope only for those institutions that do not accept electronic submissions. • Send a thank-you note to your teachers.

5. Admissions Definitions • Early Decision: The binding admission process where the student applies to his/her first choice school in the fall. If offered admission, student must withdraw all other applications from other schools. • Early Action: The non-binding admission process whereby the student applies to his/her first choice college in the fall. • Restrictive Early Action: The non-binding admission process which restricts students from applying to a binding early decision program at another college. However, students are free to apply to other early action and regular decision programs.

6. More Application Definitions • Rolling Admission: Students are offered or denied admission throughout the calendar year. • Priority Admission: Application given special consideration based on when the application is received by the college • Regular Admission: Non-binding admission process where students apply in the winter and learn of decision in the spring.

7. Your counselor will: • See the student and parent(s) as often as necessary by appointment. Students can email their counselor, or ask a guidance secretary to help them make an appointment. • Complete the Secondary School Report on-line (do not give your counselor a hard copy). • Write a comprehensive letter of recommendation on the student’s behalf. • Submit all materials electronically or by US Postal Service.

8. Student Responsibilities:Must be done prior to making a request to send application materials • Be sure to use your full legal name on all college-related forms • Sign the “Transcript Release Authorization”(last page of student booklet) and return it to Mrs. Gebhart. Students under the age of 18 must also have a parent/guardian sign • ALL students, including those not submitting the common app, must log onto www.commonapp.org and create a USER ID/PASSWORD

9. Electronic College Forms ProceduresGetting Started….

10. Student Responsibilities, cont’d.: • Log into NAVIANCE http://connection.naviance.com/monthsnj • Under “My Colleges/Colleges I am Applying To,” complete the IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE FOR COMMON APPLICATION. You need a Common Application USER ID/PASSWORD to do this. We cannot send applications until this is complete • Under the “About Me” tab in Naviance, complete the Brag Sheet, Activities Resume and Parents’ Point of View

11. Electronic College Forms Procedures

12. Other Forms to Complete

13. College Visitations

14. Additional Student Responsibilities: • Make an appointment with your counselor • Arrange for teacher recommendation(s) • Complete required testing: SAT I, SAT II and/or ACT • Arrange to have test scores sent to each college from www.collegeboard.org or www.act.org • Rutgers applicants: The student must ask their counselor for a copy of their transcript! They will need their state student ID (Rutgers calls this your “NJ Smart ID”) as well as all of their high school grades in order to complete the Rutgers application • Prospective Division I and II athletes: register with NCAA Clearinghouse http://eligibilitycenter.org and submit a pink card to Mrs. Gebhart in guidance with your NCAA ID number.

15. When students are ready to send application materials to Colleges/Universities: • Check the specific application requirements (Rutgers applicants: this includes self-reporting grades!) • Submit to their counselor a pink “Request to Submit Application Materials” card for every application at least 15 SCHOOL DAYS prior to the application deadline. Note: 15 school days before the January 1 deadline is December 5! • MHS will send out the materials for the first five pinkcards you give Guidance for free. Every additional card (even if you do not end up applying to the school) will be $2.00 each. • Envelopes, college-specific forms and common application recommendation forms are not necessary; do not submit them to your counselor.

16. = Common Application = Accepts electronic submissions through Naviance = Regular Mail • If a college/university accepts the Common Application, but you are not using the Common Application to apply, you must note this on the pink card.

17. GoodLuck!