I got two big questions on the college application process
When is the good time to do a college visit?
when im on my college visit, I heard that you have to leave some sort of record to express your interest in that school. How do I do that?
What should I expect from college visit?
Would I be able to get a personal time/interview with the faculty member or admission office staff during the visit?
What to do during junior year?
in terms of extra curricular, is there any good summer program for computer science?
Extra Question: When filling out the common app, I know that depends on schools, they require different numbers of letter of recommendation and the teachers writing them. Would I be able to send different ones to each school or if I save my english teacher’s recommendation letter on the common app, would it just automatically go to schools that I apply to? I have no idea how this work… OMG!
If you have taken the PSAT, you have a ball park idea of what your SAT scores are.
Througout your junior year I would take the time to tour colleges. If you have a fall break take a couple of days to visit local colleges…Your State U and another smaller one. See what you like about them.
Early next year, take the SAT/ACT. Then visit colleges during spring break.
To show interest, you can sign up for email onthe college website, visit the school and do a tour, read email the school gives, you, attend if the college visits your HS, or go to a college fair and talk to the representative. By signing up for any of these, you leave the “record”.
You shoudl expect a walking tour of the college, an information session where you sit in an auditorium with other students and listen to a power point presentation. You might do an interview.
If you go to an Open House type session, they may have professors available. Otherwise you wuold have to ask in advance. Or you can wait until you admitted to do that and go to Admitted Students Day.
For ECs, you should do whatever you like! What interests you? And can you tie that to computer science?
Your Guidance Office takes care of sending the letters. See if your GC has a college information night where they explain all this.
@bopper OMG your comment is so helpful!
It really answered all my questions! Thank you so much for that!
I have actually taken the august SAT and got a solid 1500! Im taking another one in November just to see whether i can do better… I also took the act in September and got a 32. Maybe I will also study for the ACT and take one next year! Anyway, Thank you so much!
Awesome scores!
Next question is to talk to your parents about what they can afford.
If they have saved a lot, then you could be good.
If they haven’t saved much/don’t make much money, you are eligible for Need Based Financial Aid.
If you are in between, either you need a lower cost college or get a Merit Based Financial Aid.
Your scores would general put you inthe area of being able to get merit aid.
Have them go to the websites of some colleges of interest and look at the Net Price Calculator. they can get an idea on how much they would be expected to pay (after any need based aid)
Also when you look at colleges think about:
I would make a spreadsheet and include info like:
Net Cost
Number of Undergraduates
Faculty Student Ratio
%of students that live on campus
How big is the department for your major? If you are majoring in something that only has a couple of professors, that does not bode well.
Housing- do they offer all 4 years? freshman only?
Urban/rural/suburban
Is this a commuter school? (do students go home on weekends)
Surrounding area - what is the nearby town/amenities like?
Transportation - how would you get home
AP Credits - can you get credit for AP tests you have taken
Male/Female ration
Greek life - what % of students are in greek life
Parking
Diversity
Safety
Sports
Jobs - what happens to seniors after they graduate
Internships - depending on your major, is it easy to get internships?
…and whatever makes sense for you
@bopper O this website is so helpful!
It is a bit unfortunate that this website doesn’t have any info on schools in NJ, which is where I live!
Anyway, you are so helpful!!! Thank you sm for ur help!
What is your GPA? WHat is your SAT (or PSAT) score?
If finances are an issue, and you are in the top 15% of your class, check out the NJ Stars program http://www.njstars.net/. You get free community college and then some help at state colleges.
Definitely check out Rutgers, TCNJ, and Rowan.
They offer scholarships as well.(not as much as that website!)
@bopper Honestly, my family is not even sure if I should aim for private school and get a decent financial aid and take a loan or just aim for rutgers. I personally want to go to Carnegie Mellon and Cornell. I realize that they are very expansive colleges but they also give generous grants. So, my family is still thinking about this issue.
However, I think if I go to Rutgers for pharmacy, I will be able to get merit scholarship on top of a considerably cheap tuition, so there’s my dilemma. The good thing about my family’s situation is that we don’t have much saving, so i would definitely get a good amount of grant based on the grant calculator that i used.
@vermidech6382 Not really a dilemma at this point…apply to all and see how the finances play out. You don’t really need to “aim” at either… aim at all of the choices right now.
Just have your parents agree on what they can pay per year and then work toward that.
@bopper Well my parents are thinking about me taking student loan and they will help paying it back or will just pay it back. But, honestly, like you said, it really depends on how much i get:) Thank you so much!
To you as a HSer, you probably don’t have much of an idea of the burden of student loans. ON the one hand, it is good for the student to have some “skin in the game”. But on the other hand, a would be a tiny bit wary of them saying “you take a big loan and we will help you pay it back.” We did to that with our kids, but only the $5500 loan not anything bigger. So you should do everything you can to minimize your costs…
@bopper I understand your point very well! Actually my dad is like as long as i go to good school, i’m already paying him back. On the other hand, my mom’s like nah… try your best to go to good school that provides with the most financial aid. And, I have a sister who’s 5 yrs younger than me. So, i am actually thinking about either paying the loan by myself or just go to decently expansive school like maybe 15K a year at most. According to my guidance counselor, I could easily go to state school w full scholarship, which doesn’t sound too bad. But, I really like explore other environments than NJ. Thanks for the concern I hope you have a nice day!
I hope you have a nice day!