College Night Spring 2025 with SCHS & LBSS

Summary

The College Night Spring 2025 webinar hosted by South County High School and Lake Braddock Secondary School featured a panel of college admissions experts who provided invaluable insights into the college application process. The discussion covered a wide array of topics ranging from the importance of junior year grades and SAT/ACT testing to the nuances between public and private universities, and financial aid. Each speaker brought unique perspectives, whether it was the community college path, the critical components looked for in applications, or how to leverage scholarships. By the end, students and parents were equipped with practical advice to manage the college selection journey effectively.

Highlights

• Joyce Lee emphasized the critical nature of junior year grades and test scores for college applications. 📝
• Colin Alford discussed the benefits of starting at community colleges for skill development or transfer opportunities. 🎓
• Mario Cruz from Virginia Tech shared insights on what admissions reviewers are looking for in student applications. 🔍
• Mark Gelson highlighted differences between public and private institutions and the intricacies of financial aid. 🏛️
• Pat Money advised on the overall college application journey, including managing deadlines and decision-making. ⏰
• Panelists frequently stressed the importance of visiting campuses to find the right personal fit. 🚶‍♀️

Key Takeaways

• Junior year grades are crucial for college admissions 📚
• Understanding college application timelines can give an edge 📅
• Public vs. private universities offer different benefits and funding structures 🏫
• Financial aid and scholarships require careful navigation and utilization 💰
• Personal essays and recommendations can distinctly represent you in applications ✍️
• Community colleges provide flexible and affordable pathways to 4-year schools 🌐

Overview

The webinar kicked off with a focus on the significance of high school performance during junior year. Panelists emphasized that grades and standardized test scores play pivotal roles in early college applications. Joyce Lee highlighted the importance of understanding different admissions plans like early action and decision.

Community colleges emerged as a strategic option, particularly for those considering transfer pathways to 4-year universities. Colin Alford outlined how Virginia’s community colleges offer guaranteed admissions to several state schools, providing a cost-effective entry point.

Financial planning was another major theme, with insights into scholarships and financial aid. Mark Gelson demystified the differences between public and private institutions, noting that despite higher sticker prices, private schools often provide generous aid. Students were encouraged to be proactive in seeking financial support and to start planning early.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction & Welcome Holly Beal, the College and Career Specialist at South County High School, introduces a panel on college admissions. She explains that attendees can submit questions via the Q&A feature, and these will be addressed at the end of the session. Additionally, the session will be recorded.
• 01:30 - 06:30: Panel Introductions The chapter titled 'Panel Introductions' begins with a brief introduction to the session, mentioning that a recording will be available for those who need to leave early or want to rewatch it later with family. The session involves a series of introductions to kick off the program. Sandy Hunter, introduced as the college and career specialist at Lake Braddock, welcomes everyone to the event, expressing excitement to have the attendees present. Sandy then passes the introduction over to other representatives, indicating a sequence of introductions to follow.
• 06:30 - 10:00: The College Application Process Overview The chapter begins with an introduction from Joyce Lee, who is the Senior Regional Admissions Counselor for the University of Utah. She mentions her origin from Northern Virginia and gives a brief overview of the University of Utah, describing it as a 4-year public research university located in Salt Lake City, Utah, with approximately 27,000 undergraduate students. Colin Alford from Northern Virginia Community College also introduces himself as the Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Preparing for College & Admissions Tests This chapter focuses on preparing for college and admissions tests, highlighting the role of Virginia Tech's Annadel campus in supporting students across northern Virginia. With a mention of serving over 70,000 students both in-person and online, Mario Cruz, the assistant director in the undergraduate admissions office, introduces Virginia Tech, a public language institution with 38,000 students, outlining its educational offerings and resources for prospective college students.
• 12:00 - 14:00: College Admissions Plans & Deadlines The chapter titled 'College Admissions Plans & Deadlines' features a discussion with Mark Gelson, the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Randolph College, and Pat Money, the Director of Admissions at George Mason University. Mark introduces Randolph College as a small, private, 4-year institution with about 1,600 students, emphasizing its Division III sports status. Pat speaks from the perspective of a larger institution, highlighting George Mason University's public status and its significant student body of approximately 40,000 students. Both representatives express eagerness to engage with the audience and share insights on college admissions.
• 14:00 - 20:00: Factors in Selecting Colleges Joyce discusses the importance of junior year in the college selection process, emphasizing the significance of grades and signing up for test scores. She briefly touches on the different admissions plans, including early action and early decision. Joyce highlights some key factors to consider when selecting colleges.
• 20:00 - 25:00: Maximizing College Visits & Fairs The chapter titled 'Maximizing College Visits & Fairs' focuses on strategies to effectively select colleges and maximize benefits from attending college visits and fairs. Although the topic can extend to a detailed 30 to 45-minute discussion, this summary is condensed into key bullet points. It emphasizes the importance of junior year in the college selection process. Despite being a stressful period with AP tests and other school commitments, junior year is critical in preparing for senior year.
• 25:00 - 30:00: Community College Options & Transfer Process The chapter discusses the importance of finalizing high school classes strong, especially for students planning to apply to college early. It explains the early action and early decision application processes, highlighting that colleges might not see senior year grades if applications are submitted early. Therefore, it's emphasized that students should ensure good academic performance in their junior year and also sign up for standardized tests like the SAT or ACT.
• 30:00 - 35:00: Career and Technical Programs at NOVA The chapter discusses career and technical programs available at NOVA, highlighting the importance of planning for these opportunities. It mentions various admission plans and application times when applying to colleges, with a particular emphasis on preparing for and taking standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. Students are advised to sign up for these tests ahead of time if they intend to take them as part of their college application process.
• 35:00 - 40:00: Guaranteed Admission Agreements The chapter titled 'Guaranteed Admission Agreements' discusses the various types of admissions processes in higher education institutions. It focuses on early action and early decision pathways. Early action allows students to apply and receive admission decisions earlier, usually in November or December of their senior year. It is advantageous as it provides an early admission decision. Early decision offers a similar timeline but is legally binding, meaning that if a student is admitted through early decision, they are obliged to attend that school. Regular admission is briefly mentioned as another option.
• 40:00 - 45:00: Advantages of Starting at Community College The chapter titled 'Advantages of Starting at Community College' discusses different admission processes, specifically focusing on rolling admissions and general admissions deadlines. It emphasizes the importance of understanding these processes when applying to colleges to make informed decisions. It also highlights the necessity of exploring various factors during the college selection process, suggesting that students should engage in thorough research and planning ideally in the summer before their senior year.
• 45:00 - 50:00: Factors Affecting College Admission Decisions The chapter discusses the factors impacting college admission decisions, emphasizing the importance of considering these elements in advance. It suggests that students should start creating a list of potential colleges by the end of their junior year. Key considerations include financial aspects, such as the cost of tuition and the availability of scholarships at the prospective colleges.
• 50:00 - 55:00: Testing Policies and Academic Performance The chapter discusses the types of scholarships available to students, emphasizing need-based scholarships that depend on the family's financial background and merit-based scholarships that hinge on academic performance and grades.
• 55:00 - 60:00: Importance of Essays & Recommendations The chapter emphasizes the importance of essays and recommendations in the college admission process. It highlights how these elements can showcase an applicant's personality, achievements, and potential fit for a school. It also discusses the significance of considering various resources offered by schools such as writing centers, mental health counseling, academic advising, and student clubs, which play a crucial role in a student's success. Moreover, it suggests evaluating the school's culture, size, and whether it aligns with the student's preferences, such as interest in sports or a large public university environment.
• 60:00 - 70:00: Understanding Financial Aid & Scholarships This chapter discusses the important considerations for choosing a school, such as the type of institution (e.g., large or small, arts-focused or not), location in relation to home, and the school's cultural values and beliefs. It emphasizes the importance of reflecting on what factors are most crucial to the individual when exploring college options, and suggests ranking these to aid in the decision-making process.
• 70:00 - 75:00: Difference Between Public and Private Colleges This chapter discusses the differences between public and private colleges, focusing on how to make the most out of college visits and fairs. It recounts experiences of attending college campus tours, emphasizing the importance of visiting campuses ideally in the spring, fall, or the summer before senior year. The chapter is aimed at helping students decide which college option is best for them.
• 75:00 - 80:00: Managing the College Application Process The chapter focuses on strategies for managing the college application process, particularly the timing of college visits. It suggests that while visiting campuses during the summer is an option, it may not provide the most authentic college experience as most students aren't on campus. An optimal time for visits would be during the spring of the junior year or the fall of the senior year, when campuses are more active. Planning ahead with questions and priorities can also enhance the effectiveness of these visits.
• 80:00 - 85:00: Making Your Final College Decision The chapter emphasizes the importance of thoroughly exploring college options before making a final decision. It suggests asking questions about majors, resources, and campus life, often to student ambassadors who can share firsthand experiences. The chapter also advises potential students to explore the surrounding city to ensure it's a place where they feel safe and comfortable, especially when considering colleges far from home.
• 85:00 - 91:00: Q&A Session The chapter titled 'Q&A Session' is about engaging with college fairs and representatives. The speaker encourages students to explore and get to know the city where their prospective college is located. They suggest attending college fairs, which provide an opportunity to meet friendly college representatives and have one's questions answered. Additionally, the speaker recommends sitting in on classes and meeting other students if possible. The aim is to make the most of the resources available during these fairs and visits.
• 91:00 - 95:00: Closing Remarks & Next Steps The chapter focuses on making the most of the junior year in high school, emphasizing the importance of understanding test scores, different college admissions plans, and factors to consider when selecting colleges. It also highlights the value of maximizing experiences at college visits and fairs. The chapter ends with a transition to a new speaker, Joyce Colin, who is set to discuss various topics in the next segment.

College Night Spring 2025 with SCHS & LBSS Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 my name is holly beal i am the college of career spinner specialist at south county high school uh we have a great panel tonight to share information on college admission with you before we get started there are a couple things i want to mention we do have we're going to use the q&a feature you are welcome to submit questions for the panelists along the way i only ask that you um we're going to answer those at the end of the program and we are going to record this
• 00:30 - 01:00 session so if anytime if you need to leave if you want to watch it again with a family member i'll be sending it out probably next week so to get us started we're going to go ahead and just ask for some introductions and then we'll come back and cycle through the program sandy do you want to start good evening my name is sandy hunter i'm the college and career specialist at lake bradic welcome we're so glad you're here with us tonight um and i will pass it on down to our reps all
• 01:00 - 01:30 right i'll go ahead and start um hi everyone uh my name is joyce lee um i am the senior regional missions counselor for the university of utah i'm originally from the northern virginia dmv area uh about the university of utah we are 4-year public research one d1 university located in salt lake city utah and we have about 27,000 undergraduate students i'll go i'm colin alford i am the outreach and recruitment coordinator for northern virginia community college
• 01:30 - 02:00 based at our annadel campus uh we have six campuses located across the northern virginia region and serve more than 70,000 students um either in person or online all right good evening everyone thank you for being here uh my name is mario cruz i serve as an assistant director in the office undergraduate admissions at virginia tech uh we're a 4-year public language institution about 38,000 students on our campus
• 02:00 - 02:30 i can swoop in here um good evening everybody my name is mark gelson i am the senior assistant director of admissions at randolph min college in ashlin virginia um we're a relatively small private 4-year institution we're about 1,600 students total um we are a d3 institution as well and last but not least my name is pat money i am the director of admissions at george mason university just down the road from you folks we're a four-year public about 40,000 students and looking forward to talking with you all tonight
• 02:30 - 03:00 okay great joyce we'll turn it over to you to go first okay great thank you so much sandy um so for the next five six minutes i'll be touching on a few topics for my juniors here um just kind of a quick overview um importance of just junior year especially grades and signing up for test scores uh admissions plans early action early decision i'll be going over that quickly um some factors to consider
• 03:00 - 03:30 when selecting colleges and then finally getting the most out of college business and college fairs uh this could definitely be a whole 30 to 45 minute presentation but again i'll just keep it short and sweet and some bullet points so first just starting out with junior year um i know junior is very stressful um i know a lot of students here you all already taking ap test uh all the scores and trying to balance school you know seems to be working as well but junior is really that crucial year setting up for senior year um this is really uh for
• 03:30 - 04:00 a lot of schools if you are planning to apply early and again i'll talk a little bit about early action early decision this is kind of your last time to really show schools uh your classes and your grades uh because usually again if you are applying early to schools we can see your classes you're taking senior but we may not be able to see your grades depending on when you apply so for junior as it's finishing up now in march um a lot of you all should be again just finish up your classes uh please finish your your strong if you have not done so um please sign up to take the sat or act
• 04:00 - 04:30 test if that is what you plan to do uh the next sat test i believe is may 3rd and then i think act is june 14th but we have some in the summer and then the fall of your senior year as well so again if you choose to take the sat or act test please make sure you do it ahead and sign up if you have not done so already um speaking of admissions plans um as i mentioned earlier um some folks you probably should have heard of now when you're applying to colleges there are a few different kind of um application times you can apply so we
• 04:30 - 05:00 have early action and the most common are early action early decision regular and then rolling so just to quickly briefly summarize early action is usually an early days again depends on the school but could be anywhere november of your senior or december of your senior year and it's basically just give you an advantage of getting an admissions decision early early decision is a similar process however it is legally binding so if you apply to a school that has early decision um and if you're admitted you are legally bound to go to that school regular is just a
• 05:00 - 05:30 general admissions deadline and then rolling is just when you apply they admit students as you apply so some schools will have only one or two some will have multiple so it's really important when you are applying to colleges and looking at their websites or talking to us admissions folks um asking them what they are available and to choose what is best for you and then next factors to consider when selecting colleges um so there are many factors you all should be thinking about again kind of this time that summer really before your senior is
• 05:30 - 06:00 really the time and even now is to kind of think about what you want to consider when selecting colleges um because usually by end of junior year coming to senior you should be having or creating a list of schools you want to apply to so again there are many factors to think about when applying and selecting which colleges you're thinking about um a lot of it is cost i know that's a big one for students so how much school is going to cost on funding um well you know do colleges you want to apply to do they offer scholarships and if so how many
• 06:00 - 06:30 scholarships or what type of scholarships do they offer some are b need- based so that's based on your financial background so basically how much your money your family makes others are based on like your grades and gpa academics other factors to consider when looking at school is major you want to make sure that the school you're applying to has the program you're thinking about so whether you're decided or undecided you want to see what programs a school offers on top of that resources so what are the resources schools are going to help you to be successful um you know obviously it's
• 06:30 - 07:00 great going to a school but you want to be able to make sure that they have resources to help you succeed so various resources could include a writing center mental health counseling academic advising different student clubs on campus so those are things when you're going to schools and looking again either on their website or campus tours to keep in um in your mind another factor you want to consider is culture um so what is a school like you know is it a big school is it a big kind of big public university sports is a big thing or you know are you looking more for
• 07:00 - 07:30 maybe a smaller level arts school you know do you want to go to a school that you know is really far away from the dmv area east coast or are you looking for something a little bit closer um so culture of the school you know what the school really believes in their students are also very important to consider um along again with the size and distance i was mentioning so again lots of different factors to consider but when you're looking about it just kind of think about you know what is most important to me um just kind of ranking those and that'll help you when you are looking for college and exploring to see
• 07:30 - 08:00 what option is best for you and then lastly is just how to get most out of your college ves and college fairs so i'm sure a lot of you all have already been on some college campus tours i'm sure some of your parents have dragged you on i remember when i was a junior and senior going to a lot of college campus tours and my mom dragging me around um if you have not done so do not worry again the summer before your senior is a great time to visit colleges although i do recommend trying to go either now during the spring or in the fall and the main reason i recommend
• 08:00 - 08:30 that is again summer is still a great time because i know you all are on break but most of the students the college students will not be on campus so of course you can still go and see but you're not really going to get the feel of what college is like so i use the students again if you can if you have the means um try to visit again during the spring of your junior year or the fall of your senior year and when you're there doing the college visit um again that's really the best way to get to know a college um think about some questions you want to ask beforehand before you go to the campus tour again
• 08:30 - 09:00 and they can be questions regarding the majors there the resources or just asking a lot of the tours are led by student ambassadors so current students you can talk to them about their experiences also if you're going far out again i'm located in salt lake city so i tell most folks if they go out to you know campus far away is take advantage uh be a little bit of a tourist check out the city check out the location nearby you want to make sure it's a place where you feel safe where you feel comfortable where you feel like there's
• 09:00 - 09:30 enough fun things to do um so you want to also going to just get to know the city and if you have some time to be able to stay there a little bit outside of your tour or the college fairs um if you can sit on a class or meet with other students and again college fairs is where all of us reps we are there and we want to meet you uh we want to say hello we want to get to know you answer your questions so again um i know that a lot of the high schools here in the area they host their own college fairs there are also national fairs as well so definitely take advantage and come say hello i promise oh we're all very friendly not scary at all and we want to
• 09:30 - 10:00 get to know you so that's mostly about it for me about get just making the most of your junior year again just to kind of recap again test scores looking about the different admissions plans think about some things to consider when selecting colleges and lastly just trying to get the most out of your college visit and college fairs thank you joyce colin i think you're up yep we're all ready to go so gonna talk about a couple of different topics tonight um dealing with possibly
• 10:00 - 10:30 attending a community college first um to either receive training to go directly into the workforce or to transfer to a 4-year university the application process for the community colleges in virginia is a bit different everyone who applies to a virginia community college is accepted at a virginia community college the we do not require sat or act scores however they can be used um to assist with placement into your classes for the fall we look
• 10:30 - 11:00 at students high school gpa and the highest level math class that they've completed in order to appropriately place them into classes we do recognize you know some students may be on the cusp of the the gpa cuto off um or or not feel that their gpa accurately refle reflects their academic skills um and you know have taken the sat or act and done very well and we can use those scores to kind of supersede um the placement of based on their sa uh not
• 11:00 - 11:30 their sat their gpa and their highest level math class um i do encourage juniors to consider if you have um done algebra 1 geometry um if you are not considering doing algebra 2 or you're doing to consider doing algebra 2 um it does give you more opportunities for placement on the four-year level um especially if you're considering um doing a a business degree which most now
• 11:30 - 12:00 require an applied calculus class um and it anybody who's interested in some of the stem majors you've got to get to i call it regular calculus um so it just gets you a little bit ahead of the game there so i do consider do recommend you consider adding adding a math class um as i mentioned we offer degrees that are designed to transfer to four-year schools both in the state of virginia and out and we also offer a number of programs that are available to students to take to get them prepared to go
• 12:00 - 12:30 directly into the workforce our transferable degree programs we currently have 24 the courses that are in those programs align very nicely with all of the degree requirements of the first two years of a 4-year bachelor degree we've worked very closely with our virginia school partners uh and like i said our students do not have issues transferring to out of state schools um everything from harvard and yale um to the university of utah's of the the the
• 12:30 - 13:00 world the large um state institutions so um the bulk of the classes that students take in those degree programs are very similar to the classes they've taken in high school that english math history science maybe foreign language and then they take the foundational courses of that major so for business for example it would be the accounting one and two micro microeconomics uh business statistics maybe intro to business those type of classes um for the career technical programs that are preparing students to go into the workforce those
• 13:00 - 13:30 classes that students take um it's a bit reversed the majority of the classes they take is in the subject area that they are pursuing um and they may have six to eight general education classes but those subject area specific classes are really thoughtfully um curated in conjunction with working with business and industry partners to make sure that students are graduating with the skills that they need to go directly into the workforce we also um for our associate
• 13:30 - 14:00 degree programs for transfer and uh our career technical program associate of applied science degrees those are designed for students to complete in two years assuming they are attending fulltime when you look at curriculum descriptions um whether it's at a community college a private college a public college a large college a small college the industry standard if you will is based on a student attending full-time so that's how you'll see the courses listed we also at at nova offer
• 14:00 - 14:30 certificates which are short take shorter time for students to complete these certificates um typically stack into our associate of applied science degrees um accounting is a real good example there is a two semester accounting certificate again assuming you're going full-time a three semester for which the two semester stuck into the three semester which stuck into the four semester associate degree so students have a lot of different options i'm going to just talk briefly about our
• 14:30 - 15:00 guaranteed admissions agreements we have these with over 40 schools across the state of virginia each school has set its own requirements as a part of that guaranteed admission agreement it is up to the student i.e the students responsibility to go through that guaranteed admission agreement and make sure they meet all of the requirements for the school that they are applying to using the guaranteed admission agreement uh it i hate to say they're very picky but it's it's very particular i guess is
• 15:00 - 15:30 a better way to put it and you just want to make sure because if if you miss crossing a tea or dotting an i then you're not going to be accepted under the guaranteed admission agreement so i encourage students if that's the path you want to choose start taking a look at that now uh and make sure you note everything it's not just about having a great gpa um last but not least i want to talk a little bit about some advantages of starting at nova especially for our transfer students no students who start
• 15:30 - 16:00 at nova and complete the first two years of that four-year bachelor's degree can save over $20,000 um that is a huge chunk of change uh our academics are equally as rigorous as any of the academic partners who were shown here or here with me this evening uh our students do very well it is a great way to make that transition from high school into college um get um an understanding of how college classes work um even if
• 16:00 - 16:30 you've done or are doing dual enrollment you're doing those in the high school so it's a little different when you're in the classroom and onampus setting um and just to get um acclimated to being a college student and then doing well in college um for our career technical programs we really do prepare our students to go directly into the workforce you will be able to walk into those positions and do well you will have the skills needed to succeed in those different jobs so we look forward to um working with all all of our
• 16:30 - 17:00 students in in any way that we can and at this point i'm going to turn it over to mario all right hello again uh my name is mario cruz with virginia tech once again um today i'm basically talking a little bit more about the factors that get you into your desired college after you have finalized and actually completed your college search it is important to really understand what each individual school
• 17:00 - 17:30 that you're applying to is looking for in the admissions review process and please keep in mind that everyone does admissions a little bit differently there's different factors that contribute into getting the offer letter right from your um selected schools that you have um you know applied into so when it comes to the admissions review process probably one of the most important things to keep in mind is that all the schools will spend a lot of time on your transcript meaning looking specifically at what type of classes you
• 17:30 - 18:00 have taken from 9 to 12th grade looking specifically at the level of rigor of those classes where they're ap ib dual enrollment and keep in mind that we have access to your high school profile so we get to see what type of classes and resources are available at your school right and you know for us what we're looking for specifically it's not for the student who is having all ap classes it's just more so looking for the student who has demonstrated that they're able to take advantage of all
• 18:00 - 18:30 the different resources available at their school um we're looking for students who can challenge yourself academically speaking and as you challenge yourself academically you're able to demonstrate that you can be successful right so we're looking for a healthy amount of a's and b's so final letter grades do play a huge role in the admissions review process now where it gets a little bit complicated and very individualized is some schools would take into consideration your quarter and semester grades into your senior year so you know for those schools send them
• 18:30 - 19:00 that updated transcript or you know send in that updated information if you wish however keep in mind that there's a couple schools that do not take into consideration your quarter or semester grades right for your senior year they only take a look at your class selection for your senior year so part of the college search is also understanding what factors play a role in the admissions process for your uh individual institution that you'll be applying into uh keep in mind
• 19:00 - 19:30 that over the last four years or so a lot of schools who were test required also went test optional for the very first time and we're in a very i guess transitional period where a lot of institutions are re-evaluating uh to see whether or not they will go back to test require or they will require um you know or they will remain test optional um so testing policy is something that is changing within every single year so it's important for you to keep up to date regarding what the testing policies
• 19:30 - 20:00 are for the individual school that you're applying into uh keep in mind that as i mentioned before some schools are going back uh who were test optional going back to being test requires other schools are still in the process of evaluating whether or not they will go back to test required or remain test optional uh historically speaking there are some institutions that have been test blind or that do not require any test scores whatsoever and so for those schools you don't have to worry about taking the sat
• 20:00 - 20:30 or act um sometimes if you're applying to a test optional school make sure you read the fine print understand what the what test optional means to them some schools will be test optional but they will have in parenthesis test prefer right and other schools are truly test optional meaning that if you do not feel comfortable with your sat or act score you do not need to include uh those test scores as part of the application so again if you do not feel comfortable with your test scores do not feel
• 20:30 - 21:00 pressured uh to include them um i would tell you that you know at least from personal experience at our my current institution virginia tech we have found that a lot of students who are taking advantage of the test optional are those students who um you know are very high achieving when it comes to the test scores so sometimes the averages that you may see online when it comes to sats or act scores could be somewhat misleading uh because it's not necessarily the best reflection of the current applicant pool so again if
• 21:00 - 21:30 you're do not feel comfortable with your test scores do not feel pressured to submit them uh whatsoever if especially if the school is test optional um and last but not least you will have some institutions that will be very clear with you and let you know if there are tests required and for those you had to submit uh both the either the sat or act please understand that some students do better on the sat versus the sat so up to you to really decide which ones of those two you feel most comfortable take
• 21:30 - 22:00 uh taking uh for sure uh last but not least there's a lot of different uh factors right that contribute to the admissions review process i talked about the importance of testing also uh the academic piece u but it's also very important to keep in mind about how you want to present yourself on the application every year all of our institutions receive very competitive and very wellprepared academically speaking students um and because of that the best way to really highlight who you are outside the classroom could be via
• 22:00 - 22:30 the essay component right uh some institutions will ask for students to complete um the common app essay as part of the application process other institutions will have their own unique uh personal statements that they will ask for you to uh answer and so keep in mind that again this is your voice in the application this is where where you really highlight uh those interperson interpersonal skills that you have and also highlight any other type of skill sets that you have been able to learn uh over the last 3 years and a half so
• 22:30 - 23:00 again it's a really great reflection on who you are outside the classroom other documents that also do play a role in the admissions process and again this all depends on the individual school that you're applying into will be letters or recommendations uh you want to make sure that you follow the program materials instructions um if they ask you to submit an academic uh letter of recommendation make sure you start thinking about what were some of those teachers that have a meaningful impact uh impact on your educational journey
• 23:00 - 23:30 and ask them if they can speak on your behalf uh by submitting a letter of recommendation right um sometimes you're able to submit uh letters of recommendations from either a coach that you have or maybe a supervisor in your work experience or even internship or a research experience so just be familiar with what letters of recommendation each individual school is asking you for sometimes they will also highlight the number of letters of recommendations that you should be submitting whether that's two or three um and uh last but
• 23:30 - 24:00 not least please keep in mind that especially if you're using the common app you can list up to 10 um extracurricular activities that you have participated in there's no need or pressure for you to submit all 10 what we're looking for primarily is going to be looking for students who are engaged in their communities where that is being part of a club organization at your school uh if you're a student athlete if you have work experience and everyone is different when it comes to that right so
• 24:00 - 24:30 really highlight what you're passionate about um please do not feel pressured to complete and submit all 10 uh slots because again what we're looking for is more so for the quality and not the quantity and i believe our next topic will be on financial aid and scholarships and private school options thank you um yeah so once again my name
• 24:30 - 25:00 is mark elson i'm the senior assistant director of admissions at randolph min college um my topic tonight is public versus private and then um financial aid um full disclosure on that aspect i am not a financial aid representative i know a little bit about it um but there are certain things that i am federally mandated not to talk about um so if you have any specific questions about financial aid i highly encourage you and i will reiterate this at the end to please talk to the institution that you are planning to attend or applying to to see what their financial aid packages look like um and what they can offer you
• 25:00 - 25:30 as an individual as a family all that good stuff um but to get started so uh to break down the difference between public and private colleges um basically it comes down to where does the funding come from so public colleges are state or fally funded so the money comes from the government and that's basically i mean the main difference the private colleges are um primarily funded by tuition dollars and then alumni donations and endowments so for example randolph min is a private college um so
• 25:30 - 26:00 we mainly see our tuition revenue as our main source of revenue um so that's why our uh sticker price is going to be a little bit higher typically the private colleges are going to be a little on the higher side but don't let that scare you away um we do offer a lot more merit-based scholarships which i'll get into in a second um but public colleges typically will be larger in terms of their course offerings their degree programs they may offer undergraduate and graduate programs you may see some like five-year programs with them five-year masters programs you may see
• 26:00 - 26:30 doctoral programs so that you can complete undergraduate and graduate and maybe even phd all in the same institution private however they're primarily going to be undergraduate um maybe they'll have a master's program or two but they're going to have a lot smaller course offerings and the student body is going to be much much smaller um so for example randolph min is a student body of about 1,600 um other private institutions in the state of virginia include washington and lee they're about 1,800 um university of richmond is probably one of the bigger ones it's about 4,000
• 26:30 - 27:00 um and then yeah a couple others um but yeah those are the main differences um in terms of the like i said the sticker price for the private colleges is going to be a little bit higher than the state institutions um states yours are are going to run you about 20 to $30,000 per year depending on where you're going to go um private colleges may be 50 60 $70,000 um however with our um alumni donations and our endowment that means that we are incredibly generous with what we give out to our students so i
• 27:00 - 27:30 personally have never seen a student receive um less than like $30,000 in aid um most of the students that i meet with they usually end up paying between 20 and 30,000 i've seen some of them pay even less than that i've seen some of them pay like 15 11 the lowest i've seen was eight um which i was like okay hold on um let me try this college thing over again um the reason we're able to do that is because of this wonderful thing called the fafsa um which usually opens up in the fall it went through a rework
• 27:30 - 28:00 a couple years ago and they've been moving the date around a little bit but typically pumpkin spice season is when you're going to want to fill out your fafsa um the fafsa is the free application for federal student aid and it tells you basically like it collects your information from your tax returns your parents tax returns um and tells the colleges that you're applying to how much does the student have um to contribute towards college and what needs to be met in order to afford um higher education um so it'll give you your um family index and it'll say like
• 28:00 - 28:30 this is how much we recommend that you give the student um we'll look at that information and we will give out grants scholarships um based off of that info and then different institutions will give out specialized scholarships specialized um grants and then um the federal government will give out loans um there's of course the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans it's entirely up to you which ones you want to take um subsidize they have um a repayment period that starts after you graduate so you take out the loan you pay for your college and then usually about 6 months after you
• 28:30 - 29:00 graduate is when that repayment starts and when the interest starts acrewing unsubsidized loans they're going to be um the interest starts acrewing once you collect your first dispersement so the first time you take money out of that loan that's when the interest starts acrewing it's up to you which one you want to go with um we also have the um css profile through the college board which the css profile um stands for oh my goodness i just had it pulled up we don't use the css profile the college scholarship service um but that tells you which non-federal scholarships are out there and it basically just matches you up to those um let's see what
• 29:00 - 29:30 else u there's different types of scholarships that you could qualify for so there's um merit-based scholarships and then need-based scholarships so those are the ones uh the need-based scholarships are the ones that you're going to have to apply for and those can be very specific to the student so they could be based off of what do you plan on majoring in where do you live what hobbies do you have what clubs or organizations are you a part of um it could even be part of like an identity it could be based off of race and
• 29:30 - 30:00 ethnicity gender um anything like that that you can apply for specifically and then the organization that is giving out that scholarship will decide you know you get the scholarship you don't get the scholarship merit based scholarships are typically given out by the institutions themselves and it's based off of um your gpa in high school um so again using randolph min as an example we do give out merit-based scholarships upon admission anywhere between 23 and $30,000 per year um just based off of you know what's your gpa is it like a 3.8 that's $28,000 right there is it a
• 30:00 - 30:30 4.0 that's $30,000 right there so that's just money up front that is renewable all four years so long as you maintain satisfactory academic progress um i would say now is definitely going to be the best time to start talking about what can we afford as a family um as you're looking at colleges my biggest advice is to um look at the tuition and see you know are they offering any merit-based scholarships would they offer any merit-based scholarships um start looking up scholarships i definitely recommend big future um through the college board um it's basically just
• 30:30 - 31:00 this giant scholarship database where you can type in some information about yourself and it'll say you could apply for this one this one this one this one based off of different criteria um but definitely like have a conversation about that starting now um and see what was what would definitely what would be within the grasp so like i said i am not a financial aid representative so take everything i said with a grain of salt definitely talk with each of your institutions as you're applying with them um and sit down with a financial aid representative have that
• 31:00 - 31:30 conversation with them and say you know this is what we can afford this is what we're looking to pay um randolph min specifically will sit down with each individual that asks and we'll go through and be like how can we meet you where you are to make this affordable because we know that not everybody wants to be repaying student loans for 10 15 years after they graduate we want to make that a possibility um that you graduate debtree um we want to try to make that happen as much as possible so definitely talk to your institutions as you're enrolling with them so i'll go ahead and pass it on over to pat awesome thank you mark uh all right
• 31:30 - 32:00 i'm going to bring us home um and then we'll get to your questions uh i saw a couple come in already so thank you all for paying attention thus far i know it's a wednesday night and that middle of the week is you're one step closer to the weekend right so i'm going to bring us home with managing this whole process bringing together all the things that my fellow panelists have talked about and then making that final decision um when joyce was speaking she talked about early action and early decision and the
• 32:00 - 32:30 different deadlines that you have to keep in mind the thing to remember is when you're talking about deadlines in this process and managing this from a to z it's not just the initial application submission it's also that deadline for making a final decision so august 1st is when those applications start and the national notification deadline where colleges typically request that you say yes or no is may 1st so you have august
• 32:30 - 33:00 1 of your senior year to may 1 of your senior year that is the race you are running and it feels like a marathon the longest most exhausting marathon you've ever run so staying organized is paramount as you're going through this keep in mind that when you're looking at different universities mario said it perfectly we like to keep you on your toes and we all do things differently not many of us do things the exact same
• 33:00 - 33:30 we're all going to have our own different little flavor we're all going to have a little bit of a different taste in the things we require or what deadlines mean what uh but scholarships could impact scholar i'm sorry deadlines could impact scholarship they could impact an honors college an honors program they could impact auditions or portfolios there's a lot of things depending on where you're applying you could be the top student in your school you be the top student in your specific area of
• 33:30 - 34:00 interest but if you miss a deadline depending on the college you might miss out on the perfect opportunity that was it felt like created just for you so stay organized deadlines do matter in many many different ways but when push comes to shove if you don't ask the question is there still an opportunity can i steal this or can i steal that never make assumptions in this game it is always worth reaching out having a conversation uh i i think uh a few folks
• 34:00 - 34:30 have said it joy said it perfectly we're not scary people we are very friendly our jobs at our core is to help you so reach out and ask never assume because we'll be able to make sure that you're not missing out on any opportunities regardless of what the deadlines were and if you did miss a deadline we'll let you know what your options might be if you decide to come to our institutions maybe a sophomore junior or senior year now when you're applying another thing to talk about is parent involvement uh analogy i started to like using is driving a car students if you
• 34:30 - 35:00 are starting to go after your permit you just got your license you're excited to get behind the wheel and drive the car this is your process you've been waiting for it your whole life and now it's finally there parents you might be a little anxious you might want to have a little bit more hands-on with the experience of learning and you don't want to let go well applying to college is going to be a lot of the same but it needs to be the student driving and it needs to be the parent watching and supporting and helping but
• 35:00 - 35:30 from the passenger seat the student this is your process it is a family discussion it is a family decision mark was talking a lot about the finances obviously that makes this a family discussion because unless the students are in a very fortunate situation with scholarship other sorts of aid you have to make sure that you can afford the journey you're about to partake on right and you have to make sure that you're not going to come up with $100,000 of debt by the time you graduate because not many jobs are going to get you out
• 35:30 - 36:00 of that hole in a quick snap right so parents be a part of the process be there to support but students need to drive because that's going to make that freshman year and that four-year experience that much more impactful i know myself and my colleagues will talk to parents any day of the week but we want to talk to the students we want to know that they understand what they're signing up for they need to be the ones that can communicate what they're looking for they need to articulate what their interests are uh if a student's
• 36:00 - 36:30 applying to mason and they're from halfway across the country and they say i want to study psychology my first question is going to be why tell me why articulate what about your research has said mason equals psychology for you right different institutions offer different things but as long as it's a conversation and it's a collaboration that's the most important part so parents support don't drive um next thing when you're talking about the
• 36:30 - 37:00 process and we're talking about other people being involved letters of recommendation is going to come up quite a bit again maybe you've heard us say this 12 times already tonight um but i will say it at least three more times we all do things a little different uh letters of recommendation when you're looking at who should write them some schools will take anyone uh it could be a community member it could be a boss a coach an instructor uh some schools might require a specific individual but letters of recommendation mario talked about it a little bit when you do this and you're
• 37:00 - 37:30 submitting letters of wreck whether it's letters of recommendation auditions portfolios supplementary items and you're trying to give us more information to allow you to have more to decide on spend your time where we as an institution tell you to spend your time and effort right if a student is applying to all the colleges on this panel and they're trying to decide which option is best for them we all have different
• 37:30 - 38:00 requirements and processes and each one of us is going to be looking for something ever so slightly different for that scholarship or that admission or that honors program right and that's the important thing ask questions don't make assumptions uh when you're looking at the time frame for all of this you know i was talking about the august 1st is when the application's open may 1st remember is when that decision notification comes out everything in the middle could be when you get an application decision
• 38:00 - 38:30 back so the timing for how much your runway looks like for point of decision notification to you deciding where you want to go could be five or six months it could be seven or eight weeks right so some colleges are going to have rolling admission you're going to get a decision pretty quick other colleges we are going to send things out on a specific date we're going to let you know it so that you're not becoming best friends with your mail
• 38:30 - 39:00 delivery service or wearing out the key to your mailbox or however you check your mail or crazy thought undergraduates actually checking their email i know it's a crazy idea but we do communicate with you via email the notification is going to come out but we're going to tell you when and we're going to be very very upfront about it a lot of students when you're trying to make this uh final decision you're trying to navigate this process
• 39:00 - 39:30 you if you're not asking questions might make assumptions that stress you out and adding stress to this process is one of the easiest things you can do but the easiest way to avoid that stress is communicating with us and asking questions about how each institution is going to handle it because i'll give you for an example i'm going to read applications from lake bradock and south county i'm going to review those and depending on when a student applies will depend on when i decide to send their
• 39:30 - 40:00 decision out but just because you get a decision after your best friend does not mean the decision is going to be negative it does not mean you're not going to get scholarship it means the deadline you applied for affected which date i sent something out but it doesn't mean i'm going to review you any differently but that's an assumption people can make and when you're managing this process you want to avoid adding stressors because senior year is already stressful enough right you already have a thousand things to worry about don't add to things without us clarifying it first uh if and when you get that
• 40:00 - 40:30 notification and it's not an acceptance hopefully you get accepted everywhere you apply and hopefully we can all give you scholarship but if that doesn't happen and you get weightlisted maybe you've heard me say this all schools do things differently most schools are going to tell you what to do next it is likely going to be confirming a spot some way somehow whether it's a form a quick button a process that you have to complete they might ask you to send updated grades
• 40:30 - 41:00 they might ask you to submit an essay they might ask you to partake in a zoom or some sort of online interview could be anything it could also be nothing they could just say "we will let you know if space becomes available." weight lists can at some institutions be a final decision so if you get weight listed my biggest piece of advice and this comes from a place of empathy i applied to a lot of virginia publix when i was in high school i got accepted to some and i got weight listed at
• 41:00 - 41:30 others do not go forward without having a plan b have a plan b do not find yourself at may 1st hoping against hope that mario's going to pick up his phone and say "hey pat we have that one spot and it's just for you buddy please come on down." it will not happen like that we're going to try and give you some time to make that decision but wait list is something you should hope for aspire for but don't let that be plan a b and c
• 41:30 - 42:00 have a backup plan and know that there are options for all of you and most of you on this call are going to have doubledigit schools or opportunities that are perfect for you but which one does it best so when you make that final decision and my last point when you have to make that final decision whether it's your first choice or plan d don't mess it up it's the biggest decision of your life all the pressure is on your
• 42:00 - 42:30 shoulders but you can't mess it up so my parting words to you are you cannot mess this up if students if you're driving the car parents if you're in the passenger seat and you're supporting all the way through you cannot mess this up if you communicate if you be invested in the process itself and you allow yourself to be selfish in the best ways possible be selfish all of us are going to offer you an education that's going to get you a degree all of us are going to offer you opportunities outside of
• 42:30 - 43:00 the classroom all of us are going to give you some sort of social experience but who does it for you and which one of us does it best and not to mention there's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of options that are going to meet your checkboxes so do your research ask questions try and have fun along the way get the business side done so you can focus on the communication and the final decisions but when you make that final decision my very very last point it's okay to change your
• 43:00 - 43:30 mind it's okay just because you had that sweatshirt when you were in second grade does not mean you signed a contract on that day to get their diploma i know i'm a mason alum times 2 and if i had any more tech gear in my sweatshirt mario would have thought i was coming for a third degree yesterday but i found my place and i
• 43:30 - 44:00 never thought it would be my place never thought so but i was selfish and i made the decision that was best for me so make the decision that's best for you and know that you will not get it wrong if you take the advice that all of us have mentioned tonight so with that turn it over to q&a thank you all so much and one last plug holly uh sandy if they're not if you're not going to mention it there's a college fair coming up and it's on ma's campus um and there's probably going to be a whole lot of these familiar faces at that night so um
• 44:00 - 44:30 the 9th couple wednesdays from now uh the northern virginia regional college fair come one come all ask mario all the questions and then stop by and just say hi to me hey great thank you representatives you were wonderful and shared lots and lots of wonderful information um again this is being recorded we will have it sent out sometime hopefully in the next week i'm going to turn to some question and answers um i will read the question and then one or two reps can choose to
• 44:30 - 45:00 answer it to the best of their ability so very first one how do how to handle senioritis do colleges monitor the grades of seniors in the last semester after they've received their offers of admissions including early decision so can they resend their offers do colleges pay attention to the end of the year seasons are changing cold and flu season all that get your vaccines now for senioritis um it is a thing when
• 45:00 - 45:30 you look at senior year grades we do care we do care we do look at those we validate that we are still b bringing in the student that we originally admitted the biggest thing when you're looking at senioritis and how that can affect you there's also still scholarships to apply for and scholarships might require final high school transcripts there might be other components that come down the road but when you're looking at final grades you are in a fairfax county high school
• 45:30 - 46:00 coming from a fairfax county alum if you finish strong senior year your freshman year of college wherever you go you are so incredibly well prepared the things that you are taught in a fairfax county high school will set you up and you will look at freshman year and be shocked that friends that you're making from around the country aren't as prepared as you are so finish strong it will set you up for a great freshman year uh uh i i would just quickly add please
• 46:00 - 46:30 keep in mind that we all will ask for that official transcript to be sent to us after you have crossed the stage after graduation so it's not like we will not see if you did poorly academically at the end of your senior year right it still matters right because um we still could resend that offer of admissions even if we are in the month of june or july and you do not want to receive an email or a call from one of us or the school that you applied
• 46:30 - 47:00 to and that's your dream school right or your number one choice and you find out now you can't come right after you have made all this work after you have done all this planning right so definitely make sure that you plan accordingly and you manage um all the coursework all the testing um and you finish your senior year strong because it still matters a lot thank you both of you pat and mario okay
• 47:00 - 47:30 um i am a g4 employee and don't pay income tax would my child be able to apply for scholarships um anybody have a response to that i know i was the financial aid guy so i will be the first one to answer this even though like i said not a financial aid rep um some yeah some scholarships most scholarships external scholarships
• 47:30 - 48:00 outside of the institution that you're applying to will not consider your income they look at different factors like i mentioned during my spiel about you know what are you planning on majoring in what different identities do you have do you qualify for this based off of your gpa based off of like different classes that you've taken or interests that you have or anything like that so so long as you're looking at external uh scholarships like i said big feature on the college board website um you can just go in and filter based off of a bunch of different factors um they won't ask you for your income so yes i would say even if you're like a a
• 48:00 - 48:30 federal employee and you're bringing in seven figures or anything like that still apply for scholarships every dollar counts i i would just add there that every scholarship is different so some are going to be need-based some are going to look at income some are going to be based on other things so yes there's going to be scholarships to apply for for everybody um depending on what you're looking for hey
• 48:30 - 49:00 um okay i i think holly you may have to jump in on this one but back in 2017 and 19 there was a program that collected quote micro scholarships from students for examples money for an a on a final schools would use the total to propose a merit-based scholarship when applying to the school it was also connected to helping to narrow down the choices by putting in location population majors etc i can't remember what it is called is there something like that anymore
• 49:00 - 49:30 sure i wasn't sure if one of the panelists had this or not i i think you're asking about raise me which was a platform where at least in my experience i found more students having success using it as like a goal setting tool where they would start entering in the things that they had done and it kind of gave a predictor of how much money they could anticipate receiving when it came to like the merit side of their financial aid awards what i didn't see
• 49:30 - 50:00 in actual practice was that when students would you know so that like i'm not giving enough information students would enter in these are my grades these are my activities and as they used the website the website then would inform them you know well james madison would give you $400 for this or some other college would give you an x amount and really i think it wasn't so much that you were turning that like raise me transcript into james madison it was just more of a way of kind of understanding how merit how you
• 50:00 - 50:30 know doing service in your community how other things kind of factor in to what the colleges then can offer you and why they would so that i i i think i don't i'm i'm assuming that's what she's asking in the question i'm not familiar with another type of platform i will say it was it was very popular for a few years and then i haven't heard so much about it recently and i think that's why if you want to set goals for yourself though and you're a younger student you know by all means start plugging those
• 50:30 - 51:00 things in because i do think students can start understanding where there is merit scholarship opportunity um when they use the platform um quickly colin i'm going to go back to you i was this specific nova question um they were they were asking about agreements which i believe were the guaranteed admissions agreements um and whether or not william um oh i'm sorry i missed the uva william and mary is not
• 51:00 - 51:30 on the does not have a gaa uva does there are 40 [Music] um 40 schools that we have guaranteed admissions agreements with across the um vccs all but one or two are instate but uva tech mason um are all on there um but william and mary does not i did include a link to william and mary's um transfer web page uh something that i
• 51:30 - 52:00 reference a lot when i i work with students and then also the link to the nova transfer resources there are a wealth of transfer um resources for students um not necessarily our website we've kind of got a bunch consolidated hopefully your students have heard of transfer virginia portal um and there's just a ton of information there and every college's website has great information they that should be your go-to um for the most current up-to-date
• 52:00 - 52:30 transfer policies but that is all that is under that answered if you look at the q&a it says open answered and dismissed all those links are under there thank you colin yep um it was mentioned that quote factors play a role regarding what colleges are looking for how do we find out what type of information find out that type of information we have had a challenging time just finding out if colleges want two or three years of foreign language before a rep takes over
• 52:30 - 53:00 i just want to do a plug for naviance a lot of this information is in navviance if you will go in and search the particular school it often will list if it wants two or three years um obviously the advanced diploma at fairfax county is two years of two different languages or three years of one so any other reps have an opinion or an answer there please feel free i i would just add that please um
• 53:00 - 53:30 especially if you're filling out an application via the common app which you have thousands of schools uh there right as part of the common app um there should be more information about what we're looking for under program materials that's where we will indicate if we want letters of recommendations if we review the common app essay or if we require for you to submit any additional information will be under that specific section on the common app and sometimes that gets updated ated um by the individual school that you may be
• 53:30 - 54:00 applying into so you know most of the information will definitely be up to date starting august 1 when the application goes live um however keep in mind that you know your schools and your county or even your state will have admissions representatives assigned to your specific um area so you can definitely reach out to us and we can kind of clarify any questions or any concerns that you may have uh we're here to help and support you with this process and hopefully make it a little bit less stressful uh for you um so
• 54:00 - 54:30 definitely reach out to us holly were you gonna mention something was going to add to that pat already um started i was going to make the announcement at the end about the regional college fair but going to the college fairs or attending the college visits that we host at the high school every year um all of the high schools in fairfax county we are very fortunate that we get to host a lot of different college admission representatives at our school and it's a
• 54:30 - 55:00 perfect time for a student to sort of confirm they're open to juniors and seniors you know what exactly are you looking for and get some of that information but the other thing that i will say um sometimes i'm working with students and they are shocked at what we can find on the college website so naviance is wonderful but um digging around on the admissions page at the website if you ever have trouble finding it come see one of us you know that that's our job we're happy to help you find that information so that's all i
• 55:00 - 55:30 wanted to add thank you holly how does the transfer from an international student to an american university work does anybody want to take that yeah i can answer that um i actually work with a lot of international students for my role so again uh as you'll commonly hear it depends on the school so it is good to reach out whether it's checking out the website or talking with the admissions folks um but typically kind of an extra step for
• 55:30 - 56:00 students who are on a visa typically be a f1 uh student visa that you'd have to obtain is you would need to get something first called the i20 certificate and again depends on the school but typically additional requirements that a lot of schools will ask is um you know when you submit your transcript from your university um whether it's from a university here in the states or from the other country if it's from another country typically a lot of schools will ask um for you to get it translated that goes also same with secondary schools so if you attend
• 56:00 - 56:30 a if you have to submit a secondary school transcript or high school that typically does need to get translated as well again depends on the school but a lot of schools will also ask sometimes for proof of english proficiency um that'll typically be a test just showing again your level of english proficiency so the most popular are like ielts toefl duolingo um there's a lot of bunch again each school accepts various ones but those are pretty common across the board um and then on top of that again usually to get that i20 document from the school
• 56:30 - 57:00 um sometimes the school will also request some uh official documents so i know with us university of utah to get that i20 document from us and before you get your visa we do request a passport and then a bank statement um again but it's really important that especially if you're international just because there are more loops you'll have to go through and typically the process will just take longer because you're submitting extra documents and because it takes time and eventually you'll also potentially may have to reach out and work with your embassy as well so my biggest recommendation for international
• 57:00 - 57:30 students is one um always check in the website and checking with advisor or the us reps because again it can vary different school to school and then two um and as we mentioned the application opens up in august so whether you're thinking about transferring or applying as a freshman um to start the application process early because again as an international student um it will take some extra time to apply thank you choice okay if you have one c i'm going to answer this quickly if you have one c during the course of high
• 57:30 - 58:00 school and all the other grades are a's and b's will you still be able to get into college or will that look bad and make it so you can't get into college you 100% can go to college okay there are thousands of colleges and options out there um there's going to be some that you will be able to get into and some um not but uh there are definitely schools for you even if you have a c on your transcript does any other representative
• 58:00 - 58:30 have anything else to add to that my only comment and this is for the international piece this is for the 1c this is for any scenario you're putting in your head more often than not we're all going to have someone come to us send us an email give us a phone call and say "i have a unique situation." and i don't know if you've ever dealt with this ever before and i really don't think you have a standard path for me to follow we do we've heard it before we've dealt with it before and we probably have a standard process for it so that's
• 58:30 - 59:00 why when you've heard us all say "reach out and talk to us." we will guide you through we will appease all of your worries and we will make sure you know where to go so you don't miss a step but again with all of us talking about things that are similar slightly different still there is always been a situation that is similar enough that we can help you if you just reach out um when you talk about c's on transcripts the the main thing to remember is a blip on our
• 59:00 - 59:30 radar doesn't define you but we are looking at you holistically so from freshman year to senior year and that's why you know mario and i were talking about senior year grades mattering um if you get a c or works in senior year that matters but again it's how it folds into the context what type of major are you applying for and what was the class you got that grade in um but when in doubt reach out okay thank you when do we request
• 59:30 - 60:00 recommendation letters from teachers okay really quickly either before you leave for the summer before your senior year or right when you get back teachers get inundated and there are popular teachers per se and they'll only take x number of recommendations so the sooner you get in there and ask the better chance you're going to have for uh that particular teacher to do it so i would encourage you to do it before you leave for your uh summer if not right when you get back um and a little plug please
• 60:00 - 60:30 write a thank you note if they uh write a recommendation for you make sure you acknowledge that they've done it and given you um some time okay what do you mean colleges will look at what identities do you have anybody want to take that i think that was for my scholarships um database search um i cannot remember the name of it but back when i was looking at colleges back in the late 1900s um there was like this master scholarship database that you
• 60:30 - 61:00 would make essentially a profile and you would put in all of your different information biographic demographic everything like that and it'll say based off of that you qualify for this scholarship this scholarship and it was and that was based specifically off of like are you hispanic or latino or not hispanic or latino are you male or female are you going into a stem career are you going into a public are you going into a private um all of these different factors played a role and it would filter it out for you i want to say it was big futures um but back in
• 61:00 - 61:30 the day i mean i had to like pull start my computer to get that thing going u so it might still be around it might not um but there's plenty of databases out there they make it so easy to find scholarships and some scholarships you send in an application some of them you write like a brief one paragraph essay i say like just apply for as many as you possibly can because you never know how much you're going to reel back in um but yeah that's that's what i was talking about oops sorry sandy no please go ahead
• 61:30 - 62:00 colin i'll throw in my two cents um i have um two kiddos who have navigated the college process one at a large sec university the other at a small private university and mom said "we need scholarships so start looking." um our what made things a lot less stressful in our household was we had a deal give me one hour once a week and you cannot not apply for a scholarship because it's requiring an essay because you've already written something you can use um
• 62:00 - 62:30 and they tracked on a spreadsheet um the name of the scholarship when they submitted when it was supposed to be awarded did they get a ton not a ton um but we also found scholarships in unusual places um my children's uh grandmother belonged to a state organization that was and also had a national organization uh my daughter received scholarships from each that was $3,000 that we didn't have to pay um
• 62:30 - 63:00 there were you know there's just lots of different places with the different scholarship searches you should never ever ever ever ever ever pay for a scholarship search there are some great websites out there or my two go-to are fast and scoly s c h o l y they will ask you kind of identifying questions because they want to narrow down their filters um the last piece of advice i would give and this kind of goes back to like communicating with the colleges and
• 63:00 - 63:30 all that create an email address that is you are just using for colleges like first name.ast name nice we don't want i love my hot pink lace up shoes with whatever just nice and professional use that same email for scholarships so stuff doesn't get lost in your inbox um i i can say the amount of emails um that even
• 63:30 - 64:00 students receive once they become college students can be overwhelming um i see a lot of dual enrollment students who when they they've never logged into their nova email and when they go and log in over the past 18 months or so from the time they applied they have 800 emails from nova not 800 that yes 800 emails from nova in those 18 months it's it's a lot um but that's just a good way to kind of break it down um it will make things a lot less stressful in your household doing the scholarship search
• 64:00 - 64:30 and it helps track as well thank you colin okay next question if we have no idea what what or what kind of college we we want to attend are there any good tools to help us narrow down our search any rep have an answer to that mark i'll i'll let you chime in i was just going to say there's tons of tools but start small in your backyard you have a large
• 64:30 - 65:00 public a small public you have a private you have city school you have suburban school and you're right on the edge of rural schools you don't have to attend any single one of the schools you could have zero interest in the ones in a 30 minute radius but if you go to that type of campus and you can go i like a big school i like a small school now let's go s search for other schools that have those majors you can start that way that's a really good way to start
• 65:00 - 65:30 because the size of campus is going to affect so much of what you go through but you know in a single day pick any of the schools in dc any one of them then drive down to mason and then go straight to mary washington that's one day and you can do that very quickly and then you go "oh well now i want to go check out randolph min or now i want to make the trip down and see mario virginia tech or i want to
• 65:30 - 66:00 go out and visit schools across the country." you can do that by starting local there are also search engines you can put in if you want close far city country i mean all the kind of things uh big futures does have one and so does nian so um okay i would just add to that and say that the the best tools that you have to explore what colleges are best for you are your own two feet go to
• 66:00 - 66:30 those campuses take a visit we had a rule in my house back in the day where we couldn't apply to a college that we hadn't set foot on so it wasn't we were going to that because we also had mondo applications fees and i'm the youngest of five and so my parents were like "okay you need to kind of rein it in a little bit." um but i always always always encourage students to visit at the beginning of the year when they're starting their search and at the end once again before making their decision if you have no idea pick one on each end of the spectrum instate out of state
• 66:30 - 67:00 public private large small liberal arts liberal arts research whatever um you will find the fit that is right for you um i know like i talk to students all the time who come to visit randolph min and they're like i really like this small school feel i did as well i see myself in the in the students that i talk to and that's why i gave pat a thumbs up when he said mary washington because i went to mary washington um i visited mary washington randolph min william and mary um cnu and then i also visited tech gmu um uva and gmu and i
• 67:00 - 67:30 was like i feel more comfortable at a small school boom one thing crossed off the list i don't want to pay out of state tuition i want to stay close to my family i want to stay in virginia boom instate so you start to narrow it down step by step and then something magical happens when you find the right fit i call it the harry potter effect because sometimes you just set foot on a campus and it's like finding your wand it just like it clicks i can't explain why i chose to go to mary washington i can't explain why i chose to go to the grad
• 67:30 - 68:00 school that i did it's just i got to the campus and i was like this is it um and then all the other factors just lined up and i was like i knew i made the right choice but always visit the campus even if you don't think that you want to go there go and make sure if you know that you want to go there go and make sure you might change your mind i would agree visit visit visit um okay and i i can take this one quickly because i know i want to have respect for your time this evening and but get through most of these questions how does early decision impact financial aid so
• 68:00 - 68:30 it does in the fact that you have signed an agreement that you will attend the school regardless of your financial aid package that is the downside of an early decision because you will not have your financial aid packages in most instances but you have agreed if they let you in that they can count on you coming so that is that situation just know that going forward what is the admission process if a student decides to take a
• 68:30 - 69:00 gap year is there any representative that wants to address that you won't believe this but it varies it depends um some schools are going to want you to go through the process in your senior year normal some schools will tell you to wait until you're ready to come um some schools will tell you to not only go through the process but pay your enrollment deposit and then defer your application deferring can sometimes be
• 69:00 - 69:30 limited to a semester sometimes go for a year there's all sorts of paths but this is one of those things reach out as you start your senior year and if that is a thing that you are going to think about whether it's a mission trip or you want to save up some money so you can help pay for college whatever the reason is totally fine gap years are not uncommon so back to that thing i said earlier about we've all seen it before we've all helped a student in a similar situation before gap year is a very common thing
• 69:30 - 70:00 and we all have processes for it so reach out ask and we can guide you through it you're muted sandy thanks guys sorry mark thank you i always hear that when selecting colleges to apply to affordability is a key factor but if we use that factor low-income students shouldn't even bother to apply how can a lowincome family consider a affordability any rep
• 70:00 - 70:30 have a quick answer for that lots and lots of choices for lowincome families lots again don't discount a school because of the i mean yes you do need to have the big picture of financial um speaking just in my experience um my daughter applied to a small private school um the amount of scholarship dollars she was awarded um made her the the cost to us out of pocket equivalent
• 70:30 - 71:00 to paying the tuition at the flagship institution in the state we lived in at the time um and it basically boiled down to we pay the only thing we covered was her housing everything else was covered um for that you have to look at you know completing the the fafsa what are you eligible for for that whether it is pel grant um sceog is that what it is supplemental seo supplemental educational opportunity grant um whether
• 71:00 - 71:30 it's student loans and you have the option to take student loans or not you need to look hot and heavy for scholarships every dollar counts for scholarships i'll put in a plug in we're having our open house at the anendelle campus tomorrow night we're giving away two $500 scholarships uh there will be one at woodbridge the i want to say the 3rd um of april um but we have one at woodbridge and one at manasses after um in april um i know manasses says is it's the 24th but look for those ways that
• 71:30 - 72:00 you can find scholarships scholarship dollars so there is always a way and if the ultimate goal is to transfer to a four-year school four-year school i am going to shamelessly plug nova um our tuition is about the quarter of the cost of tuition at the four-year schools in the state um we don't require students attend full-time so it's a way students can even work and go to school at the same time thank you colin um okay again h i was
• 72:00 - 72:30 trying to wrap it up by 8:15 so three minutes when do you recommend the students begin the common app process the common app will open for a senior on august 1st that is correct right holly i i'm 99% sure yes no yeah so the college can update their questions they can go ahead and now and start poking around and making an account but really we just say first work on your essay exactly okay thank you um the next two
• 72:30 - 73:00 questions are very similar so we'll put them together um what if we don't know what we want to study what if we don't know what major we want to take what are some resources that could help us narrow it down any rep um i'm going to pop into the first one um the virginia wizard website uh link um there are some great interest inventories on that website that um students can take advantage of i believe if i'm not mistaken either through schooly or naviance there are
• 73:00 - 73:30 also some interest inventories that students can do i know at nova um students can take advantage of our uh there's some interest inventories they can link link to and use with prior to being a nova student that are on our career services page um it's okay for students not to know what they want to be when they grow up at this stage of the game i'm always asking students do you have an idea about what you want to study and i get that it's okay and i know we all want them to know what it is but it's okay
• 73:30 - 74:00 that they don't um it is a good idea these interest inventories are great mom and dad you shouldn't have to tie your kiddo to the seat to make them do it it's going to ask them a lot of questions about their likes and dislikes they're going to get a laundry list of careers most of which they're going to roll their eyeballs out and be like "yeah no thank you." but on that list there'll be something that they go "i didn't know that was a job." or "yeah that's kind of what i was thinking i didn't know what it was." some kids have that aha moment yeah yeah yeah um and every time they do it it may be a little
• 74:00 - 74:30 different but it at least takes that big "oh my gosh i've got to decide what i want to be when i grow up." and narrows it down a little bit and helps them start thinking and there are always great opportunities you know those first couple of semesters whether they're with a two-year community college whether at a four-year college they have some wiggle room to make that decision and so they shouldn't feel constrained and or scared to make that decision yeah i was just going to chop most
• 74:30 - 75:00 popular major in the united states is undeclared it's okay the average student changes their major two or more times it's okay remember major to career is not a linear path as you get exposed to more you are going to make changes embrace it back to when i was talking about managing this process you're going to change your mind live in that uncomfortable space because kind of like mark was talking about when you find that college and that thing clicks you
• 75:00 - 75:30 will find your path we're all in admissions in enrollment management none of us went out of high school and went i want to work in college admissions that is my dream job we found it we found it through experience we found it through a process right it happens embrace it let it be and it's okay to be undecided i would agree i was going to move on but summarize it with it's okay not to know
• 75:30 - 76:00 okay our last question of the evening um does faspa consider the cost of living where you live when looking at family income i do not believe so but somebody else please chime in if i am not correct i do not think it does no you're correct sandra so yeah folks when you're filling out the fafsa the main thing they're looking at and for my students it's just basically how much your parents or legal guardians make so it's just looking at your family income and then based on that and they kind of change it every year but basically
• 76:00 - 76:30 they'll assign you a number and then based on that number it determines how much funding you can get from the government so pel grants is literally free money so if you're eligible for a pel grant take it uh you don't have to pay it back um loans you do have to pay back but the interest rates are a lot lower than versus if you do like a third party like sally may but basically the government when you fill out that form and it's free to do so i believe most fairfax county schools have like a fafsa night in the fall so bring your parents bring your legal guardians you can fill it out together it could be quite
• 76:30 - 77:00 confusing but they're just looking at your family's income all right uh thank you everybody i hope um our attendees have found the information helpful and thank you so much to your time and your energy and your wisdom to our representatives um holly do you have anything to add i would just say um you know please don't think that this is it from the the high school side of things we wanted to do
• 77:00 - 77:30 this night to give you a lot of information but your school counselors are available to you mrs hunter and i are available to students and families so reach out if you have any other questions we will formally pick back up in september with a senior parent night for the rising seniors where we'll kind of go over the same information that we'll share with the seniors during the school day to make sure that everyone has a lot of support along the way um no otherwise i think that's it i am the one that will convert the recording and get it posted on youtube so i'll hopefully
• 77:30 - 78:00 send that out in the next week when i get time to do that um yeah i i'm empty the thank you everybody thanks for participating and panelists thank you very much for your time tonight it's really appreciated