Wrap-Up to the College Match Series

In this episode, Sage Oak School Counselor, Coral Pendergast, wraps-up the College Match Series by walking us through the college application process and timeline.  In addition, she provides a comprehensive resource with links to training and tools from the entire College Match series.


Click Here: Slideshow "College Match Series Timelines, Tool, and Resources"

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Transcript

0:15

Welcome back to another episode of the Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster, and today I am with Coral Prendergast. She is one of our school counselors and you know, it's always a good episode when Coral is on. And let me tell you what, today you gotta buckle up. She is bringing so much information to you. But she's doing it in a way that's going to make it really easy for you to digest and understand, and you're going to just walk away feeling like you have all the resources in the world that you need to help figure out the timelines of college applications. So Coral is bringing us tons of information on timelines today, tools we can use resources. I can't wait to dig into this episode. So welcome, Coral. So glad to have you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited. I can't wait. All right. Let's just get right to it. Let's dive into your presentation and walk us through. Okay. So I'm going to share my screen and show you guys a little bit. So this section is going to focus on the timelines for college applications, different tools that you may need, and then some resources, additional resources that parents might want to look into, purchasing or, reviewing online or things like that. Just extra things to help you. So, if we go over here, the first thing that I have here is a link out to a p that talks about what you should be. Each year to prepare yourself for college. So this is from the college essay guy. He's awesome. I've talked about him before, but he has great resources for your kids and a lot of them are free. So if we look here, it just gives us by grade level what you should be doing to make sure that you're on track, to be prepared to apply to colleges. And so one thing that I really like ninth and 10th is not as involved. You know, you should be working on extracurricular activities, making sure your grades are good, making sure you're in the right classes and those kinds of things. But then when we get down to 11th grade, he really starts to break it down to fall semester, winter. Spring, summer to really make sure that you're hitting all the areas that you need to hit and that you're prepared. And he does link out all kinds of things on here for you. A lot of links that I provided in the previous podcast as well. And then senior year is really broken down, so this is a great way to just kind of print it out, keep it on your fridge or your desktop on your computer to make sure that you're just saying, okay, in August and September, let's make sure we're hitting these things so that we're on track. And there's no surprises. Come senior year when you're ready to apply such a great resource, coral. Thanks for bringing that to us.. Yeah. And then as we continue this is just a big picture of application timelines. So, senior year applications open for the UC system, the University of California. They're going to open August 1st. And so you really want to make sure that you are ready to start those applications because the UC application has essay questions. They have PI IQs, they're called personal insight questions. Have to write on. And so you're writing four essays for that application. And that's pretty detailed and it time intensive. So you want to make sure that you're getting started on those early. You have access to those questions. Now they don't change very much from year to year. Maybe they just tweak them a tiny bit. But you can access those now and I'll show you where to do that so that you can start working on those junior year if you want, but just. UC applications open August 1st, and then October 1st. You're going to have your C S U, your Cal State applications open that you can start working on them as well as your FAFSA application and Dream Acted application. And so, you want to fill out your financial aid application, the earlier, the better. So AOC as close to October 1st as you can. It is now a graduation requirement in the state of California that you fill out a financial aid application. Whether it's FAFSA or Dream at but you want to do it quicker because some of the institutional aid may run out the farther you wait. So your Cal Grants and your Pell Grants, they're steady, they're going to be there. But institutional aid, so that actual, additional grants and scholarships that the universities may give those are going to dwindle as the deadline gets closer to March 2nd. Okay. Got it. That's a great tip. We appreciate that. Yeah, so you want to start that application quick, but the UCs open or the CSU open October 1st as well. And then the deadline is for UC. Oh, I forgot to write UC here for UC and Cal State is November 30th, so I'll update that. Right. UCs and Cal State, their deadlines are November 30th. So you've got, they don't budge for people just because they're not done. I always tell kids that, you know, you're one little student here, they're not going to budge their deadline. Those are deadlines. So make sure that you have that submitted. The websites always start to glitch towards the end that last week, so just try to get those in earlier. And then FAFSA deadline is March 2nd. So you just want to kind of be a aware of the overall, this is what I've gotta have going on senior year, because November comes up pretty quick in your senior year and you want to make sure that you're prepared for that. And then you should start receiving acceptances February, March, some in April, depending on the college. And you need to make your decision for four year universities. You have to commit. It's called S I R by. First, that's the deadline to commit. So just so that you have an overview, kind of what's going to happen your senior year. Yeah. You are not kidding. Once things start going, they do move pretty quickly, so, okay. So get those applications in following that timeline. So talk to us a little bit more about these different applications.. Okay. So the Cal State and the UC are, if you're going in California, are built in within their own systems. Okay. And then a lot of out-of-state private schools will use the common app. Some will have an application that you can use on their actual website. It'll say Apply now, and you might have the option to go Common app or to go. In their own built-in system, if they have an option for Common app, I would search for Common App first, because the deal with Common app is it's a common application that you can use for multiple different schools. So what happens is you fill out this one application you put in all your grades, you write some essay question type things, and then you put me as your school counselor, and then I go in as your recommender. It sends me an alert that somebody's Selected me as their counselor, which then I go in and I add all the school data. So these are how many seniors we have. This is their class rank, this is their gpa. I upload your transcript, your letter of recommendation that I need to write, and all of those things from my end, from the school and the school profile and all that. And it goes together to make your application. And then all you have to do is select the campuses you want to send that to. So it's much easier than going into all the different. And filling out multiple applications and then having to send multiple transcripts and all that, it's kind of just housed in one place. So if they do have a common app, I would recommend going Common app if you can. And I've put a link here to the Common App website, but also to a link of the schools where you can check to see who uses the common app right here. And it's a lot of out-of-state and private schools as.. So if there are a lot of different be a good strategy to just list any and every school that you want to go to? Or are you paying by the school? How does that work? Yeah, so you are paying for the application, so you still want to be selective in who you're choosing to apply to. And then there are fee waivers if you, if your family is lower income and you would normally qualify if you were like at a brick and mortar for. You know, the lunch program or something like that, or you're on government assistance in any way, then you can let me know that. And from the school side I can select a fee waiver for you to be, to waive that. But you are paying per campus, so you do still want to be selective in who you're applying to. But this just helps so that you're not doing all the different applications. Okay, so this, yes, this kind of centralizes the work. So you're just working one time with a common app, but you're paying for each of those different schools to review your applic. Okay. Got it. Okay. Okay. And then we go on to, now by this point, you guys, we've been through the process where you should have your list that you're building, you know where you're applying and all of that. And so this is an application information tracker. And what this does here is it's just a place college essay. Guys created it. It's awesome. But basically a place for you to fill in to say, okay, when is the deadline? Because when you, if you're applying to Cal States and UCs, like I. November 30th, if you're doing community colleges, we're dealing with spring. And that's not as big of a deal either. But when you start to deal with either private schools or out-of-state schools and Cal State, you know, you've got all these different deadlines. Some of them require essays, some of them do not. Some of them will require, possibly the s a t and a c t. Most schools are test optional, but you want to definitely research that. and so, and what kind of application they use. So this is a great place to keep yourself organized where you know, some of these things you might not be thinking about to ask yourself. But these are important deadlines, so, this is a great tool to use just to help keep yourself organized when you start your application process. I love this. Another great tool. Yes. And then we're going to go into these from the previous workshops that I did and that you guys can go back to those podcasts. I've put them all the links in one spot, so it's easy for you and you're not clicking through a whole presentation. Okay. Um, So back to the getting to know yourself where we did the self survey and what all of those different things mean, the journal and then what are you looking for out of a college? What do you want it to do for you? Here's all those. and then we just move forward in the other section. So what are you looking for a college here? All the different resources and tools that I gave you from that section in one spot, building your college list, the different tools that you can use planning your college visit. And then within this section, the timelines and the tools. One thing I did want to bring up that We didn't talk about previously is I have recorded workshops for you previously on the UC application and the C S U application that I did this year for the seniors. I'll update it again next year, but if that's somewhere where you're thinking about applying and you just want to look ahead for a general overview of what do I need to be doing, you can click right here and it's going to link out to those presentations that I did. They're recorded. They always have bubbles at the top with a little click on this and it'll give you the present., but I told you about the pqs and so, oh, a couple of things you want to check out right here. This will tell you the admissions data. So if you're looking to apply to a UC, make sure you're clicking here. It'll give you the average G p A for each campus. Hey, you know, u c, you better have a 4.1 to. 4.3 if you're thinking you're going to get in there and those types of things. It has a breakdown YouTube video, step by step of the entire application, every section of it, how to complete that and what to do. And then down here is your P I Q, so this is going to give you those essay questions. There are eight total for the UC application., you have to fill out four of them. Okay. All eight are created equal. It doesn't, there's not more weight on one than the other. So you need to choose one that you really feel is relevant to you and that you can answer in a way that you think is going to help you get in. So, here are tips for that. Here are the questions, YouTube videos to help you with that and all of that kind of stuff. But this walks you through the process of the UC application.. And then I also have one here for the csu. So same kind of thing. But the whole CSU application, which there are no essays. Yes. Okay., good differentiation there. Okay, perfect. This is so helpful, coral. I mean, it's in, just all of these resources are great and you know, parents can really take the time to just go through this as needed, like one step at a time. Knowing that when they get to a place where they have a question, you probably have already created a resource, a presentation, a full on webinar to really support them in that process. So that's really fantastic. Absolutely. And then the last section is just some resources. So G these are the books that I use all the time. These are my go. So Ethan Sawyer, the college essay guy. He's amazing. He has all kinds of resources and help for free and then also some to pay for if you want more one-on-one assistance with writing essays and stuff like that, he'll walk you through it. Here's his resource, and then college match. Steven Antonoff is amazing and he's basically spent his life like in this college application, acceptance world, and he is just basically narrowed it down to here's the steps and here's the easiest step, and pulled resources from everywhere and created like the how-to guides for parents. So these are the two that I use all the time., but I also wanted to give you guys additional, these are really popular in the college admissions world to help parents and families. So I've linked those to Amazon for you guys if you are interested in any additional resources. And then this is kind of fun. I found some parent support and so. If when your kid does go to college or you're working on this kind of stuff these are kind of built in support groups for parents of parents who have been there, p parents that have done it, that are chiming in about, Hey, what to do if your kid gets in a dorm and doesn't like their roommate. Or they start struggling in their classes or their homesick or, you know, different things that might come up with your kids while they're in college. And it's support for parents from other parents. So I found this kind of helpful that I wanted to make sure that you guys had. This last one is preparing your kid for college, more of the social, emotional and like life skills, like how to, help him be adults. And then there's a podcast from the college essay guide that's helpful too. So just wanted to give you guys additional resources. Oh, good. Yep. I love this. I think that's so thoughtful and it's so important. Like parents are so concerned about. Getting their kids admitted into school. It's really nice to know that there is support out there for them specifically while they're going through this process and once they get their kids to school just again, a community to support them through that stage as well. So incredible. Thank you so much for putting these together for us Coral. Absolutely, and I want to make sure parents know, you know, I'm here to guide you through the process. I'm here as a support. If you get, if you're walking through this and you get stuck, go to the counseling website. There's a link there to click on to make an appointment with me. I would love to jump in a Zoom with you, or to go back and forth and email and say, Hey, here's some additional stuff, or, let's check this out, or this might help you. So use me as your resource, like I'm absolutely here to support your family through this. So good. So good. All right. Stop sharing your screen for one second. I want to come back and just you know, remind parents. Coral really has made some incredible resources here. That's why we broke this down into a series so that you could go back and look at each component of this individually. So, if you're looking at this podcast, this is our wrap up, our college series wrap up slide, and she's kind of put everything that was linked out in all of the. Podcast episodes into this one. So this is a great, like one stop shop if you're looking for all the links. But if you do want to do a deeper dive into each of the sections that she talked about, finding out what your students interests are, matching those to the right college, building your list, and planning your visits be sure to check out our youTube channel for each of those individual podcasts so that you can take a deeper dive into each of those sections. So, awesome. Coral, thank you so much. You are making it so easy for parents and I think they are just, are going to feel so much better knowing that they have you in their corner, they can come to you and you've got them covered. So absolutely incredible. Cool. Thank you so much for having me, Tiffiny. Always a pleasure. I love it. I can't wait to do the next one. Talk to you soon, Coral. Thanks. Bye.