Further Research Your Schools!

You conducted research when you built your college lists. You identified what you liked about each school’s academics, student life, campus and more. Now it’s time to figure out which of those colleges are really the best fit for you, and what you need to stay on top of with each school.

• Create your Portal for all the schools you applied to, and check it regularly. Each school will send you pertinent information through their own portal. Do you remember when U.C. Irvine had to rescind 499 acceptance offers? Some offers were rescinded because students failed to provide further documents and information Irvine requested through their portal.
• Enrollment fees (housing deposit, student orientation fees, etc) can be upwards of $600 or more. Often financial aid won’t cover these costs, so begin to plan how you can cover them!
• Follow your school’s various social media pages – what they post will help you further understand the culture and life of a university. For example, the University of Chicago’s tumblr is a goldmine.
• Schools will often hold admitted student fly-in days, where students can visit the campus. Sometimes schools are even able to cover the cost of travel for students! Vanderbilt, for example, reserves visits in April for admitted students. See which of your schools have similar programs!

Finding Local Scholarships & Getting Organized!

The month of February is a great time to find local scholarships and getting organized with your applications and essays! Please see below for strategies and tips.

• Tip 1: Stop by your high school college counseling center to find local scholarships or ask your teachers for a list. Many local organizations will drop off paper applications to high schools and not advertise them anywhere else. Make sure to also check the website of your high school and the websites of other high school districts. You may find a really great list of local scholarships in your area! Finally, check in with organizations you are involved in such as volunteer groups, religious institutions you attend, or the local library.
• Tip 2: Utilize an online organizer! Use this tracker to organize your scholarship application deadlines to keep all your information in one place and help your to-dos feel more manageable.
• Tip 3: Learn about the scholarship organization, their mission, and their values! Visit the scholarship organization’s website and learn more about who they are, their programs, and their mission. Being able to show that you’ve done your research goes a long way!

Work Study?! Federal Subsidized Loan? Unmet Need?!

As you start receiving financial aid award letters, you will come across financial aid terminology that may be unfamiliar at first. Please take a look at this Financial Aid Glossary document to help you out, and go over any terms or concepts you’re not sure about with your coach.

• Gather important financial aid documents such as tax returns or W-2s from your parents.
• If your parents did not file taxes, fill out the non-tax filing form or notify your school.
• If your parents are nervous about providing this information, please let them know that the information provided for the FAFSA or for schools is not shared with anyone else due to privacy reasons.
• Refer to these guides, and don’t hesitate to reach out to your coach or contact ScholarMatch directly for help at virtual@scholarmatch.org

Finish FAFSA & complete CSS!

Our FAFSA & CSS Profile 101 document outlines all the documents & information you need in order to submit FAFSA. Since we’ve shared resources previously, and their Chat Support is the best place for real-time assistance, we focus here on the CSS Profile (short for the College Scholarship Service Profile).

Remember, though: submit your FAFSA as soon as possible if you haven’t already!

• Here’s a full list of schools which require the CSS Profile
• The College Board’s 2019-20 CSS Profile Student Guide outlines the basics
• Check here to see if you qualify for a CSS Profile fee waiver
• Watch this video tutorial for a more detailed walkthrough

Own your application deadlines and essays!

Use our College Application Tracker to help you organize everything, if you haven’t already.

For your supplemental essays, you shouldn’t copy and paste the same piece into each school’s application, but don’t worry about going overboard with research. The two things you need to demonstrate are:

1. Knowledge of the school &
2. A convincing demonstration of personal interest

If you don’t yet have a list of 9-11 colleges, including at least 4 CollegePoint Schools, there’s still time for regular decision applications. Check your list for financial fit using this guide, and use College Scorecard and/or College Navigator to compare across schools.

Consider Creating an Initial View Account!

What if you had 90 seconds to talk about yourself beyond what’s in the rest of your application?

ScholarMatch has arranged free access for you to the InitialView platform, for you to do just that!

Check here to see which schools on your list might be on this platform.

Have any questions? See if they might be answered on InitialView’s FAQ page.

This InitialView opportunity is not required by any schools, but it’s a great way to show your top choices that you’re serious about them, if they’re on the platform.

File your FAFSA as soon as you can!

Our FAFSA & CSS Profile 101 document outlines all the documents & information you need in order to submit FAFSA, and you can also download the FAFSA Cheat Sheet! It links to every possible resource you could need. If you’re smartphone-inclined, you can submit FAFSA through a mobile app.

These materials will also set you up to complete the The CSS Profile (short for the College Scholarship Service Profile), an application for financial aid applications at private colleges and some large public universities. Here’s a full list of schools!

Own your supplemental essays!

This comprehensive guide has advice for the writing supplements specifically for schools ranging from Yale to the University of California to USC.

Check out this article in the New York Times for 10 great tips & tricks on essay writing

Watch this 2-minute video to learn why it’s more impressive to sound endearing, than impressive, in your essay.

Consider an Early Action and/or Early Decision Application!

Watch this 2-min video about what to consider when considering EA/AD, and review the CollegeBoard’s benefits and drawbacks of early applications.

Identify 2 Teachers and 1 Counselor for Letters of Recommendation

• Download & review our Letters of Recommendation Tips & Tools document 
• Complete Brag Sheets and create an updated resume to give to your recommenders

Before the school year starts, you should identify two core subject teachers and one guidance counselor who you will ask to write letters of recommendation.

Make sure to ask them sooner rather than later!

Build a Balanced Initial College List of 12-15 Schools

• Use ScholarMatcher and BigFuture to research schools
• Include 4-6 CollegePoint schools
• Include 1-2 Early Action and/or Early Decision schools

Building balanced college list in terms of selectivity and financial fit is a crucial foundation for successful college application process. To that end, we recommend that you assemble an initial list of 12-15 schools by the end of August. As you research, focus key numbers like cost of attendance, % of financial need met, majors, and student:faculty ratio.

Draft Common App Essay; Add Coach as “Advisor” for Application

• Create account and add schools to yor list
• Identify your prompt of choice & finish at least a first draft of your Common App Essay
• Add ScholarMatch and your coach to your Common App view

Most students will need the Common Application to apply to at least one of the schools on your lists. You should also aim to identify which Common App essay prompt you will respond to, and share at least a first draft with your coach before the end of the month!