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Seniors - Class of 2012

For Seniors - Class of 2012

Information and Forms

Senior Planning Calendar

Afraid that you are going to miss something--an important test, a deadline, etc. Have a question about dates later in the year? See the Senior Planning Calendar

College & Career Center

The College & Career Center opened on Monday, September 19, 2011.  Hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. The College & Career Center is located in Room 312, right next to the Guidance Office.  It is staffed by parent volunteers.  The College & Career Center’ major purposes is to serve as the meeting place for college representatives when they visit Edina High School.

Last year, well over 225 college representatives visited Edina High School.  Their visits are instrumental in helping our students with their post secondary plans.  Since 90% of our students go on to college of some form, this is crucial, to their planning. In addition, these representatives are the ones who process students’ applications and who will be helping make decisions about college acceptance. It is important that they learn about Edina High School and its academic programs and it’s important that they get to know prospective students. The bottom line:  these visits help the students decide where to apply and also may be a factor about whether a student is accepted at a college or not. Don’t miss out on these chances to find out more information about colleges that interest you and to meet the representatives who work with Edina students.

A list of visiting college representatives is posted in senior social studies and English classrooms in Naviance. College Receptions also contains information regarding receptions in the Twin Cities area by various colleges and universities. (Some of the colleges—especially more select ones—will not visit individual schools.  Instead they hold receptions in the evenings for parents and studios.)

Seniors are reminded to get their prospective list of colleges entered into Naviance.  This way Naviance will send you e-mail reminders when any of your schools are scheduled to visit EHS.

Meetings with college representatives will take place in the College & Career Center or in the large group room (Room 310) also right next to the guidance office.  Students will need to get passes from their teachers in order to attend one of these visits.  Students should report directly to the career center where parent volunteers will facilitate the visit.  Parent volunteers will take attendance and write passes. It is the student's responsibility to obtain a pass back to class after the meeting. Students are responsible for any work that they may miss.)  College representative visits are open to juniors and seniors.

New! Local Scholarship 2012

This year the Edina Local Scholarship program will be administered by the Edina Education Fund and the Edina High School Counseling Department. Scholarship information packets will be distributed to seniors on March 27, 2012. Submit completed applications to the counseling office by Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by 3:30 p.m.

More information: Scholarships

Senior Parents

Senior Parent Night September 20, 2011 - 7:00 p.m. Edina Performing Arts Center

The Counselors with give a short information session on the application process. The featured speakers are Wayne Sigler, Director of Admissions at the University of Minnesota, and Mr. Sam F. Krauss, Admissions Officer at Princeton University. They will offer their unique perspectives on the college admission process at both a large public university and a small liberal arts university. There will be a short question and answer period at the end of the presentation.  This is a must for senior parents.

Senior Parent Financial Aid Meeting January 5, 2012

The meeting will be held on Thursday, January 5, 2012. - Fick Auditorium

The program will consist of two parts. First, you will receive several handouts that will explain the many options available to help pay for college. A high school counselor will highlight important aspects related to each handout.

For the second part of the program, Brian Lindeman, the Director of Financial Aid at Macalester College will offer insight into the financial aid process, including suggestions on completing the online FAFSA forms.

  • Types of Financial Aid
  • Financial Aid

New! Parent Packet January 5, 2012

Testing

Last spring, the counseling staff recommended that juniors sign up and register for both the SAT Reasoning Test and ACT prior to the end of their junior year. This gives the student an opportunity to compare scores and in many cases use the best one. Students who are looking at more selective colleges and the University of California system may also need to take the SAT Subject Tests (formerly know as SAT II's). (These colleges generally prefer the Math--Level 1 or Level 2 (the more difficult of the two, if possible) and one other test of the student's choice--usually in an area where a student feels strong. Some schools may require a third test. It is best to check the requirements of your specific colleges or universities. Many of our students choose U.S. History, a foreign language, English language or literature).  (A list of schools that require the SAT Subject test is available at www.compassprep.com/admissions_ req_subjects.aspxlist. 

If a senior student did not sign up to take an entrance exam last spring, and they are planning to attend a college/university next fall, one or both of the tests (ACT, SAT) should be taken this fall, along with the SAT Subject Tests if necessary.

If the ACT's and/or SAT I's were taken in the spring, should one or both be repeated?  In general, it is to the student’s advantage to re-take either one or both of the tests. Why? Because colleges are looking to accept, not deny applicants. They will usually make admissions decisions based on the highest ACT composite score, or the highest SAT combined score of the Writing, Critical Reading, and Mathematics sections. In addition, seniors who are applying to schools that have published admissions criteria, usually public institutions, have a good idea of their chance for admission. As a result, they can determine the necessity of re-taking the test. ACT will allow students to pick the best test date to send, whereas SAT sends all tests taken.

A final note – it may also be to the student’s advantage to re-take a test, as many scholarships are awarded with a student’s ACT or SAT score being a piece of the criteria. The difference of one composite point on the ACT, may be the difference between a scholarship and no scholarship.
Test registration can be done on the internet or registration packets can be picked up in the guidance office. (With deadlines fast approaching, remember that registering online is faster and the student will know immediately if there is room at the testing site he or she requests.) Please see the Testing page to see updated information on testing.
Counselors urge students to register early if they want to take the test here at the Edina testing site. If the Edina site is full, late registrations are assigned to other open sites. The possibility of stand-by testing here at Edina will also be very limited.

College Applications

This is a very busy time in the counseling office as we begin to process college applications and write recommendation letters for this year's seniors.  In mid September, the counselors will visit with seniors reviewing with them the college application process and timelines and passing out the senior planning booklet.  This booklet is an invaluable guide to the college process.  We urge all parents to spend some time looking over the materials distributed at the parent night  (September 20th) and for students and parents to read the senior planning booklet very carefully.  After these meetings, if you or your senior have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to schedule an appointment to meet with your son or daughter’s counselor

Deadlines

It is very important that students are aware of application deadlines for every school to which they are applying—even so-called safety schools.  Generally speaking, we urge all seniors to have any  college applications that are due January 1 or earlier completed and turned into the guidance office by December 2nd. (Remember there will not be anyone in the guidance office to process your applications over Winter Break. Students who have deadlines of January 15, February 1, or later may turn in applications after the holidays.) In order to ensure that applications can be processed by December 17th, we are setting a target date of December 1st  for all applications. We cannot guarantee that an application will be processed before winter break if we receive it after December 1st. Some students who are applying early decision or early action or who are applying to the military academies or ROTC programs may have deadlines of November 1, November 15 or December 1. The University of California system schools also have an early deadline of November 30. The University of Minnesota Priority deadline is December 15; however, students who apply early will receive notification sooner.

College Deadline Counseling Department Deadline
November 1, 2011 October 11, 2011
November 15, 2011 October 25, 2011
January 1, 2011 December 2, 2011
Janury 15, 2011 December 21, 2011

Letters of Recommendation

Students need to give teachers at least 3 weeks to complete letters of recommendation. Gold forms are available in the guidance office to give to the teacher.  Students should also include stamped envelopes addressed to the colleges and any teacher recommendation forms required by the college (if not submitting online-see Naviance for individual college information).

If a counselor needs to complete a recommendation letter, seniors need to complete the Questionnaire for School /Counselor Recommendation. The packet needs to be returned to the counselor three weeks prior to the deadline.  (The questionnaire provides the counselor with additional insight and information about the student enabling the counselor to write a quality recommendation. Last year, many of the senior parents completed a Parent Questionnaire that the counselors found helpful.

Reminders

  • If you need to schedule ACT, SAT Reasoning Test, or SAT Subject tests or retakes, do so ASAP.

  • It is the students responsibility to have official test scores sent to the college. Remember many colleges do not consider your application complete and will not process your application until they have received your test scores.  (How do you send your test scores?  There are several options. Go to Score Reports for more information.

  • Any senior, who has not met with their counselor to discuss their post-secondary plans, is urged to do so as soon as possible.

  • Students who are completing applications for the University of Wisconsin-Madison: don’t forget, the essay/personal statement is important. Do a good job with it!

  • If you are applying to several private colleges, check to see if you can use the common application. It is accepted by over 400 colleges and could save you some time. You can download a copy at www.commonapp.org

  • Applying to a competitive college?  Download or pick up a copy of the handout Applying to a Competitive College: Some Brief Suggestions in the counseling department.

Athletes--NCAA Registration

To register, seniors who are prospective student-athletes can access the registration materials by visiting the http://eligibilitycenter.org. From the home page, the prospect should click "Prospective Student-Athletes," which will link the student-athlete to the necessary information. Underclassman and their parents may also wish to visit the web site in order to be aware of the requirements changes that could affect future college athletes at www.ncaastudent.org/. From there, click on "Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete." There is a pamphlet and a short book that are must reads for students (and their parents) who are hoping to play a college sport. After you register, your transcript must be sent from the high school. Contact Nancy Knutson , Registrar to request a transcript for NCAA.

Updated March 19, 2012

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