The College Explorer

October – The LET’S DO IT Month! 

• Seniors: Let’s do this!
  • You should have a Common Application account and a Coalition account (if applying to U of Florida, Maryland or Washington, which are Coalition-exclusive).
  • If your school uses Naviance, you should connect your Naviance and your Common App accounts.   
  • You should ask 1-2 of your junior year teachers for letters of recommendation.
  • If you are applying to CA public universities, the UC and Cal State apps are open.  You can submit the Cal State app now through November 30; you can fill out the UC app now but you can only submit it between Nov 1-30.
• Juniors:  Grades, Grades, GRADES!  Keep your grades up. Get or stay involved and take on some responsibility in an activity, club or cause; and start to think about the best time to take the SAT or ACT.
• Sophomores:  Focus on two things this year:  GRADES and INVOLVEMENT.  Do both!  You don’t need to be involved in 10 things – pick 2 or 3 and really dedicate yourself to those activities/causes.

Questions People Ask Us Regularly 

• What’s my GPA for College Admissions?  Weighted or Unweighted?
• Which Test Scores Should I Send to Colleges?
• College Visits:  What Do We Need to Know?
• Why Do Colleges Care About Extra Curricular Activities?
• How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?
• Lots more on our blog – check it out!

Parent Corner

• The FAFSA opened for the Class of 2019 on October 1.
  • Click here to create your FSA ID
  • Here’s a list of the 7 things you need to fill out the FAFSA
  • Practice filling out the FAFSA on the paper version, here
  • Here’s 3 Reasons You Should Fill Out the FAFSA, No Matter How Rich You Are
  • Here’s how you should list/order the colleges on your FAFSA recipient list
    
• Join our free text messaging service, with messages specifically tailored to your student’s year of high school graduation.  Parents of rising seniors, text 2019parent to 555888 to join our list for parents of rising seniors.  We also have 2020parent, 2021parent and 2022parent lists!
• Magellan will host two final college application workshops in October for LA-area seniors, one in Century City and one in Westlake Village.  We’ll focus on completing the UC and CSU applications.  Please e-mail Evelyn if you’d like to attend!
• Some people think only top students work with private college counselors.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Here’s a post to help you understand how we can make the process less stressful for your entire family – for years!  And here’s a short post with some questions you should ask before you sign the contract.  Make sure you work with someone who is qualified to help you through this stressful process.