July, 2016

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July, 2016

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Host a College Admissions Seminar for Friends

Are your friends starting to think about (read: get anxious about!) college?  Please get in touch if you are interested in hosting a college admissions information seminar at your home.  We can tailor our presentation for parents of 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th grade students, or a combination.


Want To Learn More About Financial Aid?  Free Webinar Friday!

Starting with this year’s rising seniors, there will be some big changes in the way families will apply for financial aid.   In past years, students and parents filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beginning in January, using tax information from the year prior to when the student would begin college.  This year, the FAFSA will open on October 1, and parents will use the tax year 2 years prior to their student starting college.  So for the Class of 2017, parents will use 2015 tax information.  Colleges may or may not send students their financial aid offers earlier than before, but using older data will ensure that offers will be more accurate, with less revising required for parents.

Magellan will host several free financial aid webinars throughout the summer and fall to help you understand how the process works.  Join us THIS FRIDAY, July 8 at noon, for approximately one hour.  You will need to both dial in and click a link on your computer to participate.  Please RSVP here.  We’ll send out the webinar invitations tomorrow.

College Essay Resources

good writing
Click to enlarge this list of important features your essay should have!

Class of 2017 – it’s your time to shine!  Start your college essays now so you won’t have them hanging over your head when school starts.

Essay Prompts:

  • The new UC essay questions here
  • Common Application essay prompts are here (FYI – rising seniors can open a Common App account now!  Accounts will roll over when the Common App opens officially on August 1.  Get in touch if you have any questions about this!)
  • If you are applying to the University of Washington, University of Maryland and/or the University of Florida, those schools will use a new application platform called the Coalition applicationWhile other colleges will use it as well, we recommend that only applicants to those three schools, which will use the Coalition app exclusively, should apply via this new process.
  • One of our counselor colleagues has posted a number of colleges’ supplemental essays here.

Essay Resources:

Magellan will host two essay workshops and two application boot camps in August – more info and please RSVP on this page.


Upcoming Events

  • July 8 – Financial aid webinar.  Please RVSP here.
  • July 12 – College info session with the Northwest Colleges Consortium – including Lewis & Clark, Reed, Willamette, Whitman and the University of Puget Sound.  More info and RSVP here.
  • Colleges That Change Lives – 40 college consortium hosts college fairs in Northern and Southern California.  LA – July 31.  Santa Clara – August 1.  San Fran – August 2.  A GREAT EVENT!
  • Magellan’s Essay and application workshops are the final 2 weekends in August.  Please RSVP here.

College Counseling Services

Magellan’s comprehensive college counseling plan includes 35 hours of personalized guidance throughout the student’s junior and senior years.  We also offer a limited-hours “mini-plan” for students who start in the spring or summer of their junior year.  We charge $200 for our 90-minute in-home consultation, which we credit back to families who sign up for one of Magellan’s counseling packages.

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Get started on your future, contact Magellan College Counseling today.