COLLEGE ADMISSION CRITERIA
JUNIOR YEAR CHECKLIST
TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE THE END OF THE JUNIOR YEAR
» Junior Questionnaire
At the start of the process, it is extremely important to take a personal inventory of your academic and non-academic experiences. The junior questionnaire is the best tool to practice writing about yourself and record your thoughts on these topics. The questionnaire will be available on your SCOIR page. This document is seen only by your college counselor and must be completed before your first meeting.
» Parent Questionnaire
Parents can provide valuable insight into their child’s performance at Palmer Trinity. Therefore, it is critical that all parents complete the parent questionnaire prior to the first family college counseling appointment. This form will be available on your SCOIR page in January.
» First College Counseling Appointment
After you and your parent(s) complete and submit your questionnaires, you may schedule your first college counseling appointment.
» Sign up for tests
Be sure to sign up for all standardized tests early. The school will not register you for the ACTs, SATs—that is your responsibility.
» Second College Counseling Appointment
At the second appointment, you and your counselor will discuss the specific colleges you have researched, refine your testing plan, and balance your research list with colleges from a variety of levels of selectivity and colleges that may meet the criteria you have identified but which you may not know much about. Please know that colleges and admissions criteria frequently change.
» Course selection
Be sure to talk to your college counselor about your courses for senior year.
» Diagnostic Visits
Plan to visit some colleges during the springtime (and during the summer). Try to see a range of colleges, including a large institution and a small college, a rural and an urban school.
» Additional College Counseling Appointments
It will be important to try and make regular and fairly frequent appointments with your college counselor during your junior and senior year. The first semester of senior year will be very busy with the process of finalizing your list, completing your applications and your essays. Your college counselor will help you through this process so be sure to keep in close contact with him/her.
» Teacher recommendations
Be sure to request letters of recommendation from two of your junior year teachers early in the spring of your junior year. You can find Recommendation Request Forms in the College Counseling Office, but you must attend your first college counseling appointment with one or both of your parents in order to obtain them. You must complete these forms to formally request letters of recommendation. Both you and your recommender will sign the form. Leave the top half of the form with your recommender, and submit the bottom, signed portion to your counselor. Please be advised that many teachers will ask that you submit a resume to them before signing and officially accepting your request.
SECTION 7 CREATING YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION
THE COMMON APPLICATION, THE ESSAY, AND THE INTERVIEW
Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Your completed application is an extension of yourself. You cannot afford to be sloppy and inattentive to details. Start by using the Common Application online. Remember: many schools on the Common Application also require their own supplement, such as a set of specific shorter essays, another long essay, or a graded paper with teacher comments. Make certain that you check the requirements for each school to which you apply. If one of your schools is not on the Common Application list, photocopy the school’s specific application, and use that as your rough draft before you begin to fill out the final form, online if possible.
The Common Application website (www.commonapp.org), provides links to useful downloadable forms which include PDF versions of all of the common application parts, including a College Deadlines, Fees, and Requirements Grid, which offers specific application process information for every common application college. We highly recommend that you download this document, print it out, and use it as your guide.
THE APPLICATION
Applications have two parts: “yours” and “ours.” You have your responsibilities to fulfill, and the College Office has its own for each school to which you apply.
Student section:
You are responsible for sending the following parts of your application:
» your personal information (the application)
» one or more essays (the personal statement)
» various types of supplements (a college’s own essay question, a graded paper, a peer reference) if required
» the application fee
» your SAT and / or ACT scores directly from the testing agency
College Office section:
We are responsible for sending the following:
» your transcript
» letter of recommendation written by the college counselor that includes student progress and investment in Palmer Trinity School
» your (2) teacher recommendation letters
» school profile and other supporting documents
