GLC NEWS AND NOTES ISSUE #8
December 14, 2016
Class of 2017 Students and Parents,
Happy Holidays to you and your family. With the end of the semester here, the college application process for universities in full swing, and the community college process beginning in early January, we thought this would be a good time for some NEWS and NOTES from your Grade Level Coordinators.
Here are a few items of interest for you to review. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.
1. PAST WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE VIA POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS-CLASS OF 2017 Webpage. The power point presentations from the past presentations listed below are available online on the Class of 2017 Webpage. Look for “PRESENTATION” in the Files as you scroll down our webpage. Great information to revisit or to view if you were not available to attend one of the presentations.
a. Financial Aid Workshop Presentation from September 15
b. UC Presentations from September 21
c. CSU Presentation from September 21
2. College Application Process-Class of 2017-DBHS
Misc. Helpful Topics/Solutions regarding College Applications.
If a student has applied to a four-year university….At any time, students may start receiving admission decisions from the universities to which they applied depending on the admissions plan chosen. Most admission decisions will be made in March. As students find out the answers from the universities it is important to remind our students that whether the answer is yes or no, the decision does not define who the student is as a person. We need to keep things in perspective. In our upcoming January Senior Bulletin, more will be discussed on this topic.
What is important for our students to remember is as they learn of their admission decisions from various universities they should communicate with their GLC and teachers (who wrote them letters) what these admission decisions are. Many times as a GLC we spend hours working on a student’s application and when students learn their admissions fate, the GLC never hears from the student-this is disappointing.
o All Applications: Changes in your application: Once you submit an application, if anything changes in regards to your academics, you must notify the universities to which you applied and inform them of the change. This includes if you placed a course on your application for both 1st and 2ndsemester and you end up not taking the 2nd semester of the course-You MUST tell the universities this and keep a record of how and when you sent the notification. In addition, if you earn a (semester) grade lower than a C- in any senior course you place on your application, you must notify the universities. This would be shortly after first semester grades are finalized in early January. This only applies to final semester grades. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS. ANY CHANGE IN YOUR APPLICATION AFTER SUBMISSION MUST BE COMMUNICATED WITH THE UNIVERSITIES!
o All Applications: Read your emails: Once you submit your application to a university, it is the student’s responsibility to check emails daily for any correspondence from the universities. This will be the way universities request additional information etc. This is CRITICAL. Students must be diligent and check emails/accounts daily the next few months. In addition, reacting and following through with university requests is vital. They are only going to ask you to do something if it is important in the admission decision’s process. CSU/UC: If you applied to UC or CSU, please make sure you regularly check your Student Portal/Account. If you have not created your Portal or Account-please do so now for the UCs especially. The colleges use the student portal to communicate important application/admissions information to applicants.
o SAT/ACT Scores-Part I: Please make sure you request the testing agencies to electronically send your SAT and/or ACT scores directly to the universities to which you will apply. Your SAT and/or ACT scores ARE NOT posted on your DBHS Transcript. When you request SAT scores to be sent, a transcript of all of your SAT scores will be sent to your requested destinations. If you send your scores to (1) UC campus all UC campuses will have access to the scores. If you are applying to multiple Cal State campuses use the code (3594) when requesting scores and your SAT scores will be available to all Cal State campuses to which you apply. This will save you money. ACT scores have to be requested and sent directly from ACT to your universities as well. ACT requires students to request each test date individually, so if you took the ACT on two different dates, you will need to request the results for each test date to be sent to the appropriate universities.
o SAT/ACT Scores-Part II: Do not delay! Get your scores sent! If you took the December test for SAT or ACT, make sure you have directed the SAT and ACT folks to send your scores to the universities immediately upon scores of the December test being available. You DO NOT want to view your December scores and wait several days before sending them to the universities. This could result in your scores not reaching the schools on time.
o All Applications: Honesty: Be 100% honest on your application. Use your transcript to ensure you are reporting grades accurately and report extracurricular activities accurately as well. Schools will check up on applications and ensure honesty/accuracy!
o TRANSCRIPTS: For UC and CSU campuses, students DO NOT need to send transcripts to the university. The UC and CSU will use your self-reported courses and grades (from your application) for making admission decisions. This is why your accuracy and honesty is so critical. Once you decide what UC or CSU you will be attending (this will be in the spring) you will need to officially request for your “FINAL” high school transcript to be sent to the university you have chosen. You will request this “FINAL” transcript via the PARCHMENT electronic process using our DBHS website. The request will be received and upon graduation, your final transcript with ALL grades posted will be sent to the requested university. THE EXCEPTION TO THIS….IF A UC OR CSU EMAILS YOU AND SPECIFICALLY REQUESTS FOR YOU TO SEND A COPY OF YOUR
TRANSCRIPT INCLUDING YOUR FIRST SEMESTER SENIOR GRADES THEN YOU MUST REQUEST AND SEND THEM A COPY OF YOUR TRANSCRIPT VIA PARCHMENT.
For Common Application Universities, your GLC sends an electronic copy of your transcript with the School Report and Counselor Report. So there is no need to send a transcript to your Common Application universities.
o Advanced Placement (AP) Scores: Students do not need to send their AP scores to the universities at this time. Students, when asked, should report their AP scores on the university application. In the spring, after you have chosen your university, then you will send your official AP scores via Collegeboard to your chosen university. You will need to pay for these scores to be sent. Save you money and only send your AP scores in the spring to the one university you will attend.
3. Community College: Students looking to start their college career at the two-year Community College will start hearing more announcements etc. regarding this process. Don’t panic, this process happens later in the year than the university process. Mrs. Romero, Career Technician, will lead this process for our students. You may stop by and visit with her for more details anytime in the Career Center (upstairs near the LINC and the elevator/middle bridge). At this time, MTSAC officials will be on the DBHS campus and speak to our seniors via their English course on January 10, 2017. This will start the process of registering to attend MTSAC. MTSAC calls this process CONNECT FOUR. See additional information on CONNECT FOUR on the Class of 2017 Webpage on the DBHS website.
4. Financial Aid-FAFSA Part I:-October 1 was the first date you could submit your FAFSA www.fafsa.ed.gov. The FAFSA is a CRITICAL step for our students in the process of receiving any “need-based” financial support through our federal and state governments. In addition, the FAFSA may assist students with financial aid based on “merit” or good grades in the form of CAL GRANTS. If a student is a resident of California and attends a university in California, CAL GRANTS may be awarded.
5. Financial Aid Part II: DBHS has submitted senior student GPA’s to establish eligibility for Cal Grant. Cal Grant is (free) money provided to California residents to continue their education in the state of California at a private or public college/university. Cal Grant can be worth up to $12k annually to attend a UC school. Cal Grant is gift aid – money that does not need to be repaid. Students can view/manage their Cal Grant status by setting up an account with webgrants atwww.webgrants4students.org Remember to file FAFSA now if you have not already done this! FAFSA works in tandem with Cal Grant.
6. Financial Aid Part III: Diamond Bar High School has submitted the appropriate GPA information to the FAFSA folks for all DBHS Senior students. Students do not need to “verify their GPA” with FAFSA. DBHS has already completed this process for all of our senior students.
7. Financial Aid Part IV: CSS PROFILE-Provided by Collegboard-Required by many private universities. Students should research and verify if any of the schools being applied to require the CSS Profile Application. Available October 1st.
https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile
Kevin Patterson Stephanie Duenas Julie Salas/Nicole Cabase
Grade Level Coordinators-Class of 2017