The counselors, Susan Conlon (conlons@mcusd185.org) and Rondelle Kuharich, (kuharichr@mcusd185.org), are here to serve the students and parents with academic, career, and personal/social issues that may arise throughout the year. We look forward to working with the high school students to assist them in identifying and achieving their competencies. Please feel free to contact us with concerns and/or questions. Appointments can be made by calling 837-2331 and asking for the Counseling Office or email us at your convenience. Students are encouraged to stop by the office to make an appointment.
The counselors want to remind SENOIRS they need to be making decisions about their post-secondary plans. During the month of September and October, counselors will be meeting with seniors to discuss career plans and to help with college and vocational school applications, scholarship applications, or job applications.
Illinois Student Assistance Commission http://www.collegezone.com
Mapping Your Future www.mapping-your-future.org
FAFSA on the Web www.fafsa.ed.gov
PIN Registration www.pin.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education www.students.gov
The Student Guide to Financial Aid www.studentaid.ed.gov
The Financial Aid Information Page www.finaid.org
NCAA Guide for the Student Athlete www.ncaa.org/cbsa
Black Excel: The College Help Network www.blackExcel.org
Hispanic Scholarship Fund www.hsf.net
The College Board www.collegeboard.com
ACT www.act.org
Peterson’s www.petersons.com
College View www.collegeview.com
College Link www.collegelink.com
College Xpress www.collegeexpress.com
U.S. Universities and Community Colleges Page www.utexas.edu/world/univ
Go College www.gocollege.com
Community Colleges Web Search www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cc
My College Guide www.mycollegeguide.org
Occupational Outlook Handbook www.bls.gov/oco/
Jobweb www.jobweb.org
Employment Guide www.employmentguide.com/
Job Options www.joboptions.com
Fast Web www.fastweb.com
Free Scholarship Search www.freschinfo.com
Scholarship Resource Network Express www.srnexpress.com
Scholarships.com www.scholarships.com
Peterson’s www.petersons.com/finaid/
Students and families should never
provide bank account numbers, or any other financial or personal information,
to an unknown, unsolicited caller. Additional information regarding how to
avoid scams is provided to students at College Zone's
Financial Aid Scams page, as well as at the Federal Trade Commission's Scholarship Scams Web site.
Illinois Mentor at collegezone.com Moving Toward December Launch - Progress on adding the Illinois Mentor component to collegezone.com is rapidly moving forward, and the launch of this exciting new initiative is scheduled for December. This significant enhancement to collegezone.com will provide students dynamic functionality as they explore careers; research and choose a college; keep track of career and academic data via My Mentor’s e-portfolio; apply for admission and send transcripts online; and learn about financing their college education.
Career
Cruising – Career Cruising is a web based comprehensive and interactive career
guidance resource that provides the information needed to make career choices.
It includes in-depth profiles of hundreds of different careers, detailed
information on colleges and universities, and something no other resource has:
multimedia interviews with real people in every career. Career Cruising is sold on a site
license basis. The LaMoine Valley Educational System
has purchased the site license for a year and made it available to our school
district. A site license gives you the
right to use Career Cruising on all computers with an Internet connection. Just go to www.careercruising.com and type in the username and
password provided below.
Username: macombhs
Password: careers
With Career Cruising's exceptional assessment tools, detailed occupation profiles, and comprehensive post-secondary education information, you move seamlessly through the career exploration and planning process.
Career Matchmaker provides you with clear and helpful personal feedback.. Matchmaker not only suggests suitable occupations, it also shows you how each of those occupations matches your personal and work interests. This practical and individualized feedback helps make the matching process a meaningful and empowering experience. If you complete the My Skills component, Matchmaker will also show you how your skills match up with those required for each occupation, helping you see which skills you may need to develop.
Career Cruising contains detailed information on hundreds of occupations—from Actuary to Zoologist. Each career profile features two multimedia interviews with real people in that occupation.
Career Cruising provides comprehensive information on thousands of 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, and career and technical schools across the country.
Career Cruising's financial aid database includes details on thousands of scholarships, grants, awards, fellowships, and other assistance programs. Using the Financial Aid Selector, you can find financial aid programs that you qualify for based on factors such as gender, background, academic record, educational plans, and more.
Career Cruising's Portfolio Tool allows you to save and organize your career exploration activities, develop an education plan, and create a resume.
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation – Two hundred and fifty high school seniors will receive scholarships totaling $1,800,000. All applicants are referred to their website, http://www.coca-colascholars.org, to apply on-line. Paper applications will not be accepted. Recipients of the scholarship will be well-rounded individuals that spend time volunteering and initiating programs of all kinds. Scholarship program guidelines are available in the Guidance Office. For more information, visit their website. Deadline for applications is October 31, 2005.
New Student Loan
Interest Rates Effective July 1st
The U.S. Department of Education has
announced that, for variable-rate student and parent loans, interest rates for
the period July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006 are as follows:
Further details - including interest rate information for Federal Consolidation Loans - are available at College Zone's (http://www.collegezone.com) Interest Rates page, located within the "Loan Programs" area of the Counselor Zone "Other Programs" section.
44th Annual
Three years ago the Illinois Association for College
Admission Counseling (IACAC) worked to regionalize college fair programs
throughout the state. The result of
these efforts has been the establishment of Illinois College Exposition (ICE)
programs. Illinois College Exposition
(IEC) programs are regional college fairs planned and attended by high schools,
community colleges and colleges/universities in surrounding communities. IEC programs serve a dual purpose: assuring that post-secondary information is
made available to all students throughout the state of
The Illinois College Exposition this year will be held at Macomb Senior High School Commons, October 5, 2005, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and is free to all participants. This year, ICE sent registration forms to 450 colleges & universities. By consolidating efforts, we hope to offer a bigger and more diverse selection of post high school educational and career opportunities that are available to our students.
For more than 25 years the Common Application has been a timesaving advantage for students. The Common Application is the recommended form of 255 selective colleges and universities for admission to their undergraduate programs. Many of these institutions use the form exclusively. All give equal consideration to the Common Application and the college’s own form. Five years ago Common App Online (www.commonapp.org) was introduced to enable students to prepare their applications using a private account and submitting it electronically to member colleges. To further simplify the application process for students, Common App Online includes access to college supplemental forms. In some cases, a link is provided to the institutional website, where the student can download and complete the supplement. Students can use a credit card to pay some college application fees electronically via Common App Online. If you prefer using hardcopy, the Common App in PDF format can be downloaded from their website.
ACT (college admissions) – The ACT will
be given on October 22, 2005 at WIU.
Seniors are eligible to take this test, at no charge, IF they also agree
to take the second day of the PSAE Work Keys (October 25) at
2005–2006
|
||
Test Date
|
Registration
|
Late Registration
|
|
September 24, 2005* |
August 19, 2005 |
August 20–September 2,
2005 |
|
October
22, 2005 |
September 16,
2005 |
September 17–30,
2005 |
|
December 10, 2005 |
November 4, 2005 |
November 5–17,
2005 |
|
February 11, 2006** |
January 6, 2006 |
January 7–20,
2006 |
|
April 8, 2006 |
March 3, 2006 |
March 4–17,
2006 |
|
June 10, 2006 |
May 5, 2006 |
May 6–19,
2006 |
These test dates are also posted online at www.act.org and in the Guidance Office.
February 2005, ACT added a 30-minute Writing Test as an
optional component to the ACT Assessment.
The ACT Writing Test will provide information to complement the
multiple-choice format English Test.
Students can make their own decisions, based on the requirements of the
institutions they are applying to, whether to take the Writing Test or
not. For more information, visit the
“Frequently Asked Questions” section of www.act.org/aap/writing. The
2005–2006 basic fee for the ACT Assessment Plus
Writing is $42.00. This includes score reports for up to four college choices
for which a valid code is listed at the time of registration. The basic fee for
the ACT Assessment if you don't take the Writing Test is $14.00 less ($28.00).
If you are planning on retaking the ACT on October 22nd at WIU (a national test date and site), you may pick up a voucher in the guidance office that will waive the regular $28.00 fee. In order to use the voucher, you must agree to take the Work Keys Assessment (day 2 of the PSAE) here at school on October 25th. The voucher must be picked up in the guidance office by 3:15 on Monday, September 12th. If you have questions, see your counselor (parents may call the guidance office @ 837-2331).
SAT (College Admission) – For a list of tests dates and to register online, go to www.collegeboard.com.
Help your child Prepare for the SAT!
The new
SAT which began this spring, includes an additional section -
writing
- as well as more grammar and reading comprehension. Reviewing
lists
of vocabulary words isn't enough anymore. Here are some
test-acing
ideas.
* Get
free test prep. You can use a free copy of the Spark Notes
SAT
prep book online (as well as additional study guides): check out
www.sparknotes.com.
Also, try the SAT “Question of the day" at
www.collegeboard.com/apps/gotd/question.
*
Debate over dinner. Pick a current event, and takes sides.
"Encourage
your child to defend her side with facts." Arguing will help
with
the critical thinking sections on the SAT.
* Put
it in writing. Does your child want to stay out past curfew
for a
special event? Have them explain reasons in writing. It's a
great
way to hone writing skills and critical thinking, both of which
are
essential for SAT success.
*
Experts say that if you have to guess on a verbal SAT question,
the
shortest answer is often right.
-NATIONAL MERIT – The Merit Test (PSAT) is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12, 2005. This test is taken on a voluntary basis. The test fee will be $12.00. While the test is primarily for juniors, sophomores may want to complete the test as well. Sophomores could take the test for practice, since the junior-year test results are used for the National Merit Scholarship competition.
Juniors may take the test for the following reasons:
1. Practice for college admissions test (the Merit Test is not a college admission test)
2. As a first step in the National Merit Scholarship Competition
3. To compare themselves, academically, with other juniors nation-wide.
Sophomore English classes and juniors in the U. S. History classes will receive more information. Parents may call the MSH Guidance Office (837-2331) with questions or visit their web site at, .
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html for more information.
-PLAN - The PLAN test will be given to all sophomores in November. This is a shortened version of the “ACT”. Although it can be taken for practice for the college entrance exam, it is also an excellent tool to plan for post high school educational/vocational goals. Students will receive more detailed information in English classes and be given a pamphlet to take home. Parents may call the MSH Guidance Office or go on line at http://www.act.org/plan/index.html for more information.