7. College and Career Admission Processes
Ensure that students and families have an early and ongoing understanding of the college and career application and admission processes so they can find the postsecondary options that are the best fit with their aspirations and interests.
Working Systemwide
- Students
- School
- District
- Parents/Families
- Community
- Provide students with college application completion checklists,
calendars, application procedure forms and fact sheets, school comparison tools, and portfolios to assist them with application completion and final decision making. Make sure students know timelines for early decision, early action and single-choice early action options.
- Ensure that students are aware of college and career school enrollment options,
including programs that fit various lifestyles and personal and family commitments (e.g., dual and part-time enrollment, 2+2 programs and school-to-work opportunities).
- Teach students how to access and complete admission applications,
including school-specific applications, the Common Application and the Common Black College Application. Review supporting documents such as transcripts, standardized test scores, application essays and letters of recommendation. (Special application procedures may apply for National Collegiate Athletic Association candidates and performing arts students.)
- Develop schoolwide structures that streamline students’ compilation
and completion of application materials (e.g., College Application Week).
- Team with administrators to provide professional development
for school personnel (coaches, teachers, etc.) on the composition and content of effective letters of recommendation.
- Develop and implement a system for collecting, reviewing and approving admission applications
before submission to postsecondary institutions.
- Collaborate with other high school counselors to share data
on acceptances, rejections and waiting lists to identify trends and discrepancies in admission outcomes (for four-year colleges and career and technical schools) and to assess whether acceptances are representative of your district’s demographics.
- Collaborate with neighboring high schools
to coordinate family seminars at which college admission representatives explain the application process.
- Create outreach efforts to ensure that parents and families
are aware of their role in assisting their children with the application process (see student interventions).
- Make sure parents and families know their role
includes securing fee waivers (if eligible), applying for meals and housing (if applicable), providing signatures, and turning in supporting documentation.
- Provide parents and families with sample admission packets,
guidebooks and fact sheets to use as guides when working through the admission process with their students.
- Host a college and career essay writing lab with college students,
professors, admission officers, and college and career school representatives as tutors and mentors.
- Collaborate with local institutions to host campus-based application completion days
Obtain assistance from student support services, admission and financial aid officers.
- Collaborate with college and career representatives to coordinate application submission sessions
that include application review, fee waiver dissemination and on-the-spot admission decisions.
Data Elements
- Two- and four-year college acceptance
- Career and technical school acceptance
- Early action or early decision acceptance (four-year institutions)
Featured Reading
College Counseling Sourcebook 6th edition