Timeline, by grade level, of what to do this spring:

SENIORS:

1. Focus on financial aid

Due Monday, March 2, 2009: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid

(www.fafsa.ed.gov) and the GPA Verification Form for the California Grant

(google search 2009 California Grant GPA verification form)

Scholarship bulletin is available online at Agoura’s website. Check it

frequently because it is updated when new scholarships become available.

There is also a list of other websites included at the bottom of this

scholarship bulletin.

2. Community college plans

Sign up with Mrs. Hawkins asap for the Moorpark College bus tour scheduled

for Wednesday, March 11. Before the tour, you should check out the

website and application on www.moorparkcollege.edu

Students planning to attend Pierce College (www.piercecollege.edu) are

encouraged to meet with the Pierce admissions counselor during support on

Thursday, March 12. Their application has been online since October so

you should apply there asap!

An admissions counselor from Santa Monica College (www.smc.edu) will be

available to answer questions on Thursday, March 12 during nutrition in

the College & Career Center. There is no bus scheduled this year to take

seniors to SMC this year because of the budget crisis so students must

make their own arrangements to take their placement tests at SMC.

Another popular community college for Agoura students is Santa Barbara

City College (www.sbcc.edu). Their budget did not allow them to visit

Agoura High School so you must make an appointment to go to their campus

for a tour as well as to take the placement tests.

If you are considering applying to any other community college, go online

NOW and fill out the free application! You must also arrange to take

placement tests in math and English. See your counselor or Mrs. Hawkins,

your college & career adviser, if you have questions.

Again, the websites for Agoura High School students’ most popular

community colleges: www.moorparkcollege.edu; www.smc.edu;

www.piercecollege.edu; www.sbcc.edu

3. Have you signed up to take the AP tests in May? Contact your AP teacher

and/or counselor about the procedure to do this or you may email AHS

testing coordinator Mrs. Cheryl Wright at cwright@lvusd.org. Keep in mind

that the colleges to which you applied will expect you to take the AP test

if you are enrolled in an Advance Placement course.

4. Keep up your grades! If you are not admitted to a UC or Cal State,

remember you can appeal that decision. Your appeal is more valid if you

can prove that you had a strong academic fall semester. You should also

continue to perform well academically this spring semester so your final

transcript will cement your college acceptance. If you do not do well your

final semester in high school, you run the risk of having your offer of

college admission withdrawn. By continuing to perform well academically,

you are also preparing yourself for a strong beginning for your college

experience. Just like an athlete would continue to work out over the

summer before playing his or her sport in college, so must you keep

yourself mentally agile!

JUNIORS

I hope you were able to attend the **College Knowledge workshops from 6:30

to 9 p.m. at Calabasas High School on Tuesday, March 3.

2. Register now for this spring’s ACT (www.actstudent.org) and/or SATs

(www.collegeboard.com) by going online or pick up a registration packet

from Mrs. Hawkins in the College & Career Center.

The UCs require EITHER the SAT Reasoning Test OR the ACT Plus Writing AND

two SAT Subject Tests in two separate subject areas. If you take an SAT

math subject test, the UCs will only accept the SAT Math Level 2 subject

test. If you are planning to major in engineering, the UCs require that

you submit an SAT Subject Test in a science (physics, biology or

chemistry) AND the SAT Math Level 2 Subject Test.

The Cal States require EITHER the SAT Reasoning Test OR the ACT. Please

note that Cal Poly San Luis Obispo “prefers” the ACT.

It is your responsibility to research the ACT and/or SAT entrance exams

requirements of the private colleges to which you are considering

applying. You will find this information on each individual college’s

website.

Community colleges in California do NOT require either the ACT and/or SATs.

You should also have registered for your Advance Placement tests in the

subjects you are taking. Colleges generally expect to see that you’ve

taken this test at the conclusion of your year of taking an AP class. And,

as you probably are aware, many colleges will offer you college credit

(which saves you money and helps you advance or take other subjects)

depending on your scores.

3. If you haven’t already begun to research colleges, start now! Many

colleges send their admissions counselors to Agoura to meet with our

students. These scheduled visits are listed on the website, announced on

the bulletins, written on the white board outside Room C-3. Sitting in on

their visits in the College & Career Center that are generally scheduled

either during support, nutrition or lunch is an excellent opportunity

either to learn about a college you don’t know about or a college in which

you are very interested. These admissions counselors visit not only to

talk about their schools but also they want to meet you in person! If you

meet with a UC admissions counselor or a private college’s admissions

counselor who comes to Agoura as a junior then you return to visit with

that same admissions counselor your senior year, you will make an

impression on that college admissions counselor who may be the person

reading your college application! This is for you! Keep in mind these

admissions counselors who come to Agoura are also visiting other high

schools in our area so this invaluable, unique opportunity keeps YOU

competitive in the college application process.

Besides these college visits that are scheduled this spring, you may want

to attend either the Moorpark High School’s College Fair or one of this

spring’s national college fairs sponsored by the National Association of

College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) in Los Angeles or Ventura. See Mrs..

Hawkins for more details.

Besides these college visits to Agoura and/or the college fairs, the best,

most reliable information is found on each individual college’s website.. 

How do you research colleges? First, do you know what you want to study? 

If so, then you will want to find colleges that offer majors in which you

are interested. There are books (such as the Index of Majors) as well as

several internet sites that will list or sort colleges by majors. 

Agoura’s NAVIANCE program will come up with such lists as will the

www.echoices.com website funded by our ROP. The free website of all

California colleges is www.californiacolleges.edu If you want to go to

college in another state, then you can use either NAVIANCE or echoices

websites to search for colleges geographically. The map in the College &

Career Center is also a good visual aid for students looking for colleges..

Looking at this map may also help students to realize that they want a

college in a warm—or cold (skiing?!)—climate area, in a rural or urban

setting. Scores of out-of-state (as well as California) colleges have

sent us brochures and catalogues and those are filed in the College &

Career Center first by state and then alphabetically by college name.

In-state and out-of-state colleges with strong “liberal arts” programs are

good choices for students who aren’t sure exactly what they want to study

(suggested reading Loren Pope’s “Colleges that Change People’s Lives”). 

Do you want a large university with “rah-rah” sports teams or a smaller

college with smaller class size? Do you want to earn an athletic (or

music) scholarship and play your sport (or musical instrument) in college?

 Many factors are involved when choosing a college. Some students set up a

check list or chart using the excel software, for example, listing all

these factors under each college to which they want to apply.   You may

want to choose three different types or “tiers” of colleges to keep on

your list. The top tier could be considered your “reach” colleges, or the

most difficult colleges. (These may be the UCs or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

or a private college or one of the Ivy League colleges. You may find these

listed in the books about Ivy League colleges or the “Public Ivies.”) Your

personalized middle tier of schools may be the very difficult colleges and

then the bottom tier of colleges would be the difficult colleges but still

perhaps more “reasonable” or “realistic” fits for you. The rule of thumb

here is to narrow your choices to about one to three colleges in each tier

so you end up applying to between three and nine (or more) colleges as

long as you’ve done careful research on colleges that would be good “fits”

for you. Never leave off a college you’ve dreamed about attending but

suddenly fear you might not be admitted. I think it would be worse to omit

that college from your list then later regret not applying (and always

wondering what the outcome would have been). There are examples of good

outcomes using this method: One student applied to UCLA as one of his

reach schools…and was admitted! Another student applied to only his reach

colleges and had to scramble before the application deadline to pick other

more realistic colleges for him because he had been denied to all his top

(and only) choices, but he was still offered admission to some very good

colleges later that spring.

4. Keep up your grades! Unless the colleges to which you apply your

senior year request “mid-year reports” or your 7th semester transcript,

your junior year is the last chance you will have to show your grades to

these colleges. Tutoring is available at Agoura in many different ways. 

There is free math tutoring offered through the math honor society/math

tutoring sessions c/o Mr. Beaton. There is free tutoring offered in any

subject every Tuesday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Library c/o Mrs. Hawkins,

tutoring center supervisor. And remember you may check in with your

teacher during support period every day! If you want to pay a fellow

student to schedule more tutoring time, see Mrs. Hawkins in the College &

Career Center and she will post your tutoring request as a job on the job

board in the glass case outside Room C-3.

5. What are your summer plans between your junior and senior year? Again,

whatever you do this coming summer could have a positive impact on your

college applications: an interesting family vacation, a challenging

college course or high school summer school; a summer job, a summer

leadership and/or volunteer opportunity. There is a list of summer

opportunities available from the College & Career Center; some leadership

and/or scholarship opportunities for juniors are listed on the scholarship

bulletin also available online or from the College & Career Center.

6. If you want to play your sport in college, at the end of your junior

year you must register online with the NCAA at www.ncaaclearinghouse.net 

You should start contacting college coaches. You can research what

colleges offer which sports at which athletic division by using NAVIANCE

and/or echoices online.

SOPHOMORES:**

1. Consider registering to take an SAT subject test in June if you are

taking that subject this year. The list of subjects—such as chemistry,

biology or world history—is available from the registration packets in 

the College & Career Center or online at www.collegeboard.com

If you are taking an AP class, you should also have registered for your

Advance Placement tests in that subject. Colleges generally expect to see

that you’ve taken this test at the conclusion of your year of taking an AP

class. And, as you probably are aware, many colleges will offer you

college credit (which saves you money and helps you advance or take other

subjects) depending on your scores.

2. Keep up your grades! If you did well your freshman year, keep up that

trend! If you stumbled a bit last year, but are on firmer ground

academically this year so much the better. Colleges look for consistent

academic performance and/or improvement. Either way please know that

tutoring is available at Agoura in many different ways. There is free

math tutoring offered through the math honor society/math tutoring

sessions c/o Mr. Beaton. There is free tutoring offered in any subject

every Tuesday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Library c/o Mrs. Hawkins,

tutoring center supervisor. And remember you may check in with your

teacher during support period every day! (You can also BE a tutor and

that would look good on your college application.) If you want to pay a

fellow student to schedule more tutoring time, see Mrs. Hawkins in the

College & Career Center and she will post your tutoring request as a job

on the job board in the glass case outside Room C-3.

3. What are your summer plans? Whatever you do this coming summer could

have a positive impact on those future college applications: an

interesting family vacation, a challenging college course or high school

summer school; a summer job, a summer leadership and/or volunteer

opportunity. There is a list of summer opportunities available from the

College & Career Center. There are even a few leadership and/or

scholarship opportunities for sophomores that you may consider. Also start

organizing your athletic accomplishments and begin reading about and/or

researching online the colleges that offer your sport, if you are an

athlete and want to get an athletic scholarship for college.

4. It’s not too early to start researching colleges. One easy way is by

coming to the college visits scheduled in the College & Career Center and

listening to the colleges’ admissions counselors who come to Agoura to

meet with our students. These scheduled visits are listed on the website,

announced on the bulletins, written on the white board outside Room C-3.

Sitting in on their visits in the College & Career Center that are

generally scheduled either during support, nutrition or lunch is an

excellent opportunity either to learn about a college you don’t know about

or a college in which you are very interested. These admissions counselors

visit not only to talk about their schools but also they want to meet you

in person! And continue meeting with these college representatives

throughout your junior and senior year!

Besides these college visits that are scheduled this spring, you may want

to attend either the Moorpark High School’s College Fair or one of this

spring’s national college fairs sponsored by the National Association of

College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) in Los Angeles or Ventura. Mrs.

Hawkins will have more details.

FRESHMEN:

1. Beginning with the Class of 2012, the UCs have decided not to require

applicants to submit an SAT Subject Test. However, you are responsible

for checking with other in-state and/or out-of-state private and public

universities to determine what their entrance exam requirements are.

2. Are you planning to take a summer school class through Las Virgenes

Unified School District or through a community college? Have you

researched other community service and/or programs held at other

university campuses? Keep busy during the summer and keep notes about

your plans so you can include this information on your college application

some day!

3. It is not too early to start researching colleges! I hope you were able

to attend the College Knowledge workshops at Calabasas. Now a fun way to

get started learning about colleges is to attend college fairs. You are

fortunate to have some to choose from this spring: Moorpark High School’s

College Fair or the two national college fairs sponsored by the National

Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) scheduled for Los

Angeles or Ventura. Mrs. Hawkins will have more details.

4. Your grades are important! Don’t believe any rumors that “your

freshman grades don’t ‘count’ ” because even the UC and the Cal State

applications require their applicants to enter the classes and the grades

you received your freshman year. Besides this is the foundation upon which

you will hopefully climb to academic success throughout your high school

years here at Agoura. Remember that your Link Crew connections, your

teachers, your counselor will help you. There is free math tutoring

offered through the math honor society/math tutoring sessions c/o Mr.

Beaton. There is free tutoring offered in any subject every Tuesday from 3

to 4:30 p.m. in the Library c/o Mrs. Hawkins, tutoring center supervisor.

And remember you may check in with your teacher during support period

every day! If you want to pay a fellow student to schedule more tutoring

time, see Mrs. Hawkins in the College & Career Center and she will post

your tutoring request as a job on the job board in the glass case outside

Room C-3.