Junior Parent Meeting February 4, 2015

Amy N. Piazzon MA

• Shrine High School College Counselor• 5th year at SHS• Mom of 3 (4 if you count my husband)• Counselor and Assistant Director of Admissions-

Hillsdale College• Director of Admissions- St. Scholastica Academy

Boarding School• 7 years as Primary and Institutional Sales Specialist for

Upjohn/Pharmacia Corporation• 8 years –Director of Sales Annabelle Noel Designs

What I Can Do

• Help your child plan for life beyond Shrine HS• Provide individualized assistance with the college

application/scholarship process• Proof read application/scholarship essays• Identify and remind students of pertinent deadlines• Help identify potential scholarships and scholarship

information• Utilize all my resources within the world of collegiate

counseling to advocate for your child• Nurture, support, and love your child during a challenging

phase of life

What I Can’t Do

• “Get your cherub” into the college of his/her dreams

• Write application/scholarship essays• Actually force a student to make the

aforementioned deadlines• Procure a full tuition scholarship for your child

or locate the mythical pot of gold necessary to pay for college

• Guarantee that this will be an easy process

ACT

• All students can send their ACT scores to 4 schools free of charge when registering

• Post ACT, charge is $12 per score/per school • Students will be responsible for sending ACT

scores to their universities of choice as most universities only accept scores directly from ACT or the College Board

ACT Dates for 2015

Test Date Registration DateApril 18, 2015 March 13, 2015June 13, 2015 May 8, 2015September 12,2015October 24, 2015December 12, 2015Shrine is a test site for the June, Sept, October, and February test dates. We do not register students for these tests.

ACT/SAT cont.

• Many theories on ACT/SAT preparation• Many ways to spend your money on preparation• Free ACT/SAT practice tests available at MEL. Org• List of Shrine approved ACT/SAT tutors/programs• Some students take ACT/SAT and receive score they

“need” for a specific school.• Other students can take test up to 12 times and never

get the score they “need” for their dream school.• Scores are not the only factor in an admissions decision,

but often are limiting factors in scholarship consideration

Parchment. com

• All Shrine students have a Parchment account.• Vehicle for electronically sending transcript from Shrine to

institutions of higher learning, NCAA, and NAIA• Parchment only used for schools NOT on the Common

Application• Students can store unofficial transcripts within their

parchment account• Transcripts are not automatically updated within the

student’s account. They must be requested each semester. Think: Filing Cabinet-only as good a the material you put into it.

Parchment cont.

• Fees– Electronic submission within the Michigan

Compact is FREE– Electronic submission outside of the Michigan

Compact is $2.55– Paper Copy via the US Mail is $4.25– All fees paid to Parchment via Paypal or credit card

Common Application

• Single Application that serves over 550 colleges and universities

• Launch of CA4 for the 2013-14 academic year was considered a national disaster. 2014-15 has been smooth sailing.

• “Common” portion of the application is submitted to all selected schools, but each university typically has specific “Member questions”-typically an essay. – Therefore answers in the common portion must be “generic”.

Member Questions essay should be highly specific to selected university.

– Letters of recommendation must also be “generic” because they are submitted to each selected school.

Common Application

• Counselor must be electronically invited to submit transcript and school forms materials

• Letters of recommendation must also be submitted electronically via the Common Application.

• Give a minimum of two weeks lead time prior to application deadline.

Baseline Interviews

• Transcript Review• Opportunity for Mrs. Piazzon to know each

student beyond the numbers• Review of Transcript, trends, goals• Discussion of academic resume, academic

letters of recommendation, potential schools and application time line

• Multiple appointments before June 12th are encouraged

Academic Resume

• Rough draft should have been turned in by now• Helps students organize activities, classes, honors,

etc.• Still time to add activities• Fundamentally prepares students to complete the

“easy” portion of application• Necessary to provide to teachers who are writing

letters of recommendation• Is a dynamic document that will constantly evolve

Academic Letters of Recommendation

• 1 Academic letter is required• Many selective schools will accept 2 academic

recommendations.• All letters are sent to Mrs. Piazzon who submits

them. This preserves the integrity of the letter.• Too many letters of recommendation make

admissions officials suspicious• Fantastically handy to have on file for short dated

scholarship opportunities.

Academic Letters of Rec. cont.

• Students should solicit them in May to be returned to Mrs. Piazzon before school starts in August.

• Students submitting Common Applications must know their recommender’s email address.

• Most schools will ask for a counselor evaluation. piazzon@shrineschools.com

College Admissions Visits to Shrine

• College Admissions Representatives will schedule visits to Shrine in the months of September and October

• Students must sign up 1 day in advance to be excused from class

• Students encouraged to meet visiting representative as this is typically the primary reader for his/her application

How many applications are enough/too many?

• Juniors are encouraged to consider a wide range of schools. There are 7000 colleges/universities in the US

• There is no “best school” but there are schools which are the best match for specific criteria for each student.

• The question isn’t to how many schools can I be admitted?

• 5 applications is a great target number. Some will apply to 1 (not advisable) and others will apply to 15 ( also not advisable). My record is 24. I promise to help every student apply to as many colleges as s/he needs to feel comfortable.

Things to consider when contemplating whether or not to apply

• Average application fee is $50• Why spend the time and money applying to a

“safety” school in which you have no real interest in attending?

• It can be very challenging differentiating between 10 colleges…especially as the student gets closer to the May 1st deadline.

This is a process, not a nightmare

• May 26, 2016 Graduation (to be confirmed)• Together we will reach the finish line• Amy PiazzonAppointment Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 8-3 Thursdays 8-12Tuesdays and Fridays reserved for processing and emergencies.piazzon@shrineschools.com248 549-2925 x 2552