Navigator Week 4: Your College List

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Navigator Week 4:Your College List

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Welcome to Week 4!Important Dates and Deadlines:• Date #1• Date #2Last Week We:Analyzed our transcripts to identify our short-term academic goalsCreated a Senior Year Plan to meet our short-term goalsEntered our short-term goals on CSNav (milestone)Created a test-taking plan and registered for the SAT or ACTThis Week We Will:Identify our personal criteria for choosing a college and create a college

rubricResearch colleges and create a College ListSave our colleges on CSNav (milestone)

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Think It Through:

What type of college would best fit YOU?

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STEP 1: Summarize the type of postsecondary lifestyle and environment which would best fit your personality, goals, and values.

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STEP 1: Summarize the type of postsecondary lifestyle and environment which would best fit your personality, goals, and values.

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STEP 2: Identify a set of criteria by which to evaluate postsecondary learning institutions

Criteria to Consider when Evaluating a College, School or Program: Location Close to home? Far from home?

Cost Expensive? Cheap? A good investment?

Financial Aid Available Merit-based aid? Need-based Aid? EOP program?

Size Big? Small? In between? Student-to-faculty ratio?

Reputation Famous for your major? Famous for being a party school?

Admissions Requirements Competitive? Easy? Target? Safety? Reach?

Academics Challenging? Too Easy?

Programs and Majors Does it have your major?

Recommendations What do current and former students say about it?

Setting Urban, rural, suburban? What is the life like in the town?

Diversity % black? % Hispanic? % Asian? % white? % women/men?

Clubs or Sports Do they offer what you’re interested in?

Campus New and modern? Old-timey and classic? Quality of food in the cafeteria?

Class size/type Big lectures? Small, intimate discussions? Lab or hands-on classes?

Job Placement % of graduates who get jobs after graduation? % who join Americorps, volunteer or travel?

Values/morals religious programs? Women-only dorms? Substance-free floors or dorms? Total party school?

Support Tutoring services? Support for students with disabilities? ESL classes?

Student Body inclusive? diverse? accepting? similar background to you?

School spirit Die-hard fans (everyone knows the fight song)? Less important than academics?

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STEP 3: Create a personal College Criteria Rubric summarizing evaluation criteria

How does your postsecondary plan

influence your college criteria?

How do your personal values and

preferences influence your

college criteria?

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STEP 3: Create a personal College Criteria Rubric summarizing evaluation criteria

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STEP 4: Research and evaluate postsecondary learning institutions using a variety of reliable sources

For each source of information about college, tell if it is reliable, somewhat reliable, or unreliable:• College Websites• College brochures• College representatives or presenters• Commercials on TV, the subway, or buses• YOUniversity TV and other virtual campus tour sites• A real-life campus tour• A blog or Facebook note written by a current student• A personal interview with a current student• Information on CSNav• Information on another website or book about college

When it comes to college information, be a smart consumer. Don’t believe everything you read, see

or hear!

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STEP 5: Create a finalized College List which includes all the schools and programs to which you plan to apply, and enter it on CSNav

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School Name Duke University

City and State Durham, NC

Saved to CSNav? Target, Foundation or Reach?

Reach

Public or Private? Private

Average Rubric Grade B

Why? Great basketball team, and perfect size. But, it’s far away and I need to raise my grades to get in.

SAMPLE College List - Joe

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School Name University of Michigan

City and State Ann Arbor, MI

Saved to CSNav? Target, Foundation or Reach?

Target

Public or Private? Public

Average Rubric Grade A-

Why? It’s about 8 hours away by car from my parents. But, their forensic science program is top notch.

SAMPLE College List - Julie

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Week 4 SummaryThis Week We: Identified our personal criteria for choosing a college and create a college

rubricResearched colleges and create a College ListSaved our colleges on CSNav (milestone)Summary Questions for Discussion:• Which college criteria did you decide were most important to you this

week? Why?• Which criteria did you decide were not so important to you? Why?• How was the process of searching for and evaluating schools and

programs? Did you find the information you needed to make an informed decision? Why or why not?

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CSNav How-to:

College ListSaved Colleges

Milestone

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Today, we’ll explore CSNav’s college

resources. Start by clicking on

College Planning.

College Planning

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Click either of the “Explore

Schools” links

College Planning > Explore Schools

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There are lots of ways to find

colleges on CSNav.

Today, we’ll use the School

Finder.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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Look at the list of links in the

left-hand sidebar.

Choose one that is

important to you to begin.

Let’s try “Location” first.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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Choose all of the locations

you would like by clicking the

boxes.

To choose an entire region,

click the box at the top of the

list.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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When you’re done, click “See Your Matching

Schools”…

…or, choose another item from the list

and enter more criteria.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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CSNav will create a list of schools that match your

criteria.

They’ll be listed in ABC order. You can sort

the list by clicking on the arrows in the

header.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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Clicking “Compare Your Selections” will pop up a box

showing how the school matches your criteria.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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Here you can see if the school

matches or does not match your characteristics.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

My criteria How EMU stacks up

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Click on the name of a

school to visit its profile page.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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Each college has its own profile page. Click on the

tabs on the left to learn more.

Click “Save to Your Portfolio”

to earn a checkmark for the milestone,

Saved Colleges.

College Planning >

Explore Schools >

School Finder

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To see your checkmark, go

back to “Home” by clicking on the icon on the top of the page.

Then, click “Your Planning

Milestones” to see your

checkmarks.

Your Planning Milestones

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Whenever you do work on

CSNav, that work gets saved in

Your Portfolio.

To visit Your Portfolio, click on the icon on

the top OR in the middle of the

page.

Your Portfolio

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All of your work on CSNav is

saved in Your Portfolio.

To see the career you just saved, check in your

College Planning Portfolio.

Click here, or here.

Your Portfolio > College Planning Portfolio

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Your “saved colleges” are available by

clicking on the “Postsecondary

Plans” link.

Your Portfolio > College Planning Portfolio

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On the Postsecondary

Plans page, you’ll find all your college work

from throughout CSNav saved.

Scroll down to find the “Saved Colleges” box.

Your Portfolio > College Planning

Portfolio > Postsecondary

Plans

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In the “Saved Colleges” box,

you’ll find all the college profile pages you’ve

added.

Click on the name of a college to go back to its

profile page anytime.



Plans

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To return to your School Finder results, scroll

down to find the box labeled,

“School Finder Searches.”



Plans

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You can return to your saved

colleges any time from the homepage by

clicking on “College List” under “Quick

Links.”

Quick Links > College List

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There are many other ways to

explore schools on CSNav.

Try them all and compare your

results to create your

best possible College List!

College Planning >

Explore Schools

Documents

Navigator Week 4: Your College List