COLLEGE PLANNING
College Planning may start as soon at freshman year of high school
Course selection
This is important because colleges care about the courses you take in high school and RIGOR is usually on their top 3 considerations when evaluating students for admissions. The more you challenge yourself, the more college options you may have.Rigor may include: Honors, Advanced Placement (AP), AICE, IB, and Dual Enrollment.
Earn college credits while you are IN high school
This can come from taking AP classes, AICE classes, IB classes, CLEP tests or Dual Enrollment.
Time Management
Do a little at a time and large tasks become more manageable.Organization
Keep track of everything. Every one of our clients receive our proprietary College Map Mentor's Academic Organizer to keep track of their classes, grades, awards, certifications, accolades, community service, clubs, sports, work, etc. Collect all of the information you need to complete your applications in one place.Research colleges
Pick the RIGHT college for you
When deciding which colleges and universities to apply to - and more importantly, which one to enroll in - there are some important details to consider! Unfortunately, many students do not devote much time to this life-changing decision and may be very unhappy as a result. This can happen even at highly ranked schools - if a university is bad for a student, it doesn't matter how highly ranked it is.
Visit the College Planning Steps 1-4 pages (see section below) to assist in your decisions to choose the college that makes the best fit for you.Attend college fairs
Visit the colleges that are on the top of your list
College not in your future? It is not for everyone. Find out what other paths you can follow after high school.
There are plenty of lucrative careers that do no require 4+ years of college!
CHOOSING A MAJOR
Students should consider their passion, opportunities and potential earnings when choosing a college major.
Choosing a major is one of the most important decisions a high school/college student can make. Ideally, a college major can open doors into the workforce and help pave the way to a high-paying job and fulfilling career. As major life decisions go, choosing what to study in college isn't to be taken lightly.
There are many factors you should consider before committing to a major, including the program cost, salary expectations, and employment rates in that field. In addition, you should think about your personality, personal and professional goals, and interests. Take an assessment to figure out what you want to do in the future.
CAREER ASSESSMENTS
FREE
60 questions
Gives results based on preparation choices.
Can print/share
Career Finder by College Board
FREE
60 questions from O*Net
Gives results based on preparation choices
Can print/share
If signed into CollegeBoard account, can use SAT/AP score data to help
FREE
60 questions from O*Net
Gives results based on preparation choices.
Can print/share/save
FREE
60 questions from O*Net
Gives career matches & offers match with degree offered at PBSC
FREE
Career, personality & other traits.
Career & degree results
Can share/save
WHAT FACTORS ARE IMPORTANT TO COLLEGES?
Every school has a different set of criteria they consider when evaluating potential applicants.
Rigor
GPA
First-generation student
SAT/ACT
and more!
Find out what a specific college by order of importance by performing a Google search for the "name of the college" followed by "Common Data Set". (Example: UCLA Common Data Set). Each college completes this document annually based upon their last applicant cycle.
Data includes:
# applicants
# accepted
What they consider the most important factors
Average GPA, SAT, ACT for incoming class
and more!
The relative importance of many admission decision factors have remained remarkably stable over the long term. Notable exceptions include the declining importance of class rank and interviews. While academic performance has remained the most important consideration for colleges, in recent years, specific changes in the top factors have become evident. For many years, grades in college prep courses had been rated as the top factor in admission decisions, followed by strength of curriculum, admission test scores, and grades in all courses (overall GPA). However, for the past three admission cycles (2016, 2017, and 2018), the percentage of colleges rating grades in all courses as considerably important has matched or surpassed grades in college prep courses. Class rank has become much less important over the past decade. For each admission cycle from Fall 2016 to Fall 2018, only 9 percent of colleges rated class rank as considerably important, compared to 23 percent in 2007.
steps to choosING a college
College Map Mentor encourage all of their clients to shoot for the moon. We educate our clients and help them to have a healthy and realistic set expectations of potential admission chances based upon their grades, course rigor, and other factors. We encourage a balanced college list to encompass: safety, target and reach schools.
We balance the "If you don't apply, you 100% will not get accepted" with "You may not be accepted at 100% of the schools you apply to." We firmly believe every student will ultimately end up at the right college for them, and there are many paths to get to the same end game.
Follow the below steps to assist you in creating a balanced college list and helping you to finalize it.
COLLEGE COST CALCULATOR
Use this college cost calculator when you receive financial aid award letters to compare the aid you receive and determine your estimated college costs and balance due at each prospective college.
You may use the calculator to determine the cost of each college you get an acceptance letter from and to help you make the choice for which college to attend.
Final costs for your selected college will be determined at the time your bill is issued, typically in June or July.
Use this calculator every year to get an estimate of your annual college costs.
Make sure to review the Paying for College page.