Shrine High School College Counselor 4th year at SHS Mom of 3 Shrine students 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

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

“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

March 4, 5, and 6th Statewide testingTesting will begin each day at 8:00• Testing begins promptly at 8:00. ACT and the State of Michigan

clearly state that no student can be admitted to a testing room once the verbal instructions have been read.

• we recommend, students arrive by 7:30 am• All students MUST bring a picture ID to be admitted to the test.• An approved calculator may be used for the math portions of

the tests.• Students must complete all three days of testing to receive

their ACT score• Students must be in dress code for all three days of testing• Bring at least 2 sharpened #2 pencils

Tuesday March 4, 2014 Testing begins at 8:00 am , students will be finished

by 12:45 pm ACT+ Writing Evaluable test for college admission Paid for by the State of Michigan No state funded scholarship directly associated with

MME, therefore low stakes testing Scores will be available by the end of March All subsequent ACT registration done by student.

This is the ONLY ACT that the counseling office completes the registration process

To register for subsequent ACT testing: www.ACTstudent.org

Wednesday, March 5th 2014◦ Work Keys Test◦ Testing begins at 8:00 am, students will be

finished at 11:30 am.◦ Thursday, March 6th, 2014◦ Michigan Mathematics, Science, and Social

Studies testing◦ Testing begins at 8:00 am, students will report to

their D hour class.

Make up dates: Tuesday March 18th ACT + Writing Wednesday March 19th Work Keys Thursday March 20th

◦ Michigan Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.

Make up exams are conducted in the Counseling Office during the school day. Students will be responsible for making up work missed while taking the makeup MME.

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

Test Date Registration DateApril 12, 2014 March 7, 2014June 14, 2014 May 9, 2014September 13, 2014October 25, 2014December 13, 2014Shrine is a test site for the June, Sept, October, and February test dates. We do not register students for these tests.

Many theories on ACT preparation Many ways to spend your money on

preparation Free ACT practice tests available at MEL. Org List of Shrine approved ACT tutors/programs Some students take ACT once during MME 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

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.

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

Single Application that serves over 500 colleges and universities

Launch of CA4 for the 2013-14 academic year was considered a national disaster

“Common” portion of the application is submitted to all selected schools, but each university typically has a supplement. ◦ Therefore answers in the common portion must be

“generic”. Supplement essay should be highly specific to selected university.

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

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.

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 13th are encouraged

Rough draft to be reviewed before Spring Break 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

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.

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 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

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 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.

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.

May 21, 2015 Graduation Together we will reach the finish line Amy PiazzonAppointment Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 8-3 Thursdays 8-12piazzon@shrineschools.com248 549-2925 x 2552