Crazy College Confusion
Emila Lopez
As the first semester of 2016-2017 steadily proceeds to an end, seniors are scrambling to get their future college lives prepared for when they finally graduate. Unfortunately, the process can get quite lengthy and tedious. So to help a little bit with this college confusion your newspaper staff has spoken to Mrs. Sims, GO Center Coordinator, and we’ve asked her a few questions to try and make things clearer.
Interviewer: Could you explain the differences among early decision, early action, and regular decision?
Mrs. Sims: Early decision is when students--if the university offers that option--can apply for admission in early November and they compete against a smaller group of applicants. So they have a better chance, but that's binding. If they do early decision they have to choose to be accepted into that college and withdraw all of their other applications. Early action is when students can apply around end of November-December and they can choose not to attend to the university if they get accepted and can continue to apply to other universities. Regular decision is just whenever students want to apply.
Interviewer: Okay, and when are the deadlines for each of those?
Mrs. Sims: For the majority, November 1st and December 1st. For schools outside of Texas you might want to go check their websites and see.
Interviewer: Why should students take the SAT?
Mrs. Sims: The SAT and ACT are measures that universities use to determine admissions and so the higher you score on that, the lower you can be ranked in your class and so on. So those are pretty much mandatory for 4 year universities.
Interviewer: When are the deadlines for registrations for the SAT and ACT?
Mrs. Sims: There are 5 or 6 tests per year for the SAT and their deadlines are located outside the GO Center. They're also on the college board website.
Interviewer: Great! And where should seniors be in their applications right now?
Mrs. Sims: Well it is October so seniors should be actively applying to their top schools and finishing things up. Right now should be FAFSA, applications, and scholarships. Applications is a must right now.
Interviewer: Could you explain FAFSA more?
Mrs. Sims: FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and it’s an application online that students fill out and you can get free money from the federal government for education. It’s opened October 1st and we’re trying to finish by Christmas.
Interviewer: Is there any other important information that students should know about the application process?
Mrs. Sims: Make sure to accentuate the strengths you have. Just really sell yourself and make sure the university knows you are going to be successful because of various reasons. Always sell your best self.
This is a ton of information to take in at once, but hopefully this is helpful and encourages some of you readers to get a head start on your college lives.
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