Seniors Counseling Info
Seniors
A student's Senior year in high school can be one of the most pivotal and life-changing steps into adulthood. Despite what a student's plans are post-BMHS, we, in the Academic and College Counseling Department, hope the student will feel comfortable approaching us and feel confident that we can work together to help each person reach their realistic goals. Here are a few things, we’d like you to remember for your final year here at Bishop Montgomery.
Naviance Student
The College process begins and ends with Naviance Student. Seniors should now be very familiar with the program and should be actively navigating their way through it. All submissions of letters of recommendation, secondary school reports, and transcripts for college will be done through Naviance EDocs.
Senior Timelines
Senior Timeline will take in early September. The academic and college counseling team will review important dates that can also be found on the agenda. These dates are specific to all things happening in the senior year. Take time to look at each date and make sure you’re staying on track and in the know! A copy of the Senior Timeline is attached below. Students will be able to sign up individually to discuss future plans with their Academic & College counselors after they have completed all the tasks and submitted the Student/Parent/Counselor Contract by September.
College Application Information
As Juniors, you had the chance to get acquainted with the college application process through the junior college project. You should have an active working list in your “Colleges I’m Thinking About”. If these colleges have changed since the project, now is the time to update the list and start moving them over to the “Colleges I’m Applying to” list. Once this list is set, your counselor will be able to go over your schools and give you a realistic view of how you compare to other students from BMHS using the scattergram feature (you must have a test score in order for us to graph you!)
Student/Parent/Counselor Contract-must be signed by the student and parent before turning it in to the counselor. This contract is an agreement between the student, parent, and counselor in which each party understands his/her responsibilities in the college process. Please be sure to read each section and the entire document before signing and submitting it by September.
The UC/CSU Guidelines will help you navigate both the UC and CSU portals. Please be sure to save copies of your applications, passwords, and any other vital information while filling out the application.
The Common Application Guidelines will help you navigate the common application and all of its components such as completing up and through the education section, signing the FERPA, writing essays, and getting letters of recommendation from teachers and counselors. Again, Please be sure to save copies of your applications, passwords, and any other vital information while filling out the application.
For more detailed information, watch the videos in our video section.
Now that you’ve done your research and have created a realistic list...
LOVE YOUR LIST
Every single school on your list is somewhere you’d be excited to attend. Don’t have school on there that you don’t like or can’t see yourself going to.
Ideally, apply to 6-12 schools. Yes, you can apply to more, but it makes choosing at the end harder. You must know and meet the requirements or go above and beyond them. Don’t apply to, too many schools that you don’t qualify for:
1 wild card school —-> your dream school (1-10% chance)
2 reach schools —> (11-25% chance)
2-4 maybe schools —> (26-60% chance)
2-4 match/safety schools—> (61-100% chance)
| Ex. 4.1 student |
Ex. 3.5 student |
| Wildcard-UPenn | Wildcard-UCLA |
| Reach-UCSB/SLO | Reach-LMU/CSULB |
| Maybe-Pepperdine/SDSU/UW |
Maybe-CSUMB/CSU/ASU |
| match/safety-GCU/Arizona/UNM/ECC | Match/safety-CSUDH/OSU/GCU/SMC |
Nothing is guaranteed!!! YOU may have to dig deep into the middle and lower end of the list to find your place and that’s ok!
**Be sure each school accounts for your family's financial situation**
Scholarships
Scholarship opportunities are regularly posted in the Class of 2023 Google Classroom. Anything that cannot be posted on Google Classroom will be announced in the Weekly Bulletin and a hard copy will be held in the Academic Counseling Office in the scholarship binder or on the scholarship board. Be sure to explore the vast free resources available online for scholarship searches as well. Click on the Scholarship Resources tab for a list of scholarships and some great links.
SAT/ACT
SAT/ACT registration deadlines are posted in your agenda, on your Senior Timeline, on the SAT/ACT Dates and Tools tab in the Counseling Corner, and on the collegeboard.org and www.act.org websites.
Many colleges are no longer requiring a test score for admissions, going either TEST BLIND OR TEST OPTIONAL. Test Blind means that colleges will not consider standardized testing in their application review (the UCs and CSUs are test blind along with some other selective schools. Whereas, Test Optional colleges will leave the decision up to you whether or not to send scores. You must decide if your test scores are an accurate reflection of your academic abilities. If it is a score that is in the above average to excellent range, you should definitely consider sending your scores. Check the college’s website for the most updated information about their application requirements.
Please mark down the deadlines (if you receive financial assistance from BMHS, you may qualify for a fee waiver. Please contact Mrs. Schubert; there are limited number and they go very quickly).
Students are also responsible for sending their colleges their test scores. The scores are only official if they are sent from the testing site. BMHS does not send them!
Sign up for a free practice test offered by Revolution Prep in October and November on the main page under Mock SAT or ACT. Registration will take place online soon.
