<p>ok i am so clueless about college admissions. i dont even know where to begin with admissions, financial aid, etc. could someone help me?</p>
<p>FAFSA! Fill out a FAFSA form! :]</p>
<p>You need to see your guidance counselor in the fall and see if there are any general info sessions. The info here on CC is pretty weighted towards admissions into more selective colleges and may not apply to you.</p>
<p>But I'm curious that you've been posting here since January. Is this a serious query or are you just trying to be coy?</p>
<p>Look at your grades, look at your test scores. If you have not yet taken SATs, look at the PSATs. Start thinking about schools around you, maybe visit. What do you like, what don't you like? Big campus, enclosed campus, no campus? Start talking to parents about what the family can afford in terms of college and get some feedback from them. Pick up a college guide so you can peruse it. If you want financial aid, get a book on that and see where your family's income fall in terms of need. Talk to your GC tjos fall and get some ideas from. Get info on your state schools and nearby options and where many of the kids from your school go.</p>
<p>ok my parents never went to college so they dont know much either. when should i start applying for financial aid? i heard you apply AFTER you get admitted? true?</p>
<p>ok heres a basic summary of my stats
4.16667 overall weighted
3.8.-3.9 unweighted
2010 on SAT, studying for 2150+
690 math 2c
780 us history
maybe i am going to take korean for 750+</p>
<p>no i am not joking. i seriously dont even know where to begin and write essays and such.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i heard you apply AFTER you get admitted?
[/quote]
No. You apply for financial aid at about the same time as you apply for admission. Check the websites of the various schools you want to apply to. They'll give you all the deadlines. </p>
<p>Also check this website: FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans</p>
<p>there's a huge difference between 2010 and a 2150 and it's really hard to get a 2150 actually.</p>
<p>^ yes i know. ima work real hard for that score. i can see little improvements in my cr already so there is hope or so i hope</p>
<p>I can appreciate how overwhelming it is. I've been on here since early last fall lurking and it still feels like I have no idea sometimes how to advise my son.</p>
<p>I also was first generation, so I ended up at a CC and then transferred to local university. Do you have an idea of where you'd like to attend? If you're trying for a more selective college, you'll have to take Subject Tests.</p>
<p>ok so heres my college list, its not final
by the way i am california resident
not in any particular order</p>
<p>University of Chicago
Northwestern
Columbia
Stanford
Berkeley
UCLA
USC
U Penn (Wharton)
UC Davis
Yale
UC Davis
UCSC
UCI</p>
<p>i got 690 on math 2, 780 us history</p>
<p>Well, at least you have a general idea what college you're applying to. No need to go into that long explanation.</p>
<p>Let's start simple
- Do you know what the Common App is?</p>
<p>Get a copy of the common app and start to fill it out. Work on the essay questions. That'll give you a big head start. The same with the UC apps. You do have safety schools? Are you and your parents on the same page in terms of financing your education?</p>
<p>ok so common app is like universal app for all colleges right?
i am hoping my safety schools will be ucsd, uc davis, and uci. when should i start working on that?</p>
<p>Okay, you aren't joking.</p>
<p>of course i am not joking. i got better things to do than make fake threads about be not knowing anything.</p>
<p>Yes, the Common Application is an application used by many colleges and universities. The great benefit of the Common App is that you can fill one out and then submit it to many colleges, without having to complete several different applications.</p>
<p>Some colleges, however, do not accept the Common Application, and so it is wise to look at the websites of the colleges you're thinking about, and see whether they accept the Common App or whether they require that you submit their own app.</p>
<p>Many colleges, furthermore, require you to submit their own supplement to the Common App. These schools want more from you than just the Common App. They generally also want to know why you are applying to each of the schools you're applying to. This is a commonly asked question on supplements. This, for example, is Swarthmore's supplement to the Common App. </p>
<p>The Common Application can be completed either online or on paper. I recommend that you complete it online, because it is much easier. But it's your choice. </p>
<p>Filling out the Common App is relatively straightforward. They ask you to fill out basic stuff regarding you, your family, your educational background, what extracurricular activities you do, what special distinctions or honors you've been awarded, what work experience you have, if any. It also asks you to submit a personal essay and a short answer.</p>
<p>To find out more about writing the college essay, I recommend that you consult 100 Successful College Essays. </p>
<p>The Common App also requires teacher recommendations and one counselor recommendation. I'll go into that later.</p>
<p>Well, the Common App is <em>kind of</em> the universal app for colleges. However, not all colleges use it. Some colleges use it exclusively, others accept it but also have their own application you can use instead. In that case, a lot of people think it's better to use the college's own (unless finances are an issue). Keep in mind that even if the college uses it exclusively, it may require supplements that you have to fill out as well. Go to the actual websites of the college on your list and it should say whether they use it, and if they do, if they require supplements. </p>
<p>Official site of the common application: The</a> Common Application Online
Exclusive users: The</a> Common Application: Exclusive Users
All users: The</a> Common Application: All Members</p>
<p>Hope this helps, those addresses would be a good place to start to figure out if the colleges you want to go to accept it or learn more about it in general.</p>
<p>The College Board also has good stuff about how to apply to college: Write</a> Letters of Recommendation for College - writing teachers recommendation letters</p>
<p>Oh, and if you're willing to buy a book, "Get into Any College" by Gen and Kelly Tanabe is really good. It covers everything from filling out the application to wrting essays to getting recommendations to interviews to standardized testing and a little bit on financial aid. After reading that, you will know a lot more about the whole application process. I haven't applied to college yet either but I've read a lot of books on it and done a lot of research, and that book has a lot of good information in it. :)</p>
<p>Edit: "Acing the Application" by Michele Hernandez is a good book too. It's all about filling out the common application. Good stuff. (Although I would probably get "Get into any college" for a wider range of information, "Acing the Application" is very specific and helpful.) Combined they'd be awesome.</p>
<p>This is a great article: Confessions</a> of a Prep School College Counselor</p>