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Seniors: Aquí están los siguientes pasos:

Hola Seniors!

¡Espero que hayan tenido unas excelentes vacaciones y el primer mes de su semestre de primavera! A estas alturas ya debería haber A.) aplicado a la universidad B.) solicitado ayuda financiera y C.) haber estado monitoreando TODAS las cuentas de la universidad para asegurarse de que no le falten documentos.

Si no ha realizado TODOS estos pasos, DETÉNGASE y regrese para completarlos en ese orden.

Google puede encontrar las solicitudes de ingreso a la universidad y las admisiones de primer año. Sigue sus instrucciones. Para ayuda financiera, si tiene un número de Seguro Social, primero haga un nombre de usuario en FSAID.ed.gov y luego complete la solicitud en FAFSA.ed.gov. Si no tiene un SSN, hay una solicitud de ayuda financiera en papel para el estado de Texas. Contácteme en lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com y puedo ayudarlo con eso.

Bien, ahora al … redoble de tambores …

¡Hurra! ¡MUCHO emocionado! ¡Estás en la bajada hacia la graduación de la escuela secundaria! YAAASSSS !!!

Pero antes de llegar allí, tienes que completar más pasos para la universidad para asegurarte de tener una transición perfecta.

Entonces, como esto es mucho y sé que es mucho, voy a dividirlos en dos publicaciones. La próxima semana profundizaré en 1-3 y la semana siguiente repasaremos 4-6.

¡Comienza con lo que puedas y te veré la próxima semana!

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Seniors! Here are your next steps:

Hola Seniors!

I hope you had a great holiday break and first month of your Spring semester! By now you should have A.) Applied to college B.) Applied for Financial Aid and C.) Have been monitoring ALL college accounts to make sure you aren’t missing any documents.

If you haven’t done ALL of these steps, STOP and go back to complete them in that order.

College applications can be found by Googling that college and freshman admissions. Follow their instructions. For Financial Aid, if you have a Social Security Number, make a username at FSAID.ed.gov first and then complete the application on FAFSA.ed.gov. If you don’t have a SSN, there is a paper Financial Aid application for the state of Texas. Contact me at lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com and I can help you with that.

Okay, now to the….. drumroll……

Yay! Get SO excited! You are are on the downward slope to high school graduation! YAAASSSS!!!

But before you get there, you do have more steps to complete for college to make sure that you have a seamless transition.

So because this is a lot and I know that it is a lot, I’m going to break these down into two posts. Next week I will go in depth on 1-3 and the following week we will go over 4-6.

Get started with what you can and I will see you next week!

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Junior Spring Checklist

Juniors! It’s time to start getting ready for your college applications! DO NOT WAIT until Senior year to put in the work. We need to use this Spring semester to prepare and warm up for what’s to come.

Tip: Make a professional email account to use solely for college related accounts and information.

  1. Test for SAT/ACT tests

If you are planning to apply to a 4 year college, they will require at least one SAT or ACT test. Because you have to register for this test a month in advance and get the scores 3 weeks after the test date, you want to get this out of the way Junior year. This will eliminate a lot of deadline related stress, TRUST ME. You do not want to wait until one month before your college’s deadline to try and make sure your test scores are in on time.

There are tests once a month from now all the way until July. This will give you a chance to test and retest if you do not like your score. Just keep in mind that if you do not actually study for the test, you can not expect for your score to improve. For more info, see my previous post on SAT/ACT tests here and here.

All test registrations will be online at www.collegeboard.org (SAT) or www.act.org (ACT).

2. Compile a high school resume

If you don’t have a resume by now, MAKE ONE. I’ve written about resumes before and they serve a very important role for the college applications. You will be asked to list all of your involvement, awards, and achievements throughout high school. Your life will be much simpler if you have a list of these already. Make sure to include dates of participation and total hours for the community service.

More info on resumes here.

3. Write your college essays

I’m going to focus more on Texas schools here because I work in Texas and am more familiar with their process but most 4 year colleges will ask for an essay. They will either ask for the essay for admission purposes or for scholarship purposes.

There are 3 total essay prompts for ApplyTexas (the application for all Texas colleges). I would suggest writing Essay A and Essay B as these are the most commonly asked for.

Essay A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Essay B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

For both of these essays, please make sure that you get personal. This is your chance to show the admission representatives who you are. It is supplemental information to what is on your resume. Use this opportunity to market yourself and let the admission representatives connect with you.

For more tips on how to write the essays, see this excerpt from a previous blog post:

Texas A&M University essay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvEsMCv0q_s&feature=emb_logo

So as a review:

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Adivina quien ha vuelto, vuelto de nuevo..

Holaooooo, estoy de vuelta! Después de un año muy duro en el que no realicé mejoras en mi interacción con mi blog, ¡estoy de regreso e intento ser más organizado este año!

¿Sabes qué más está de vuelta?

¡AYUDA FINANCIERA!

Si sigues mi blog y vives en el estado de Texas, solo un aviso de que la fecha límite de prioridad de ayuda financiera de Texas es ……..

15 de enero de 2020

¿Qué significa esto? Significa que si desea recibir cualquier tipo de ayuda financiera del Estado de Texas, debe completar la FAFSA (Solicitud Gratuita de Ayuda Federal para Estudiantes) o la TASFA (Solicitud de Ayuda Financiera para Estudiantes de Texas) antes del 15 de enero de 2020

¿Necesita una actualización de ayuda financiera? No dude en consultar mis publicaciones de blog anteriores que explican más sobre lo que la aplicación implica y lo califica. Compruébalo aquí:

Ayuda financiera para estudiantes sin encuentros sociales

Si está familiarizado con la Ayuda Financiera pero solo necesita un resumen rápido, lea aquí:

1 Solicitud = 4 áreas de consideración: Becas (dinero gratis), Becas (dinero gratis), Estudio de trabajo (trabajo en el campus para pagar la matrícula). TODOS CALIFICAN PARA ALGO.

Además, la mayoría de las universidades requieren que se presente una solicitud antes de otorgar una beca.

Si usted, el estudiante tiene un Número de Seguro Social, puede completar la FAFSA en línea en fafsa.ed.gov. Si usted, el estudiante NO tiene un número de Seguro Social, debe completar la solicitud en papel que se puede encontrar en línea en inglés o español en: http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/index.cfm?ObjectID=699A998A- E7F3-1DCC-3F460F26136EEA05.

Así que complete una de estas aplicaciones ……. (redoble de batería, por favor) ………

15 de enero de 2020

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Guess who’s back, back again..

Helloooooo, I’m back! After a very hard year where I didn’t really make improvements on my interaction with my blog, I’m back and trying to be more organized this year!

You know what else is back?

FINANCIAL AID!

If you follow my blog and live in the state of Texas, just a head up that the Texas Priority Deadline for Financial Aid is……..

January 15, 2020

What does this mean? It means that if you want to receive any kind of financial aid from the State of Texas, you must complete either the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) or the TASFA (Texas Application for Student Financial Aid) by January 15, 2020.

Need a refresh on Financial Aid? Feel free to check out my previous blog posts explaining more on what the application entails and qualifies you for. Check it out here:

Financial Aid – What is this & why is it important?
Financial Aid for Students without Socials

If you are familiar with Financial Aid but just need a quick recap, read here:

1 Application = 4 areas of consideration: Grants (free money), Scholarships (free money), Work Study (on-campus job to pay off tuition). EVERYONE QUALIFIES FOR SOMETHING.

Additionally, most colleges are requiring an application to be on file before they will award a scholarship.

If you, the student has a Social Security Number then you can complete the FAFSA online at fafsa.ed.gov. If you, the student DO NOT have a Social Security Number, then you have to complete the paper application that can be found online in English or Spanish at: http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/index.cfm?ObjectID=699A998A-E7F3-1DCC-3F460F26136EEA05.

So complete one of these applications by ……. (drumroll please)………

JANUARY 15, 2020

to be eligible for all the opportunities! If you miss this deadline, you can still qualify for federal aid but not state aid. If you have any questions, email me at lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com.

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Quick Timeline Update

Hi! Life, work, computer problems….etc. etc. Sorry again.

I just wanted to drop by and write a quick post on the order of doing things in the college application process. Working with my students I’ve noticed that they are so worried about applying for Financial Aid and scholarships but not actually applying to college.

What I want for you to follow:

  1. Apply to college(s)
  2. Apply for Financial Aid
  3. Apply for scholarships

Why do I suggest this order? Because the colleges need to make a file on you. How do they make this file? They create this file with the information from the college application.

From there, they use your SSN to match up the financial aid, test scores, etc. with your account. If you send that information BEFORE you apply to that school, it will just be in holding until you send the college application. Even then, it might not be matched up right away after they create a file on you.

Also, let’s say you get awarded a scholarship. What good will that do if you aren’t accepted to a college yet? Where are you going to use it?

All this means, wasted time and chances that you admission/financial aid offers can be delayed. So I highly suggest that you apply to college first, and send the supplemental information second.

Reminder: Financial Aid opened up on Oct. 1. If you haven’t applied to college of FAFSA, I suggest you get to it. Opportunities and deadlines are passing you by.

If you need help, email me at lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com.

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Aplicaciones colegios otra ves

Así que hay más de qué hablar con las solicitudes para la universidad. Dado que es, literalmente, la parte principal de todo el “proceso de solicitud de ingreso a la universidad”. Básicamente, la aplicación es un montón de “páginas en línea” para que las universidades puedan conocerte.

Esta es la parte en la que si hiciste ese currículum hace unas semanas, llenar la solicitud sería fácil. Si no hizo un currículum, entonces completar la solicitud le llevará mucho más tiempo.

Punto principal: no quieres dejar nada en blanco. Rellenar tanto como sea posible.

Las universidades nunca se encontrarán con usted antes de tomar una decisión sobre si acepta o no (las universidades privadas / Ivy League / super prestigiosas son la excepción a esto). Por lo tanto, esta es su oportunidad de convertirse en un candidato súper competitivo.

HACK DE VIDA: ¡AHORRE SU PROGRESO CADA POCOS MINUTOS!

No hay nada peor que un corte de energía, batería agotada, congelación de la computadora que borra todo el progreso que ha realizado.

Pero no mientas! Si no tienes experiencia laboral, déjalo en blanco. Siempre es mejor ser sincero y si no tienes mucho que informar, explica por qué es eso cuando escribes tus ensayos. Vea abajo:

Los ensayos son otra oportunidad para que muestres a las universidades quién eres. Y lo que no quieren ver es un montón de pelusa. Solo contesta la pregunta.

La regla general es 1-2 páginas a doble espacio o 1 página a espacio simple. Si le lleva más tiempo comunicar su punto, está bien, pero corre el riesgo de quedar interrumpido cuando lo coloca en la aplicación.

Me encanta mostrar este video a mis alumnos, así que voy a compartir con ustedes aquí:

Después de escribir sus ensayos, si los necesita para corregirlos, envíenoslos y con gusto los revisaré y ofreceré sus comentarios. Envíeme un correo electrónico a: lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com.

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College Applications Again

So there’s more to talk about with college applications. Since it is literally the main part of the whole “college application process” thing. Basically the application is a bunch of “online pages” so that the colleges can get to know you.

This is the part where if you made that resume a few weeks ago, filling out the application would be easy peasy. If you didn’t make a resume, then filling out the application will take you a lot longer.

Main point of app: you don’t want to leave anything blank. Fill it out as much as possible.

The colleges will never meet you before making a decision on whether you’re accepted or not (private/Ivy League/super prestigious colleges are the exception to this). Therefore, this is your chance to make yourself a super competitive applicant.

LIFE HACK: SAVE YOUR PROGRESS EVERY FEW MINUTES!

There is nothing worse than a power outage, dead battery, computer freeze that erases all the progress you have made.

But don’t lie! If you don’t have work experience, leave it blank. It is always better to be truthful and if you don’t have a lot to report, explain why that it is when you write your essays. See below:

The essays are another chance for you to show the colleges who you are. And what they don’t want to see is a bunch of fluff. Just answer the prompt.

The general rule is 1-2 pages double spaced or 1 page single spaced. If it takes you longer than that to communicate your point that’s okay but it runs the risk of being cut off when you put it on the application.

I love to show this video to my students so I’m going to share with you here:

After you write your essays, if you need them proofread send them to me and I will happily check them and offer feedback. Email me at: lacollegeadvisor@gmail.com.

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College Applications

So we are finally at that point….the point that your whole entire life has been leading up to. Every time you dressed up for career day or someone asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” All of that has led up to now…the actual first real step to starting your future.

Whether that is becoming a doctor, a welder, an educator, mechanic, or architect, applying to a college of your choice officially starts the ball rolling on your future with Step 3!

It doesn’t matter what kind of post secondary education you are getting (bachelor’s, associate’s, or a certificate), they all start with an application. There are 3 ways to apply to college.

First things first, and it may seem basic, but you have to make accounts with for any of these that you use. To make the accounts you need a working email.

WORKING EMAIL: a professional email (think some variation of your name and not prettyprincess23@yahoo.com) that you CAN GET INTO. You know the password, you more than likely have the email account set up on your phone and you can receive and send emails from it in real time.

***********If you don’t have a working email, backtrack and set one up first. I recommend a Gmail account because I have a lot of these for different purposes and they work wonderfully.************

Once you have a working email, set up the account that you need and SAVE THAT INFORMATION. If you have a college journal where you keep all the info put it in there or put it in your notes, or you can even email yourself the login information. Just make sure that you don’t lose this info.

From there, you can start working on the application itself. When applying make sure you read the following:

In the application it will ask what semester you are starting school and you will select Fall 2020 (unless you have a special circumstance: military, late graduation, etc.). You will also select your major at this time.

Each application will ask for different information but usually its your biological info, involvement, class schedule, and possibly an essay. Just continue to work your way through the application and

MAKE SURE YOU SAVE YOUR PROGRESS VERY OFTEN (there is nothing more frustrating than having a wifi glitch and loosing all your progress)

This is where we will stop for today. Most students can figure it out from here but I will do a more in depth review of the applications next week.

HAPPY APPLYING!

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Currículums: por qué son importantes y cómo crearlos

Paso 2: Crear un curriculum vitae!

Así que volviendo al proceso de solicitud para Seniors en la Clase de 2020 (YAY), el segundo paso sería crear un currículum.

Un currículum es algo que deben tener todos los profesionales jóvenes y adultos que trabajan. Esta es su oportunidad de escribir en papel lo que ha estado involucrado y cómo se ha desafiado a sí mismo.

Un currículum también debe actualizarse cada 6 meses (en mi opinión) o siempre que haya ocurrido un gran cambio en su educación / mundo profesional.

¡NUNCA SE REGRESARÁ CON UN RESUMEN ACTUALIZADO!

Nunca te hará daño, no te abandonará, no te abandonará, etc. PERO te ayudará (o puede) a aprovechar oportunidades para mejorarte a ti mismo, a tu educación y / oa tu carrera.

Su currículum debe tener su nombre, correo electrónico (correo electrónico profesional), número de teléfono y la escuela a la que asiste actualmente.

^ Estas son las informaciones básicas. Si no tienes nada más que poner allí, asegúrate de que al menos tenga esto.

El resto de las secciones son COMPLETAMENTE personalizables para usted y sus experiencias. Además, no se preocupe si no tiene mucha información para poner al principio. Esto cambiará con el tiempo y, como mencioné antes, siempre puedes ingresar y actualizarlo.

También debería verse profesional. Preste mucha atención a las fuentes, el tamaño de las secciones y el tipo de papel en el que las imprime (lo siento, Elle Woods, pero el rosa y el perfume no van a funcionar aquí).

He incluido uno de mis currículums anteriores (con mi información personal bloqueada), así como algunas plantillas que han sido utilizadas por el Career Center @ Texas A&M University, así que sé que estos son excelentes ejemplos de cómo debería ser un currículum profesional. Siéntase libre de descargarlos y actualizarlos con su propia información.

Plantillas:

ResumeTemplate1-1Download
ResumeTemplate2-2-1Download