Senior Parents
As incredible as it may seem, here we are; halfway through the first semester of your child’s senior year. It’s only natural that you would have some questions, particularly if your student is planning to pursue further education, whether that be at a four-year college or university, two-year junior college, or vocational training. Hopefully this will help. I have broken this down into the three most common themes that I get asked about.
College Applications
If you have not already started this process, now is the time. College applications are done online, and getting started is as simple as searching “Fairmont State Admissions”, “WVU Admissions”, etc. While this process will vary slightly from school to school, there are usually only cosmetic differences. First, you will need to set up an account (extremely easy). You will usually see a button marked “Apply Now” or something similar. There is typically an application fee, but most schools will waive this fee if there is financial need on the part of the student. The form for this can usually be found on the college’s admission site, but if you are having difficulty don’t hesitate to call me or have your student stop by. As you continue with the process, you will receive prompts as to your next steps, particularly that the school will be needing your transcript, which brings me to the next point.
Transcripts
Last year, the majority of students made their accounts for Parchment.com in their English class. Parchment is the service that Harrison County Schools use for viewing and sending their transcripts to colleges, programs and even employers. This service acts as a neutral third party for sending transcripts. If your student has not yet made their account, it is no more difficult than creating a social media account. As with anything else, if you have any difficulty, don’t hesitate to call. Once you are logged in, there will be a blue box that says “order transcript”. After clicking on that, you will have the choice between sending one to an institution or sending one to yourself or another individual. Keep in mind…if you send it to yourself, and then use that to send to a college, it is NOT official. It is only considered official if it goes directly from Parchment to the university or college. This transcript will show all semester grades broken down by year, GPA, class rank as well as SAT scores from last year’s testing done at the school. This will not show ACT or SAT scores from other sites, those will need to be sent separately through their College Board or ACT accounts.
Most importantly, you will need to send a copy of your transcript AFTER graduation, no matter if you sent one earlier in the year. Transcripts are not “final” without a graduation date, which will not appear on the transcript until after graduation.
Scholarships
Students are able to access scholarship information in a number of ways. When I receive paper copies of scholarship applications, they are placed in the blue magazine racks as you first enter the counselor’s suite, directly across from the PRO’s office. If it is an online application, the link will be put on Byrd’s Eye View, Schoology, and RCB’s social media accounts. There are a few that will be put directly in your student’s hand, such as the Harrison County Student Achievement Scholarship and our Alumni Foundation Scholarship. For our Alumni Scholarship, one will be mailed home as well. This will be the primary address listed on the WVEIS form that was sent out and hopefully returned at the beginning of the year.
Some scholarships will require letters of recommendation. Recently, students were instructed to begin this process and to bring in copies that we can keep on file, along with a resume. This way, if they lose the originals, we are able to help without them asking recommenders to start over. The resumes are invaluable in helping to write a thoughtful and accurate recommendation. Additionally, many scholarship applications will require an essay. This is not anything to worry about. For the most part, essays will be one page, with the prompt being some variation of why they are deserving and why they are in need.
The PROMISE Scholarship is one of the more well known and yet misunderstood scholarships out there. To be eligible, a student needs to have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and a 3.0 core GPA (English, Math, Science and History). They will also need a minimum 1080 SAT score with at least a 510 in each section, or an ACT score of 21 with at least a 19 in each section. I will work with students in class to complete the PROMISE Scholarship application but if you wish to complete it now it can be accessed at https://www.cfwv.com/financial-aid/promise-scholarship/ . They will also need to complete the FAFSA(Free Application For Federal Student Aid), which I will touch upon momentarily. The deadline for both the PROMISE application and the FAFSA is March 1st. You do NOT need to be eligible yet to apply for PROMISE. SAT or ACT scores can be earned through July, and the GPA component is based off of their final transcript, but the application must be done by March 1st.
As for the FAFSA, this is the application that will need to be completed to access any federal student aid or loans. The most common excuse I hear for students not completing the FAFSA application is “I won’t be eligible, my parents make too much money”. While many avenues of federal assistance are based on parent income, some are not; the PROMISE Scholarship is one of those. It is important that anyone even considering college fill out the FAFSA. Every year, we have a “FAFSA Night” where a financial aid representative from a local college will come in and answer any questions you may have as well as assist with completing the FAFSA. This usually takes place in January or February and will be announced.
I realize this is a lot of information. For parents of seniors, particularly if this is your oldest or only child, the process of college applications, scholarships, etc. can be intimidating but I will help anyway that I can. While I prefer for students to show responsibility and ask me their questions themselves (they are soon-to-be-adults, after all), I am also a parent and know that information does not always make it home. Feel free to call or email any questions that you may have.
Roger Wilkinson, 11th/12th grade counselor
304-326-7210