Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WINTER BREAK

Hello Cowboys!

The Canyon Counseling Blog will be going on a wee Winter Break (all those scheduling changes have made our fingers TIRED and we need a break!).  Our next post will be January 15th.

Until then:

-Don't forget to print your schedule on Sunday, January 12th.  You can see you schedule on Infinite Campus starting on January 9th.  BUT we will still be scheduling and balancing classes after the 9th.  So double check your schedule Sunday night to make sure you have the latest schedule.

- Winter Break is a great time to start looking at colleges.  Next semester we are going to  highlight the schools from the book, "Colleges That Change Lives."  You can get a headstart and look at the colleges HERE.

-Not sure if you want to or can go to college? Check out THIS!

-If you haven't visited collegeboard.org yet, that is also a good site to become familiar with.  It is where you will sign up for your SAT tests.  It  has a helpful sister site called, BigFuture.  This site answers your questions about how to get started with college planning.  Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors, THIS site is for you!

Happy Holidays.  Be safe and happy until we see you again!


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Loyola Marymount University and Gonzaga University

One of the websites that you might want to make a favorite as you start your college search is the US News and World Report website.  From this website you can research several lists and learn basic information about  colleges.

Today, we are going to look at two schools from the A+ for B students list.  I chose these two schools because they have a high freshman retention rate.  It's important to choose a school that has a high retention rate because that shows you that students went there and loved it.  If students got in and then wanted to transfer out, that is a red flag that you probably wouldn't enjoy the school.

Gonzaga University has a 95% freshman retention rate.  It is a small school with an enrollment of 4,906 students in Spokane, Washington.  Ninety-five percent of the students receive financial aid (that's also a great statistic!)  The average GPA is a 3.73 and the average SAT score is 1200. Gonzaga has a very prestigious law school with several Supreme Court judges learning from it's classrooms.  If you are an athlete approximately sixty percent of the student body participates in intramurals.  Gonzaga has a very strong Division I basketball team.  The most popular majors at Gonzaga are business, engineering, psychology, journalism, communications, and law.  The Gonzaga University website is www.gonzaga.edu HERE is a link to some videos to tell you about the school.

Loyola Marymount is a school that is close to home and has a 90% freshman retention rate.  The average GPA is a 3.76 and the average SAT score is 1800.  The most popular majors are business, visual and performing arts, speech, and English.  They have a school for film and television (ranked 9th in the nation), law, engineering (ranked 22nd), and much more.  HERE is a link to a video library to tell you more. 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Financial Aid Websites

This week we had a very successful financial aid meeting.  If you missed it, and you are a senior or parent of a senior, here are some helpful websites and links.

HERE is the financial aid cheat sheet that we gave out.

THIS is a link to the federal website that explains financial aid.  It is quite extensive and very informative.

THIS is the link to the biggest scholarship that Canyon has to offer.  Every senior that is eligible should apply.  Over 15 scholarships will be given based on this one application.  The highest scholarship is $5000 and the smallest is $500. 

THIS is the link to our list of scholarships. If one of the scholarship links in the file doesn't work, google the name of the scholarship to get the most current information.

The next financial aid meeting will be at the COC Performing Arts Center on January 21st at 6:30 pm.  The COC Financial aid department will be on hand to answer all your financial aid questions and help if you have questions about the FAFSA.  This session is open to the community and is free.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Grand Canyon University and Utah State University

This week we are going to tell you about two schools outside of California.

The first school is in Pheonix, Arizona, Grand Canyon University.  Grand Canyon University is a small non denomination Christian school, but you don't need to have any religious affiliation to attend.  We are choosing this school because because they give substantial academic scholarships.  If you are a full time student you will pay $8,250 in tuition a semester.  Grand Canyon will give you $8,000 if your unweighted GPA is a 3.8 or higher.  They also will give you an early decision grant of $1,500 dollars.  So if you are doing your math...yep, tuition is ZERO!!!!  If you keep at least a 3.5 GPA while you are in school, you can keep getting the $8000 scholarship.  By the way, they give scholarship awards all the way down to $4000 dollars if your unweighted GPA is a 3.0.  You can see a complete breakdown HERE.

Grand Canyon University has a wide variety of majors that might interest you.  Some of their most popular majors are nursing, forensics, pre-med, athletic training, psychology, teaching, business, and the performing arts.

The requirements for admission to Grand Canyon University are a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  If you don't have that, you can also qualify if you have a 920 on your SAT or a score of 19 on the ACT test.  There are no specific classes that you have to pass. 

There is no admission deadline.  However, to get the early decision grant, you need to apply by January 1st.  If you would like to ask specific questions about Grand Canyon University, you have your own personal connection.  Please call Mr. Austin Badgett at 818-205-4819 or email him at austin.badgett@gcu.edu.

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The second school this week is Utah State University.  Utah State was voted the #1 public university in the west for lowest tuition.  They are in the top 3% of all Carnegie research institutions.  With more than 165 undergraduate degrees, you are sure to find a major that fits you perfectly.  The average cost of Utah State with tuition, books, fees, room & board is $14, 516.  The average cost of UC with those same items is $28, 754.  That's a great bargain!!

Utah State has a very helpful website.  We suggest going HERE and clicking on the botton, "WHY USU?"   That will be a great introduction to the school for you.

Utah State is having a few Open Houses in California next week.  If you can attend and are interested in the school, we strongly recommend making the time to visit an open house.  You will be able to talk to USU representatives one-on-one but most importantly they will be awarding scholarships right on the spot and waiving the application fee.  You just need to go the Open House with an official transcripts and your test scores.  HERE is the link to the Open House information.  If you have questions about this, please see your counselor.