Month: July 2014

A Summer To Do List for Prospective Students

A Summer To Do List for Prospective Students

While the start of application season is still about a month away, there is still plenty to do for rising seniors this summer before the school year begins:

  1. The first step, create an appropriate email address to use for the college application process. Keep in mind that your parents, admission counselors, and high school counselors/teachers will likely see this. Avoid using your high school email address because these email addresses are often deactivated right when you graduate and you may miss out on emails from colleges that are sent over the summer after you graduate.
  2. Create a list of schools of interest and gather suggestions from your classmates, teachers, parents, and family friends by asking about their alma maters and collegiate experiences. Spend a lot of time on their websites researching student life, study abroad, athletics, available majors and minors, or anything else you deem a significant factor in your collegiate decision-making process. Don’t forget to sign up to receive more information from the school’s on their websites. Also, follow your prospective schools on Facebook and Twitter for up-to-date information.
  3. After you have a list, create a calendar with all application deadlines, scholarship deadlines, honors program application due dates, campus visit dates, etc. Once the school year starts, it’s important to keep track of all admission-related dates in addition to your homework assignments and test dates.
  4. Visit as many schools as you can over the summer while you don’t have to worry about missing classes or interrupting your extra-curricular schedule. If you can’t visit campus, look on school websites for virtual tours of residence halls or campus to at least get a feel for the institution.
  5. Start working on components of your application: You can start working on college essays before even opening the application. Click here for college essay tips!
  6. You can also start creating a resume. Be sure to include all leadership positions, community service, involvement with clubs/organizations/sports, internships, research experiences, ministry youth groups, part-time jobs, or whatever it is that you’re involved with outside of the classroom!
  7. Send your test scores to schools you are definitely applying to in the fall (Loyola’s ACT Code is 1064 and the SAT Code is 1412). If you’re unhappy with your original scores, sign up for a new test date and use your time off in the summer to prepare.
  8. Start searching for scholarships. Many scholarships are looking for students with very specific majors, interests, or skill-sets or cast a broad net when searching and use as many research resources as possible (websites like scholarships.com or fastweb.com; talking to your high school counselors about local opportunities; have your parents ask their employers about any company scholarships; etc.)
  9. Make a list of possible people to send in letters of recommendation for you- consider teachers, employers, coaches, supervisors, counselors (anyone who knows you professionally or academically). While it’s a little soon to ask them for a letter now, you certainly want to ask right away in the fall so they have plenty of time to write and send in letters before the application deadline.
  10. Enjoy your summer!

 

Without A Home – Street Dogs of Santiago, Chile – Joey Filer

Without A Home – Street Dogs of Santiago, Chile – Joey Filer

Hey Ramblers!

Check out this documentary I made for my summer class COMM 373: Digital Storytelling Abroad in Santiago, Chile.  CAUTION: Some of the images in the video may be disturbing to some viewers.

It’s about the wild dog problem (there are over 250,000 street dog’s in the nation’s capital alone).  It was an unbelievable journey in so many ways, and if you can imagine – the emotions involving the thousands of homeless dogs I encountered was just one of the many life changing aspects.

Link to Without A Home: Street Dogs of Santiago, Chile – Joey Filer

-Joey from Ramblin’ with a Camera