Just read an article over at the fantastic ” Good” news and commentary where Liz Dwyer, their education editor reviews a new U.S. Federal Government tool for comparing the “net price” of higher education institutions. I highly recommend that all parents and students review this site!

This data blows U.S. News and World Report OUT OF THE WATER.

“Forget the venerated U.S. News & World Report college rankings. The list that cash-strapped prospective students and their parents will really be paying attention to this fall comes from the government. On Thursday the U.S. Department of Education unveiled the College Affordability and Transparency Center, a new website designed to provide clear data about the true cost of college….”

Read more Here: http://www.good.is/post/how-to-find-the-best-or-worst-deals-for-college/

Find the the website here: College Affordability and Transparency Center

We had an incredible graduation ceremony at the Skirball center of NYU. Congratulations to the class of 2011! We will miss you so please keep in touch!

Check out the list of acceptances from this year’s graduating classes of both BHSECQ and BHSECM! http://goo.gl/GrDfU

June-January 2012 – To Do List

For Y1′s (about to be Y2) To Do List - From June through to the end of December, here are some things for you to do.

JUNE

Internet

√ If you now use aol or hotmail, change to Yahoo, G-mail, cable or DSL service so that you can make full use of college on-line applications.

√ Make sure to fill out the College Advising Questionnaire sent to you by your College Transfer Advisor. This survey is necessary for them to write you a letter of recommendation this summer.

College List

√ Make sure that you have a solid college list of 10-15 schools that are in Reach, Match and Likely categories (based on your GPA/SAT scores compared to successful applicants at the colleges).

Activities Resume

√ If you haven’t already, complete the first draft of your activities resume. See here for examples or ask your CTO Advisor. Have someone edit it!: http://admissionpossible.com/checklists/modelactesume.pdf

JULY

Contact With Colleges

√ If you haven’t done it before, July is a good time to make contact with the colleges on your list to let them know you are interested.

AUGUST

Essay Writing

√ The new Common Application will become available August 1. For students who are in a fall sport or major activity, this is a good time to use your resume to begin brainstorming ideas for the short and long Common Application essays.

Testing

√ Make sure that you are signed up for any SAT I, Subject Test, or ACT tests that you want to take in the fall.

College List

√ Your college list  should to be nearly finalized by the middle of this month. The last step is to have it approved by your CTO advisor in September. If we asked you why you want to attend EACH of the schools on your list, could you answer at length?  For example, you should be able to name a professor in the department you are interested in at each school. Or you should be able to name the town/city it’s in and talk about why that place would be a good fit for you.

Early Action/Decision

√ Decide whether you want to apply early to a college/s. Remember that Early Decision is binding and Early Action is non-binding.

SEPTEMBER

Calendar and Organization

√ Taking into consideration your schoolwork, sports and activities, block out time each week from now until December to work on applications

√ Note application due dates on your calendar so that you can work out a schedule to complete them on time. Each application (aside from the essay) will take anywhere from 1-3 hours to complete depending on how many questions they ask you!

√Show your final list to your CTO advisor for final approval. They may have some suggestions of changes to make.  Listen to them!

Applications

√ Gather applications for your final college list (download and print or add them to your Common App account). Identify the essay questions for all your applications and put them into an excel doc to help you organize them.

√ Decide on a focus for your applications, and topics for essay questions that will help admissions officers know who you really are. Use your Activities Resume to come up with ideas.

√ Brainstorm  more content and stories for essays

Letters Of Recommendations

√ Give your high school counselor, teachers and/or other recommenders materials ONLY for Early applications including filled-out top part of forms, addressed/stamped envelopes, a list of the early colleges and their respective due dates, and activities resume. (See Checklists for what to include in recommender packets)

College Admissions Reps

√ Meet any college rep of colleges on your list that comes to your high school. Check the CTO online calendar regularly to see who is coming.

OCTOBER

Applications

√ Most colleges have early application deadlines that are at the end of October, while a few have deadlines as early as the middle of October. Check to see what your early application deadlines are.

√ Complete your early, rolling, or first choice school applications.

√ Make sure that your high school counselor, teachers and other recommenders send off their recommendation packages for your early, rolling or first choice school applications.

NOVEMBER

Applications

√ Continue completing other top-choice college applications, recycling essays from applications already completed.

DECEMBER

Applications

√ Complete the rest of your applications

√ Photocopy all pages of your applications before emailing or send them. This is a safety measure for you.

√ Confirm that your SAT and/or ACT scores are sent by the College Board and/or the ACT group to each college

√ Have your transcript sent to each college

√ Make sure that your recommenders have sent in their respective letters or forms

(adapted from Admission Possible’s Great College Admissions Blog. Thanks Admission Possible!: http://blog.admissionpossible.com/to-do-lists/453/)

WHAT IS THE COMMON APPLICATION?
The Common Application is a not-for-profit organization that serves students and member institutions by providing an admission application – online and in print – that students may submit to any of our 415 members.

WHO USES IT?
99.9% OF ALL BHSEC STUDENTS WILL USE THE COMMON APP TO APPLY TO COLLEGE!

CHANGES IN THE 2011-2012 COMMON APPLICATION

An additional 48 colleges have joined them for 2011-2012 Common Application. Most surprising is that the University of Southern California has finally joined in, as well as the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

The Common App organization has also made a few changes on their application, including;

1. A revised language proficiency question, to get a better handle on exactly what students can do.

2 An ability to re-order activities and work on the activity grid, as well as a cutting down of the activities spaces from 12 to 10. They say there is now more room to describe activities.

3. ESSAY WORD LENGTH REQUIREMENT HAS BEEN CHANGED to 250-500 (maximum) words. *THIS  IS A BIG DEAL!

4. Students will be able to access their Common App accounts via smart phones.

The online Common App will be available on August 1. As noted earlier this year, the Common App questions will remain the same.

You can and should access the Common Application this summer at:

https://www.commonapp.org/

Carleton College Liberal Arts Program

About the Program

Program Dates:

Saturday, July 9-Friday, July 15, 2011

Program Description:

Carleton College is honored to host an inspiring summer program designed for the best and brightest college-bound students representing high schools across the country. The Carleton Liberal Arts Experience (CLAE) will select 50 high school students who are current sophomores and bring them to Carleton, all expenses paid, for a one-week summer program. The CLAE program introduces the strengths of a liberal arts education through an array of courses in science, art, social sciences, and technology. Course offerings may include:

• DNA Fingerprinting: The Science of Forensics
• The Harlem Renaissance
• Write Your Way In: Strategies for Success on Your College Application

In addition, workshops are offered to assist participants with their high school and college careers. Past workshop offerings have included:

• ACT & SAT Preparation
• Keys to Getting Into College: What You Need to Know about the Application Process and Financial Aid

Eligibility:

Students of African American descent or students who have an interest in African American culture are encouraged to apply. College-bound students currently completing their sophomore year of high school are eligible for CLAE.

How to Apply:

NOMINATION

Nominate your sophomore for CLAE, here. The deadline to submit nominations is April 1, 2011.

APPLICATION

The 2011 CLAE application (PDF) is available for download on the upper right hand corner of this site.

The application includes a series of essays in which students elaborate on academic interests, community involvement, and leadership. Essay answers are typically a paragraph to a half page in length.  Letters of recommendation on the student’s behalf may be faxed to #(507) 222-4526, emailed to clae@carleton.edu, or mailed along with a student’s completed application.  We ask that at least one letter of recommendation be from an academic teacher.  The CLAE selection committee will choose 50 students based on their academic record, personal essays, and recommendations.

CLAE’s application deadline has been extended!  The new postmark deadline is Friday, April 8, 2011.

Costs:

Accepted students receive free room, board, tuition, and travel costs for the one-week CLAE program. Participants should bring funds for incidental costs.

Transportation:

Transportation to and from Carleton College will be provided. Additional details will accompany acceptance materials.

Campus Life:

Besides studying and writing, students will participate in a variety of group activities, which may include a trip to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area or to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Students will live with a roommate in Carleton residence halls, be supervised by resident assistants, and will have access to the cultural and recreational facilities of the campus: concert hall, tennis, basketball, racquetball and handball courts; soccer fields; and an 880-acre arboretum with 13 miles of hiking and jogging trails.

Attendance Policy:

CLAE is a residential program that requires full-time residence at the College for the duration of the program. Students are expected to remain on campus, with the exception of program-sponsored excursions. Only in cases of emergency, with the program director’s approval, may students be absent from the program. We make no exceptions.

Contact:

Brian Swann, Director of Outreach Programs

Address:
Carleton Liberal Arts Experience
Carleton College
100 South College Street
Northfield, MN 55057

Phone:
866-SMR-CARL (866-767-2275)

Fax:
507-222-4526

E-mail:
clae@carleton.edu

http://www.americanhiking.org/volunteerSearchRes.aspx?option=3

VOLUNTEER VACATIONS

Our nation’s trails need your help!  Join American Hiking Society for a week of building and maintaining trails in exciting and diverse locations across the country.  Bring only your camping gear and a willingness to get dirty. We provide the rest. Get Out. Give Back. NOTE: Be sure to check the “minimum age” for any trips to you want to take.

Summer Institute for Mathematics at the University of Washington

SIMUW 2011 will run from June 26 to August 6, 2011. To be eligible for admission to SIMUW, you have to be a resident of Washington, British Columbia, Oregon, Idaho, or Alaska. Furthermore you must, by the summer of 2011, have completed three years of high school mathematics, including algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and not yet have graduated from high school.

The application target date is March 1, 2011, but we will accept applications until all available places are filled.

This message will be updated to inform any potential applicants when we stop accepting applications.

The cost of room, board, participation in all program activities, and a travel allowance for admitted participants is covered by the generous funding of anonymous donors.

If you are interested in SIMUW 2011 and anticipate that you will apply, please provide us with the information requested on the accompanying form. This will allow us to keep in touch with you about our plans for the program as they continue to develop.

An application to SIMUW has four components: an application form, a decription of your academic record, solutions to some mathematical problems, and a letter of recommendation.

Here are more details on each of these items.

APPLICATION FORM. The application form is available as a PDF file. Please answer all the questions on the form.

You can find the application HERE: http://www.math.washington.edu/~simuw/thisyear/app/

ACADEMIC RECORD. Please provide a description of the mathematical topics at the high school level that you have studied, indicating the specific textbooks used and chapters studied. Include also a copy of your official transcript, which you can obtain from your school office. If you are in a Running Start program, include a copy of your community college transcript. If you are a home-schooled student, the description of topics will suffice.

MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS. A list of these problems is available as a PDF file. Make sure that you are working on the problem set entitled “2011 Problems”.

Applicants should submit solutions to the problem set even if not all problems are solved. Partial solutions will also be read and evaluated. Please send in legible, handwritten solutions that reflect how you thought about the problems. Do not send just answers. We are interested in seeing how you have arrived at your conclusions. For an indication of our expectations with regard to these solutions please see our examples.

While you are working on the problems, you may consult any books or journals, but you are not allowed to ask anyone for help. Please note that in order to be accepted to our program you do not need to solve all of the problems on the list. The important issue is that we get an idea about the way you approach them.

RECOMMENDATION LETTER. A recommendation form is available as a PDF file. Please give this form to a mathematics teacher who has worked closely with you and is familiar with your ability and motivation. If you are home schooled, you may give the form to your parent or other mathematics instructor.

If you prefer, we can send copies of the application form, mathematical problems, and recommendation form to you. Just request them via email, phone, or letter.

Please send the first three items to the address below and ask your teacher to send the completed recommendation form to this address under separate cover.

SIMUW

Department of Mathematics

University of Washington

Box 354350

Seattle, WA 98195-4350

http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/foundation/programs/student-camp-schedule/

WHAT ARE THE ENGINEERING HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER PROGRAMS AT NC STATE?

Each summer, the College of Engineering at NC State University offers rising high school freshmen through seniors the opportunity to experience engineering, science and technology at NC State.

The weekly summer workshop residential programs allow students to experience engineering, college life and NC State University. These camps provide an excellent opportunity for high school students to investigate engineering as a potential major and career. If you are interested in finding out more about the High School Engineering Summer Programs, select the FAQS button in the right-hand column. If you have specific questions regarding Engineering Summer Programs please,contact us!

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Our programs are designed to introduce students to engineering problem-solving techniques through hands-on laboratory experiences, lectures and field trips. Each week begins with check-in on Sunday afternoon from 1:00–3:00 p.m.; the workshop experience occurs each day Monday through Thursday. On Friday parents are invited to attend student presentations. Check-out begins at noon on Friday.

PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

All engineering summer programs are open to rising freshman to rising seniors, i.e., students who will be entering high school at the 9th grade all the way up to students who will begin their senior year of high school in the fall of 2011. Some of our workshops may be designated for certain students based on their current level in high school.

Selection for all programs is based on the following criteria:

• Scholastic performance
• Coursework exhibiting a strong interest in mathematics and science
• Standardized test scores: PSAT/SAT or ACT (if available)
• Women and underrepresented minorities (African-American, Hispanic and Native American) are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Camps costs $650 dollars but there are need based scholarships available.

APPLICATIONS

Applications for 2011 summer high school programs are now being accepted online. DUE MARCH 31,2011