NEWS | college
A guide to college admissions Many seniors left with questions about finding the perfect school By Annaliese Harper
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i th the start of the school year comes the start of a new school year’s application season. Many juniors and seniors feel lost in the process, but there is a simple method to do everything on time. The first part of the application process is knowing where to apply. What colleges should you look at? What things should you consider? “Don’t pay attention to U.S. News and World reports on college rankings,” said Laura Martens, Huntley’s college and careers counselor. While a school may be considered a “top school,” they might score poorly in the specific area of study you want to pursue. In addition, higher-ranked schools typically come with higher pressure and expectations. It might be better to go to a college in a city or a small town, a religious institution, or a secular school. All
these things may vary based on career options, study methods, and personal values. “College fit is the most important. You look at what the college wants out of a student, but you also look at what a student wants out of a college,” Martens said. College visits can help you decide what kind of environment and focus would be best. Huntley High School allows two college visits per semester. “In order to get it excused from [class as] ‘excused by parent’ to ‘college visit’ on powerschool, they’ll just need to take the form with them and have someone at that college sign it,” Martens said. The form needed for this can be found on the college and careers webpage as well as within the office itself. Once the colleges are picked, it is important to consider their requirements and when their window of opportunity is. “I organized it by the colleges I need to apply to for early decision and regular decision,” senior Ellie Pahl said. This is the best way to go about applying, however, the window for early application is closing Nov. 1, so some
Seniors Ava Nielsen (right) committed to Univeristy of Kentucky on Oct. 16 while senior Nikki Darnall accepted to Univesity of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sept. 3, her 18th birthday, and committed weeks later.
Courtesy of Ava Nielsen OCTOBER 29 ISSUE 2021
Courtesy of Nikki Darnall
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seniors might be out of luck. But knowing when to start can help the juniors, who will be applying next year. “I like the window of September first to November first,” Martens said. “Just because you apply on August first doesn’t mean you will beat someone who applied in September.” In addition, admission representatives would also be back in school in September, as well as teachers you can ask for letters of recommendation from. “A lot of students will ask the English teachers because [they] are such good writers. They want a well written one, but that’s not really the thing that you should use,” Martens said. “Just the teacher that knows you the best.” Common App is one of the most popular ways to compile this information, and it works well because you can save as you go. Overlapping with the end of the early application process is the beginning of the process of student aid. This month, FAFSA opened, and many students were left confused on what to do, what school year to pick, and why they should fill it out at all. Aside from the fact that it is now required for graduation in the state of Illinois, FAFSA has many benefits. “You can get up to between $100 and $6,000 in grant money, money that you won’t have to pay back,” Martens said. “FAFSA is basically just an application for grant money and for student loan money. The state of Illinois uses it [and] sometimes the college requires it.” According to Martens, if a student is currently on free and reduced lunch, or is able to get a waiver for an outside SAT test that they took because of family income, then they likely also qualify for a waiver for application fees. FAFSA should be filled out for the year the student will be attending college. For example, this year’s seniors will be filling out the form for the 20222023 school year. The process may seem like a lot, but it is important to go through it if a student plans on pursuing higher education. HUNTLEYVOICE.COM
