College Planning & Placement
Your Dream College Is Within Reach
Senior Athletes
If you are interested in playing a sport at the college level, it would be in your best interest to apply to the NCAA Clearinghouse. While Mrs. Mackin is able to submit your transcripts, you need to have your ACT test scores submitted directly from ACT to the NCAA Clearinghouse. You also need to make sure your courses at Gibault meet NCAA requirements. NCAA eligibility standards are on page 38 of your curriculum guide. Please see Mrs. Mackin if you have any questions.
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and College Planning
A college planning meeting open to sophomores, juniors and seniors is held in September. Details on meeting date and time will be sent via email to families at the beginning of the school year.
College Visits for Students
Colleges and universities visiting Gibault will be announced via Teacherease and are open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.
ACT Test Information
For the latest test dates and information, click onto www.act.org. Gibault will host the April test. When deciding which school to attend, check if the school requires the written portion of the ACT for admission. Currently, only 16% of four-year colleges and universities require the written portion. You can check at www.actstudent.org/writing.
Free College Financial Aid Help Available
From “Get Set for College” a free publication for Illinois parents and students: “Students and parents who want a barometer of their potential eligibility for need-based federal aid before submitting an official form can get it from the Financial Aid Need Estimator, developed by ACT. The estimator, a free service, is unique among online financial aid need calculators in its ability to compute your estimated actual costs at thousands of specific U.S. colleges after taking your financial aid need into account. The estimator is confidential. It does not ask for a user’s identity nor does it retain any of the financial data entered. The estimates are useful for financial planning because they are calculated according to the federal formula that determines official results. For more information, go www.act.org/fane.
Important College Planning Web Pages
www.collegeboard.com/splash
There is just a tremendous amount of information on this site. Click on College QuickFinder about the college of your choice. What I found extremely helpful was the Admission Requirements in terms of what is very important, important, and considered. Click on the tab “For Students” and you will find everything you need to know…how to plan for college, how to find a college, apply online, guidelines to writing your college essay, and most importantly, how to pay for college. There is a similar tab for parents.
http://www.bls.gov/search/ooh.asp?ct=OOH
This is through the U.S. Department of Labor. It is the Occupational Outlook Handbook and does a great job of detailing specifics about jobs, required training and education, employment forecast, and anticipated salary.
www.collegenet.com
This is a easy-to-use site that provides information on colleges and universities. You can search for colleges by region, sport, majors, tuitions, etc. Also included are direct access to schools’ homepages and online applications for admissions, financial aid, and scholarships.
www.mapping-your-future.org
Mapping Your Future is a public services, nonprofit Web site providing career, college, financial aid information and services to students and their families.
www.ecampustours.com/default.aspx
This is a very engaging site. The most helpful component is the career exploration. Be sure to check out the virtual tours. Register for an account with ecampustours and you are also registered for a $1,000 scholarship.
www.fastweb.com
Free scholarship search!
www.iacac.org/resources/
This is the Illinois Association of College Admission Counseling site. It has excellent resources for students such as state universities in Illinois information, application deadlines, a link to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, etc.
www.illinoismentor.org/Career/Careercenter
This is a great site for researching careers, skills and tasks associated with a particular career, related degrees, and Illinois schools that offer a degree in this field.
www.catholiccollegesonline.org
Link onto Catholic colleges and universities across the country.
www.finaid.org
A comprehensive site for scholarships and other types of financial aid.
www.number2.com
Free test prep for the ACT, SAT, and GRE.
www.scholarships.com
A good site for reliable scholarship and financial aid information.
www.swic.edu
Southwestern Illinois College website.