Fairfax County Public Schools Career Connections Preparing for College for Students

PREPARING FOR COLLEGE

Course selection, grades earned, school and community activities, and standardized testing are all factors colleges take into consideration when making admissions decisions. High school counselors are knowledgeable about college requirements and will assist students in course selection. Each high school also professionally staffs a career center that keeps updated information for students and parents and serves as a college exploration resource.
In addition, the FCPS Junior-Senior Handbook provides detailed information on this process.

THE PROCESS

IDENTIFY PRIORITIES	Think about what criteria are most important to you: programs, size of school, cost, location, competitiveness, setting, facilities, etc.
GATHER INFORMATION	Use resources found on this website, the resources in your career center and college web sites. Plan to attend college fairs and meet with college representatives when they visit your high school. School counselors and career center specialists are excellent resources for more information.
MAKE A PRELIMINARY LIST	Develop a list of 15 - 20 colleges you would like to research further.
EVALUATE EACH COLLEGE	List the advantages and disadvantages of each college. Plan to attend college open house programs if possible. Campus visits are highly recommended to gain greater insight into each school.
MAKE A FINAL LIST	Decide which colleges most nearly meet your criteria including at least one safety school and one reach school.
DEVELOP YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION PLAN	Develop a plan for college entrance assessments, applications, financial aid, and requests for recommendations and transcripts. Research scholarship opportunities.

The links below provide additional resources to assist students in the college selection and application process.

SELECTING AND APPLYING

ADMISSIONS TESTING

THE ESSAY

SELECTING A MAJOR

PAYING FOR COLLEGE

MULTICULTURAL INTERESTS

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Curator: Susan.Rexford@fcps.edu	Search FCPS:

This web site contains links to one or more web pages that are outside the FCPS network. FCPS does not control the content or relevancy of these pages.