Getting Into College: Summer Break

It’s summer. You have no school, and life is good. Between sleeping late and spending time at the pool (or something more constructive), there’s a little voice in the back of your head:

“Hmm, maybe I should be doing something for college…”

You should definitely be listening to that voice, it has your best interest in mind. Well, there are some things that you should be doing and things that you don’t have to worry about. The first thing that you DON’T have to worry about is the most fun: CLASSES!! Your grades are the most important factor in getting into college, but when you don’t have classes, you don’t have anything to worry about!

So what should you be doing?

Prepare for the ACT/SAT

At PreazyPrep, we always encourage prepping for the big standardized tests (okay, we’re biased, but they are still very important!). There are two benefits to doing your prep in the summer: no school to worry about and lots of choices for test dates. The first benefit should be obvious, with no school it’s easier to focus on the ACT or SAT, which will help you increase your score faster.

The second benefit is that most test dates for both the ACT and the SAT are in the fall. This means that when you prep in the summer, you can take the test, and if you still feel you can get a better score, you have enough time to do some more work and go back for that better score.

Start Looking at Colleges / Narrow Your College List

This activity depends on how close you are to actually doing your applications. If you are going to be a freshman or a sophomore, congratulations on starting to think about college so early. As a reward, you’re task is easy: start looking at colleges and getting excited! Start making a list of schools you think are interesting or you would like to go to. Do some research and find what sets these schools apart. Let yourself get excited; looking at colleges should be fun. Don’t worry about narrowing down your list… that will come later. Right now, your list should be big, diverse, and exciting.

Now, for the rising juniors and seniors, you have a little tougher task. Don’t worry, it should still be exciting, but you have to do a little more work. First, if you haven’t made a broad list of schools, start there. Make sure to look at schools you know and schools you’ve never heard of. Find something special about each school.

When narrowing down schools, you need to take an honest look at your grades and your test scores and compare those to the average scores of the schools you’re looking at. You want to have a variety of schools, some where you are ahead of the averages and some that you may need to put in a little more work. Don’t get discouraged in this stage, and don’t eliminate a school just because your grades and scores are lower than the school’s averages. Remember, it’s only an average. Nearly half the students have scores lower than the average.

This is a very hard step, but it’s an essential first step in looking at schools. The thing to remember is the college applications and admissions are more than just numbers. Just like you looked for interesting and unique factors in colleges, your application, when done right, should tell the colleges all the interesting and unique factors about you.

Once you have a range of schools, choose the ones that you are most excited about. If you’re a senior, you should have between six and ten schools. If you’re a junior, you don’t have to narrow your schools that much, but you should be getting close to these numbers.

Once you’ve narrowed your list, you’re nearly done. The only other thing left is to learn as much about each school as possible. The more you do this now, the less you’ll have to do around application time, and trust us, you’ll be busy enough then.

To Visit or Not To Visit?

On one hand, summer is a great time to visit schools since you don’t have any school of your own, but on the other hand, it’s hard to tell a lot about a school during the summer. If you can visit a school when students are in classes, it is always best to do so. When students are there, you get a better feel for what life is really like, and it’s easier to pick up on those intangibles that make some schools great.

However, if you have a really busy schedule, it’s much better to visit a school in the summer than to not visit at all. Just walking around the school and seeing pictures that aren’t in a school sponsored brochure or website can really make a big difference.

Summer Activities

There are a lot more things you can do to make yourself a better candidate, and it really depends on the student what that is. These activities could be a summer job, volunteering, summer sports league, taking summer classes, or whatever else you do. Like all activities, it’s generally better to be deeply involved (with a possible leadership position) in a handful of things than to try to do everything.

In the end, you should enjoy your summer, but you should also be aware of the things that you can be doing to help get yourself into college.

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ACT Registration Deadline – September 2010

The registration deadline for the ACT offered on September 11th, 2010 is August 6th. If you are planning on taking the test, be sure to register on time to avoid paying any late fees.

You can register online through the ACT website or you can register by mail with a packet you can get at your guidance counselor’s office.

If you don’t register on time, you can still register for the ACT up to August 20th, but you’ll have to pay a late fee of $21.

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NCAA Division I Eligibility Calculator

Preazy Prep is pleased to announce the introduction of the NCAA Division I Eligibility Calculator. This free tool will allow athletes to determine the minimum ACT score needed to become eligible for an NCAA scholarship. Determining eligibility can often be confusing because the NCAA uses a sliding scale based on the grades received in specific courses to determine the minimum required ACT score.

The three main academic requirements for NCAA eligibility are:

  1. Completion of Required Core Classes
  2. Core Grade Point Average (over 2.00)
  3. Minimum required ACT / SAT score

All these requirements are related. These requirements are described in more detail below:

Required Core Classes

Prior to graduation, each student must complete 16 units (32 semesters) of core courses. Courses that qualify as core courses are: English, math, physical sciences, social sciences, foreign language and philosophy. Courses that do NOT qualify as core courses are: physical education (football, basketball, cheerleading, etc), religion (faith-based), and any independent study courses.

When filling out the online NCAA calculator, you will see that each course goes in a specific category. It is important that by the time you graduate, you have completed the minimum required courses.

Core GPA

To ensure fairness, the NCAA does not use the same grade point average (GPA) that is computed by your school. Instead, your core GPA is determined based on the grades you receive in your core classes alone. A standard scale (A = 4.0, B = 3.0, etc) is then applied to the grades to get a core GPA. When planning your curriculum, keep in mind that both honors and advanced placement courses use the same scale as regular courses. The minimum required GPA to qualify for an NCAA scholarship is 2.00.

Standardized Test Score (ACT / SAT)

Once you have found your core GPA, the NCAA uses a sliding scale to determine the required test score. On the sliding scale, the higher your core GPA, the lower the required ACT score. When you use the NCAA eligibility calculator, you will get both a composite ACT score, which is the overall score that you need to get on the ACT as well as the the required sum of all the sections. This is the sum of the scores of the four main subject areas of the ACT (English, math, reading, and science). In order to be eligible for an NCAA scholarship, the sum of your scores on all four sections must meet or exceed your minimum required score.

Do not wait until the last minute to take the ACT. Make sure you have the score you need by signing up for our online ACT preparation course. Not sure what your score is? Try our free online ACT test to see where you stand.

The NCAA eligibility calculator is a free tool provided by Preazy Prep to help students, parents, and coaches better understand the academic requirements for athletes. To find the calculator in the future, check under the ‘Resources’ tab near the top of the page. Check back soon for more tools and information from PreazyPrep.com.

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ACT Registration Deadline September 18th

Important reminder for all Juniors and Seniors:

The deadline to sign up for the October 24th ACT test is September 18th. If you miss this registration deadline, you’ll have to pay a $21 late fee (late registration is from September 19th to October 2nd).

If you register now, you still have enough time to complete the Preazy Prep ACT Course to raise your score or take a free practice test to see where your scores are.

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PreazyPrep.com Launches ACT Prep Course

After many months of development and testing, I am very proud to announce the launch of the Preazy Prep ACT Preparation Course.

This course uses the Preazy Method to teach the strategies that will help you raise your score. The course includes:

  • Three Full Length Practice ACT Tests
  • 30 Lessons Teaching the Four ACT Subject Areas (English, Math, Reading, and Science)
  • A Customized Curriculum Based on your Strengths and Weaknesses
  • 24/7 Access to All Lesson Material
  • No Time Limit.  You can keep working until you are happy with your score.
  • Continual Updates of New Features – As we add more ACT tools and content, subscribers will always have access to all the new features.

The initial price of the Preazy Prep ACT course is $99.99.  You can sign up for the full version here, or get started with the free trial.

We look forward to seeing everyone raising their scores!

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Welcome to the PreazyPrep.com Blog!

PreazyPrep.com is dedicated to increasing access to higher education by providing quality test preparation at low costs. Our main product is currently our online ACT preparation program, however, test prep is only one piece in the process of college admissions.

In order to increase the level of access and knowledge about college admissions, this blog will serve as a central location for all the latest news, trends, and discussion about college preparation. Please feel free to log in and leave a comment about any posts or suggestions for new articles.

College Admission Trends

The college admissions process is complicated and changing quickly due to the influence of online applications and increasing competition for limited spots. This can cause a lot of confusion, but it can also provide opportunities and valuable lessons for when it’s your turn to go through college admissions.

College admissions itself is such a broad subject not only because there are over 4,100 colleges in the United States alone, but because the process of applying to each is just a little different. How do you go about planning your applications? How many schools should you apply to? What makes one school great for one student and lousy for another?

With all this complexity, Preazy Prep will work to provide information and tools that will simplify this complex process and share useful information.

Test Preparation News

With all the attention and pressure on standardized testing in the news, this area of college preparation develops very rapidly. As a student applying to college or a parent trying to navigate the admissions process, staying on top of recent developments can be difficult.

While the ACT and SAT aren’t the only factors in college admissions, they are extremely important. Just as a lower score can keep a student out of the colleges they want, a high score can put them over the edge and even provide scholarship money.

As college admissions professionals, Preazy Prep works to keep you informed of the latest news, so that you can make educated decisions regarding college testing.

Company Announcements

As Preazy Prep expands its offerings, and grows as a company, the blog will be used to give periodic updates about the new ways we are working to provide new services.

On behalf of the Preazy Prep team, welcome to our site. We hope you find it both useful and interesting for all your college preparation questions.

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