Juniors

Internet Searches

To get started, you can search in platforms such as Naviance's SuperMatch, College Board's Big Future, and College Simply to see which colleges may be a good fit for you. These are platforms where you can enter your academic interests, region of the country, size of the school, and other pertinent information and the search engines will send back likely matches.

College Visits

Take some time to visit college websites, participate in virtual college visits, come to EHS college visits, do in-person college visits if campuses are open, and attend college fairs where you hear about many different kinds of colleges.

When you travel through a town with a college, stop by and visit – even if you don't think you'd like to go there. It's good to see small and large campuses, rural and urban campuses, big sports schools and small liberal arts colleges – .you may surprise yourself with what feels the most comfortable.

Colorado has a lot of good places to visit to get a feel for this. The University of Denver and the University of Colorado Denver are good examples of urban universities; the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University are good examples of large research universities;  Colorado College is an excellent small liberal arts college; Western Colorado University and Colorado Mesa University are great examples of regional or rural campuses.  It's fun to go around and see all the differences.

EHS College Visits and Resources

EHS offers college visits throughout the year but the bulk of them take place in the fall. 

When you’re a junior, make sure you participate in some of these visits, so you can hear what kinds of questions seniors are asking and what the colleges consider most important. The admissions representatives who visit with EHS are usually the ones who review your application so this is a good opportunity to meet them and put yourself on their radar!

If a college of interest doesn’t visit EHS, be sure to reach out to the admissions representative for Colorado at that college and set up a personal visit with them to ask really good questions!

• Why a women’s college?
• Military Academies: What You Need to Know

Books

Some of the books in the College and Career Center we have for you to borrow:

• Colleges That Change Lives
• Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania
• College Beyond the States: European Schools That Will Change Your Life Without Breaking the Bank
• Colleges That Create Futures, 2nd Edition: 50 Schools That Launch Careers by Going Beyond the Classroom
• Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You
• The UnCollege Alternative: Your Guide to Incredible Careers and Amazing Adventures Outside College

Build Your Own College Rankings

What is a first-generation college student? The broadest definition of a first-generation college student is someone whose family lacks a college-going tradition. A more exact definition can vary from a student with only one parent with a college degree, to a student with a college-educated parent who is not involved in their life, to a student with parents with associate degrees, to a student whose parents have not completed a bachelor's degree, to a student with parents with no higher education.

Despite this confusion, more colleges and organizations are paying attention to the needs of first-generation students. Students who tap into resources and programs have a better chance of graduating and entering the workforce with a bachelor's degree. 

Here are some links for navigating the resources available for first generation college students:

Scholarship opportunities

Always check at each college in which you're interested for first-generation scholarships. Read more about scholarships for first-gen students.

Articles and Information

• World Changing First Generation Students, Colorado Mesa University
• First Generation at CSU, Colorado State University
• First-Generation Initiatives, Metropolitan State University of Denver
• Learn About First Gen Students, University of Colorado
• First Generation Students, University of Colorado Boulder
• Access and Transitions, University of Denver
• Western Helps Family "Firsts,"  Western Colorado University
• Are You First Gen? Depends on Who's Asking, The New York Times, November 3, 2017.
• We Must Help First-Generation Students master Academe's 'Hidden Curriculum', The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2018.
• How Educational Opportunity Programs graduate first-generation college students, Hechinger Report, January 7, 2019.
• What Is a First-Generation College Student?, Best Colleges website, July 1, 2020.
• Demographic Characteristics and Postsecondary Enrollment Data, U.S. Department of Education NASPA.

Do some research on your colleges of interest:

• Find out the average/median SAT and ACT scores for the incoming class
• Find out the average/median GPA for the incoming class
• Does this college want your unweighted or weighted GPA?
• Learn about what each college thinks is an important part of your application

See where you fit into that spectrum...you are most likely to receive merit scholarships from colleges where you are in the top ⅓ to ½ of those median scores.

Also look into:

• Academic areas of interest the college offers
• Dual degree programs
• Concurrent bachelor's/master's programs you can complete in five to six years
• Extracurricular activities they offer
• Housing and dining offerings
• Accommodations and support for learning disabilities
• Anything else that is important to you!

We recommend setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of all this information!

When you visit with colleges, make sure you sign in officially – admissions representatives make note of how many times you visit either in person or virtually, as they are looking for applicants with a strong interest in their school. It's like a little gold star by your application if you've shown some interest. 

You can sign up right now with colleges of interest to start receiving their emails...they will keep your information on file for your year of application.

College Visit TipsEmail Tips

When you ask questions of admissions representatives, ask about topics you cannot typically find on their website – it demonstrates that you've already done your research and are digging deep. They'll remember you! Here are some suggestions:

• What kinds of internships do you offer in my area of interest?
• Do you offer study-abroad opportunities?
• Do you super score your tests?
• Are there different admissions requirements for different majors?

While you're looking at colleges, use these resources to help you assess your preferences:

• Big Future Campus Visit Checklist
• Big Future Campus Visit Score Card
• Questions to Ask on a College Tour

We recommend students set up spreadsheets for the college search process that include information about each school:

• Majors of interest to you
• Application deadlines
• Average/median SAT/ACT scores for the incoming class
• Average/median GPA for the incoming class
• Types of housing
• Type of college – large or small, urban or rural, etc.
• Other things in which you're interested: do they offer study abroad? Dual degree programs? Options where you can earn your master's as well, etc.
• Financial aid opportunities
• Scholarship opportunities to include application deadlines
• Whatever else interests you – quality of food, dorm rooms, etc.

Check out this podcast

podcast link

Use your summer wisely! You'll want to get organized during the summer before your senior year. Your scorecards and spreadsheet(s) will help. 

• Think about teacher letters of recommendation. Who do you think will write a good letter of recommendation for you? It doesn't need to be someone with whom you've gotten straight As; maybe a teacher saw you really struggle and succeed. That can be a very powerful recommendation 
• In the fall of your senior year, only request letters of recommendation if you need them. We cannot stress this enough. Recommenders write these letters during their free time, so please only ask for what you need. You can figure out if you need letters by looking at each college's website and navigating to their application information. If you need one letter for all your college applications then only ask one person. Some colleges will NOT require any. Many will require one or two max. Naviance will only allow us to send what a college is asking for and no more.
• Get started on your applications. 
• Once you start senior year, things move fast. Colorado Free App Day is usually in October of your senior year, so if you want to take advantage of that, your applications need to be ready early on. But do not let early deadlines cause you to submit an application before it’s ready. It would be better to wait for the next deadline and make sure your application is as good as can be...you only get one chance to submit it.

See the college timelines above for explanations of the different kinds of deadlines colleges use. You'll need to research each college's specific deadlines and their requirements. The University of Colorado Boulder, for example, requires all materials to be submitted by their deadline. Some universities, on the other hand, only require your application by their deadline, with other materials, such as your transcript and teacher letters of recommendation, can be submitted after the deadline. 

Common App, which is used by hundreds of colleges around the country, opens its application July 1 before your senior year. Set up a Common App account. You can begin to fill out the preliminary information in your account before your senior year even starts.

The Common App essay prompts are also released on that day. It’s a good idea for rising seniors to draft their application essays during the summer and then work on them with English teachers in the early fall. 

College Essay Tips

How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?

In general, most high school students apply to 7-10 colleges. But many apply to fewer. The goal is to aim for a variety of colleges. Definitely apply to your reach school(s) – the college(s) you dream of attending! A reach school is one you are less likely to get into – one where your GPA and test scores place you in the bottom 25% of incoming freshmen. But you should plan on applying to more than one institution, making sure you have at least one safety and one target school in your applications. A safety school is one to which you are likely to be accepted.  A target school is one to which you have a reasonable chance of being admitted.  So, that means thinking about several places which would be suitable for you.

Many students target two to three safety schools, three to four target schools and two to three reach schools. Most of these applications, however, will have application fees attached to them, so that is a big consideration for you and your family. It is possible, however, to ask for fee waivers for the applications.

College Application Process

If you want to go to college, you'll begin the application process your senior year. One important part of the application process is sending each college your official documents from Evergreen High School.

These documents include your initial transcript (with all grades through junior year), your mid-year transcript in January (which includes your fall semester senior year grades), your EHS teacher letters of recommendation, your EHS counselor letter of recommendation, and official forms you'll sign which give us permission to send these documents out.  It is important to understand what each college wants, so you'll need to carefully read their application directions.

Some colleges, for example, want zero letters of recommendation; others want two or more letters of recommendation. Maybe you'll want to send an art teacher's letter to an art college and a science teacher's letter to a STEM college. So that we send out the correct documents, you'll need to inform us.

We know the college application process is overwhelming. EHS counselors have therefore created step-by-step instructions to help you with the process of getting your official EHS documents to your institutions. Always reach out to your counselor if you have additional questions. 

As a senior, continue to review information on this webpage. We will let you know about changes in deadlines and other pertinent information we receive.

If you have registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center, please notify Ms. Janet (janet.prell@jeffco.k12.co.us, 303-982-5485) in the College and Career Center that you would like your transcript uploaded to the center.