Applying to College

Planning, Research and

To Do List

Brainstorming and Writing Personal Statement & Essays

Items to Complete for Tracking and supplemental documents

Links to Actual Applications

where you will apply

Paying for College

Get a Plan (What is important to you)?

Free Guide to Writing a Personal Statement  

Make a list of colleges in Naviance

Common Application used for private and some out of CA schools.  (most require Essays)

Matching Common App & Naviance Account

(You must match your accounts so your counselor can send your transcripts and letters of recommendation)

First step is to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CACAA for Undocumented students)  All of these applications require parents financial/tax information.

This will determine if you qualify for Need Based Aid and compute your Families Expected Contribution (FEC)

Finding colleges that are a fit for you

Supplemental Essays Crash Course

Complete the Brag Sheet Survey

University of California Schools

(require 4 short essays, must have 3.0 GPA and no D,F grades)

Merit Based / Need Based Scholarships through colleges

Some colleges offer this type of money automatically through the application, while others require an additional application.  Some schools offer money through foundations which require the submission of the CSS Profile application.  ONLY COMPLETE CSS Profile if REQUIRED by college

Links to other college search tools

Getting started with the UC Personal Insight Questions (video from College Essay Guy)

Do YOU need a

Letter of Recommendation?

If you are applying to Private or Out of State Schools you might.  Go to the school website and look at "Application Requirements"

Request Teacher Letters of Rec.

Request Counselor Letter of Rec.  (due 11/20)

California State Universities

(No essays, must have 2.5 GPA, no D,F grades)

Non School Scholarships can be found through various places.  Here is a free search tool where you make a profile and it alerts you of scholarships that match you.

Which Application do you use?  

Naviance

The tracking tool used by Westmont to send transcripts and Letters of Recommendation. Use school zip code 95008 to find Westmont and then login Continue with Single Sign On using school gmail. 

Some colleges use an application called Coalition.  This is similar to the Common Application in that you can apply to several schools with one application.  

Scholarships local to Westmont community

Some of these are need based and some are merit based.  If you complete this General Scholarship Application, we will send you notifications of scholarships you are eligible for and you should complete those applications.