Reed and Yale visits to Bay Area

Yale University will hold information sessions:

In San Francisco:
Monday, Oct. 6, 7 p.m.
Urban School of San Francisco
1663 Page St.

In Oakland:
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m.
Oakland Technical High School
4351 Broadway

Reed College will hold college fairs:

In Palo Alto
Monday, Oct. 13
6:30-9 p.m.
Henry Gunn High School
780 Arastradero Road

In Alameda
Thursday, Oct. 16, 6-8 p.m.
College of Alameda
555 Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway

Reed Admission Counselor Beth Barteletti will conduct interviews (seniors only):
In South San Francisco
Sunday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North
670 Gateway Blvd.

In Mountain View
Monday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn Mountain View
840 East El Camino Real

In San Francisco
Saturday, Oct. 18
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Villa Florence Hotel
225 Powell St.

Reed's information doesn't indicate that reservations are needed for the interviews.

Performing-Visual Arts College Fair in SF Oct. 5

The annual Performing and Visual Arts College Fair comes to San Francisco:

Saturday, Oct. 5
1-3 p.m.
Regency Center,
Sutter Room
1270 Sutter St. at Van Ness
San Francisco

The fair, like the general college fair, is presented by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). NACAC's Performing and Visual Arts Fair page offers further information for applicants interested in the arts.

The general college fair, aimed at juniors, doesn't come to San Francisco until April 4, 2009.

CSU application period opens Oct. 1

Heads up: You can submit your applications very soon. Remember to keep tabs on the application periods and deadlines for schools you're interested in. To get going on your CSU applications, go to www.csumentor.com.

Admissions events coming up

It's time to step up posting the Bay Area events run by individual colleges this fall to pitch themselves to students, and vice versa. Here are three, with lots more on the way.

Argo Day at the campus
Notre Dame de Namur University
Belmont, Calif.
Sunday, Oct. 19
9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
RSVP by Oct. 13 here
Map here

Discover USC
University of Southern California

Santa Clara
Saturday, Oct. 25, 1-3 p.m.
Marriott Santa Clara, 2700 Mission College Blvd
Berkeley
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2-4 p.m.
Claremont Resort and Spa, 41 Tunnel Road

Humboldt State University Admissions Day
at the campus
Arcata, Calif.
Saturday, Oct. 25
Register for Admissions Day by Oct. 20 here
Map here

Colleges' information sessions

The college information sessions are starting up — colleges come to town to make presentations and recruit the plum local students.

A card from Stanford arrived in our mailbox on Sept. 12 announcing that the only currently scheduled traveling information session was Sept. 7 (in Oakland) — not that it's so hard to get to the actual campus for a visit from here. The card had a nonworking URL to learn about more info sessions, too, but here's the (currently) working one:

http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/areas/index.html#CA

Students interested in Stanford can keep checking to learn if more will be scheduled.


American University in Washington, D.C., will be here on Sunday, Oct. 19:

San Francisco, CA
Parc 55 Hotel (off Market Street near Union Square)
Oct. 19, 2 to 4 p.m.

A checklist for seniors

A friend sent this checklist our way. It comes from Urban HS and is the kind of counselling support that one gets at a private school. Nothing revolutionary here, just a simple checklist.

Summer Questions Completed
Registered on Common Application
www.commonapp.org
Met with Counselor
Contacted Colleges
You should contact and get on the email/mailing list of every college that you are interested in - whether you plan to apply or not.
Registered for SAT's
www.collegeboard.com
Finalized College List
Requested Teacher Recommendations
Most colleges will require two teacher recommendations. A teacher will write for every college to which you plan to apply. Be sure to talk to teachers early in the year and give them plenty of time to write your recommendation. Then, send them an email through Family Connection under the "College" link.
Registered for CSS Profile
Required by some private colleges. Should be submitted when you submit the application.
Registered for FAFSA	January 1st
If you apply for financial aid, all colleges will require this form. Must be submitted after January 1st (soon after!) www.fafsa.com
Completed and sent UC Application	November 30th.
apply here
Submitted all applications to colleges
Send SAT scores to colleges
Submitted FAFSA to all colleges

I had never heard of the common application before. Good to know, eh?

"MAP to College"

Sometimes, amid the the torrent of spam, I get intereting mail. Like this one about an interesting seminar/workshop for seniors:

Fourth Annual "MAP to College", Fall 2008
University of California, San Francisco
513 Parnassus
September 19, 2008
9:00 A.M - 3:00P.M.
[Check-in opens at 8:30 A.M.]

MAP stands for "Money, Application, and Personal Statements." At "MAP to College" you can attend workshops on:

• Financial Aid (in English, Spanish, and Cantonese)
• Completing Applications for UC, CSU, and Community Colleges
• Writing a strong Personal Statement
• Transferring to a four-year university from a Community College
• You will also be able to speak with representatives from local colleges and college access programs. Click here for last year's agenda.

I'll be adding events to this year's College Beast calendar, so if you hear about anything interesting, let us know with a comment.