[BHS etree] COLLEGE|CAREER: Advisor's Bulletin for Oct. 29, 2008

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College Advisor's Bulletin
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

SAT WORD OF THE DAY:  HOMOGENEOUS -- consistent; comprised of similar components.  The houses on my street are not homogeneous as they all look different from each other.  

FOR ALL STUDENTS
*Violet Richardson Award of the Soroptimist Club -- Award of $1,000 to a young woman currently between the ages of 14 and 17 who has demonstrated initiative in both identifying a problem and trying to solve it and who has had significant and noteworthy accomplishments as a volunteer.  Application available in D221.  Received deadline:  December 1.  

FOR SENIORS
*If you are applying to any colleges which require a counselor recommendation, your envelopes, secondary school report forms and transcript request forms are due in the College/Career Center no later than November 7. These are NOT needed by the UC’s and Cal States. You will need:
1. A signed Transcript Request Form (available in D173 and in the College/Career Center) for each school.  If you are under 18, your parent or guardian must sign it.  
2. Secondary School Report form for each school (this comes with your college application).  These may also be called the Counselor Recommendation form or the School Report form.  
3. Large envelope (9 x 12 inches) addressed to each school with Berkeley High School as the return address.  Put 3 stamps on the envelope.($1.17)
4. Clip the forms for each school to the outside of each envelope.
5. Clip all of the above for all of the schools together with the College Application Checklist (purple form, available in the College/Career Center) on the front.

FREE SAT PREP CLASS AT BERKELEY HIGH -- Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:45-5:45, H103. Tuesday focuses on math preparation and Wednesday focuses on critical reading and writing.  No sign-up is necessary.  

FREE SAT SUBJECT TEST PRACTICE -- The People’s Test Preparation Service is holding practice tests and instruction on two SAT subject tests:
November 8 - English Literature, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, 234 Dwinelle Hall at UC Berkeley
November 9 - Math 2, 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, 234 Dwinelle Hall at UC Berkeley.  
Please bring number 2 pencils and a calculator.  All other materials will be provided.  

Did you miss the meeting, “Senior Parent College Night” on October 7th?  DVD’s of the event are now available to borrow for up to two nights.  Contact Ms. Breiter at firecat_breiter at berkeley.k12.ca.us to borrow the DVD.  

Both the UC application (www.universityofcalifornia.edu/apply) and the Cal State application (www.csumentor.edu) are available online. The deadline for the UC application is November 30.  The priority deadline for the Cal State applications is also November 30.  For many Cal State campuses, this will be the final deadline.  Those campuses definitely include:  Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, Sonoma State, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego State.  However, many other Cal State campuses may close applications on November 30 as well, so consider this to be the final deadline.  We urge you to get your applications in by November 30th, and preferably earlier as both websites get extremely busy (and slow) at the end of November.  Check the schedule for workshops on essay writing and completing these applications. The schedule is available on both the Daily Bulletin and the College Advisor’s Bulletin, as well as on the College Advisor’s website.
 Both college advisors are also available to review your applications before they are submitted, but will need a day or two of turn-around time, so don’t wait until the last minute.

ESSAY READERS -- Get feedback on your draft of your college essay/personal statement from experienced essay readers.  Readers will be available every day at 8:00-9:00 am, lunchtime and after school, 2:30-4:00.  First come, first served.

ESSAY WRITING WORKSHOPS
Sign up in advance in the College/Career Center to attend.			  
Tuesday, November 4, 3:30 pm, Conference Room B
MORE TO COME

COLLEGE APPLICATION WORKSHOPS -- ALL HELD IN THE LIBRARY COMPUTER LAB
You must sign up in advance in the College/Career Center to attend.  15 person maximum per workshop.
Thursday, 10/30, 7:30 am -- UC/CSU 
Thursday, 10/30, 3:30 pm -- UC/CSU --NEW ADDITION
Wednesday, November 5, 7:30 am -- UC/CSU
Wednesday, November 5, 3:30 pm -- Common App
Thursday, November 6, 3:30 pm -- UC/CSU
Thursday, November 13, 7:30 am -- Common App
MORE TO COME

COLLEGE VISITS
Over 100 college representatives visit Berkeley High’s College/Career Center every year.  Seniors may attend up to 10 of those meetings, with the permission of the teacher whose class they are missing.  Sign up in advance in the College/Career Center and pick up a permission slip.  The complete October list is available at http://bhs.berkeley.net/index.php?page=finding-a-college .

TODAY -- Wednesday, October 29
8:30 Portland State (OR)
9:30 Bates (ME)
12:20 Boston University (MA)
2:20 University of Chicago (IL)

Thursday, October 30
9:30 Seattle University (WA)

Tuesday, November 4
8:30 Grinnell (IA)
12:20 Swarthmore (PA)
1:20 Syracuse (NY)

*Thursday, November 6
12:20 Whitman (WA)

SAT/ACT TEST DATES -- November 5 is the regular registration deadline for the December 6 SAT and SAT subject tests.  November 7 is the regular registration deadline for the December 13 ACT.  THESE ARE THE LAST TESTS ACCEPTED BY ALL UC CAMPUSES AND MANY CAL STATE CAMPUSES.  Fee waivers for low income students are available in D221.  

COLLEGE INFORMATION SESSIONS IN THE BAY AREA
1. Dartmouth, Thayer School of Engineering -- Wednesday, October 29, 7:00-8:30 pm, New Enterprise Associates, 2490 Sand Hill road, Menlo Park.  Presentation by Dean Joseph Helble.  RSVP to Jennifer.Seiler at dartmouth.edu or call 866-488-1764.  
2. Pepperdine University -- Sunday, November 2, 3:00-5:00 pm, Crowne Plaza San Francisco Airport, 1177 Airport Blvd., Burlingame.  RSVP at http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/admission/rsvp 
3. Franklin College Switzerland -- Sunday, November 2, 4:00-5:30 pm, The Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell St., SF.  RSVP at nyadmissions at fc.edu or call 718-335-6800.
4. University of British Columbia -- Saturday, November 8, 2:00-4:00 pm, Hotel 480, 480 Sutter Street, San Francisco.  To register, go to http://you.ubc.ca and create an account.  

SCHOLARSHIPS 
USDA National Scholars Program -- This scholarship provides full tuition, room and board, employment, and more for 4 years to students pursuing a bachelor’s degree at one of 18 HBCU campuses.  Students must major in any field of study in agriculture, food, natural resource sciences or other related disciplines.  Students must be a US citizen, have a combined SAT total of 1,500 or above (using all 3 sections) or a composite ACT of 21 or above, and have a GPA of 3.0 or above.  Deadline:  February 1.  Applications available in D221.

Burger King Scholars Program -- Open to all seniors with a minimum GPA of 2.5 who works an average of 15 hours per week or 40 weeks per year who is actively involved in community service activities, demonstrates financial need and plans to enroll in an accredited two or four year college, university or vocational/technical school in the fall.  $1,000 scholarship.  Apply at www.bk.com/scholars .  Access Key:  BKS.  Deadline: February 2, 2009.   

Ron Brown Scholarship -- Open to African-American or Black high school seniors who demonstrate academic achievement, leadership ability, participate in community service activities and demonstrate financial need who are US citizens or permanent residents.  Up to 20 students will receive $10,000 per year for four years.  Two deadlines:  November 1 (considered for Ron Brown Scholarship and forwarded to additional colleges and scholarship providers) and January 9 (considered for Ron Brown scholarship only).  Apply at www.ronbrown.org . 
 
Gates Millennium Scholars Program -- Open to African American, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students who are citizens, nationals or legal permanent residents of the US, with a minimum cumulative unweighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale who have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in community service, extracurricular or other activities and meet the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria.  Deadline:  January 12, 2009. Applications available in D221 or at www.gmsp.org . 

*New to the bulletin today