PTIS International School
Careers Counselling

Preparing for tertiary entrance and careers is a critical and time dependant exercise involving the student, the family and support from the school. Planning and investigating interests and aptitudes starts at least two years before graduation.

Commitment to research contacts and visits are a significant responsibility as well as building an excellent portfolio of co-curricular activities, community participation as well as grades.

The information below is an amalgamation of resources from many sources. While this document contains the best and latest information and the best sites for research, it is not exclusive. College and University information changes quickly and entry criteria can change without notice. Hence we cannot guarantee the accuracy of information provided although every attempt has been made to ensure it is correct.

It always remains the personal responsibility of the student and their family to gain entry to College /University and to inform themselves about all conditions. The counsellor's role at PTIS is to aid this process.

Due to the diversity of our student body, the philosophy of the Career Counselling at PTIS is to work closely alongside each student with their individual college/university plans. Whether it is course planning through high school or the college application process for universities around the world, our counsellor will work closely with students to determine the best options and to help them realize their post secondary goals.

Students will naturally be worried about where they are going,what the cost is,can they get a scholarship,what major should they do and what University to rank first ,second and third in their applications.Since this time is one of huge anxiety and each student's need is slightly different, the counsellor will work specifically with the student on a one to one basis. The goal is to help students find the best fit in the college selection process.

It is our desire to find the best university for each individual student, where they can find individual, academic and personal success. Our counsellor has had extensive experience sending students to universities around the world and has successfully met the needs of students with a wide range of needs, goals and expectations.

Action Plan for Grades 10-12

The following is a task list of college preparation items with suggested general dates for students in Grades 10 - 12. We hope you find this information pertinent as you work on the process of preparing to apply to university.

Career Exploration
Throughout the year in Grade 10 ,11and sometimes 12 , students will use Myroad.com to take a personality inventory called I.D. Me which will help students focus on possible careers based on their particular personality type. With access to other sites mentioned here, students may further investigate details of each of these careers options. Grade 10 is the best year for students to explore careers prior to entering grade11 and the formal college search.

College/University Planning
Starting in early September colleges and universities from around the world begin to visit PTIS in order to introduce students to their institutions and programs. Students are advised of the times of these events and encouraged to attend. Students in grades 11 and 12 are strongly encouraged to attend these sessions. PTIS will also host a College Fair at well advertised times. The site Collegeboard.com has a free function called My Organiser which can help with the planning process.

Grade 11 – Prep and Plan Checklist
August:

• Check PTIS Graduation requirements, College entry requirements and your academic record.

September

• Focus on studies, Attend individual College Presentations

October:

• Register for the PSAT if you are interested in the Merit Scholarship Program

November,December January

• General research of Universities and Colleges developing your list. US citizens should apply for social security number. Work on Myroad.com

February,March

• Grade 11 College Information and formal meeting with counsellor. Consider taking the May SAT. Register for TOEFL if needed.
• Research and list up to 20 colleges of interest

April/May

• Narrow list through further research to 10 institutions, request recommendations letters from teachers who are leaving PTIS, Take SAT1.

Summer – Visit colleges or e-mail requesting all information(eg. Scholarships,financial aid) AND begin work on application essays ,

Grade 12 – The Final Stretch

August – September

• Finalize college list,register for the October or November SAT exams, ask 2 teachers to write letters of recommendation for you,update your personal resume

September – November –college application deadlines:

• Early Decision, Early Action – Due to your counselor one month prior to universities stated Early application deadline
• OXBRIDGE/U.K Medicine – Oxford, Cambridge and UK Medicine must be completed by September 1. Be aware Oxford and Cambridge have additional application materials aside from the UCAS online application
• Regular Decision – Due to your counselor no later than December
• Australia and Much of Europe: due during the Spring of Grade 12
• Set a deadline for mailing of all applications. Formally request all documents, register for TOEFL if needed, submit CSS profile form if US citizen,register for SAT1 and SAT11's in October and December and take them if needed.
• Do Scholarship research and work on them.

December:

• Submit all applications to the Counselling office with a January 1st or 15th due date by December 1st.,take SAT1 or 11 if needed.

January:

• Submit FAFSA form if USA citizen.

February to June:

• Wait for acceptances ,deal with accomodation needs,visa/health requirements

Things to Consider

Contents
Preparation
Ready, Set, Go
College Visits
To Gap or not to Gap
Scholarships
Financial Aid

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Before embarking on the search for the "Perfect" College or the "Right" College we would like you to take a few moments to research the following links to websites we consider important tools for the search process:

• The Education Conservancy - Founded by an ex-counselor and college admission representative, Lloyd Thacker started this foundation to bring a new perspective to the college admission process. Since its founding in February of 2004 colleges and high schools have taken his calling to heart. His book Colleges Unranked was and is an instant success.
• Colleges that Change Lives - Don't let "prestige" determine your college choice...
• Colleges of Distinction - If you'd like to expand your lists of college possibilities beyond the traditional Ivy League and name-brand schools, check out this site. The percentage of students admitted to graduate school from the most selective colleges is dwarfed by the percentage rates for these 40 schools.
• Campus Dirt - This site was developed to help college bound students get beyond the glossy brochures and scripted campus tours to get an inside look at life as a college student.

Before you Apply to Harvard

• How easy is it to get into Ivy League or “highly Selective Colleges”?
  The statistics on this show it is quite difficult. By way of an example,in 1993 a student with a 1250 SAT, a 3.7 GPA and ranked in the top 20% had a 1 in 5 chance of acceptance into a top University/College.
  
  After 2000 a student with a SAT of 1400, GPA of 3.9 and ranked in the top10% of their class had a 1 in 10 chance of gaining acceptance. The IB Diploma score will be paramount in determining your chances of selection but please be realistic about your College /University options remembering that at some exclusive Colleges 1 in 3 students were High School Valedictorians!
  
• THE BOTTOM LINE: see your counsellor to discuss your chances and keep in mind the “correct fit” philosophy.The Correct fit means that you will progress well in your studies,be happy with the work you do if you are somewhere in the mid range of the student intake.

Career and College Library

Everyday the High School Counselling Office is inundated with more mail than we can manage. It is not that we are popular, it is that colleges from around the world are sending us information related to their schools and specific programs they wish to highlight.

We also receive college handbooks to assist students and their parents in finding the “right fit” college or university. There are also some test prep materials available for the standardized tests our students take in Grade 11 and 12. Please feel free to come in any time to just browse what is there or for some specific information.

The school is supplying all students with an account for 'My Road'. This program works in specific ways to help guide students through the complex planning process. MyRoad.com is US specific in terms of college information, but there is a wealth of material to assist students in determining career plans, degree offerings, and personal inventory. With the use of GPA , SAT scores and predicted scores for IB Diploma, students can see their individual potential in the admission process at specific post secondary institutions.

Terms You Need to Know

Grade 9 students are also referred to as freshman students.
Grade 10 students are also referred to as sophomore students.
Grade 11 students are also referred to as junior students.
Grade 12 students are also referred to as senior students.

PTIS Parents (PSA)T – Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test
SAT – Scholastic Aptitude Test
ACT – American College Test
GPA-grade point average from grades 9-12, at PTIS out of 7
My Road – Internet based college resource
Common Application - one college application used for many universities/colleges
Early Decision – Contractual early admission plan for some U.S. based colleges
Early Action – Non-contractual early admission plan for some U.S. based colleges
Single Choice Early Action – Non contractual early application but a student may not apply to any other university under an early plan. See Harvard and Stanford's admission policy as examples of this new policy.
UCAS - Universities and College Admission Services for the U.K.
IBD - International Baccalaureate Diploma
AP - Advanced Placement Program

Other Searches
Petersons.com, College Compass, Collegeboard.com have excellent College Searches.

The PTIS Counsellor strongly recommend families take the time over the summer to go visit prospective colleges. This is a valuable time to get a sense if the environment – academic and social, is appropriate.

• We encourage families to take the time and it can be a positive experience for all involved.
• When planning your itinerary, make sure that it is possible to manage.
• Determine where you want to go, take out a map and determine your route.
• Try not to visit more than two schools per day. It is possible to visit more, but schools become fuzzy as you rush around.
• Take the time to really visit a school.
• Make a notebook listing interesting or not so interesting points about each school.
• Take pictures as you walk around campus so that when you review there are visual hints to remind you of the school.
• Over dinner review each school – each one’s strong or weak points.
• Finally, involve the whole family and enjoy the time together.

If everyone does not have the time to make a trip of this sort, PTIS strongly recommends College Visits. Robert Rummerfield moved on from being Assistant Director of Admission at John’s Hopkins University to begin College Visits.

Many times we find ourselves too busy over the summer months to take time out to visit colleges. Or perhaps a college comes along and you would like to see more of the campus but you live in Thailand.

Well, Campus Tours is a great way to check out colleges and universities from afar. Their virtual tours do not take the place of a real visit, but it certainly showcases all sorts of different and varied colleges and universities in the U.S. With more than 1,000 colleges to choose from, Campus Tours works specifically with institutions to provide compelling presentations to help you view a college as if you were on tour. This is a great tool when living abroad.

Finally, as we mention elsewhere, if you want to know the dirt on a campus, visit Campus Dirt. With comments from over 80,000 student and recent graduate respondents from over 860 colleges and universities, Campus Dirt provides current information on the ins and outs on issues like school spirit, nicest campus, safest campus, most helpful advisors and more.

Campus Dirt provides information taking another view not represented in glossy brochures or marketing materials. So check out the website to add more information as you conduct your university search.

9 Good Reasons for Choosing a College and School
1.You have researched for 6 months or more
2.You are attracted to this group of Colleges /Universities
3.You will enjoy the size, location and setting
4.These colleges have the major you want
5.You have a good chance of being accepted
6.It is affordable
7.You have talked about your choice with your counsellor and others
8.A degree from here will enhance your career
9.Your school ranks well and is at your level of capability (that is you “fit”.)

We at PTIS would like students to take the appropriate care in making the decision to pursue a Gap Year in balance with entering college along with one's peers. There is much to be said about finding oneself before embarking on a college career as well there are important factors to consider before thinking of a Gap Year.

One caution we at PTIS would like to mention is that students must be fully aware of the fact that the vast majority of their peers matriculate directly from high school to university. Those students are continuing the development of their academic skill set by keeping active with course work in areas such as English, math, social studies, science etc... Competition for places in university is extremely strong so we want to make sure that the choices our students make advantage them in the application process.

Taking a Gap Year can be a great adventure as long as it is adding a new dimension of challenge and learning. This should not be a "rest period" or a time off. We strongly recommend that if you are considering taking a Gap Year or a year off you discuss options with your counsellor.If you do decide to Gap then applying,getting in , then deferring entrance for a year is the best option.

Here are a couple of helpful resources for both State Residency and Financial Aid. State residency can be a very tricky issue when one is applying from overseas. Some states, like California are very strict regarding the issue of in-state tuition others are very lenient. It is always important to check the state requirements. Financial Aid is also a troublesome area for overseas families. Look at the information below to get some understanding of these issues.

Guide to State Residency

U.S. citizens living abroad who seek admission to a public university in a state where their family has existing ties may be eligible for in-state tuition. If you own real property in that state, are registered to vote there, file a resident income tax return, hold a state driver's license or motor vehicle registration, and can demonstrate prior residence of at least 12 months, you may qualify for state residency for tuition purposes. Each state legislature has their own rules and regulations for determining residency and universities make the final determination.

For further information about residency, check the requirements for your state. Be aware that in some states there is inconsistency from one state institution to another. It's possible to get one answer from one university and another from a different university in the same state.

Home Fees UK
Citizens of the UK do not automatically qualify for Home Fees and may in fact be required to pay International Fees. The difference is many thousands of pounds! If you are a UK citizen we strongly recommend you look at re-organising your affairs 3 years before your child graduates from high school to meet home fees regulations. A useful site is UK Council for International Student Affairs.

Private Scholarship Searches

Use the following search engines to help you sort through the various scholarships available. Beware of scholarship scams. If anyone asks you for money to apply for a scholarship, it's probably a scam.

• Wired Scholar - This is a reputable scholarship search program, some say the best online. It takes 15 - 20 minutes to fill out the profile, but for a national scholarship search it does the job.
• FastWeb - A free scholarship search engine.
• GoCollege - Information on financial aid and more.
• College specific scholarships - Colleges sometimes offer scholarships to all admitted students meeting narrowly defined objective criteria (e.g., 3.0 GPA and 1100 SAT)

Merit Based Scholarships

By Ivy League agreement, the most selective schools provide only need, as opposed to merit-based, financial aid. Less selective colleges do, however, sometimes provide merit awards. These awards are used to encourage talented students to consider attending these schools.

Colleges realize that talented students will have a number of acceptance offers and use merit awards as an incentive to attract them. Talent grants are given to students who demonstrate a particular talent in sports, the arts, leadership, social service, or academics. These grants are offered regardless of a student’s financial need.

Students can attract merit aid by applying to schools where their class rank and test scores will place them in the top 25% of the applicant pool. The most generous colleges tend to be private liberal-arts colleges that boast large endowments but face stiff competition from more-affordable and academically comparable state schools.
International Scholarships

Federal financial aid is only available for US citizens if you demonstrate "financial need" as determined by a federal formula.

Need based financial aid in the form of grants, low-interest loans, and student work-study programs is available based upon the information submitted on the "Free Application for Federal Student Aid"--the FAFSA. By entering information on the FAFSA about assets, income, and other data from a parent's (and student's) US income tax form, the government is able to make a determination about your expected family contribution (EFC), or the amount your family can reasonably be expected to contribute toward a student's education.

The data you submit on the FAFSA goes to a place called CPS (Central Processing System) where it is compiled and then a formula is applied. The formula the Department of Education uses to compute your EFC is called Federal Methodology.

The EFC is basically what the government is telling us how much you should be able to contribute toward education based on your state of residence, household size, number in college, student and parent income and asset information. Next, the school you attend establishes a Cost of Attendance (COA). The COA is composed of tuition, room and board, fees and estimated expenses (books, supplies, personal).
Together, the EFC and COA are used to determine your financial need. Financial need is calculated by subtracting the EFC from the COA and is a guideline in determining how much need based financial aid you may receive.

The equation looks like this: COA – EFC = Financial Aid

The college's financial aid office then uses the "need based" resources they have available to try to "meet" your financial need.

Financial Aid Example

Sally files her FAFSA and a few weeks later receives her Student Aid Report (SAR). She notes that the EFC on the SAR is "01200" (or $1,200). Her school has a COA of $18,000. So, using the formula above we find that Sally's need is $16,800.
The financial aid office then uses this information to construct a financial aid package. For example, the college offers the following:
$5,000 Institutional Grant
$1,550 Federal Pell Grant
$1,000 Federal SEOG
$3,500 Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
$1,000 Federal Perkins Loan
$1,600 Federal Work Study
Total aid: $13,650

What this tells us is that if Sally's need for financial aid is $16,800, the financial aid office was only able to meet $13,650 of that. The difference between the two is called unmet need. In this case, Sally's unmet financial need is $3,250. What that means to Sally is that she will have to contribute more than her EFC in order to meet her educational costs. Unmet need is a common occurrence in financial aid packages.

The school is under no obligation to meet your need for financial aid and, in many cases, is simply unable to do so given the types and amounts of funding at their disposal. What the financial aid office does, to the best of its ability, is to meet as much of your need with the resources it has available. Those resources may include scholarships, grants, loans, and work.
General Financial Aid Resources

• US Education Guides

You should, of course, realize that some colleges and universities are less expensive than others. Cost doesn't always equate to quality, but may be based upon the schools endowment and location. If cost is an issue for your family, please be upfront about that as you're meeting with your PTIS counselor. You might also want to look at universities in Canada since they are much more reasonable in cost.

Loans

If your financial aid award package includes an education loan, you are responsible for applying for the loan. Instructions are generally provided with the award letter. Even if an education loan is not a part of your financial aid award, you may get a loan if you cannot meet the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from your savings or current income.
Loans have made higher education possible for millions of students, but you should consider your options carefully before borrowing and limit borrowing to only the amount necessary. The following sites have more information about student and parent loans:

• E Student Loan
• Sallie Mae
• Nellie Mae

More Information

Still confused about financial aid? The Financial Aid Information page provides more detailed information about financial aid.

How to Apply

The Counsellor can help you with all aspects of the application process. Please see him for support with essay writing, personal statements etc.

Pick up and study the "10 Easy steps in Writing the College Essay". If facing an interview pick up the relevent information from the Counsellor's Office.

The counsellor strongly recommend that students apply online whenever possible. Once you have decided where to apply you can visit individual college websites to access their online application or download their paper version of the application.

Some of the following links allow students to apply to a number of colleges at one time. These are called “common applications”. There are several common applications for instance the University of California uses a common application as do the universities in the United Kingdom.

The Common Application
An online or downloadable application accepted by over 200 colleges and universities. Make certain you also complete the "supplement" that is required by many of the schools that use the Common Application.

SAT II Requirements for Common Application Colleges
SAT II requirements for Common Application colleges and universities

Next Stop College
This site is provided by the College Board and contains applications for 500 schools. Using data from your SAT registration it automatically fills in some of the information.

Apply!
The grandfather of application software is now owned by The Princeton Review.

CollegeNet
This site contains over 300 applications.

XAP
Several state university systems use XAP to run their applications.

CollegeQuest
Includes 200+ applications.

State or Country Specific Applications

• University of California and Cal State common applications. More information about your California options is available from the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
• Texas public universities - The Texas on-line application site.
• Ontario, Canada - This site allows you to apply to all Ontario universities
• UCAS Apply - Seniors applying to Oxford or Cambridge must file a separate paper application, aside from the UCAS application, to one of the universities. Students may apply to only one of these universities.
• Australian Colleges

More information about applying for Australia, Canada, the UK and other Countries

There are separate information sheets on each country which can be picked up from the Counsellor's Office. Also these sites.

Other Useful College Links

Google's University Search
Google enables you to narrow your search to a specific school website. Try it for things like admissions information, course schedules, or alumni news.

Collegeboard.com
Here you will find a large amount of information on the admission process plus the SAT registration site.

CollegeData
CollegeData has facts, advice and tools to help you choose, prepare, apply and pay for college.

CollegeQuest
Sponsored by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and Peterson's, this site has everything from college search to financial aid information.

MyRoad.com
This NACAC approved site has information about careers, colleges, and majors.

My Footpath
This site provides information on the college selection and application process. A number of articles containing helpful advice are included.

CollegeView
Another NACAC approved college search engine with on-line applications.

Review.com
In addition to trying to entice you to sign up for a test-prep program, this Princeton Review site offers information on colleges.

Colleges of Distinction
If you'd like to expand your lists of college possibilities beyond the traditional Ivy League and name-brand schools, check out this site. The percentage of students admitted to graduate school from the most selective colleges is dwarfed by the percentage rates for these 40 schools.

Colleges that Change Lives: Don't let "prestige" determine your college choice...

CampusDirt.com: This site was developed to help college bound students get beyond the glossy brochures and scripted campus tours to get an inside look at life as a college student

Finding a University Homepage

University Links
Alphabetical listings, by state, and by specific categories like Protestant, women's, business, art/music, community, Ivy League, can be found here.

US Universities
Courtesy of Yahoo Search

US Universities
From the General Education Online Project.

Religiously Affiliated Schools:
Christian
Jesuit