Seniors

• All seniors who plan to attend a four-year college or university next year should have already taken or be registered for SAT or ACT

(Testing dates and websites are listed on this website)

• Seniors should also be starting the college application process. A number of Texas colleges and universities use the Common Application which can be accessed at www.applytexas.org.
• If seniors are still in the process of deciding which school they might be interested in, they can get a comprehensive list of Texas colleges, universities or community colleges at www.collegefortexans.com   Almost any other school throughout the nation –or the world – can be seen by searching the web.
• Requests for official transcripts should go to the registrar, Mrs. Betty Peralta.  Please allow at least 24 hours for a single transcript request. More time may be necessary for preparing multiple transcripts.
• There will be an ongoing, continuous list of the scholarships available on this web site.  At this time, there are very few.  Most scholarships come to our office in the second semester. Also, most colleges and universities have their own scholarship foundations.  These are a very good source of financial help.
  
• Financial Aid applications will be available in January.  You must have your 2009 income tax form to file for financial aid.  Your student must also have his or hers if he or she is employed and files one. The financial aid website is www.fafsa.gov

Juniors

• Juniors should seriously consider taking the PSAT on Wednesday, Oct. 14th .  The test costs $13.00 and will be administered here at Salado HS.  This is an excellent opportunity to get a feel for what the actual SAT (and ACT) are like. Juniors should plan to take the SAT or ACT in the spring – the May or June tests would be the best.
•  Juniors should be giving serious thought and research time to looking over colleges, universities and community colleges.  An excellent website for Texas schools is www.collegefortexans.com Any other colleges and universities can be accessed through their individual web sites.
• Juniors will be taking the Exit TAKS in April.  This is a  battery of four tests – ELA, Math, Social Studies and Science – each of which must be mastered in order to graduate from high school.
•  In addition, the ELA (English Language Arts) and Math scores are used by Texas colleges to determine whether students meet the Texas Success Initiative (TSI). If a student scores at least a 2200 on his/her scale score and a 3 on the written composition part of the ELA test, s/he will not have to take the Accuplacer or THEA test as a college freshman.  The teachers and I will be reminding the students of this closer to testing time.
• College Days:  Juniors get one and seniors get two.  Students need to pick up a form in the front office.  They must also bring back an official confirmation of the visit from the college to prevent getting an unexcused absence.  A reservation with the college admissions office is highly recommended.