Thursday, December 19, 2013

Financial Aid Events at Burlington High School

Burlington High School will be hosting two upcoming financial aid events. We highly recommend Burlington High School senior parents attend. Since both events are in January we felt it was important to remind parents before the December vacation. Please be sure to check out the side bar on the Guidance Blog for links to more specific information in regard to financial aid and scholarship information. Below are descriptions of each event:

Event: M.E.F.A. (Massachusetts Educational Financial Authority) Financial Aid Seminar
Date: Thursday January 9, 2014
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This seminar covers the financial aid process in detail. A Financial Aid Advisor will be the presenter beginning at 7:00 P.M. in the BHS auditorium.
We recommend Senior AND Junior parents attend this event. 

Event: FAFSA DAY 2014- http://www.fafsaday.org/
Date: Sunday January 26, 2014 1 :00 P.M.
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This is a non-profit volunteer driven effort across the state. Parents and students will receive:

• Free assistance completing the FASA

• Access to experienced financial aid administrators, and FAFSA experts, available to answer FAFSA questions.

• Guidance on the financial aid process and next steps after filing the FASA.

Parents MUST register at http://www.fafsaday.org/. Although computer labs are available, it is highly recommend that parents bring a laptop that day. Also if any parents are interested in volunteering as a Support Volunteer (registration tables, setup, cleanup, etc)  please feel free to register at http://www.fafsaday.org/volunteer.php

Friday, December 13, 2013

College Snapshots

In an effort to provide the Burlington High School students and their families with relevant and up-to-date college information, the Guidance Staff will be visiting various colleges and universities and providing you with information. We plan to post numerous colleges or universities throughout the school year.The colleges visited do not represent a preference on the part of the BHS Guidance Department towards any particular school.

In the college search process many things are taken into consideration. Things that are considered, but not limited to are: Campus size, location, student population, majors, tuition prices, distance from home, athletic programs, clubs and activities. When considering a college students must also make realistic decisions based on personal interest, grades, test scores, etc.

The department feels that the college visit is an integral part of the process. The information we provide is only a small snapshot into each respective college. We hope to add information about other schools in the future and as always we appreciate any feedback that you have that would help us provide our students and their family’s useful information in the sometimes overwhelming college search process.

Furthermore, we ask that you also research colleges by using your Naviance account and scheduling to meet with your counselor on a consistent basis. Please feel free to contact your son or daughters respective counselor if you have any further questions.

Please click here for the Blog called " College Snapshots"

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

PSAT Results to be mailed home

PSAT score reports will be mailed home to parents on Monday December 9, 2013 to Sophomores and Juniors that participated in the exam on October 16, 2013. The PSAT/NMSQT exam is a measure of three key areas: critical reading, mathematics problem solving and writing skills. The exam prepares students for the same types of questions on the SAT exam. In addition, juniors who achieve high PSAT/NMSQT scores may qualify for National Merit competition and corporate scholarships.

The PSAT score report is very parent/student friendly. Parents/students should take notice of the section at the bottom of the score report called "Improve your skills”. This section gives specific data based on the student’s individual PSAT exam. All Sophomores and Juniors will have an assembly on January 13th in which the BHS Guidance Department will give an overview on interpreting and using these results. Also the BHS Guidance Department will host a "PSAT Results" breakfast on January 29th at 8:30AM

For the past ten years roughly 90 % of BHS seniors take the SAT exam. The Guidance Department strongly recommends that juniors take the exam in either March, May or June. SAT registration information can be accessed through collegeboard.org

The KAPLAN program offers SAT/ACT test prep courses at Burlington High School. Burlington juniors receive a subsidized rate of $249.00. Please click here to see the KAPLAN schedule and enrollment instructionsWe recommend that BHS Juniors take advantage of either the free SAT practice teston Saturday January 25, 2014 at 9 AM or the free ACT Practice Test on SaturdayFebruary 8, 2014, both practice tests are offered at BHS. Please register by calling 1-800-KAP-TEST.

In addition, Kaplan offers Free on-line PSAT, SAT and ACT test prep using the below access codes effective January 1. Go to http://www.kaptest.com/College/SAT/sat-prep-courses.html and select On Demand (regularly $699). The codes beginning January 1, 2014 will be:

KAS2014SAT (This is for practice SAT)
KAS2014ACT (This is for practice ACT)