:: LASA ONLINE ::

7309 Lazy Creek Dr.

Austin, TX 78724

(512) 414-LASA (5272)

FAX (512) 414-6050

www.lasaonline.org

Last Updated: April 15, 2010
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THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS

Folder System schematic

THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS

The majority of colleges and universities that LASA students typically apply to use one of the following applications in the admissions process: (a) the ApplyTexas Application, (b) the Common Application, or (c) of their own design. It is the responsibility of the student and/or parent to determine which application is required.

ApplyTexas.org – to be used for application to Texas public colleges. A few private colleges in Texas accept the Apply Texas application. See the website for more details on participating institutions. This application does not require a letter of recommendation.

If a student applies only to Texas public colleges and universities, he/she does not need to provide a folder to teachers, counselors, or college advisor unless they are requesting letters of recommendation. Again, recommendations are not required for the ApplyTexas process but may be encouraged in some cases.

Commonapp.org – to be used for application to colleges and universities who share a commitment of promoting access through holistic admission. There are now over 400 Common Application members in 42 states and the District of Columbia. See the website for a complete listing of member institutions. Common App Member schools require these important forms in the application process: Secondary School Report, Mid-Year Report, and the Teacher Evaluation.

Colleges and universities typically require three letters of recommendation as part of the application process. These come from: the high school counselor or college advisor, classroom teachers, and mentors or members of the community.

Note on recommendations: Teachers will be inundated with recommendation requests this fall. In fact, some teachers may only agree to write recommendations for a specific number of students. It is important that you ask early to “reserve” your spot. This means asking well in advance before handing the folder over to the teacher, counselor, or college advisor. Not all colleges require recommendations, as is the case with many of the public schools in Texas. Please check college websites for specific requirements.

Please give your teacher, counselor, or college advisor a minimum of 2 – 3 working weeks (not calendar weeks) before the deadline to complete their part of your application. This is especially true for December 1st deadlines (Thanksgiving holidays fall before this due date) and January 1st deadlines (Christmas Holiday break falls before this due date).

FAILURE TO PROVIDE ALL DOCUMENTS IN THE SPECIFIED TIME WILL RESULT IN A DELAY IN THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS. DEADLINES MEAN DEADLINES!

Introduction of Folder System/Recommendations and Naviance Process for Juniors
Includes IMPORTANT NEWS about the College Application Process

We implemented changes this year that affect how students complete the College Application Process. These changes involve use of the Naviance system and concern the following components of the application:

Application Tracking - all colleges and universities you plan to apply to will be tracked in Naviance, including admissions decisions
Transcripts and Recommendation letters/forms sent to Common Application member schools - LASA Counselors will send the required Secondary School Reports, Mid-Year Reports, recommendation letters, and transcripts electronically through Naviance. Many LASA teachers will do the same with the required Teacher Evaluation. This applies to Common Application member colleges only, not Texas public universities who accept the ApplyTexas application. Recommendation letters sent electronically through Naviance may lessen the emphasis on the traditional Folder System process we have utilized in previous years.
Transcript Requests – students will request transcripts in Naviance to be sent to ALL schools; transcripts can also be requested via Naviance for scholarship applications

Process for Linking Naviance and CommonApp.org and Adding Colleges

(Option not available until senior year)

Log on to your personal Naviance site: http://connection.naviance.com/lasa
Click on the Colleges tab
Click on ‘colleges I’m applying to’
Read the Important Privacy Notice and click whether you DO waive access or DO NOT waive access. ***It is our strong recommendation that you DO WAIVE access. This is generally considered by colleges as the more truthful assessment of you; therefore, the recommendation is given more credit or weight in the evaluation.)
Click on the checkbox to allow us to send your academic records (transcript) to the colleges you request.
Enter your CommonApp.org user name and password (not your Naviance user name and password) in the designated fields to make sure your forms and recommendations are linked to your Common Application.
Add the schools to which you plan to apply. When you click “lookup”, the College Picker box will appear. If the college you are searching for is not in the Quicklist, you can search by name, state, or country. You can add or remove schools if you change your mind at a later time. Adding your schools ensures that your counselor and teachers send their recommendation letters and related forms to the appropriate schools. Another benefit: should one of the schools on your list plan to visit campus, you will receive email notification of their visit.

Process for Requesting Teacher/Counselor Recommendations through Naviance
(Option not available until senior year)
Before adding a teacher or counselor on Naviance, you must first ask that teacher or counselor in person if they will write the recommendation on your behalf. If they agree, you will give your recommendation writers a copy of your resume, brag sheet, parent brag sheet, copy of test scores (for counselors only), any other related documents, and a list of schools you’re applying to with appropriate deadlines. Consider placing these documents in a two-pocket folder with your name and contact information and list of schools along with their deadlines on the outside of the folder.

Once you have permission from your recommendation writer, complete the following steps in Naviance:

Log on to your personal Naviance site
Click on the Colleges tab
Scroll down to Teacher Recommendations and choose the appropriate person (both teachers and counselors are included) from the dropdown menu

NOTE: Not all teachers participate in the electronic recommendation process through Naviance. If a teacher is not listed, you must give them the traditional folder with all of the printed forms, addressed envelopes, and stamps.

Your teacher/counselor will receive email notification that you requested a recommendation through Naviance. If they agreed to write your recommendation, they will complete their forms online (to Common App member schools).

You should give your recommendation writers a minimum of 2-3 working weeks (not calendar weeks) before the application deadline to complete their part of your application. This is especially true for December 1st deadlines (Thanksgiving holiday falls before this due date) and January 1st deadlines (Christmas holiday break falls before this due date).

How Naviance and Electronic Recommendation Submission will affect the Folder System

Naviance may, in some cases, eliminate the need for a traditional folder if you are applying to Common Application member schools since your counselor and most teachers will be sending recommendations and forms online. You must still provide the recommendation writers with copies of:

List of colleges along with their due dates in order of the earliest due date. Highlight these due dates. Please indicate whether it is a POSTMARKED DATE or RECEIVED DATE.

Postmarked Date: all materials just need to be postmarked by this date but don’t necessarily need to be in the college admissions office by this date
Received Date: all materials must be received in the college admissions office on or before this date

Academic Resume
Student Brag Sheet
Parent Brag Sheet
Copies of ACT/SAT scores (for counselors only)
Any other pertinent documents

You may consider placing these items in a two-pocket folder with your contact information and list of schools with deadlines on the outside.

When the Traditional Folder System is Necessary

Instances where putting a folder together for your recommendation writer is necessary:

If you are applying to several non-Common Application member schools who require their own recommendation forms
If a teacher (or another recommender) does not utilize the Naviance system to send electronic recommendations and instead, needs to mail documents on your behalf

When you talk to your recommendation writer, you should find out if they will submit recommendation forms through Naviance or if they prefer, instead, to mail the recommendation forms. If they choose to mail the forms, you should provide them with an accordion-type folder (one that has several pockets with tabs).

For each folder, please include the following:

On the outside cover, facing outwards a large sheet of paper with the following information:

Your name, address, telephone numbers (including cell phone), and email address. Your teachers, counselor, and college advisor should be able to read your name from a short distance
A list of your colleges along with their due dates in order of the earliest due date. HIGHLIGHT these due dates. Please indicate whether it is a POSTMARKED DATE or RECEIVED DATE.
If you are applying to the University of Texas at Austin and want a recommendation (though not required) sent on your behalf, please include your UT EID Number. Other colleges and universities may provide you with a special ID number once you apply; if you have been assigned an ID number, please include it for the appropriate schools.

FOLDER CONTENTS

Information Section (first section in the folder) – contains academic resume, parent brag sheet, student brag sheet, and copies of ACT and/or SAT scores (for counselors only).

COLLEGE INFORMATION SECTION(S)

Include college materials in order of the earliest due dates. Note that each college should have its own section in the folder. This will help keep information specific to each school from being confused with others.

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION IN THIS FOLDER!

Please provide the teachers, counselor, or college advisor with a stamped and addressed envelope for each school that you are applying to. Regular business size envelopes are sufficient. Envelopes given to counselors should include postage totaling 88 cents (or two 44 cent stamps). Envelopes given to teachers should include postage totaling 44 cents (one first class stamp). Leave the return address blank (the teacher, counselor, or college advisor will affix a LASA return address label). Please address the envelope to the college admission office. The envelope sent by the counselor or college advisor will contain the secondary school report form and letter of recommendation. The envelope sent by the teacher will contain the teacher evaluation and the letter of recommendation.

Note: Additionally, you need to request that an official high school transcript be sent to each of the schools you are applying to. The Transcript Request process should be completed through your personal Naviance account. The LASA school profile will accompany every transcript sent on your behalf.

Please remember to provide extra stamps for your teachers, counselor, or college advisor. This might only be one extra stamp for each envelope, but you do not want your recommendation letter to be returned for insufficient postage.

MID-YEAR REPORTS & TRANSCRIPTS

Texas public colleges and universities do not require mid-year reports. Most colleges and universities that utilize the Common Application require BOTH a mid-year report and an official transcript of grades through the seventh (fall) semester of the senior year. It is the student’s responsibility to request that these official transcripts be sent to colleges and universities. Mid-year reports and transcripts for Common App schools will be submitted via Naviance in late January/early February of your senior year. If your college/university is not a Common App member school but requires a mid-year report, please provide, in the counselor recommendation folder, a business size, stamped envelope addressed to the college admissions office.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COLLEGE APPLICANTS

Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School
7309 Lazy Creek Drive
Austin, Texas 78724
School website: http://lasaonline.org
CEEB Code: 440-069
School Telephone Number: 512-414-LASA
School Fax Number: 512-414-6050

COUNSELOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Ms. Jamie Kocian,                                                            Ms. Lisa Adams,
College Counselor                                                            Counselor
Telephone Number: 512-414-1903                                  Telephone Number: 512-414-7088
Jamie.Kocian@austinisd.org                                     Lisa.Adams@austinisd.org

Dr. David Qualls,                                                             Ms. Stacey Hopper,
Counselor                                                                      Counselor
Telephone Number: 512-414-7097                                  Telephone Number: 512-841-4029
dqualls@austinisd.org                                                    Stacey.Hopper@austinisd.org

ROLE OF THE REGISTRAR IN THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS

The registrar for the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) High School is Ms. Boothe. Her office is located in Room 281 on the second floor of the building. Her telephone number is: 512-414-7081. Her email address is: pboothe@austinisd.org.

Students must request official copies of their transcript to be sent to colleges and universities as part of the application process. These transcripts cover the period from sixth grade until the end of the junior year in high school. Students should submit a transcript request through Naviance BEFORE or immediately after giving their recommendation materials (resume, brag sheets, etc.) to teachers, counselors, or the college advisor. Students should not expect that the LASA counselors or college advisor will take care of this for them.

Please note: In some case, college admissions directors will not begin considering a student’s application until they receive the student’s high school transcript.

THE PROCESS:

Transcript Requests must be submitted through Naviance for ALL colleges and universities, not just Common Application member schools.

Before you can submit a Transcript Request through Naviance, you must have your parent sign a records release form and submit it to Ms. Boothe, LASA Registrar. This form is released at the beginning of the student’s senior year. Having this form on file will allow the LASA Registrar to fulfill any transcript requests made throughout the school year without students having to obtain parent signatures on each request. Students who do not turn in their records release form to their Forum teacher at the start of the school year along with other school documents should personally deliver it to Ms. Boothe as soon as possible (extra copies if needed can be obtained from Ms. Boothe) so they have access to request transcripts in Naviance.

Once this process is completed, you are free to request transcripts through Naviance for the colleges you plan to apply to, both to Common App member schools AND non-Common App member schools, such as Texas public universities, etc. Complete the following steps:

(Reminder: Transcript Request option in Naviance is not available until the senior year—around mid-September)

Log in to your personal Naviance site.
Click on Transcripts under the Colleges tab
If you have not submitted your records release form, you will see the following and will not be able to move forward in the process.

We have not received authorization from your parent(s) to release transcripts to colleges

We have not received consent from your parent(s) to release transcripts for scholarships or athletics

If you did submit the records release form, you can click on “request transcripts for my college applications.”
If you added your colleges in the My Colleges option, you will see them all listed here under Current Applications. Click “add request” to request a transcript for an application. If you would like to request a transcript for a school not already in your list of applications, you may add the school under New Applications. Click on the Request Transcripts button to submit your request to Ms. Boothe.
Click on “View the status of all my transcript requests” to keep track of your transcripts as well as pertinent fees. If the transcript fees grid indicates that there is a balance remaining, you must make payment in person to Ms. Boothe. The first five transcripts for seniors are processed free of charge. After that, the processing fee per transcript is $2.00.

Once a LASA student submits a transcript request to the LASA registrar, she will attempt to process and send it within three working days (it may take longer in the days immediately preceding major application deadlines since more students are making requests.) This is also true for the December 1st deadline and the January 1st deadline (because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays). Transcripts will not be processed unless the processing fees are paid (when applicable – see below).

Once transcripts have been requested, it is imperative that students check with the colleges or on Naviance (for Common Application member schools) to make sure they receive their transcripts since the LASA registrar cannot guarantee that they will be processed correctly by the U. S. Postal Service and/or the college admissions office. Give colleges and universities at least three weeks after initiating the request to check to see if they have received the transcript. Note: Common App schools will not verify receipt of electronic documents (transcripts and letters of recommendation) via Naviance until the student has submitted their college application.

Transcripts being sent to Common Application member schools will be submitted electronically via Naviance by the counselor writing your letter of recommendation. Because Naviance links your transcript to the counselor recommendation letter and Secondary School Report, your transcript will NOT be sent to your colleges/universities UNTIL all of the counselor forms are uploaded into Naviance. This means you have to give your counselor your resume and brag sheets well in advance of your first college deadline.

Transcripts being sent to non-Common App member schools, e.g. Texas public institutions, will be submitted to the college or university directly from the LASA registrar. ***All transcripts sent will include the LASA school profile.

A note about test scores: The high school transcript or Academic Achievement Record (AAR) does not have the following test scores printed on it (Advanced Placement, PSAT, SAT, ACT). You should request all test scores be sent directly from the testing agency (College Board or ACT) as many schools will not accept scores from any other source.

Revised 4/4/2010

MAGNET SENIOR SAMPLE ACADEMIC RESUME

Senior Brag Sheet

Parent Brag Sheet