College Tour Information

Links to Schedule Off-Campus College Tours - Click Here
(If you go on a college tour during a school day, you must print out your tour registration confirmation page and give it to attendance to get that day excused. Otherwise it will be an unexcused absence. You only get 3 excused absences for college tours.) 

Virtual Tours: 
Get a glimpse of what college is like on different college campuses virtually through The College Tour website. 

What's My Major?

Need help deciding what to Major in? Click here to take a College Major Assessment: What Should I Major in? Create your college and career plan (mymajors.com) 

Summer Opportunities

Summer College Study Opportunities- Click Here 
Summer Internship Opportunities- Click Here 
Florida State University's Young Scholar Summer Program for 11th graders Interested in STEM - Click Here

University System Matrix

Use These to Compare and Contrast Colleges in Florida and Their Admission Requirements

• Public Universities in Florida Comparisons

• Private Universities in Florida Comparisons

2023-2024 Florida Public University Booklet

Click here: Florida SUS 2023-2024 Counselor Guide by FIU - Issuu

GPA and Test Scores

(SAT/ACT) are the top 2 factors colleges look at on your application. We encourage students to apply to variety of schools: safety, target, and reach. 
Safety: schools that your GPA and Test Scores are above their requirements
Target: schools that your GPA and Test Scores are right on target for
Reach: schools that your GPA and Test Scores are a little below their requirements 

We recommend that students apply to college Early Action. It is a Non-Binding way to apply, and increases their chances of getting accepted. It also gives students a chance of being considered for in-institution scholarships by each college they apply to. 

All public and private universities in Florida have an Early Action deadline of November 1st. Except for Florida State University, which is October 15th. Also, Flagler College only accepts Early Decision applications by November 1st, so we recommend applying to Flagler after November 1st, but before March 1st.

We also recommend that students consider applying for the summer term before their freshman fall term, because colleges have lower admissions requirements (such as GPA and test score requirements) for summer verse fall, which in turn increases their chances of getting accepted. It also gives students a chance to adjust to living on/near the college campus while there are less people on it, and gives them a chance to adjust to college classes by only taking 1-2 to start instead of a full case load. 
The downside to this is that Bright Futures does NOT cover the summer semester before a student's freshman year (they cover all other summers after freshman year). Students wanting FAFSA/Financial Aid assistance for the summer semester before freshman year would also have to fill out 2 FAFSA applications; one for last year and one for this year. 

Apply to multiple Colleges and Universities in one place: Click here for CommonApp

• Go to CommonApp.org and create an account

• Go to the “Common App” tab and complete your Profile, Family, Education, Testing, Activities, Writing, (and Courses & Grades) sections

• Go to the “College Search” tab and add (+) which colleges you will be applying to

• Go to the “My Colleges” tab and work on the actual applications for each college you added

• Submit your applications by their deadlines!! (We recommend applying by each college's "Early Action" dealine. See above for information on Early Action.).

--CommonApp Walkthrough Video Guide Part 1 and Part 2 

If a student qualifies for Free/Reduced lunch, they are eligible for a college application fee waiver when applying to college(s). They can indicate that they are eligible for a Fee Waiver on the profile of their CommonApp account. 

Are you a TOP 20 student wanting to apply to a TOP 20 University? Are you also a Low Income Student who feels that the nation's best Colleges are financially out of reach? Check out this short video about QuestBridge here: The National College Match - YouTube 
Here is the link to their website: QuestBridge

Class Rank, Weighted GPA, SAR//SSAR//SPARK

Unfortunately, students' FOCUS accounts don't show their class rank or GPA, so for them to obtain this information for their college applications, they should simply ask their counselor for this information. 

The SAR// SSAR// SPARK etc., are all variations of the same thing; a Self-reported Student Academic Record. This part of the college application is where students use their transcript to fill in every high school class they've ever taken and every high school course grade they've ever earned one-by-one. 

Students can find their unofficial transcript on their FOCUS, which has all of their classes and grades listed, by going to their Grades screen and clicking "View Detailed Report". 

Need help deciding what colleges to apply for? Go to BIG FUTURE to create a profile and be matched with colleges based on your interests and preferences. 

You can also fill out Ms. Cochran's Florida College Match survey to be matched with public and private colleges in Florida based on your survey answers.