As the holiday season comes in full swing, it is important for seniors to begin taking steps towards their post-secondary plans. For students planning on attending college, this is the prime time to begin or finish applying to schools. Although just over half of the school year remains, application deadlines are closing in. It is important to stay on top of these to be prepared for after high school. 

     Mrs. Machamer, one of the counselors at Hamburg, knows all about college application season, as she has helped hundreds of students during this sometimes stressful process. Machamer advises students to “prioritize your time and your life” to ease stress. When schedules fill up, she states that students should “prioritize on actual deadlines and also in order of importance”. 

     Besides stress counseling, Mrs. Machamer has answered many questions regarding the basics of applying to colleges, however these three are the most popular. The first is the number of schools a student should apply to, the second is where to access scholarship information, and finally the third is good sources for recommendation letters. 

     As far as the best number of schools to apply to, Mrs. Machamer agrees that between four and eight schools is a safe option. It is also important to distinguish which schools are “safe”, meaning they are easy admission and affordable, compared to schools that are “reach”, which means they are less affordable and have lots of competition between applicants. There are also schools in the middle, considered to be “good fit”, because the cost is reasonable and usually the acceptance rate is high. “The reason for applying to a variety is that oftentimes students apply to all reach or good fit, but in the end if the cost is too high, the students are stuck scrambling for an alternative like Community College or a state university.”

     Where to find scholarship information, another popular question, is easier to find than one might think. Mrs. Machamer suggests that students begin their search on the high school counselor webpage, then broaden their search to local organizations such as the Rotary Club or Lions Club, and then finish with online scholarships like those on CollegeBoard or Scholarships.com. 

     The final popular college application subject is recommendation letters. “Students should be requesting recommendation letters from teachers who know them personally, in addition to their academic potential. I encourage students to ask teachers to tell a story or write about a memory rather than citing data or general information that could be found on the college application,” states Machamer. All in all, students should aim for a letter that describes them in a way that transcripts and resumes cannot. 

     Mrs. Machamer wishes all seniors luck during this exciting time. She also requests that students set appointments with her for more information about post-secondary planning.