Applying for Admission

Obtaining Applications: This is your responsibility. The Guidance Office has many on file, including all our state universities and those of many neighboring states. If we don't have the application you are seeking, you may call the admissions office of the college, obtain one on the internet or write a short note in a letter or on a postcard requesting an application and application information.

Completing Applications: In filling out applications, remember, neatness counts. If you have only one application for a college, duplicate it first and fill out the copy. Be sure all appropriate areas are completed. Have your parents check it for errors. When it is as perfect as you can make it, transfer the information to the original copy. Usually essays can be typed separately and attached, but if a college specifies, you must type or print it right on the application form. Be certain it contains no errors. The number of applications processed online continues to grow. Many students will submit their applications without their counselor's knowledge. If you choose to follow this procedure, you must still submit an application cover sheet which will release your transcript to the college.

PHS APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Summer Packet: You will receive information to be completed over the summer. This includes a parent brag sheet, a student questionnaire and information on how to complete an activities form. It is very important that this info be completed and returned to your school counselor by the date indicated.

Application Cover Sheet: This is used to track all college/scholarship applications.

Teacher Recommendations:  Teacher recommendations are not required by all colleges. Students should check carefully to determine which colleges require teacher recommendations. If a recommendation is needed, it is the responsibility of the student to contact their teacher(s) as early as possible.

WRITING THE ESSAY

• Trying to determine and describe a good essay is a self-defeating act. Good writers and readers know when they have one, but they cannot tell you exactly how to write one. A few suggestions may help...
• Write about something meaningful to you, that you are personally and emotionally involved in, something you know well.
• Use language that is natural to you, unless you customarily have a lot of problems with usage and grammar. Always have someone else check your essay.
• Do not reject an idea because it does not seem important enough. Wonderful essays have been written using such mundane objects as sneakers and couches as focal points.
• Give yourself enough time. An essay suitable for several colleges can be written and refined in junior year with the help of your English teacher. Sometimes colleges assign a specific topic. In this case, get right to the task and submit your writing for criticism to your English teacher or another respected critic. Do not wait until the last minute and risk sending a weak essay or going beyond the deadline to revise it. Maybe you'll be lucky and not have to write one--not all colleges require essays -- but they are a chance for you to express yourself freely. Make the most of it.
• Self-expression need not always be limited to the essay format. Art portfolios, in the original or photographed; audio or video tapes of theatrical or musical performances; copies of newspaper articles about you; even consumable items like baked goods have been presented to admissions officers to demonstrate unusual talent and interest. Be careful, though, there is a fine line between a good strong statement and overkill (or apparent bribery). Check with your counselor before submitting materials or items the college does not request.

SAMPLE ESSAY QUESTIONS

• Evaluate a significant experience or achievement that has special meaning to you.
• Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
• Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
• Please describe in detail a special interest, experience, or accomplishment that you consider significant. If you prefer, you may submit an essay on some topic of local or national importance about which you have a strong conviction.
• Please describe what makes you a unique individual and how these qualities can benefit this college's community.
• Discuss what books you have read for enjoyment.
• In the past, candidates have used this space in a great variety of ways. They have written about family situations, school, or community events to which they have had strong reactions, people who have influenced them, significant experiences, intellectual interests, personal aspirations, or --more generally-- topics that spring from the life of the imagination. There is no "correct" way to respond to this essay request. In writing about something that matters to you, you will convey to us a sense of yourself.

APPLICATIONS AND ESSAYS -- DO'S

• DO keep a hard copy of any application submitted online. Provide your counselor with copies of essays.
• DO complete a cover sheet for every application/scholarship submitted.
• DO fill out the application neatly in a non-smudged pen or on a computer; collect all information and practice ahead of time, if necessary.
• DO make a photocopy of the application and related forms so that you can set up the information prior to putting it on the original.
• DO write about something that excites you. If you feel dull, the essay will be dull.
• DO write about something real for you so that the real you shines through.
• DO BE SELECTIVE WITH INFORMATION-- Don't include everything about yourself. Send only relevant data that will enhance your candidacy. When in doubt, check with your counselor.
• DO be honest about activities, employment, etc.
• DO remember to send SAT I and SAT II scores via Additional Report Form if necessary to every college to which you have applied. Save cancelled checks as proof.
• DO be realistic and confident.

REMEMBER....

BE HONEST, don't write what you don't believe.

CHOOSE YOUR ESSAY TOPICS CAREFULLY, it isn't easy to write about yourself in a sincere and personal way.

BE SPECIFIC, use concrete language and examples.

BE CAREFUL, proofread your essays and ask for help, make your final product your best effort!