THE COUNSELORS' CORNER
NEWS FROM THE GHS COUNSELING DEPARTMENT
Final Level Down Window
The Semester Level Down window is December 1st-3rd. This is the final opportunity for students to request to level down during the 2021-22 school year.
During this window, students can access the Level Down Request Form on the GHS Counseling website, in their grade level Canvas course, or pick up a hard copy in the counseling office. The form is due with parent and teacher signatures by 4 p.m. on Friday, December 3rd to the counseling office. Level down changes are pending space and availability and will take effect Wednesday, January 5, 2022. Students who request to level down should check Skyward before school on January 5th for their updated schedule.
Dealing With Loss During the Holiday Season
Although many of us are looking forward to the holidays with anticipation, many of us and many of our children, are facing the holidays with the heaviness of grief and loss. Grief and loss are particularly difficult at this time of year. If there's support that the GHS counselors can offer, please don't hesitate to contact us. You may also find resources like this helpful.
What to Do if Your Child Doesn’t Get Into Their Dream School
So You Attended Our College Fair
Check out these next steps
So you attended a college fair. Great! You learned about some schools, hopefully, discovered a new one or crossed a “possible” one off your list, and made some fantastic connections with college reps. However, now you’re home, your brain is abuzz with “dining hall” this and “extracurricular” that. You’re swimming in pamphlets and wondering how to move forward.
Wonder no more! Here are several useful, tangible “next steps” to take after you leave a college fair.
First, identify which of the colleges were your favorites. Set their materials aside, and get rid of the rest. No sense in hanging onto pamphlets you’ll never look at again!
Then, organize the material from the colleges you are considering. An easy way to do this is in a binder, with one tab per college. If you don’t want to hole-punch the pamphlets themselves, add two-pocket folders and slip the materials in there.
Review the information you’ve collected. What questions do you still have about each school? Write these down and add them to your binder.
Continue to research your colleges of interest. Look for answers to your questions online, and if you didn’t already sign up for their mailing list at the fair, be sure to do that either online or by mail.
After conducting your own research, contact the college representative you spoke to at the fair. If you didn’t already, be sure to thank them for their time at the fair. Then, ask any outstanding questions you still have. (But make absolutely sure the answer is not available on the school website!)
If you like, ask to be connected with a current student or alumnus. Explain that you’d like to chat with them in order to get a better sense of what sorts of students attend the school, and what your experience might be like if you choose to attend.
Finally, start planning your campus visits!
Open Invitation for High School 2022 Senior Girls
Please join Mid-Cities Panhellenic Association
Sorority Recruitment Virtual Zoom Forum
Sunday, February 27, 2022
2-4 pm
Have Questions About Joining A Sorority in 2022?
We will guide you through the process and
Help with virtual changes on Greek Life.
Fashion review by current sorority women
Online Registration Opens January 3, 2022
Seniors - RSVP by filling out a PNM Registration Form at
midcitiespanhellenic.com We will send you the Zoom codes in February!
Mothers - Please attend in your daughter’s Zoom room
GHS Take What You Need/Info Center
DUAL - SPRING REGISTRATION
STUDENTS WITHDRAWING
If you won't be returning next semester please withdraw by Wednesday, December 16th. See the registrar, Mrs. Clayton, in the counseling office. Don't forget to bring your computer and charger, any textbooks, library books, etc.
FAFSA ASSISTANCE
The window for seniors to apply for FAFSA® opened on October 1st. ALL seniors are encouraged to apply for financial aid through the FAFSA or TASFA (if ineligible to apply for FAFSA).
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, aka the FAFSA®, is the single most important thing your students can do to get money to help pay for college. It’s the only way they can apply for federal or state financial aid. The FAFSA® will determine a student's eligibility for grants, scholarships, work-study programs, and federal student loans.
Misconceptions about the FAFSA and why filing (regardless of income) is important.
Sallie Mae has put a Paying for College Resource that includes information on the FAFSA as well as ways to help students and families pay for college, including helpful guides, free tools, and a video series.
SENIORS - CAP & GOWN
Orders can be placed online at https://www.balfour.com/
LATE FEES will apply after January.
NCAA Eligibility Info
NCAA Eligibility Center High School Timeline for College-Bound Athletes
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_center/Tutorials/High_School_Timeline.pdf
ALL YEAR INFORMATION:
Attention NCAA ATHLETES
LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
If class of 2022 seniors are in need of a counselor recommendation for their college application (ex. through Common App, SendEDU, or Coalition app), these counselor recommendations will be started around mid-September once the 2021-22 School Profile is complete. The School Profile gives universities a snapshot of the current senior class. The data needed for the Profile is not available until this time. Letters of recommendation will be submitted prior to the student's application deadline.
Seniors are encouraged to submit their college application(s) as soon as they are finished. Counselor recommendations will follow in a timely manner. Please send your counselor a copy of your activities resume and a completed Brag Sheet when requesting a letter. Reminder-letters of recommendation should only be requested if the college application requires it. Colleges will not read letters submitted if they are not listed as part of the application process.
Requesting Transcripts
GHS has streamlined the process for requesting official transcripts by partnering with Parchment. This partnership allows students and alumni to send high school transcripts electronically, securely and confidentially to colleges and universities.
Current students are able to request transcripts for free until August 1 of the year in which they graduate from high school.
Signing up is easy - simply click the Grapevine High School link below to begin!
Request Your Transcript
As a reminder, all seniors should take a moment to ensure their e-mail address listed in their Parchment account is their personal e-mail address NOT their school e-mail address. Seniors will no longer have access to their school e-mail address once they become alumni the August following graduation.
SAT and ACT TESTING INFORMATION
Selective Service System
Males, please remember that you are required by law to register for selective service via sss.gov within 30 days of turning 18. Or you can preregister beginning at 17 years and 3 months of age. Failing to register will result in being unable to receive federally funded college loans and grants, being unable to get into federally funded training and certification programs, being barred from all federal employment, and being ineligible for many state and local government jobs. Immigrants, documented and undocumented, will have a five year delay in processing their citizenship application. Please visit sss.gov to register or for more information.
Welcome back!
Seniors:
College applications are open and the Go Center is available for appointments to assist you with your college process or answer any questions you might have regarding the application process. Or, do you have general questions about any post high school plans? We are here to help you make a plan, whether that is heading off to college, joining the military, taking a mission/gap year or jumping into the workforce. Please come by so we can help you with your next steps!
Juniors:
I welcome you to make an appointment to review your post high school plans or help you prepare for your plans if you are not quite sure about your plans for after high school. This is the ideal timeframe to work on a plan to ensure you have options available to you by the time you graduate.
All Students are welcome to make an appointment at the Go Center! Click Go Center Appointments to sign-up or send an email to Yvette.grau@gcisd.net. Please check your school email for follow-up communication.
GCISD College Visits:
This year we will be hosting college, military and job reps on our campus and they will be hosted in the cove area by the library during lunches. All visits will be posted on our GCISD GHS College Representative Visits page where you can see who is visiting each day.
Virtual College Visits:
Curious how you can visit schools virtually and take advantage of their online opportunities? Check out this great resource that links you to each college's virtual experience page!
Yvette Grau
Go Center Assistant, GHS
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD
COLLEGE AND CAREER PLANNING
COLLEGE PLANNING CALENDARS:
Check out our planning calendars on the GHS Counseling Website:
https://ghs.gcisd.net/resources/counseling/college___career_planning
Scholarships
Scholarships:
Although many local scholarships are not open yet, we encourage you to begin checking the GCISD Scholarship website as this will be actively updated with new deadlines as soon as we receive them. If you have not obtained letters of recommendation, please request them now as most scholarships generally require a minimum of two letters.
Seniors also need to research scholarships that come directly from the colleges/universities to which they are applying.
Please reach out to the Go Center if you have any questions about scholarships!
TCC College Access Program
Seniors, if you have a possible interest in attending TCC after high school in the Fall of ’22, please know that TCC College Access facilitates the entire TCC registration process and is done during the school day. In order to participate and be included in this process you must complete an interest form questionnaire that will be provided soon. You can email yvette.grau@gcisd.net with questions or if you are interested in the program.
Check out our Counseling Website!
- Top 10% Rankings and Quartile Cutoffs
- Google Classroom Counseling Codes
- Scholarships
- Transcript Request Information
- Before and After School Tutorials Schedule
- Course Selection Guides
- And much more....Click the link below:
GCISD College Visit Videos
We are thrilled to announce a NEW COLLEGE PLANNING RESOURCE created by GCISD counselors for our student and parent community.
GCISD counselors have had the privilege of traveling to colleges around the state and nation to visit GCISD alumni and admissions officers in order to get an insider's perspective on the college admissions process.
Click here to view the videos from each of our visits. We will continue to add videos as we make more visits. We hope you enjoy this resource!
COLLEGE BOARD
Website: https://apstudent.collegeboard.org/creditandplacement/search-credit-policies
A-Cr - Marnie Pape
817-251-5233
Cu-He - Shelly Ray
817-251-5214
Hi-Me - Al Marks
817-251-5236
Mi-Sch - Moises Flores
817-251-5234
Sci-Z - Katherine Partridge
817-251-5284
Lead Counselor - Mary Parsley
Lynn Stilwill - Counseling Clerk
Salina Friend - Data Secretary
817-251-5285
Geri Clayton - Registrar
817-251-5286