Mr. Fisher's College Planning Page
We believe every student should be ready for college or other post-secondary education and training, even if they ultimately choose to enter the workforce or take a gap year.
Danville supports our student's college and career needs and interests beginning in middle school, through conversations in Advisory, partnership with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, college campus visits, and more.
FAQs and Helpful Links
1. How can families start to navigate the college process?
"Big Future" from the College Board (link here)
This resource is used with 8th graders during Career Pathways day at LSC every year and with 11th graders during Advisory in the fall.
One great aspect of this tool is that it allows students to create a sliding scale of priorities and filter results based on location, size, activities, etc.
Our VSAC representative is in the building every week to work with students and answer questions.
Events!
Each year Danville School brings a group of students to the Women Can Do! Conference in October. This conference is specifically designed to expose young women to STEM related fields that are traditionally male dominated (click here for info).
We also attend Vermont Technical College's "Try a Major" Day in May (click here for info)
Students attend the NEACAC College Fair each year (click here for info)
Danville also hosts 10-15 college representatives a year.
Danville High School students have the opportunity to attend multiple college campus visits each year.
2. What tests should students plan to take?
October of 11th Grade: PSATs – essentially a practice test, sometimes used for scholarships
Spring of 11th Grade: SAT and/or ACT
Register for SATs here
SATs are administered 7-8 times a year, and registration is usually required a month ahead of time
The College Board also has an useful comparison of the two tests (link here) or visit their site
Students who want to retake the SAT should do so, ideally, in the summer before 12th grade.
3. How else can students prepare for their college application?
Students are encouraged to take an SAT Prep course, either through our in-house course or elsewhere, during their 11th grade year.
The college Board also has an official SAT Practice site
Set up an email just for college and scholarship related correspondence.
This will keep that information in a permanent place rather than on school email, which will close after graduation. It is also better to keep this separate from an existing personal email. This helps students stay organized. Be sure to choose an appropriate username!
Take an advanced level writing class. Danville offers AP Language, English Composition, Building Better Essays, and a variety of writing-based courses to help you be a better writer.
4. When should families begin visiting schools?
Anytime during 11th grade or earlier!
We also encourage students to sign up for as many school-run college visits as possible and meet with the college representatives who visit our school, in order to be more familiar with what questions to ask, what schools can offer and even practice interview skills.
Schools like to hear from students, not parents. Calls to the admissions office for information and tours should come from the student!
This chart from VSAC (link here) can help students and families organize their impressions and priorities after visits.
5. When should students finalize their application list?
By September of 12th grade, students should have a final list.
The Common Application, which many schools use, (click for link) should be started in September.
Students should begin working on their personal essay in September and begin speaking to potential recommenders (always ask first!) and put together their "brag sheet" – a list of activities, work, clubs, community involvement, hobbies, and send it to the people writing their letters of recommendation.
Advice and videos on writing a good essay from Khan Academy (link here)
Pay attention to deadlines for individual colleges. Many have different deadlines for regular admission, early action or decision (December 1 for some!) or rolling deadlines.
Regular decision letters are usually mailed to applicants by May.
Applying for financial aid?
Useful Forbes article
Financial Aid 101 from the College Board
Join us for "Paying for College Night" with VSAC in the spring of 11th grade
The VSAC "Paying for College" website is also useful! (link here)
How early should I start the financial aid process?
Begin collecting tax and financial information in September
The FAFSA form is now available in October use the free fafsa.ed.gov link.
We hold a FAFSA forms night with VSAC every October, and our VSAC rep is available to meet with parents one on one.
The deadline to complete FAFSA is February of your students' senior year
Scholarships
National scholarships – can be applied to by any student (depending on the requirements).
Chegg is a good, searchable scholarship resource (click here)
State scholarships – these are listed in the yearly VSAC "Scholarships for Vermonters" printed guide, which every 12th grader receives a copy of in September. These are usually due by February.
Local scholarships – are sent by organizations directly to the school, and we we send out to students and parents as they come in.
College/University specific scholarships – college or universities may have scholarships that students may qualify for. Usually requires students to ask the college, during the application process, what is available.
School nomination scholarships – annual scholarships nominated by application and/or the school faculty. A list can be found by clicking here (this page is being updated currently and is subject to change and updates annually).
In part, we rely on the VSAC Senior Survey data each year to help gauge how well we are preparing our students, particularly these two questions:
"My high school provided the information and assistance to continue my education."
Class of 2016: 79% agreed or strongly agreed
Class of 2014: 53% agreed or strongly agreed
"My high school helped in learning the skills needed to be successful in work or college."
Class of 2016: 70% agreed or strongly agreed
Class of 2014: 25% agreed or strongly agreed
The 2016 Danville In-School Senior Survey is available in full here.
A sample of the schools our graduates have attended or been accepted to in the past twenty years:
American University of Paris Paris, France
Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona
Averett Univeristy Danville, Virginia
Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Bates College Lewiston, Maine
Berklee College of Music Boston, Massachusetts
Castleton State College Castleton, Vermont
Community College of Vermont
Colby College Waterville, Maine
Champlain College Burlington, Vermont
Colby Sawyer College New London, New Hampshire
Dairyland Hoof Care Institute Barraboo, Wisconsin
Dartmouth University Hanover, New Hampshire
Duke University Durham, North Carolina
Duquesne University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Eckherd College St. Petersburg, Florida
Emmanuel College Boston, Massachusetts
Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, Florida
Hamilton College Clinton, New York
Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts
James Madison University Harrisonburg, Virginia
Johnson State College Johnson, Vermont
Keene State College Keene, New Hampshire
King's College Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Lyndon State College Lyndonville, Vermont
Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont
Massachussetts Institute of Technology Boston, Massachusetts
Mitchell College New London, Connecticut
Mount Holyoke College Holyoke, Massachusetts
New College of Florida Sarasota, Florida
New Hampshire Technical College Concord, New Hampshire
Norwich University Norwich, Vermont
Oxford University Oxford, United Kingdom
Paul Smith's College Paul Smiths, New York
Plymouth State University Plymouth, New Hampshire
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York
Rhode Island School of Design Providence, Rhode Island
Saint Michael's College Colchester, Vermont
Salve Regina University Newport, Rhode Island
San Diego State University San Diego, California
Smith College Northampton, Massachusetts
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky
St. Joseph's College Standish, Maine
St. Lawrence College Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Syracuse University Syracuse, New York
Thomas College Waterville, Maine
Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska
University of Hartford West Hartford, Connecticut
University of Maine Farmington, Maine
University of New England Portland, Maine
University of New Hampshire Durham, New Hampshire
University of Notre Dame South Bend, Indiana
University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont
Vermont Law School Royalton, Vermont
Vermont Technical College Randolph Center, Vermont
Webster University Webster Groves, Missouri