With seniors preparing to apply for college, some find themselves daunted by the process. This is where Ms. Mary Charlton, the college counselor, steps in to help.

Ms. Charlton guides students through the college application process and financial aid for college. She also administers the PSAT, SAT, and AP testing occurring on campus.

“I do almost anything that revolves around college admissions, financial aid for college and also the prep testing for college,” says Ms. Charlton.

She works with the school’s outreach program that is federally subsidized, Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search (ETS), that comes to help students with completing the application and making sure students are on track with their A-G requirements, which are the courses required to graduate high school.

Upward Bound is a program that serves low-income families and high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree while the Educational Talent Search (ETS) offers scholarships and financial aid resources to students.

Ms. Charlton is also directing a series of workshops teaching attendees how to complete their college application for either UC, CSU, or private universities.

“There will be writing workshops on how to write your personal statement or your Education Opportunity Program (EOP) application ,” she says.

Ms. Charlton also helps students with the “daunting but actually quite doable” process of applying for financial aid. 

“When October 1st rolls around, that’s when Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opens and then we start having workshops for that too.”

In addition to financial aid assistance, Ms. Charlton also informs students of scholarship opportunities through Schoology.

“I use Schoology a lot. It’s like my right-hand person. I put all those notices on Schoology and then there are also people who drop in and I refer them to different websites where they can look at additional scholarships.”

Although Ms. Charlton does not specialize in vocational schooling, she can help students who plan on pursuing a career that requires trade technical college.

Ms. Charlton recommends all students, not just seniors, to visit her office in room 305, when posed with any college-related questions.

“That’s the first step. Ninth grade is not too early.”