COMING SOON TO A SUBSTACK NEAR YOU! The CHILLS NEWSLETTER!!!
Counting Credits
Quick, tell me what graduation requirements you are meeting this year…
Can’t do it? This may help!
Getting to Know You…
From his windowless office deep in the inner recesses of the Counseling Department, Mr. Citriglia reports that he is busy getting to know his kids—all 181 of them. So it could be a while until he gets to you.
If you need to touch base with him before we set up your Frosh Visit, come in to see Mrs. Dowd and she will make an appointment for you.
Back to School for Neurodivergents
Fresh from retirement, our former SPED Department Chair Lisa Delfino joined our friend Michelle McAnaney (The College Spy) for a podcast discussion about back-to-school for neurodivergent kids!
Early College at CHILLS
We have 90 enrollments in the Early College program this fall!
What are kids taking? Well…a little bit of everything!
English Composition
Special Topics in English
Elementary Spanish I
Introduction to Anthropology: Human Origins and Prehistory
United States History I
Introduction to Sociology
Leadership and Sports
Maine History
Psychology of Motivation
Writing for Allied Health
Introduction to Anthropology: Diversity of Cultures
Social Psychology
Fundamentals of Music
Introduction to Career Exploration and Development
Foundations of Leadership
Introduction to Sport Management
Private Pilot Ground Training
Introduction to Literature
Legal Environment of Business
Principles of Business Management
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Art History I
Yoga
Technical Writing
Introduction to Food and Nutrition
World History to 1700
Introduction to Film
Introduction to Microeconomics
Foundations of Recreation and Leisure Studies
Principles of Statistical Inference
General Psychology
Introduction to Psychology
College Composition
Introduction to Native American Studies
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Business Law I
Social Problems
United States History II
Want in? The next registration window is in November.
See your counselor if you want to make a plan!
Pathways redux
I realized that we needed an easier way for kids to learn what Pathways are available when I included that info last week.
So this week I offer you this: a handy-dandy spreadsheet of all the Pathways offered in the UMS system in alphabetical order and with built-in hyperlinks!
Over 50 choices! Check them out!
If you like the idea of a Pathway but don’t know which one you would pursue, it is now much easier to see your choices.
Talk to your counselor if you want to integrate a Pathway into your plan!
Talking College Cards
If only there was a way to seed conversations about college that was simple, accessible, and small enough to fit in the glove box, something that would help families have future-oriented discussions anytime, anywhere… Well, there is!
Talking College Cards assist families in talking about the things that need to be talked about when considering colleges.
Now through 12/20, use code FALL to get a discount on your deck(s)!
SAT Fee Waivers
If you meet the criteria (check here) you can get fee waivers for the PSAT/SAT/AP
Here’s what a fee waiver will get you:
Two free SAT tests
Unlimited score reports to send to colleges
Waived application fees at participating colleges
Free CSS Profile™ applications to apply for financial aid from participating schools
No non-U.S. regional fees for free tests (if you're a U.S. student testing abroad)
No late registration fees for free tests
No cancellation fees (upon cancellation, your unused fee waiver benefits will be returned to you)
Fee reductions for score verification reports
Mitchell Institute Video Series
Build a Smart and Balanced College List
Finding the Affordable Options
Filling Out An Effective Activities Section
Tuesday Tips from FAME (Finance Authority of Maine)
Get Ready to File the 2025-2026 FAFSA!
The 2025-2026 FAFSA will be released by December 1, 2024. Now is the time to get ready to file and take steps that will make higher education more affordable. Read on to learn how!
Attend a Financial Aid Information Session
Financial aid is a world of its own! Let FAME help you prepare to file the FAFSA and understand what to expect as you navigate the financial aid process. FAME offers both in-person and virtual Financial Aid Information sessions. You'll find a schedule of sessions on our website. In-person sessions are open to all and do not require registration. Virtual sessions require registration; you’ll receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link.
Create Federal Student Aid Accounts (FSA IDs)
The first step in the FAFSA filing process is to create a Federal Student Aid account at StudentAid.gov. When you create an account, you set up an FSA ID (username and password). Your FSA ID is how you will access the StudentAid.gov website, including the FAFSA, and it serves as your legal signature. All students need their own FSA ID. If parent information is required on the FAFSA, at least one parent will need their own FSA ID. To learn more about creating an FSA ID and who needs one, go to FAMEmaine.com/FAFSA.
Build a List of Schools
When filing the FAFSA, you’ll list all the schools you want to receive your FAFSA data (even if you haven’t yet applied for admission). We encourage you to apply to a variety of schools, so you’ll have options that are a good fit academically as well as within reach financially. Here are some tips on searching for schools:
Focus on net price, not sticker price. Net price is the cost of the school after grants and scholarships and better reflects of the actual cost of a school. To get a sense of net price, use each school’s Net Price Calculator, usually located on the school’s financial aid website. Sometimes schools with a higher sticker price are more affordable based on net price.
Use the College Board’s Big Future website. This site includes over 4,000 schools and allows you to search for schools based on the criteria that matter most to you including major, location, size of school, campus life, and affordability.
Be sure the list includes at least one school that is affordable even without great financial aid.
Search for Scholarships
Scholarships are a great way to reduce borrowing or fill the gap if the financial aid offered is not enough. Start your search at FAMEmaine.com/scholarships, where you can find Maine-based scholarship opportunities, FREE scholarship searches, and a downloadable spreadsheet to track your scholarships. Also, ask your high school’s guidance department what scholarships are available through their office. The students who are most successful in their scholarship searches consistently spend an hour or two per week searching and applying for scholarships. You can do this, and it’s worth your time!
Have the Chat
It’s a great idea for you and your family to talk about expectations around paying for higher education as soon as possible. Who is responsible for what and how much can you and your family afford? Check out these conversation starters to help ensure that everyone is on the same page.
The College Essay: A Mini Memoir
What if you were limited to 650 words to write your memoir? Upon what would you focus? What part(s) of your life would you choose to emphasize? How would you articulate your values and the experiences that have shaped you? In many ways, this is an unfair exercise, to be constricted to so few words in sharing your story. This is what the college essay asks of applicants. Then again, college admission is anything but fair. Read on…
College Kick-Start FREE Webinar: Key Insights for the Coming 24-25 Season
During this webinar, we will:
-- Provide an update on Class of 2028 admissions results
-- Highlight key changes to application requirements and admission options
-- Share perspectives regarding implications for the upcoming cycle
-- Q&A
-- Demo of College Kickstart
Editor’s note: There is no standard admissions percentage to designate “highly selective” colleges, but I am awfully fond of this one which coincides with the GOAT NBA player Larry Bird’s number 33
I’ve had a few seniors come in just to make sure they are where they are supposed to be in the college process.
If you are college bound, visiting colleges and tweaking your list is exactly where you need to be!
As you put together your list, be sure to keep in mind that you need to have viable options in all three categories pictured above.
The best way to gauge likelihood of admission is to look at last year’s (search–college name: 2024 or Class of 2028 : Admission percentage) results. There is no guarantee that it will in any way predict what will happen this year, but it’s the best measure we have. You should add a column in your college spreadsheet for admission percentage if you don’t have one yet. What? You don’t have a college spreadsheet? However will you keep track of all the information that you need to collate? Deadlines especially? Better rectify that ASAP!
Admission percentages help you group your list according to how challenging they are to get into. It is critical that you have choices in each of the categories, just as you need to have short-term, high risk stocks, medium risk-medium reward stocks, and bonds and other long-term minimum risk options in your investment portfolio.
As with investing, if you crowd most of your choices into one category, you risk either catastrophic loss or lackluster gains. Playing it too safe may freeze out options that you would have made it into, while applying to too many highly selective colleges may lead to your own Black Monday–being serially rejected by all the schools that you applied to, sometimes on the same day. Ouch! That’s a two pint Ben and Jerry’s emergency…
It pays to get into the weeds here, especially if you are applying Early Action or Decision. Most schools have a separate percentage for EA and ED, which is often/usually higher than Regular Decision. One of the few things that you have in your quiver that can influence your admissions chances is applying early. Schools have a vested interest in knowing as soon as as possible whether their beds will be full in the coming year. This is good news for you; it may give you an admissions advantage. Some schools take as many as 50% of a class early, and if you’re in that line, life is good! So it’s totally worth your time to figure out if you are more likely to be accepted if you apply early, and to do so if there is.
Remember the CRITICAL distinction between Early Action (which is not legally binding) and Early Decision (which is). If you apply and are accepted Early Decision, you have to commit to the school and withdraw all of your applications to other schools. Truly all your eggs in one basket! And you can only choose one school to apply to ED for that reason. It’s not uncommon, however, to have two or three EA schools, and maybe even a couple EAII schools. “The rules” allow for this. See your counselor if you would like to talk through your list.
Do You 2 + 2?
When the free community college program dropped in Maine a couple of years ago, the University System spent an awful lot of time complaining about the impact on university enrollment. It was not a very good look.
Fortunately, someone took them aside and got their heads on straight. With all these kids completing free associate’s degrees, there will be a need for + 2 programs for them to transfer into to complete a bachelor’s degree. And, don’t look now, but the first students able to transfer their credits graduated in the spring, so the timing was perfect for Transfer ME
Transfer ME is a pathway for Maine Community College System (MCCS) graduates to bypass the traditional transfer admissions process into the University of Maine System (UMS). Graduates from select UMS-MCCS transfer pathway programs are automatically admitted to one or more of Maine’s public universities based on academic performance and progress.
Transfer ME means:
No application
No test score submissions
No chasing down letters of recommendation
No writing admissions essays
No application fees