MAIA LEARNING

FRESHMEN

• Students will be introduced to MAIALearning during their Freshman year.

• Complete the following:

  • Activities (aka Experiences):  Begin building a resume to keep track of your extracurricular activities, leadership roles, summer jobs, achievements, and awards.  You will update this all four years and use it for college applications.  See Building a Resume for tips on wording it impactfully.  MAIALearning calls your activities "experiences".  To enter your experiences:  

    • 1. 1. Find Portfolio on the home page in the blue menu along the lefthand side,

         2. Select Experiences at the top,

         3. On the top right, click the blue button Add Experiences. 

  • Enrichment Programs:  Explore this area to research programs including Summer Programs, Gap Year Programs, After-School Enrichment, Volunteer Opportunities, etc. Find this by going to Enrichment on the home page in the blue menu along the lefthand side.

SOPHOMORES

• Play around with MAIALearning to become familiar with its features, especially how to find and research colleges.  Just for fun, add some colleges to your Considering list so that you'll be notified when they visit our campus.  (Remember, colleges on this list are for your eyes only and can be deleted at any time.  You don't need to solidify your real college list until sometime between the end of your Junior year and fall of Senior year.)

• Activities (aka Experiences):  Begin building a resume to keep track of your extracurricular activities, leadership roles, summer jobs, achievements, and awards.  You will update this all four years and use it for college applications.  See Building a Resume for tips on wording it impactfully.  MAIALearning calls your activities "experiences".  To enter your experiences:  

  • • • Find Portfolio on the home page in the blue menu along the lefthand side,

      • Select Experiences at the top,

      • On the top right, click the blue button Add Experiences. 

JUNIORS

• CONSIDERING LIST:  Build your college list throughout the year.  Include at least 2 "safety" schools that you can get into academically and your family can afford financially.  Use Scattergram features under Admissions win each individual University page to research colleges.

• COLLEGE VISITS ON CAMPUS:  [Sign up TBD] Sign up on MAIALearning, then pick up a pass in the College & Career Center.  Do this Sep-Nov. 

SUMMER BEFORE SENIOR YEAR:

• COONSIDERING LIST:  Narrow down your college list to colleges you will actually be applying to.  Move your colleges from the "Considering" list (by highlighting the heart button next to the college) to the "Applying" list (by selecting the "To Applying ->" button for the individual college within your CONSIDERING list).  Try to have 5-10 colleges in your list, including 1-2 safety schools, 5-6 match schools, 1-2 reach schools (or 1-2 more match schools if you do not want to apply to reach schools.)

• STUDENT STATEMENT:  Complete this so that Counselors can use it to write a Counselor Report.  Do this by September.  

• PARENT BRAG SHEET:  Parents complete this so that Counselors can use it to write a Counselor Report. Do this by September. 

• TEACHER RECOMMENDATION SURVEYS:  Requesting a letter of recommendation in MAIALearning.  First, if you did not request this from a teacher in the spring of Junior year, then request from a teacher in person as soon as possible.  Secondly, go to "Universities" in the blue menu bar on the homepage (lefthand side) and go to the "Recommendations" section. Download the "Recommendation Request Template" (top right button) and complete the survey. Select your Recommender(s) from "Recommenders" and "Drag and Drop Recommendation Request here" box. Hit the yellow Save button. Do this by September. 

• RESUME:  [Update for MAIA.]   Do this by September. 

• SCHOLARSHIPS:  Research scholarships on MAIALearning under "Financial Plan" on the home page blue menu (lefthand side). Find more information on the Financial Aid & Scholarships page. 

• College List:  Start narrowing down your college list. By the fall, you should have 6-12 colleges on your list, including 2-3 safety schools (both academic and financial safeties), 3-6 match schools, and an optional 1-3 reach schools (or 1-3 more match schools if you do not want to apply to reach schools.) 

NOTE:  It is best to write your statements in a Google Doc, then paste it into MAIALearning to be sure you don't lose any unsaved work 

SENIORS

• COLLEGE LIST:  In MAIALearning, move "Considering" to your "Applying" lists.  Do this by end of September.  Try to have 5-10 colleges in your list, including 1-2 safety schools, 5-6 match schools, 1-2 reach schools (or 1-2 more match schools if you do not want to apply to reach schools.)  More on building a college list here.

• If a Letter of Recommendation is needed for your schools, and be sure to complete the following tasks now. If the following tasks were not completed over the summer, complete them now.  For more information about these, see SUMMER BEFORE SENIOR YEAR above.  Do these by end of September.

  • • • STUDENT STATEMENT

      • PARENT BRAG SHEET

      • TEACHER RECOMMENDATION SURVEYS

      • RESUME

• FERPA WAIVER:  This is required to continue the process in the next step.  If you are applying to Common App schools (ie: private colleges), sign the release authorization so that your academic information can be sent to your colleges.  To do this, create an account on Commonapp.org; click the "College Search" tab and enter one or more colleges;  click on the "My Colleges" tab; on the left hand menu, click "Recommenders and FERPA"; Under "FERPA Release Authorization", click "Release Authorization" and follow the instructions to "waive your rights".  Do this by the end of September.

• TRANSCRIPTS:  Note:  Use the Webstore to request transcripts for colleges that require them.  (Note:  No transcripts are needed for UCs or CSUs.)  Do this by early October. 

• COLLEGE VISITS ON CAMPUS:  [TBD] Sign up on MAIALearning, then pick up a pass in the College & Career Center.    To sign up, under the COLLEGES tab, click "colleges I'm thinking about", then click "college visits".  Do this Sep-Nov. 

• SCHOLARSHIPS:  Research scholarships on Naviance and find more information on the Financial Aid & Scholarships page.