Banks County High School

Banks County High School

Senior Handbook

(revised 09/2017)

Counseling Department Policies

Appointments with Counselors

Transcript Requests

College Applications

Letters of Recommendation

Registration for the SAT/ACT

Senior Year Reminders

Helpful Hints

Researching Colleges

Campus Visits

College Application Process

New Georgia Admissions Requirements

College Essays

NCAA Clearinghouse

Second Semester Senior Issues

HOPE Eligibility

Websites

Senior Year Planning Calendar

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to your senior year and to let you know how excited I am to be working with you. This year will be filled with fun and exciting activities. Before you realize it, May will be here and you will be leaving high school to start a whole new adventure. Please utilize your school counselor and this handbook as resources to guide you through your senior year.

Mrs. Loggins, M.Ed.

Professional School Counselor

BCHS Counseling Department Procedures

Appointments with Counselor

Seniors should meet with their counselor to be sure that they are on track for graduation. An individual senior meeting will be scheduled with the counselor for each 12th grade student. It is the student’s responsibility to attend this meeting. Students are then encouraged to schedule additional meetings with the counselor as needed. Students may set up a meeting with the counselor through the receptionist in the front office. Students need to make appointments at least one day in advance.

In order to receive a diploma, students must meet all credit requirements and must take all corresponding Georgia Milestone Exams. In order to participate in the graduation ceremony, students must earn all twenty three (23) required Carnegie units.

The Counseling / Registrar Department are responsible for mailing the following documents at the student’s request:

Transcript

Letters of Recommendation

School Profile

Secondary School Report (student provides this form to the counselor)

Mid-year Report (student provides this form to the counselor)

Students may request a “sealed copy” of their transcript to include in their application packet. Students should hold their mid-year report forms until January. At that time, the mid-year report forms should be given to their counselor.

Transcript Requests

●Each student receives three official transcripts for free and then there is a $3.00 fee per transcript there after. No transcript request will be processed until fees have been paid.

●Students must make requests to the registrar a minimum of four days in advance of deadline. Parents may also request that your transcript be sent to an institution prior to your eighteenth birthday; however they must do so in writing four days in advance of deadline.

●Students must include the name of institution, address, and contact person/department of where the transcript is to be sent.

●SAT and ACT scores may be requested as part of your official transcript, however some institutions require that students have the scores sent from the SAT or ACT testing program directly to the colleges.

●Upon graduation it is the student’s responsibility to request a final transcript to be sent to the selected colleges.

●Upon graduation your parents may no longer request your transcript. The graduate must request a transcript in writing four days in advance of the deadline and include photo ID.

Honor Graduates

Each senior transcript is calculated using a 100-point scale. Courses taken in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and foreign language are computed in the academic average. Students enrolled in AP/Dual Enrollment and Honors level classes receive a 10 and 3 point weight to the class average respectively. The weighted average will be calculated in the cumulative academic average for honor graduate purposes. Students who have cumulative academic averages of 90 or higher over 4 years of high school coursework are honor graduates. The student with the highest academic grade point average at the 3rd nine weeks grading period will be named valedictorian, second highest academic grade point average will be named salutatorian. The third highest academic grade point average will be named the first honorarian.

Failed core courses are calculated into the average. If a student takes additional core courses, beyond the graduation requirements, these courses are used when computing the average as well.

College Applications

Students are responsible for mailing college applications and fees. If letters of recommendations are required as part of the application package, students should notify counselors and teachers well in advance of deadlines. Students who have college application deadlines in January must notify their counselors and teachers by December 1st. If requests for transcripts and recommendations are made after this date, there will be no guarantee that the documents will be mailed prior to the December vacation. (Students should keep counselors informed of any colleges that they add or delete from their list.)

Letters of Recommendation

●Students must complete a “Senior Brag Sheet” and return it to their counselor. This will be used to facilitate the writing of letters of recommendation.

●Colleges expect that letters of recommendation remain confidential and not be shared with students or parents. If teachers write letters of recommendation, they generally mail those letters themselves. However, it is a good idea for the student to ask that teacher to send a copy to the counseling office.

●Please notify your teachers and counselor at least one (1) week in advance for letters of recommendation.

Registration for the SAT/ACT

Your counselor has copies of the SAT/ACT on-line registration procedures and preparation booklets. Follow the directions on the flyer to register on-line as soon as possible to meet the deadlines and to get your first choice testing site. You will register for the SAT on-line at and for the ACT on-line at If you have questions as to which test is most appropriate for you or how to complete the registration information, please see your counselor. We recommend that you first attempt the ACT in order to experience a timed standardized test. See your counselor for the high school code which is required for your testing scores to be sent to the high school. In addition, if you receive free or reduced lunch you are eligible for two fee waivers for the SAT as well as the ACT. Once you have used a fee waiver for a college placement exam you will be eligible for four college application fee waivers for participating institutions. See Mrs. Loggins for the fee waivers. If you are planning to attend a technical college, the ACT and SAT may not be required. Ask your counselor about taking the Accuplacer.

Although your SAT/ACT scores can be included on your transcript, many colleges do not consider these to be official. To send official scores to colleges you should:

Place the college code number for each college on your SAT/ACT registration form. Please note that you receive four free reports per test, but there is a fee for each additional report.
If you did not indicate college code numbers when you registered, you can access your ACT or SAT account on-line to have these scores sent to colleges. There is a fee for every report that you request in this manner.

Military Options

Some students plan to enter the military straight out of high school. This option allows students to have a guaranteed salary, housing, medical care, and retirement benefits all while traveling the world. Students will need to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) as the entrance exam into the military. The ASVAB is offered yearly at the high school. See your counselor for the test date and for information on how to contact a recruiter for the branch of service you are interested in joining. For more information on the ASVAB you can go on-line to

Senior Year Reminders

Senior year is the time for you to finalize your plans for life after high school. Although many of you will apply to two-year and four-year colleges, some of you may be interested in pursuing other post-secondary plans. Whatever your plans or ideas may be for next year, all seniors should meet with their counselor to discuss the following:

Are you in good standing to graduate this year?
Does your current schedule complete your graduation requirements?
Do you need to attend Credit Recovery through the After School Program?
If you are a student athlete, have you taken enough NCAA required courses?
If you hope to play sports on the college level on a Division I or II team, you should complete the NCAA Clearinghouse or NAIA application depending upon the institution you are planning to attend.
Have you taken (or registered to take) the SAT, ACT, or Accuplacer?
Have you mailed in your college applications?
Have you completed the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)?
Have you developed a final plan for your post-secondary years?

Helpful Hints

Schedule an appointment with your counselor if you have questions or concerns.
Read the monthly scholarship list and apply for all scholarships in which you are eligible.
Listen to all announcements and pay attention to deadlines.
Save everything – Create a folder for each college to which you apply.
Make copies of everything: applications, essays, financial aid forms, tax forms.
Put our school code on every SAT/ACT application.
If you have a special talent – music, drama, athletic, science, creative writing – pursue that interest at each college. This is the time to brag about yourself. If the admissions committee doesn’t know about your talent, they cannot possibly react to it.
Read the application requirements for each college thoroughly. Some have very specific requirements such as a required language or science, SAT Subject Test or a recommendation from a science or math teacher. Knowing about and adhering to these specific requirements is your responsibility.
Treat each application as if that were your first choice. Many schools are paying close attention to a student’s level of interest. They want to admit students who want to attend their college.
File the FAFSA (financial aid form) as soon as possible after October 1st. If necessary, have your parents/guardians estimate their taxes. The FAFSA must be filed to be eligible for financial aid opportunities.
Remember that HOPE GPAs may be viewed through your GA Futures account. You must have a 3.0 for the HOPE Scholarship. For the Zell Miller Scholarship you must have a 3.7 along with a 1200 total score on the SAT or a 26 composite score on the ACT. ALL English, math, science, social studies and foreign language courses count in the HOPE and Zell Miller GPA. Four HOPE Rigor courses are required either program. A list of HOPE rigor acceptable courses are available on-line at .
Meet all deadlines. Deadlines are a serious matter and in some cases, financial aid, admission to college and assignments for SAT/ACT testing is done on a first come, first serve basis. Submitting materials after the deadlines can be costly.
Ask two academic teachers to write a letter of recommendation for you. This should be done early in the year but no later than December. Give teachers at least a one week notice.
Use the attached Senior Time Line to keep you on track.
Visit the counseling office for help in researching careers, obtaining college applications, and locating scholarships. You may also do this through the GA Futures or GCIS websites.
Attend the Financial Aid Program in October for assistance in completing the FAFSA.
If you are a student athlete and hope to play a sport at the college level in a Division I or II school, you must register with the NCAA Clearinghouse and/or NAIA by the fall of your senior year. These forms can be obtained on-line. You may receive fee waivers if you receive free or reduced lunch.

Researching Colleges

Consider the following factors when choosing a college:

Location – states that you are willing to consider; city vs. rural

Size – small (up to 3,000) medium (3,000 – 10,000) large (10,000 +)

Type – public, private, religious affiliations, technical, liberal arts

Majors offered – liberal arts, business, technical, science, math, etc.

Student Body – male, female, coed, racial diversity, etc.

Special Programs – programs for students with disabilities, tutorials labs, etc.

Extracurricular Activities – clubs, teams, sports, etc.

Financial Considerations – All students should have at least one school that would be affordable should they not receive enough financial aid.

Admissions Chances – You should have at least one college where your credentials (SAT/ACT scores and GPA) are stronger than most and you are fairly confident that you will be admitted.

Campus Visits

Every student is strongly encouraged to visit a college campus to ensure that the college is a good match to your needs. To facilitate this process each senior has three (3) instructional days in which you can visit a college campus, however the student assumes all responsibility for coordinating make-up work with individual teachers. A week prior to your scheduled visit you need to obtain a college visitation form from the attendance office. You must have all of your teachers and parents sign the form prior to returning it to the office. Administration will then approve or deny the request. While at the college visit it is your responsibility to obtain a statement on letter head from a college representative stating you visited the college and the date of the visitation. Upon your return to school you need to give that statement to the attendance clerk within two days of your absence in order for it to be considered instructional time.

College Application Process

Request a college catalog and an application from colleges, at the PROBE College Fair, or on-line at or
Visit the counseling office to review catalogs, get applications for colleges and scholarships, and to use GCIS and GA Futures.
Read and follow directions on the applications. If you need help, see your advisor or your counselor.
Check deadlines, admissions requirements, tests to be taken, etc. It is your responsibility for knowing specific details applicable to each school to which you are applying. See your counselor for assistance.
Fill out the applications neatly. Type, use your computer or print with black ink pen. Many colleges also allow you to apply on-line through their website.
Give yourself time to complete the application procedure by starting as early as possible in the school year. Be aware that some schools require you to write an essay.

Admission Requirements for Georgia Public Colleges and Universities

Students should pursue a challenging and rigorous high school curriculum to be best prepared for a successful college experience and should consult with their high school counselor to determine appropriate coursework. The following high school requirements must be met by all freshmen applicants and transfer applicants with less than 30 transferable semester hours.* Students should contact their college or university of interest to learn about any additional institution specific admission requirements that may apply.

Carnegie Unit Requirements

17 Carnegie Units should be completed by students graduating high school in 2012 or later.

Carnegie Unit Requirement in Specific Subject Areas:

4 Carnegie units of college preparatory English: Literature (American, English, and World) integrated with grammar, usage and advanced composition skills

4 Carnegie units of college preparatory mathematics: Algebra I/Coordinate Algebra, Geometry/Analytic Geometry, Algebra II/Advanced Algebra, and a 4th unit of advanced math, or equivalent courses

4 Carnegie units of college preparatory science: The four science units should include two courses with a laboratory component. Students graduating from a Georgia public high school should have at least one unit in biology, one unit of physical science or physics, one unit of chemistry, earth systems, environmental science, or an advanced placement course, and a fourth science.

3 Carnegie units of college preparatory social science: Must include one unit focusing on US studies and one unit focusing on world studies

2 Carnegie units of the same foreign language or American Sign Language or computer science: The 2 units of the same foreign language must have an emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and writing. The 2 units of computer science must have a coding and programming emphasis.

*Students who graduate from a Georgia public high school having participated in the Georgia Alternative Assessment will not be eligible for admission to a USG institution.