Newbury Park
High School
Counseling - Home
Welcome to the NPHS Counseling page! Use the hyperlinks below and to the left to access both general and specific information. For time-sensitive information, click the “Noteworthy News & Events” links to the right.
Seniors
Seniors
Use the links at the left to answer most college application related questions.
Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.Edu! You can use this program to search for colleges, careers, and many other post-high school opportunities. Additionally, if a student applies to a CSU or UC, the NPHS coursework can easily be transferred directly from Q into college applications.
Additionally, you can explore colleges and build a list (as well as get an estimate of your chances of being accepted), try www.collegevine.com and access the free features. If you have no idea what you want to study in college/what major to choose, take the free test at www.careerexplorer.com .
Juniors
Juniors
It is important for you to continue to use (or sign up for) your CaliforniaColleges.edu account. CaliforniaColleges.edu is a program that allows you to assess your personality type, explore careers, majors, post-secondary opportunities and scholarships, and to eventually apply to colleges effectively. Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.edu! As a junior, you need to start narrowing your potential post-high school interests by matching who you are with what you would like to be doing. You then need to research the type of education/training you need to be able to pursue your goals.
In addition to researching your post-high school interests, you need to make sure that you are aware of all the important deadlines that affect juniors at NPHS throughout your entire year. Use the links to stay organized, to avoid missing any important dates, to check your transcript/grades, and to access various resources.
Junior Calendar
Access your CaliforniaColleges.edu account.
August
Review your academic record and profile, and determine not only if you are on track for graduation but also how to strengthen your candidacy for your intended post-high school goals.
Use CaliforniaColleges.edu to determine what it takes to be considered for admission to the college(s) of your choice, including GPA and test score requirements. Refine your tentative college list accordingly and update your journal/resume.
Review the schedules for the SAT, ACT with writing, and AP exams. Determine if you should take any of these exams and how they could benefit you, and sign up and prepare for the exams you decide to take. Register for whichever test or tests (SAT or ACT) you will need.
Focus on earning good grades! Maintaining your GPA EVERY year is especially important.
Have a life outside of school! You should participate in extracurricular activities that you truly enjoy…not only because finding your passion in life is important, but also because college admissions officers seek candidates who have accomplished something in an area about which they genuinely care.
Create or update your 4-year plan.
Look for scholarship opportunities.
September
Register for the PSAT exam offered in October (NP will announce the sign-up procedures). Remember that when you take the PSAT in your junior year, the scores will count towards the National Achievement Program (and it is good practice for the SAT Reasoning Test). Use this link to take a full-length practice SAT/ACT and to familiarize yourself with general testing requirements for colleges.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
October
Take the PSAT. Use your CaliforniaColleges account to create/further narrow your list of colleges to include a few with requirements that coincide with your current GPA, a few with requirements above your current GPA, and at least one with requirements below your GPA. Your list should contain approximately 8-12 schools you are seriously considering. Start researching your financial aid options as well.
Consider going on some campus tours. You and your parent(s) may want to visit the colleges and universities during spring break and summer vacation, so that you do not have to miss school.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
November
Continue to refine your college list and to study the websites of the colleges that you are seriously considering.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
December /January
You will receive your scores from the October PSAT. Review your PSAT results in order to identify your strengths and to determine the areas that you may need to improve upon. To improve your score, you can continue to prepare for the SAT/ACT exam(s) you should taking in the Spring and then possibly again during Fall of your senior year.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities. Continue refining your college search.
February
Find out from each college you have saved in CaliforniaColleges.edu the deadlines for applying for admission and which tests to take. Make sure your test dates give colleges enough time to receive test scores. It is a good idea to take the SAT and/or ACT in the spring to allow you time to review your results and retake the exams in the fall of your senior year, if necessary.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
March/April
Refine your college interest list.
Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
May/June
Take the ACT with writing or the SAT .
Take the AP/IB exams if you have taken any AP/IB classes.
Find out if any of the colleges to which you intend to apply REQUIRE letters of recommendation. If so, talk to teachers and your counselor about writing them for you. Think about what you would like included in these letters (how you would like to be presented) and politely ask your teachers and your counselor if they can accommodate you. Be sure to fill out the student brag survey for both teachers and your counselor.
To get a head start on applying to colleges, familiarize yourself with THIS.
Add any new report cards, test scores, honors, or awards to your file/resume. Visit colleges. During your visits, find out if you can talk to professors, sit in on classes, spend a night in the dorms, and speak to students about the college(s). Some colleges have preview programs that allow you to do all of these; find out which of the schools that you will be visiting offer these programs and take advantage of them.
If you go on interviews or visits, don’t forget to send thank you notes. Continue to look for scholarship opportunities.
Summer Before Your Senior Year
Narrow your college list and find out exactly how you need to apply to each campus. Create accounts when the application cycle allows you to do so, and make note of dates that the other apps will be available. Focus on essay portions of the applications that require them, and decide how you would like to present yourself.
Decide if you are going to apply under a particular college’s early decision or early action programs. These programs require/allow you to submit your applications early, typically between October and December of your senior year, but offer the benefit of receiving the college’s decision concerning your admission early, usually before January 1. If you choose to apply early, you should do so for the college/university that is your first choice in schools to attend. Many early decision programs are legally binding, requiring you to attend the college you are applying to, should they accept you.
Sophomores
Sophomores
Access (or sign up for) your CaliforniaColleges.Edu, a program that will give you the opportunity to explore explore careers, majors, post-secondary opportunities and scholarships, and to eventually apply to colleges effectively. Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.edu! Your sophomore year is a perfect time to continue exploring your interests and finding careers that relate to them. The program will be linked to our student information system in the Fall, which means that GPA/coursework will reflect within individual student accounts. Additionally, if students apply to a CSU or UC, the coursework can easily be transferred directly from Q into college applications. Be sure to check your learn account email messages routinely so that you will know how and when you can access your account.
In addition to exploring your interests, you need to make sure that you are aware of all the important deadlines that affect sophomores at NPHS throughout your entire year. Use the links to stay organized, to avoid missing any important dates, to check your transcript/grades, and to access various resources.
Sophomore To-Do List
Activate and maintain your account at CaliforniaColleges.Edu .
- Continue to earn good grades in courses aligned to your post-high school goals.
- Review NPHS graduation requirements (in your Q account) and ensure that you are on track to meet them.
Compare the GPA you have earned thus far with the profiles of admitted college students (see www.collegevine.com/changing tool) for the colleges in which you are interested.
Using CaliforniaColleges.Edu , begin a college/post-secondary search. Research the different types of schools and decide which characteristics are most important to you (such as the size of the school, location, cost, majors, and admissions criteria).
- Update (or begin) your college file so you can stay organized.
- Update (or create) your 4-year plan.
- Continue (or begin) extracurricular activities you are truly passionate about. Do not seek activities that do not interest you simply because you think (or heard) they will “look good to colleges.”
Prepare for standardized testing. Consider taking the PSAT in October (it is only offered one time a year). It is valuable as practice for when you take the PSAT again in your junior year (when the scores will count for National Merit Scholarship consideration), as well as for the SAT you should take during your junior year (after the PSAT). Use the FREE test-prep resources HERE to help you determine which test (the SAT or ACT) best suits you and to improve your familiarity with either/both.
Freshmen
Freshmen
Sign up for your CaliforniaColleges.Edu, a program that will give you the opportunity to explore explore careers, majors, post-secondary opportunities and scholarships, and to eventually apply to colleges effectively. Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.edu! Your sophomore year is a perfect time to continue exploring your interests and finding careers that relate to them. The program will be linked to our student information system in the Fall, which means that GPA/coursework will reflect within individual student accounts. Additionally, if students apply to a CSU or UC, the coursework can easily be transferred directly from Q into college applications. Be sure to check your learn account email messages routinely so that you will know how and when you can access your account.
In addition to creating your 4-year plan and researching post-high school opportunities, you need to make sure that you are aware of all the important deadlines that affect freshmen at NPHS throughout your entire year. Use the links to stay organized, to avoid missing any important dates, to check your transcript/grades, and to access various resources.
Freshmen To-Do List
Activate and maintain an account at CaliforniaColleges.Edu . Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.edu!
Plan a challenging program of classes to take, and Create a 4-year plan.
The courses you take in high school show colleges what kind of goals you set for yourself. Are you signing up for advanced classes, honors sections, or accelerated sequences?
Are you choosing electives that really stretch your mind and help you develop new abilities? Or are you doing just enough to get by? Colleges will be more impressed by respectable grades in challenging courses than by outstanding grades in easy ones.
Keep in mind (if you plan to attend a 4-year college directly after high school) the courses colleges expect you to have completed for admission (you should take at least four college-preparatory classes per year), include:
- Four years of English
- Four years of math through algebra II, trigonometry or higher (to graduate from NPHS only 30 credits, including Algebra 1, are required)
- Two-four years of world language (three recommended; to graduate from NPHS a world language is NOT required)
- Three-four years of laboratory science (to graduate from NPHS, only two years of science are required including a physical sciecne and biology)
- Two-four years of history/social studies
- One year of fine arts
- One year of electives from the above list
Create a file of important documents and notes.
- Copies of report cards, lists of awards and honors, and lists of school and community activities in which you are involved, including both paid and volunteer work, and descriptions of what you do. Rather than use paper, you can add journal entries and/or upload documents in your Naviance account.
Get involved with and stay active in something you genuinely enjoy (or search for it).
- Keep in mind that learning doesn’t happen only in the classroom. Colleges look at more than just your academic record for admission. It’s important that you demonstrate your abilities, interests, and passions outside of the classroom as well.
To compare your potential GPA with the profiles of admitted college students (see www.collegevine.com/changing tool) for the colleges in which you are interested.
Parents
Parents
The most important thing you can do to ensure your child’s success in high school is to be aware of his or her social/emotional and academic “whereabouts.” A student has to be socially and emotionally healthy in order to be able to perform academically. Make sure that you check in with your student on a regular basis to access his or her social/emotional health, and that you take appropriate steps to address any issues that arise. To make sure that your student is performing up to his or her academic potential, you should check Canvas/Q REGULARLY. If you wait until the progress report is posted, it may be too late to address a low grade. If you do find that your student is struggling academically when you review Canvas/Q, speak with your student immediately, and contact the teacher directly.
Use the links at the left to access many important parent tools.
CaliforniaColleges.edu is a program used for personality assessment, career exploration, 4-year planning, and college/technical school searches. Please review THIS to learn more about CaliforniaColleges.edu! Use THIS for specific resources for parents/guardians.
The Index of Links includes an alpha-list of counseling-related resources.