College & Career Counseling Home
College Application Process
Applications
Applications are submitted online through the college's website or through an online service like the Common Application or University Application. Go to the college's website to learn about its specific procedure. For the application, use a personal email, not your RBHS email. Once you have completed all your portions of the application online, submit an electronic transcript request form to Student Services.
(If you apply using the Common Application, be sure to match your Naviance account with your Common Application account. That step is necessary for us to send your transcript to a Common App school. Here's a video that explains the matching process.)
Letters of Recommendation
Some, but definitely not all, colleges will require one or more letters of recommendation as part of the application. If you are asking a teacher or a coach to write a letter for you, we suggest that you give the names of the schools to which you are applying and a list of your activities, awards, and accomplishments. Allow them ample time - at least 2 weeks - to write your letters since many teachers are writing multiple letters. After the teachers upload your letters to Naviance, submit an electronic transcript request to your counselor. If a counselor recommendation is required, be sure to complete the senior questionnaire packet on Naviance under the "About Me" tab and allow two weeks for the counselor to honor your request.
Transcripts
Transcript request forms are available here, on Schoology, and through the link on the right side of this page. A request form must be submitted for each college. Allow ten days for your request to be processed. (Remember to link Common App and Naviance if you apply to a Common App college. Instructions on How to Match Naviance and CA
Reporting Test Scores to Colleges
It is your responsibility to see that the appropriate ACT and/or SAT scores are sent to colleges. If you did not code your selected colleges at the time you registered for the tests, you must request an additional score report be sent. Most colleges require official test scores that come directly from the testing agency. Visit www.act.org to request ACT scores and www.collegeboard.org to request SAT scores. Allow several weeks for colleges to receive the score reports. Each ACT report will cost $16. Each SAT report will cost $12.
Deadlines
You are responsible for knowing your selected colleges' deadlines and bringing your applications and other materials to your counselor in time for us to meet those deadlines. Allow ten days for us to process your transcript request and finalize your application not including weekends and holidays. We try to accommodate you as best as we can. However, our department is serving over 400 seniors, and we need adequate time to process hundreds of college applications.