Oh the summer of junior year- celebrating becoming seniors with your closest friends, enjoying full days at the beach, maybe taking a trip or two out of town. You are having so much fun that you do not notice when August first rolls around, and just like that, college applications have forced their way into the picture. You tell yourself you will be productive and devote a few hours a day to the applications, but there is no avoiding it: you immediately feel overwhelmed and end up putting it off. Now school has started and your schedule is only going to get busier as the weeks go on. So what is the best way to get back on track? Luckily, San Marcos has introduced our newest addition to the many resources available for college planning, and it is called Scoir!
Scoir is a free website available to all students and has countless features that will make college applications seem way less daunting, more manageable, and will keep you organized throughout the whole process. Because of how helpful and advanced Scoir is, it would be extremely difficult to fit all of its features in one article, so here are the things you need to know:
Connect with faculty
Scoir sets itself apart from other college planning websites because of its ability to connect students and staff. Whether it is a counselor, teacher, or recommender, they can all keep tabs on their student’s progress with their applications through the website. This is especially useful for those who are starting to feel overwhelmed and need help pacing themselves. It is also reassuring to know that you have a support system that is available at any point in the process.
Add and save your favorite colleges
In general, Scoir is also very good at personalizing your account. Students can add as many colleges as they wish to apply to and then sort them depending on how completed each application is. Even if you’re still deciding on what colleges to add to your list, Scoir offers a “College Match Quiz” that will recommend schools that check most, if not all of your boxes.
See your chances of getting into your dream college
Ms. Woodard, the counselor at the College and Career Center, is already very familiar with everything Scoir has to offer and eagerly shared a feature that is coming to the website that will likely change the way students go about choosing their colleges that they want to apply to. This new development will allow applicants to determine their chances of getting into a college of their choice. By giving Scoir information like test scores, grades, and listing activities (both extracurricular and school related), with up-to-date data they will be able to see how likely they are to get into specific colleges. Ms. Woodward expressed her excitement for this feature, and emphasized the fact that it will be extremely useful in helping students sort through their options and choose schools that will better represent them and their performance throughout high school.
As mentioned earlier, there is so much more to Scoir than can be written about in a few paragraphs. I highly recommend exploring the website and seeing for yourself just how much you can make out of your application process. Because there is so much to it, the website even included an introduction video that goes through the basics, which is particularly helpful if you are just getting started. However you choose to use Scoir, you will without a doubt feel more prepared and confident about your progress and organization when facing the most daunting part of senior year.
