APPLICATION CHECKLIST FOR TEXAS PUBLIC COLLEGES
Take another SAT and/or ACT if your score doesn’t assure admission. How do you know the score to aim for? Check out
the Assured Admission handout, but know that if you don’t make assured admission scores that a review can get you in.
Don’t meet assured admission scores? Apply for review and include letters of recommendations from teachers and/or
your advisor to strengthen your application. Ask at least 2 weeks before they are due and earlier is always better. If your
deadline is from December 1 – January 15, ask your teacher and advisor no later than December 1.
Go to www.applytexas.org and start your application. You can do a page and save it and keep coming back until you
finish. Work with your English teacher to help with your essays if they are required.
Go to the webpage of each college you are applying to for scholarships, the deadlines how to apply for them. Remember,
the earliest scholarship deadline is your application deadline. Scholarships given by your college usually want your
admission application in by the scholarship deadline.
Request that your transcript be sent to the schools to which you apply. Order them on Naviance. Get your personal code
in the College Corner and see the directions on the Naviance home page under “ Document Library” or at the Lamar
webpage under “Academics” > College Corner”. WHEN YOU ORDER A TRANSCRIPT FOR A COLLEGE WITH AN ORANGE
STAMP, YOU MUST PICK UP THE TRANSCRIPT AND MAIL IT YOURSELF. For colleges with a computer screen, Lamar will
send your transcript electronically.
Your rank will change in October when it is refigured to add summer school grades and to add new students and drop
those who left since July. If your rank is in the top 10%, send it now to assure admission to a state college (or top 9% for
UT Austin). If the rank drops outside the top 9 or 10% in October, you have made the rank you need. If you are close to
dropping into a lower quarter, send it before October. The July rank will not be available when the new rank comes out in
October. If your rank goes up in October, you can decide if you want to send it again.
Watch Naviance for dates that college admission counselors visit Lamar. Get a pass to attend at the College Corner the
day before or the day of the event.
December 1 is the application deadline for UT Austin and Texas A & M. Your application must be complete and IN THE
OFFICE by December 1. The priority deadline for the University of Houston is also December 1 and is also the deadline
date for some of their scholarships. Although you can apply through April 1 for UH, plan on submitting your application
December 1. You may get in later, but there may be smaller financial aid packages and more loans for those who wait.
Watch Naviance for scholarships all year, but local scholarships from the Rodeo, Jones Foundation, Galleria Chamber of
Commerce, and Houston Works give you the smallest pool of applicants and the best chance of being selected. Look for
those beginning in January.
January 1 is the date the FAFSA – The Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is first available. Money is given on a
“First Come, Best Served” basis. Be at the front of the money line and complete the form online at www.fafsa.gov as
soon as possible. Money you don’t have to pay back (grants) and Work Study (campus jobs) are given to the earliest
applicants and runs out after the priority deadline, usually in March. Don’t wait and plan for your FAFSA now by
completing your application now and getting family financial paperwork together and ready to go. Taxes don’t have to be
filed when the FAFSA is completed, but it is best not to estimate. Remember, no financial aid money will be offered until
you are accepted by the college. Get your application completed well before your FAFSA to give colleges time to accept
you so the money will follow as soon as your FAFSA is evaluated.
Change your mind? Decide late to apply to a certain college? Most state supported colleges in Texas have deadlines as
late as March, May and July. But don’t wait and improve your chances for acceptance and financial aid and apply now.
