College Counseling

Scoir is a college and career platform that many competitive high schools have chosen to help students prepare for college and use as the vehicle to electronically submit documents (transcripts, letters of recommendation and high school profile) to all colleges and universities.

Upon enrolling in high school at Eastside Catholic, all students and families are provided with registration codes to log in and begin using their Scoir accounts. Every student has an individual account. Families with more than one student attending EC may have their accounts linked so that they may view/access all their students through one account. While parents can access their student's account, parents and students have different login information, usernames and passwords.

Planning for college can be both an exciting and stressful time for students and their families. We are committed to helping students find their “best fit” for college rather than focusing on rankings and college notoriety. Our College Counseling Team hosts multiple events yearly to help students and families tackle the college planning and application process. 

In September, we offer a College Planning Night for juniors and seniors with their families, covering information about what to expect and how to plan for the last two years of high school.

Our annual college planning event in January is geared toward all EC students and families to gather essential information to assist them with the college planning process. Presentations and break-out sessions with college counselors, guest speakers, alums and admission representatives focus on various helpful college-related topics, personal wellness, and academics, topics equally integral to college planning.

additional college Planning Resources

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates and organizes the athletic programs of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Additionally, it supports student-athletes who compete in athletics across 1,100 colleges and universities. Some students also choose to compete in college athletics through the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes (NAIA), which serves 250 colleges and universities.

All students who desire to play a sport at the Division I or Division II level in college must register with the NCAA Eligibility Center at eligibilitycenter.org. Registration generates an NCAA ID, which NCAA colleges require for student-athletes.

There are different eligibility requirements for Division I, Division II and Division III athletics. Division I athletics has the strictest requirements of the three divisions and Division III does not have any requirements for athletes. Further guidance is available from the NCAA, including the initial eligibility standards and a roadmap through high school and the NCAA Eligibility Center Registration checklist.

Recruitment

Colleges and universities recruit some student-athletes to play a sport for their school. If a student is recruited by a Division I or Division II school for athletics, the college application process will differ from non-recruited students. Recruited students will typically still need to submit a complete application to the university, which may include teacher letters of recommendation and essays. Policies and procedures are specific to each university. Students should communicate with the Admissions Department of each university and keep their EC college counselor informed about their steps in the process.

Student-athletes in certain sports can be recruited as early as sophomore year. It is not recommended for students to commit to playing for a specific college or university this early in high school, but for students to keep an open dialogue with all schools that may be looking at them.

 

 

 

CourseCoreGPA

Eastside Catholic School is proud to make CoreCoureGPA available to EC families free of charge. CoreCourseGPA will be a helpful academic tool for you and your student-athlete.

CoreCourseGPA.com incorporates the NCAA-recognized core courses for Eastside Catholic School into the online course entry forms, calculates Division I and Division II core course GPA, automatically factors weighted grades into calculations and tracks course requirements for Division I and Division II. Students' core course information is saved for the duration of their high school career. Students and families can see which EC courses are NCAA-approved by viewing the EC Curriculum Guide.

CoreCourseGPA.com also provides access to free recruiting webinars through FreeRecruitingWebinar.org, a nonprofit program. Webinar previews as well as full-length recruiting webinars may be accessed on the FreeRecruitingWebinar.org website. Viewing a full-length webinar is highly recommended to learn about the facts and rules of recruiting. The recruiting process starts in the freshman year. Make sure you are prepared.

To activate individual student accounts:

1. Visit CoreCourseGPA.com and select the blue FREE New Member Account button on the upper left-hand side of the homepage.
2. Input the EC school codes for each new faculty/student member in the New Member account creation box.
3. Contact Athletic Director Stacey Stoutt for the EC code and if you have questions about this tool.

College Entrance Examinations

Scores on college entrance exams (ACT, SAT) are often considered when determining college admission. Since 2022, many institutions have decided to go "test optional," meaning the institutions don't require students to submit college entrance exam scores for admission.

Some institutions, such as the entire University of California and California State University systems, are test blind, meaning they will not consider tests for admission. However, some colleges and universities still require submission of college entrance exams to be considered for admission or scholarships.

The decision about whether or not to submit test scores is individual and should be discussed with your EC college counselor. 

Practice College Entrance Exams

At Eastside Catholic, students in grade levels 9 -11 take practice college entrance exams (PSAT 8-9 or PSAT) provided by the school. Early exposure and repeated practice allow for better performance on the actual exams.

The PSAT/NMSQT

Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a College Board exam given during junior year of high school. It is particularly important because it determines student eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Program. If students receive an index number (populated by their scores on the PSAT/NMSQT) high enough to be in the top 50,000 scorers in the country, they will be notified by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) as being eligible to become a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist.

Approximately 16,000 semifinalists are notified of their status and encouraged to complete an application to become a National Merit Finalist for the opportunity to be awarded scholarships. Semifinalists are notified in early September and finalists are notified in early February.

ACT and SAT Exams

Students can choose whether to take the ACT, SAT or neither (if the student plans to apply to only test-blind or test-optional schools), but taking at least one exam at least once is recommended to keep options open. Students may do better taking an exam a second time. Many colleges and universities “super score” when schools accept multiple score sets and take the best score from each subject from different score sets to populate a more generous test score.

IIt is recommended that students take a practice ACT and SAT to determine which exam might be a better fit for them. While both tests focus on similar academic skills, there are still slight differences in the format and the curriculum tested. Most notably, the ACT includes a required science section and an optional writing section, while the SAT only focuses on math and reading/grammar. Regarding practice tests and questions, students can explore College Board, the ACT website, Huntington Learning Center, Compass Prep and Revolution Prep.

Registration and more information about the ACT exam can be accessed at act.org. Registration and more information about the SAT exam can be accessed at collegeboard.org.

Beginning in Fall 2023, the PSAT will be offered digitally. In Spring 2024, the SAT will also be offered digitally and adjusted to approximately two hours.

Important Reminders

• Both the SAT and ACT now require photo uploads during registration as part of the identification process
• Students are required to present an acceptable form of ID to the test center on the day of testing
• Stay updated on dates when EC will offer the school-day SAT (for EC students only)

ACT and SAT dates are available at collegeboard.org and act.org.

For the 2023-24 school year, we are hosting college visits both in person and virtually. Colleges can indicate their preferences when they schedule on RepVisits. Time slots occur during lunch periods and immediately after school. College reps should contact Lillian Do-Tran with specific questions.

Please be aware that Eastside Catholic School policy only allows not-for-profit educational institutions to visit our school.

We welcome visits to Eastside Catholic during the school day before school, during lunch and after school. Please select the time and date that works for you, as noted in the RepVisit calendar. If you have specific questions about your visit or would like to request a time that is not listed, please contact College Counselor Lillian Do-Tran.

Day of Visit

Eastside Catholic is located at 232 228th Avenue SE, Sammamish, WA 98074. Upon entering the building, please check in at the Front Office to sign in and print out a visitor badge. One of our college counselors will meet you to get you set up for the visit.

Parking

Visitor parking is available in the south parking lot. Upon entering the parking lot, parking is located on the right. Please allow at least five minutes to walk from the parking lot to the main building. If you need a reserved spot closer to the building, please contact Lillian Do-Tran.  Visitor spots closest to the school are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make these arrangements as soon as possible.