College, Career, & Military Planning

Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook

US News & World Report 100 Best Jobs

New Jersey Career Assistance Navigator  

Morris County VoTech Adult Programs

Eastwick College & Hohokus Schools

Fortis Institute

Lincoln Tech

Artistic Academy

Cutting Edge Academy

Universal Technical Institute

Students wishing to join the military after high school can find information HERE on all branches as well as eligibility requirements, recruitment procedures, boot camp comparisons and more.

Military Branches

Army

Air Force

Coast Guard

Marine Corps

Navy

Military Academies

United States Military Academy

United States Naval Academy

United States Air Force Academy

United States Merchant Marine Academy

United States Coast Guard Academy

• Common Application 
  • Nearly 700 colleges accept the Common Application.
  • Students can create their account as early as their Junior year of high school.
• Coalition Application
  • 113 Institutions plan to accept the Coalition Application.
• Naviance
  • Transcripts, Letters of Recommendation, and all other school materials are sent through Naviance. Students should update their information in Naviance regularly. 

• College Board/SAT
  • SAT scores will be sent directly from the College Board to the college or university applied to. 
• ACT 
  • Scores will be sent directly from the testing agency to the college or university applied to. 
• FAFSA
  • The Federal Application for Federal Student Aid can be filled out as early as October 1st of a student's senior year. Students should check to see if their school requires a FAFSA to be considered for merit aid.

College Fairs

Randolph High School offers several types of college fair opportunities for students. Attending a college fair gives students the opportunity to meet representatives from a range of institutions in one location. No matter what size the college fair is, they are an excellent opportunity for students to learn more about schools that they are interested in. While the institutions that attend college fairs see students as a chance to advertise themselves and have conversations with potential applicants, students should realize that these opportunities allow them to stand out from the crowd and improve their college applications. 

In-House College Fair Opportunities

Randolph High School is a member of the Morris/Sussex College Fair Consortium. Through this organization, over 300 colleges and universities visit Randolph High School annually during three separate college fairs. This college fair is held during the school day and is only open to Randolph High School students.

Private college visits take place throughout the school year during unit lunch. These are also coordinated by the college and career specialist and interested students can view and register through Naviance. If a student has a visiting college on their prospective schools list in Naviance, they will receive an email notifying them of the upcoming visit. Typical private lunch visits include Columbia University, Rutgers University, Clemson University, the University of Delaware, New York University and Tulane University to name a few.

Outside College Fairs

The Morris County Regional College Fair is held annually at the County College of Morris. This event is sponsored by the NJ Association of College Admission Counseling (NJACAC) in coordination with CCM and the Morris County Directors of Guidance. Annually, representatives from over 210 colleges and universities from across the country share information about their programs of study, support services, campus life, housing and tuition costs. This annual event is hosted on CCM's Randolph campus in the Student Community Center and Health/Physical Education Building. The event typically takes place on the second Sunday in September from 12:00 to 3:00. Information is made available beginning in early September.

Naviance - Complete career and college searches, compare your GPA/test scores with other Randolph High School students, and more.

Big Future - Visit this free college search engine. Login by using your college board account information to save your research.

http://campustours.com/ - Take virtual campus tours for hundreds of colleges and universities.

http://fairtest.org/university/optional - View a list of 'test optional' colleges and universities.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges - View US News rankings of some of the nation's best colleges and universities.

Financial Aid

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the form students need to fill out to get any financial aid from the federal government to help pay for college. Each year, over 13 million students who file the FAFSA get more than $120 billion in grants, work-study and low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Education.

Many states and colleges also use the FAFSA to determine which students get financial aid—and how much they’ll get.

The FAFSA asks for information about you and your family’s finances, including tax returns, so students will need their parents’ help to complete it.

In addition, the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) has prepared a Student Loan Guide to be distributed to New Jersey high school students. In January 2013, legislation was passed by the New Jersey Legislature and signed into law by Governor Christie requiring HESAA to provide a booklet/brochure and directing high schools to annually disseminate it to each student in the 11th and 12th grades. In accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:71A-35, the Student Loan Guide e-booklet link can be found below.  It contains valuable tools to help students and families.  

Student Loan Guide

Other helpful resources include the Interactive Student Loan Gameplan, the NJ Grants homepage, and an article published by NJ.com explaining the Do's and Don't of Filling out Financial Aid Forms. 

College Scholarships

Searching for scholarships is an ongoing process that begins during a student's junior year when students are encouraged to be active in this search. The Randolph High School counseling office receives many scholarships annually and all are posted on Naviance. Paper applications for scholarships are no longer available. When the scholarship file is updated, students will receive an email notification of the additions to the scholarship list. If students and families have questions about a scholarship, they should reach out to their school counselor.

Local Scholarships - Annually, approximately 45 local businesses and organizations offer scholarships to Randolph High School seniors. Students must apply for these local scholarships using the forms available on Naviance. The application period typically runs through the middle of April. Criteria varies by scholarship, as does the actual application. Seniors are strongly encouraged to apply for all of the local scholarships that they meet the criteria for. Local scholarships are awarded at the high school's annual Senior Scholarship night in early June. 

Area Scholarships - New Jersey organizations and businesses offer scholarships to area high schools for their graduating seniors annually. These are received by the Randolph High School counseling office and posted on Naviance. Criteria varies by scholarship, as does the actual application.  

National Scholarships - National scholarships are available annually and are posted on Naviance.

Additional Scholarship Opportunities - Students and their families have found the following websites helpful in their scholarship search.  

Fast Web

Peterson's Scholarship Search

Scholarships.Com

Randolph High School students interested in becoming a student athlete in college should begin to explore this option during their freshman year of high school. Randolph High School counselors, coaches, and teachers can partner with each family, however interested students are responsible for ensuring that all of the necessary tasks are completed in a timely manner which is consistent with NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA guidelines.

Randolph High School College Entrance Examination Code (CEEB): 310272

About the Act

The ACT is designed to test concepts learned in school rather than analytical skills. It comprises four required sections: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. The Writing portion of the ACT is optional, however some colleges and universities may require it as part of a student's application for admission. It is scored on a scale of 1–36. A student's composite score is the average of their scores in the four main sections rounded to the nearest whole number.

The ACT includes 213 multiple choice questions and takes a little over 4 hours to administer. This includes time for instruction and breaks. The actual testing time is 2 hours and 55 minutes. The test allows 45 minutes for English, 60 minutes to complete the Math section, 35 minutes for Science Reasoning, and 35 minutes for Reading. Students planning to complete the optional 30 minute Writing Test will add another 45 minutes to the overall test session.

Sections of the ACT

English includes usage and mechanics, rhetorical skills, and reading.  

Mathematics includes Pre-Algebra, Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, Coordinate Geometry, Plane Geometry and Trigonometry. 

Science includes Biology, Earth/Space Sciences, Chemistry and Physics. 

Optional Writing is intended to measure the writing skills emphasized in high school English classes and in entry-level college composition courses. The test is comprised of one writing prompt describing two points of view on an issue. Students are asked to write a response about their position on this issue. The prompts are designed to be appropriate for responses in the 30 minutes permitted and reflect the student’s interests and experiences. Students have the option of registering for the ACT or the ACT Plus Writing. The Writing Test may not be taken alone. Taking the Writing Test does NOT affect students’ scores on the multiple-choice tests or their composite score. Students taking both the English and Writing Tests receive two additional scores: a combined English/Writing score on a scale of 1-36 and a Writing sub score on a scale of 2-12. Students also receive comments on their essays, and copies of the essays are available to the high school and the colleges to which scores are reported.

Registering for the ACT

Students can take the exam six times throughout the year, with national testing dates in September, October, December, February, April and June. Randolph High School is not an ACT Testing center. The total testing period, including breaks, lasts about five hours with Writing or about four hours and 15 minutes without.

Randolph High School counselors recommend that those planning to take the ACT do so in the spring of a student's junior year or the fall of their senior year.   

The PSAT is a practice SAT.  The primary reason to take the assessment is to became familiar with the format and questions found on the SAT Reasoning Test. Randolph High School counselors recommend that all students begin the college search and exploration process earlier in their high school years. To enhance the use of Naviance, it is beneficial to have a score on the PSAT from both a student's sophomore and junior years of high school. 

Further information about the PSAT and other programs is sent to students and families through the district's mass notification system. This includes information on registering as well as applicable fees.

Understanding your PSAT Score

Randolph High School College Entrance Examination Code (CEEB): 310272

About the SAT

The SAT evaluates students’ readiness for college level work. A new version of the test was introduced in March of 2016. Some of the updates involved adding questions more closely related to high school course work, more “real world” vocabulary and math, no penalties for wrong answers, and a return to an optional Writing section. Scoring is also based on a 1600 point scale, and the SAT Reasoning Test is made up of four parts - Reading, Writing and Language, Math and the optional essay.

The test lasts 3 hours and 50 minutes with the essay and 3 hours without it. Randolph High School is a national testing center for three administrations each year in November, March and May.  

Randolph High School counselors recommend that all juniors take the PSAT in October of their junior year and the SAT Reasoning Test in March or May of the same year. SAT subject tests can be taken in June of a student's junior year if applicable.

The Kahn Academy SAT Preparation is SAT practice that focuses on exactly what students may need to work on most. The Kahn Academy links a student's performance on the PSAT directly to test preparation for the SAT reasoning test.  

• Interactive problems
• Video lessons
• Full-length practice tests
• A Personalized study plan
• Instant SAT Essay feedback

Kahn Academy Results: