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Students prepare for college through website

By Taylor Barnhill  - bio | email | Twitter

CUSSETA, GA (WTVM) - Preparing for college can be stressful for high school students, but now one website is making it a little easier.

In honor of "Georgia Apply to College Week" News Leader Nine found out how one local school is preparing for the future on the Internet.

Chattahoochee County High school is one of 45 schools in the state chosen to participate in Georgia College 411. The program is designed to help high school seniors prepare for the future.

Chattahoochee County High School guidance counselor Beth Cook said, "I think a lot of kids don't know that it’s going to be a long process to get into college -- the financing, deciding on a major, picking a college – it’s a long process."

That's why Cook got an early start by encouraging her students to start the application process by logging on to a helpful website, "About a month ago I put all the seniors on the computer to make sure they had their GAcollege411 registration done because that's how they will apply."

The students at Chattahoochee County High School like having a one stop shop for finding colleges.

Senior Kistina Dixon told News Leader Nine, "It’s easy to register. It’s like making a MySpace. You fill in your name, the college you want to go to and your SAT scores."

Tyquan Bazmore is also looking at colleges. He added, "The thing I like about the website is if you don't know what major you want it takes you through a little test and it asks you questions about what you like to do and at the end it tells you what maybe you will have a future in."

Plus spending the week talking about the application process helps students narrow down their choices for the future.

"It’s amazing because being in sports and being head of my class it’s hard to find time to do college stuff without doing it in school. It actually gives me an opportunity to look at colleges," said Dixon.

Casey LaClair graduates this year from Chattahoochee County High School and told News Leader Nine the website helped him too, "Basically to learn how much it will cost. Financial aid - whether or not I'll be able to get it. Classes - if the college I want has the classes, which I hope they do."

From 6 to 7 p.m. the school is hosting College Night and at the end of the week students will use the website to officially apply to the college of their choice.

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