College & Vocational Resources

Students may want to explore the free Consumer Reports guide to help students in researching colleges and finding colleges they may want to attend.

DNHS offers the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) every October.  While 4 year colleges do not use these scores in admissions, the PSAT can be a valuable tool in preparing for the SAT Reasoning Test.  Score reports from the PSAT are returned in early December and the score reports includes every question on the PSAT, whether a student got it right or wrong, and what the correct answers are.  We are allowed to return the original test booklet to students, so they can study questions they missed. Students are encouraged to sign up for My College Quickstart, which can provide them with explanations for every test question, practice for the SAT, college matches, a personality test, and more.  You can view a demo here.  For more information about the PSAT, please visit the College Board website.  Juniors taking the PSAT are automatically entered into the National Merit Scholarship Corporation competition which may award scholarships to very high achieving students.  Some colleges award substantial scholarships to National Merit Finalists.

Seniors applying to 4-year colleges must have either Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or American College Testing (ACT) testing results to submit with their application.  4-year college bound students are recommended to complete this testing by the end of junior year and send scores to any CSUs or UCs that they have applied to by December of senior year.  Students enrolled in the Free/Reduced Lunch program may be eligible for fee waivers. Our annual Test Schedule (on the Academic Information page) has the registration and testing dates as well as where to register for PSAT, SAT, and ACT.

Student-athletes who would like to compete in sports at Division I and Division II colleges must complete the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) registration.  The NCAA Handout describes this process.  Additional information is available at NCAA.org.  Students should work with their School Counselor to plan their coursework to fulfill the NCAA requirements.  NCAA also has strict rules on repeating classes and credit retrieval.

Students who need help planning for college should consider applying for the Upward Bound program or the AVID programs at Del Norte High School.  The goal of these programs is to help prepare students for college admissions with tutoring, academic advising, and other services.