Counselors Newsletter
Week of October 20, 2025
Featuring Rick Clark, Executive Director, Strategic Student Access at Georgia Tech
November 13th at 7PM
Webinar
Register online: https://www.applerouth.com/truth-about-college-admission
Get honest, insider insight into what colleges really look for in applicants—plus practical tips to help stand out in a competitive admissions landscape.
Topics include:
- The evolving role of SAT and ACT scores
- The use of AI in the admissions process
- Building a strong and balanced college list
- What colleges value inside and outside the classroom
- Essays, extracurriculars, and other key application components
- Emerging trends and predictions in admissions
Whether you're a student, parent, counselor, or educator, this session is packed with valuable information—and ends with a live Q&A to get your questions answered.
Can’t attend live? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording.
Georgia Tech’s Junior STEM student organization to invite the students at Decatur High School to “STEMulate”.
Georgia Tech’s Junior STEM student organization to invite the students at Decatur High School to our upcoming paneling event, “STEMulate”. We are inviting all Metro-Atlanta high schoolers and their parents to come to Georgia Tech’s campus for an enlightening time on November 9th from 1 to 4pm.
This event will consist of panels of GT students discussing relevant questions your students/parents have about college admissions, daily life, essentials, and tips for success. There will be a free lunch served during a conversation hour with current GT students.
We anticipate the majority of attendees to be juniors and seniors, but all are welcome! If you have any questions!
Best regards,
Prisha Patel
GT Junior STEM Officer
When?:
November 9th from 1 to 4PM
Where?:
GT Exhibition Hall
460 4th St NW, Atlanta, GA 30332
What?:
STEMulate Event with GT Student Panelists
Registration Link:
Don’t leave money on the table!
Calling all Seniors! It's not too late to create an account with GA Futures! Create a GA Futures account today through the Georgia Student Finance Commission. Visit https://www.gafutures.org/, create an account and follow the instructions closely. The Registrar will upload all juniors and seniors twice per year to the Georgia Student Finance Commission. This allows each student to be considered for the HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships which are available to all Georgia students and can be applied to any HOPE-eligible college or university. Once an account is created, students can track their HOPE-eligibility and plan for any extra expenses. When creating your GA Futures account, use a personal email. Your CSD email account will be deactivated upon graduation.
Parents, please give us your student's Social Security Number. The Georgia Student Finance Commission identifies students using their SSN. If we don't have it in our student information system, better known as Infinite Campus, they will be unable to match your student to transcripts we upload and be purged out of their system. Please contact Mr. Ackley via email to inquire about your child's social security number in Infinite Campus. Please do not send SSN via email or voicemail.
This is non-negotiable and not a rule we make at DHS. We must comply with the state and this is how they prefer to identify thousands of Georgia students.
Please contact GAfutures at (770)724-9000 if you have any questions or need help creating your account.
Please remember to create an account at Parchment.com if you haven't already done so. Parchment is a one-stop-shop to request and send your transcript to many colleges and universities in the USA and abroad. When you create your account, please use a personal email account, not your CSD account. Once you graduate you will still be able to access any transcripts uploaded to Parchment if you have a personal email address on file with them. Your CSD email will be deactivated upon graduation. Please be aware that the turnaround time for fulfillment of transcript requests is three days, so get your request in well before any deadlines issued by the schools you are applying to. If you need help, please contact the Registrar's office at michael.ackley@csdecatur.net.
Click the logo for parchment.
Parents/Students: The vast majority of your application processes will NOT need a Parchment transcript request. If you are applying through the Common Application, The Common Black College Application, or a college/University that uses SENDedu or other similar document collection service; you will not need to request a transcript through Parchment because your counselor will automatically upload them for you. If you have questions about if you need to use Parchment or not, just send your counselor an email and ask.
AA Counseling Department
Email: rjones1@csdecatur.net
Website: https://www.csdecatur.net/dhs
Location: 310 North McDonough Street, Decatur, GA, USA
Phone: 404-370-4170