The Choice: Checklist for Juniors

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/calendar-april-junior/#more-43629

Counselor’s Calendar | April Checklist for Juniors

By ERIN K. JOHNSTON

Counselor’s Calendar: April

Timely advice from experts for students who want to stay on track during the college admissions process.

In March, The Choice introduced Counselor’s Calendar, an occasional series intended to keep students on track throughout the college admissions process.

Our latest installment focuses on college-bound juniors, who are beginning to think seriously about how to make the most of their soon-to-come senior year. (In case you missed it, we posted an April checklist for seniors on Monday.)
We’ve asked Erin K. Johnston, the co-director of college guidance at National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., for some timely advice on what juniors should be doing in April to prepare for college. —Tanya Caldwell


Juniors, here is your college admissions checklist for April:

Continue your college research.
Take note of school presentations in your area — some colleges even travel together, so you could learn about a few colleges in one evening. Even better, try to attend a college fair as a way to gather information about dozens of colleges at once.
Some colleges offer spring open houses for juniors, or special summer opportunities for prospective applicants. Spring is a busy time for many juniors, with year-end school and extracurricular commitments, exams and final papers, and standardized tests. It’s not great timing that this is when colleges are available to visit your hometown or invite you to theirs, so be sure to prioritize. Protect your G.P.A. and transcript — don’t spend more time researching colleges than doing your schoolwork.

Keep financial considerations in mind.
As was noted on the March checklist, any student whose family cannot comfortably foot the cost of a college education should investigate options for need- and merit-based aid. Net-price calculators are user-friendly with completed tax returns in hand.

Have a plan for taking standardized tests.
Most students should sit for the ACT or SAT at least once before the end of the year, and those interested in selective universities should take at least two SAT Subject Tests, as well. Register for the tests well in advance to make sure you get a testing location near where you live.
If you’ve already taken the SAT or ACT once, seriously consider waiting until the fall for a retake rather than rushing to retake it again this spring. For many students, the older they are, the better they fare on any test.
Think about the coming Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. How prepared are you to do well on those exams? Sometimes, students sit for more exams than they really need to take — it’s better to do well on three exams than to do poorly on five.
Finally, if you feel as if your standardized test results won’t accurately showcase your abilities (in other words, if you’re not a great test-taker) then add some test-optional or test-flexible colleges to your list of schools.

Think about potential recommendation writers.
Many colleges ask applicants to submit three letters of recommendation — one from a guidance counselor and two from teachers. Students generally ask teachers from junior year (and sometimes, from senior year) to provide a written endorsement, so now is an excellent time to consider whom you might ask for a letter of recommendation. Not sure whom to ask? Ask yourself: “Who sees the best version of me, as a student, in the classroom every day?” or “Who has seen me grow and change, in a good way, this year?” or “In which class do I act the way a successful college student acts?”

Check out the April PDF of the Common Application.
The Common Application, a universal method of applying to colleges accepted at more than 450 institutions, has promised to release a preview PDF of the 2012-13 form in mid-April. Students cannot begin to complete the online version until August 1.

Pick the right classes for senior year.
Think carefully about a schedule that will provide you with an appropriate challenge. Having reached senior year, there might be very few classes you actually need to take to graduate. Given this flexibility, balance choosing specialized electives with foundational courses. In other words, that science elective in zoology might be a lot of fun, but if you haven’t taken any physics in secondary school, now is a good time to do so.
Many colleges prefer to see that students have taken the basics in high school, so that they can explore specialized fields in depth at the collegiate level. Maximize your choices to demonstrate your interest in a particular field. When in doubt, consider calling a few admissions offices to get their take.

Watch the seniors.
Your friends in the Class of 2012 have received most of their college news by this point. Consider the ways they experienced this process, and take note of actions, words and approaches you’d like to emulate — as well as mistakes, blunders and missteps you’d like to avoid.
Now is the time of year when admissions statistics are released by schools and many news stories are written about general admission trends. Think about how all of this data might have an impact on your search. Compare, for example, a college’s acceptance rate for early decision candidates with its acceptance rate for regular decision candidates. Pay attention to the types of notifications that aren’t just “admit” or “deny,” such as decisions of wait list, guaranteed transfer, spring admission or fall 2013 (a “forced” gap year) admission.
At school, resist the urge to offer judgment or unsolicited advice (“Can you believe HE got in and SHE did not?” or “Why would you just X College over Y College?”). There are a lot of factors that go into an
admissions decision — both the decisions made by colleges, as well as the ones made by seniors — so watch, listen and observe. This will be you in just one short year.

---

As a Broader Group Seeks Early Admission, Rejections Rise in the East

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA and JENNY ANDERSON

Published: January 13, 2012        

Early admission to top colleges, once the almost exclusive preserve of the East Coast elite, is now being pursued by a much broader and more diverse group of students, including foreigners and minorities.

 

The democratization of the process — and the overall explosion in applicants — made the early-admissions game much tougher this year for the group that has long dominated it: students in prep schools in New York and beyond where the vast majority of seniors apply to their top choices in November in hopes of avoiding the springtime scrum.

“Their odds have definitely decreased,” said Christoph Guttentag, dean of admissions at Duke University. “You can sort of envision the appeal of early decision radiating outward, from the most affluent to the middle class, and westward from the East Coast and then across the Pacific.”
Duke, for example, received 400 early applications this year from California or overseas; in 2005, it was fewer than 100. Haverford College, outside Philadelphia, saw early applications from abroad double this year from last. And at the University of Chicago, there were double-digit rises in the percentage of early applications from black and Hispanic students.

You do not need a perfect score on the math SAT to know that if more people are applying — many top-tier colleges say the number has doubled or tripled over the last five years — competition is stiffer. So in certain precincts of Manhattan, parents of those who were deferred or rejected in December have been swapping stories ever since about the seemingly perfect senior at the Spence School who did not make the cut (“If not her, who?” lamented one parent) and the six Brearley School girls who were deferred from Yale (“I thought Yale loved Brearley,” cried another, pointing out that 20 Brearley graduates have gone to Yale in the last five years, more than any other university).

Early Action and Early Decision follow up game plan

While nothing would make us happier than if you are admitted Early Action or Early Decision to your favorite college, we also need to have a backup plan!  We ask that you submit your transcript requests for the rest of your colleges by December 1^st.  Then we can send your transcripts, counselor forms and recommendations before we leave for the winter break.  You do not have to apply until you are ready, but this way we can rest assured that your materials will arrive by those January deadlines. 

You are under no obligation to apply to those colleges, even if we’ve sent your materials.  This is particularly true with Common Application colleges; the materials we send will not even be downloaded until your application arrives.

Remember that to request a transcript, you must add it to your “applying to” list in Family Connection and click “transcript requests.”  Also, if you are applying to a Common Application college, you must add that college to your list on www.commonapp.org.

Please see your counselor with any questions.  We wish you the best of luck at those Early Action/Early Decision colleges.  Let us know the results!   

Facebook & College Admissions

(Due to copyright issues, the following 9/21/11 USA Today article cannot be reprinted. Click on the link to read a very timely and informative warning.)

LINK:  "More college officials learn about applicants from Facebook"

College of the Week--Gettysburg College

With great appreciation for the enthusiastic and informative presentation of Darryl Jones (Senior Associate Director of Admissions at Gettysburg College) in our recent College Counseling Summer Workshop,  we are highlighting Gettysburg College for this year's first "College of the Week" post.

Link: Gettysburg College

Gettysburg College has earned its strong academic reputation. Since its founding in 1832, the College has upheld a rigorous commitment to the liberal arts in all their breadth and depth. On a beautiful campus in a world-famous town, 2,600 students discover their intellectual passion through more than 64 academic programs. There are no bystanders here. Students prepare for leadership through experiential learning opportunities, an extensive career network, and countless co-curricular, service, and off-campus study activities.

Accessible professors: 10 to 1 student-faculty ratio; average class size of 18.
Academic clout: Students come from more than 40 states and 35 countries. Recent grads earned Rhodes, Fulbright, and many other prestigious fellowships.
Career connections: A four-year career prep program and international alumni network lead to internships, externships, and careers. One year out, 95 percent of graduates are on a career track or in graduate school.
Small campus feel, big campus resources: music conservatory, professional performing arts center, state-of-the-art science center, Eisenhower public policy institute, Garthwait Leadership Center, and brand-new Center for Athletics, Recreation, and Fitness.
Historic setting near urban centers: an hour to Baltimore, 90 minutes to Washington, D.C., two hours to Philadelphia.

(**Don't forget--when it comes time to review your essays don't rely on Spellcheck. PROOFREAD!! Keep your essay off the Admissions Office Wall of Shame!  Great advice by Mr. Jones from an admiral's perspective!)

Food for Thought...

reprinted from Newsweek/The Daily Beast 3/29/2011

10 College Admissions Trends

At 5 p.m. Wednesday, Ivy League schools notified their lucky applicants—the precious few admitted in the toughest admissions year ever. From soaring waitlists to a Southern boom, Kristina Dell on 10 trends.

by Kristina Dell | March 29, 2011 9:7 PM EDT

The toughest college admissions year on record reached its apex this week as nervous seniors obsessively checked their email or a website to discover their fates. (Waiting for the fat or thin envelope? So 2005.) The hotter-than-ever Ivy League schools, which all had a record number of applicants this year, notified the lucky ones at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Getty Images

It has been an especially stressful process this year. The weak economy and a wider acceptance of the common application—Columbia used it for the first time this year and had a 32 percent jump in applicants over last year—has meant the competition is steeper than ever. Over the past five years, applications to the eight Ivy League schools plus MIT and Stanford skyrocketed from just over 200,000 applications to almost 300,000 early and regular applications, for a total increase of more than 40 percent, according to Michele Hernandez, president of Hernandez College Consulting.
While most final decisions won’t be made until May 1, when most school deposits are due, The Daily Beast spoke with admissions officers, guidance counselors, and college consultants to hear about the most surprising trends from this year’s applicant pool and what to look for in the next six weeks.
1) 2011 Was the Hardest Year to Get into College—Ever
“We already know this will be the hardest year in history for college seniors,” says Hernandez. She cites more kids applying, while most schools aren’t increasing their class size. It’s an unforgiving formula. “A few years ago, kids were applying to four or five schools,” says Greg Roberts, dean of admission at the University of Virginia. “But now it’s not uncommon to apply to 10 or 12 or in the extreme even 20 or 30.”
A number of trends are at play this year to make things extra difficult for applicants. Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia got rid of their early-admission programs in 2006. In the meantime, college applications at selective schools have risen dramatically, reaching a pinnacle this year, as top-notch seniors started applying in droves to non-binding early-admission programs like Yale, Stanford, MIT, and the University of Chicago. In order to save themselves for a stab at Harvard or Princeton, many students decided to forgo the binding early-decision programs at the other Ivies, making the admissions process less efficient. Next year should be much calmer, as the number of high school seniors in certain parts of the country is dwindling and Harvard, Princeton, and University of Virginia will reinstate early-admission programs—getting the brainiacs out of the regular admissions pool. “The kids who want to apply to Harvard and Princeton will apply early-action,” says Hernandez. “That alone will change things.”
2) College Applicants Are More Interested in Southern Schools
Independent college counselors are noticing that more and more students are talking about heading south for the winter. “I have heard anecdotally from students and parents that they are starting to pay attention to what Tulane looks like in February compared to Dartmouth,” says Sally Rubenstone, a senior adviser at College Confidential. “They might not want to go where they have to scrape snow off their windshields.”
Vanderbilt, William & Mary, Emory, and Wake Forest, among other schools, are garnering more attention than usual for their pleasant climates. “Kids want sun and are looking for better weather,” says David Montesano, an admissions strategist with College Match Inc., a college consulting service. “Stanford and USC are among the most popular schools in the country for my kids.” Then there’s Occidental College, which is benefitting from the Obama bump—the president went there for two years before transferring to Columbia.

Calling all Seniors!!

 
College Counseling Summer Workshop: August 16th

Severn's college counselors will run two half-day workshops for members of the Class of 2012 on Tuesday, August 16, 2011.  Please let us know if you plan to join us by answering this quick survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V8KXYKT

There will be two identical sessions, one in the morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, and another from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. We will provide juice and donuts in the morning and pizza for all for lunch from 12 noon to 1 p.m.  Seniors can choose which session to attend according to what best fits their schedule, especially athletes who may have a morning or afternoon practice.

These sessions are not mandatory, but they are highly recommended. We intend to lay the groundwork for the policies and procedures students will need to follow to assure that the application process throughout the fall runs as smoothly as possible. There will be activities involving Family Connection and the Common Application, and there will be plenty of time for questions.  Please come prepared to take notes!

Additionally, we have invited a guest speaker, Darryl Jones, the senior associate director of admissions at Gettysburg College, to provide advice and exercises regarding the college admission essay. He will be present at both sessions.

The College Essay

Reprinted from the NY Times 5/20/11

Juniors: In the Quiet of Summer, Start Your Essays

By ALAN GELB

Mr. Gelb is the author of “Conquering the College Admissions Essay in 10 Steps.”

In preparation for the senior year, most students try to plan their summers around some kind of résumé-building job, internship, coursework or community service, with the necessary stops along the way for beach and barbecue. Summer is also an ideal time to get the jump on your college admissions essay. These less hurried months before the onslaught of a highly pressured fall offer the chance for students to think, reflect and connect with a writing topic that can then be developed into 500 words of polished prose.

So how can you use the summer before senior year to your best advantage?
Here are half a dozen suggestions to keep in mind:

• Clear your head. Distractions like TV, texting, video games and Internet surfing can seriously inhibit inspiration. Once your school term is over, schedule some time away from those electronic diversions and find a park bench, rooftop, library carrel or some other quiet place where you can hear your thoughts bubbling up from deep down in your consciousness.

• Ask yourself exploratory questions. In looking for an essay topic, an excellent way to begin is by asking questions that can turn up some juicy conflict. Some examples: What has been the hardest thing I have ever had to face? If I had to quickly replay my life, which two or three moments would jump out ahead of all others? Which experiences have really pulled me out of my comfort zone? When have I ever felt pure rage? Write down your answers to these questions (trying to devise questions of your own as well) and, as time passes, note the answers you keep coming back to. There may be some fertile ground for an essay in those responses.

• Write it down. While we’re on the subject of writing things down, let’s make this the summer that you carry around a pad and pencil or some kind of wireless device to record your thoughts. Take it from this writer: if you don’t write it down, you’re bound to lose it.

• Familiarize yourself with the narrative form. Everyone loves a good story — particularly the overburdened college admissions counselor who has to read hundreds of student essays, too many of which view this assignment as an opening for self-promotion. It is far better to think of the college admissions essay as your chance to tell a good story. Stories are narratives, and narratives have formal elements, like a specific time frame, a point of view and a certain degree of conflict. Read some good stories this summer — not just sample essays — and be conscious of their narrative techniques. Where do they start? How do they end? What is the central conflict? How is it resolved?

• Enjoy yourself. These warm, feel-good months make it easier to relax, and approaching the college admissions essay with less anxiety is a good thing. In fact, it would be extremely beneficial to view this assignment not as an onerous task but as a creative act. In that vein, you’ll want to commit yourself to the work, accept the idea that your essay will evolve through a series of drafts and allow yourself to take some pleasure in the process. Who knows? You may even discover the joy of rewriting.

• Own your essay. Make an ironclad commitment that this is going to be your essay. No one should be permitted to write it for you — not a parent, not a sibling, not a hired gun. This essay needs to reflect your authentic voice, and perhaps making such a commitment is one of those things you’ll actually want to affirm, in writing, this summer.

It’s no mean feat to produce a powerful essay on a highly personal subject, but the good news is that we all have stories within us that deserve to be told. In the quieter, less pressured time of summer, those stories stand a better chance of coming into their own.

Class of 2011--College Choices

Congratulations to Severn School Class of 2011--102 students will be attending the following 65 colleges and universities!

American University	Maryland Institute College of Art
Anne Arundel Community College	Mercer University
Arizona State University	Middlebury College
Bates College	North Carolina State University
Boston College	Pennsylvania State University
Boston University	Quinnipiac University
Bowdoin College	St. John's University
Brown University	St. Mary's College of Maryland
Bucknell University	The Catholic University of America
Carleton College	The George Washington University
Clemson University	The Ohio State University
Colgate University	The University of Alabama
College of Charleston	The University of Tampa
College of William and Mary	Towson University
Columbia University	Tufts University
Cornell University	University of Alabama
Dartmouth College	University of Delaware
Dickinson College	University of Denver
Drew University	University of Florida
Duquesne University	University of Georgia
Eckerd College	University of Maryland
Elon University	University of Miami
Fairfield University	University of New Hampshire
Flagler College	University of Richmond
Furman University	University of San Diego
Georgetown University	University of South Carolina
Gettysburg College	University of Tennessee
Hamilton College	University of Virginia
Harvard University	Villanova University
High Point University	Virginia Commonwealth University
Johns Hopkins University	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Loyola University Maryland	Washington College
	Whittier College

Fair Winds & Following Seas
from An Admiral's Perspective!

Question of the Week

"Will I need a recommendation from a teacher? If so, does it make any difference who and when I ask?"

Most colleges will base their admission decisions exclusively on an applicant’s academic program, grade point average, and admission test scores. The highly selective institutions will require additional criteria. They may ask for an admission essay (or two), possibly an interview, and recommendations from a guidance counselor and a teacher – usually two. The more selective the institution, the more significance they will assigned to criteria that are less measureable but no less valuable.

Colleges that require teacher recommendations are hoping to learn more about an applicant than can be found from grades, courses, and test scores. They want to hear from teachers who have taught a student recently and who know the student well enough to write about his or her academic ability, habits, motivation, values, and personality. The scope of a teacher recommendation need not go beyond the classroom experience. Usually colleges will leave the choice of the teacher up to the applicant; sometimes they will stipulate an English teacher, for example, and ask to hear from one other teacher who represents a field the student intends to pursue at college.

This year, we are advising juniors to identify, with the help of their college counselor, two teachers whom they would consider asking for a letter of recommendation. Juniors are being urged to make their requests this month before school closes for the summer. As a consequence of this early notification, teachers will have ample time to prepare their thoughts, and students will be less inclined to wait until the last minute to make their request in the fall. And to help teachers with their “assignment,” we have provided students with an online Request Form, available on Family Connection.  By answering the eight questions on the Form, students will be providing teachers useful anecdotes and examples to include in their letters. Essentially, by helping their teacher, they will be helping themselves.

The Admissions Process

The Dartmouth College Alumni Magazine recently published a very interesting behind-the-scenes look at their admissions process. In “Nuanced Decisions", Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris ’84 discusses legacies, athletes and the Belushi factor. Their experience is probably shared by most major colleges and universities. Click here to read more.

Food for Thought...

5 tips for shedding college anxiety

By Jay Mathews, Published: April 24  Washington Post

It’s the last week of April, college crunch time. You may be both recovering from the disappointment of rejection and worrying about which school that accepted you is best. Here are my five mental-health tips for surviving this moment:

1. Those rejections aren’t your problem.
University of South Florida education Professor Sherman Dorn says the greatest barriers for college-bound students “will not be the inability to be admitted into every place you apply” but the challenge of getting the money for college, dealing with university budget cuts and surviving the daunting academic demands of the first semester. Dorn chides education writers such as me who bemoan great students getting rejected by their first choices but ignore the fact that they almost all got into good places.

2. If you don’t like the college you chose, it’s easy to get another one.
We have a former college transfer student in the White House. He moved from Occidental College to Columbia University his junior year. About 20 percent of students who start at one four-year college graduate from another four-year college. Many more start at two-year colleges, then move to four-year schools. People who say picking a college is as important as picking a spouse are wrong. It’s more like buying a house. If you discover the bad soil ruins your to
matoes, sell it and buy another one.