Thursday, September 20, 2007

Colleges Visiting Kilbourne

I don’t know about you, but this has been a long tough week for me. The highlight of my week has easily been all of the former students who have been e-mailing or calling to update me on life at college. It is great to talk to them and hear about their new adventures! I’m so proud of the incredible things they are accomplishing and will do in this world. Since they are contacting me that probably means they are a bit homesick, but that is normal. Before long you will be at a new school and feeling that loneliness for home and I will be thrilled to hear from you too!

In order to go away to school, there is 1 *minor* detail that you must do… pick a school. We have talked a lot about going on college visits, but I haven’t mentioned much about the fact that college admissions representatives also come to WKHS in order to visit with you. Stop for a moment and think about that – the schools are paying someone to come to Kilbourne in order to meet with you and showcase the opportunities available at their college.

While a meeting with a representative cannot replace the actual experience of walking on campus, seeing the people, and experiencing the classes, it can be an important piece of your information gathering process. Possibly even more importantly, you are expressing your interest and desire to attend their college! The admissions representatives who are traveling to the schools keep track of who they see. Many colleges can go back and tell you exactly how many times a student has come to tour campus, contacted the admissions office, or had an official interaction with a representative of the school. You never really know what can make a difference so if you are able to attend a meeting with a representative, it can only help you.

It is easy to find out what colleges have visits scheduled – simply go to the College Events section on PrepHQ (in the College area) and scroll through the list. If you are looking at the summary page on a college, you will also be able to see there if they have a college event coming up.

(The PrepHQ link from the WKHS site has not been working consistently - I am checking into it, but in case you need it you can also go to http://www.prephq.com/ and then type in worthingtonkilb for the School/ Program ID and then use your regular username and password and that should get you into the system.)

If you want to sign up to attend one of the visits it is simple – all you need to do is click on the button that says, “Sign Up” next to the college event. If you make a mistake or realize that you cannot attend, you can also cancel your visit in the same way. It really couldn’t be any easier. If you are not using PrepHQ (why not?!?) you can also stop into the Counseling and Career Center and look through the list of college visits and sign up for any that interest you that way.

Juniors and Seniors have unlimited opportunities to attend these sessions. Please be reasonable though. If a visit is scheduled during a time when you have class you MUST get your teacher’s approval in advance of attending the information session. You are responsible for all missed work and teachers are not supposed to excuse you from tests, quizzes, or labs. (You can pick up a pass to have your teacher sign in the Counseling and Career Center or you can download one off of PrepHQ in the Shared Files section.)

Sophomores are also invited to attend the sessions with the college representatives, but are limited to participating in the visits during your lunch or Academic Prep/ Probation periods. If you have academic prep, you will need to secure a pass just as the upperclassmen are required.

Enjoy sleeping in tomorrow… I am so jealous! I will be sitting in meetings all day tomorrow wishing that I could be making some progress on the recommendation letters that are piling up on my desk. Perhaps I will see you tomorrow night at the football game… if not, have a great long weekend!

PS – Seniors, don’t forget to register for the ACT – the website appears to be fixed now. And remember that next Tuesday, September 25th is the Senior Student and Parent College Night at 7pm. You really need to attend if you are applying to colleges.

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