Pass/ Fail & Drop Deadline

I wanted to make sure that all of you were aware that the last date to drop a 1st semester course without having it appear on your transcript is this coming Tuesday, October 4th. That is also the last date to submit a request to have a 1st semester class graded on a pass/ fail scale instead of the standard scoring. Please make sure that your requests for these options are turned into the counseling center before the school day ends on Tuesday!

Writing Your College Essays

Writing a college essay is the most time consuming part of the college application – it can be a frustrating, challenging process, but this is your opportunity to put your best foot forward and show the colleges what makes you special. Ideally the college admissions and scholarship officers will learn something about you and see how well you write.

When colleges review your application they can read things like your grade point and test scores, but they still want to know more about YOU – the person behind those grades, scores, and activities. It is important to remember that your essay will be one of hundreds or more-likely thousands that the admissions committee members will read. (Can you imagine reading all of those?!?) Think of it kind of like a first date - try to interest them in what you have to say and be sure that it is written well so that it will hopefully stand out. Think of this as your opportunity to introduce yourself to the admissions and scholarship officers reading your application. Be open, honest and real.

When you have to write an essay you need to keep a few important points in mind:

1. Answer the question!
When they give you a prompt or question – be sure that your essay is answering what they are asking! These are smart people – they know when you are just trying to take a different essay and trying to make it fit for their question. Put in the time to write an essay that answers what they are asking. Also, be sure that you respond to all parts of the prompt.

2. Show me – Don’t tell me.
Great, so you told me that you are organized and honest… good qualities for their future college students, but are you demonstrating that to them with your essay? Show them what you mean – that will usually require specific, concrete stories or examples to illustrate your point.

3. Did I learn something about you?
The whole point of these essays is so that the college admissions officers will learn something new about you. (And trust me, they are learning something about you – even if that lesson is that you didn’t care enough about getting into school to pay attention to details like spelling.) So, step back and look at your essay again – did they learn something about you that they wouldn’t have known prior to reading your essay?

Let me assure you – they really do read the essays! Don’t think you can just throw something down on paper and have it be “good enough.” These are formal essays for an application to a college that will be the launching ground for the rest of your life. I know that it is intimidating, but relax and start writing – and editing – and then do some more writing and editing… One of the biggest challenges as you write your essay is controlling the tone. You want to come across as confident but not boastful, self-assured but not aggressive, accomplished but not perfect. Try to avoid claiming that everything you've ever done has been unbelievably great. Don't be afraid to admit that you are human. Colleges want real, interesting people. Because it's so hard to control the tone of an essay about yourself, you will want to ask several people – teachers, friends, your parents, or even me – to read and respond to your essay. Get a variety of reactions, and then decide how you want to revise the essay. Remember, when getting help with essay revisions it is important to go into it with the thought that you want to get revisions so it can be the best possible essay (instead of going in hoping the editors will just say – good enough.) And yes, that also means you can’t procrastinate and put it off until the last possible second. :-)

Colleges Visiting Kilbourne

Did you know that many college admissions representatives 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 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.

We have a list of the upcoming college visits posted on the Counselor website so that you can see which schools are coming to WKHS. You can stop into the Counseling and Career Center to sign up for any of the visits that interest you.

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. (Pick up a pass to have your teacher sign when you are in the Counseling and Career Center to register for the visit.)

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 periods. If you have academic prep, you will need to secure a pass just as the upperclassmen are required.

These are great opportunities to talk directly with the college admissions representatives so please take advantage of their visits.

Seeking Help

I need help. I have been spending countless hours working on the department website and have hit a stumbling block. For over a week I have been trying to figure out what I am doing wrong and why I can't get what I *think* should work to actually work. I realize that this might not be something you will probably know how to fix, but if your parents or anyone you know has experience working with joomla, could you please let me know. I think being able to talk through a few (hopefully) simple questions will get me through this road block. Thanks!

PSAT and PLAN Tests

PSAT Test Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Location: WKHS Gym
Time: 7:00 (check-in) beginning promptly at 7:30am – 10:45am
Cost: $15 (checks payable to WKHS)

The PSAT is the practice test for the SAT. Juniors and interested underclassmen can register in the Counseling and Career Center by bringing in a check made out to WKHS. This is an important practice test for the SAT and it is also the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship competition. Even if you took the test as a sophomore you should re-take the test as a Junior!

PLAN Test Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Location: WKHS Gym
Time: 10:50am (check-in) beginning promptly at 11:15am – 3:00pm
Cost: $12.00 (checks payable to WKHS)

The PLAN Test is the practice test for the ACT. This test intended for sophomores. (Freshman students can elect to take this test, but it is not an option for juniors!) The content of the PLAN test is closely tied to that of the ACT achievement test, which is used for college entrance and placement decisions. It covers the same subjects and gives you estimated ACT scores.

The PLAN test has many benefits. It can help you get started in thinking and planning for life after high school. It will show you areas you may need extra help. The results can also be used to help focus your test preparation to improve your ACT scores. Additionally, one of the other highly valuable aspects is that the PLAN test includes a career component that helps identify career interests and possible career fields. The number of students who have no idea what they might want to do some day is scary and this is one way to help come up with some ideas.

Both of these tests are only practice tests; therefore, scores will not appear on your transcript.

Students can register for these tests in the WKHS Counseling and Career Center beginning tomorrow.

Volunteers Needed

A "Haunted Statehouse" is being planned for this fall and they need volunteers to help with kids activities and face painting. The dates of the events are October 14, 15, 20 and 21. You would need to be there from 6:30 - 9:00pm. (I'm not sure if you have to attend all of the evenings or if you could just select particular nights to volunteer - that would be something you'll have to look into if you are interested.) Parking at the event is free. If you are interested in volunteering for this fun event, please see Mr. Todd in the Co-curricular office.

Application Absolutes

In the college application process there are a few absolutes.

If you don’t apply, you won’t be accepted. Now is the time that you should be working on your college applications. If you haven’t started this process, please make this a priority and know that I am willing to help you. Good first steps would be to list out all of the colleges where you plan to apply, identify their application deadlines, determine their application requirements (for example, do they require essays or any recommendation letters) and then set your plan with deadlines to complete each step of your applications. There is an organization chart in the college application process section of the WKHS Counselor website that you can use to assist you in this process.

Every college will require a copy of your official transcript. Colleges carefully evaluate the courses you have completed during your time at WKHS. In addition to considering the rigor of your course selection, they will also be looking at how you performed in those classes. As a result, providing the colleges with a copy of your transcript is an essential step of the application process.

In order to grant permission for your transcript to be released to a college you must complete the transcript release card. I have your transcript release card in my office and you will simply come in and sign the form indicating exactly which colleges you want to provide with your transcripts. If your application is on the Common App or to BGSU, we will then submit your transcript electronically and there is not a fee. For all of the rest of the transcripts, there is a $1.00 fee per transcript and you will be able to stop back in the counseling center 3 days after you completed the request to pay and pick up your transcript(s).

It is important that you do NOT open your transcript envelope because this is how colleges will know that your transcript is an official copy. Transcripts that are submitted in unsealed and unstamped envelopes will not be accepted by the colleges!

After receiving feedback from parents and students in the past, we are giving the control over mailing the transcripts to you so that you will know exactly when it was mailed and be able to take ownership over your application process. A helpful hint, if you have multiple pieces all going to the same college (such as recommendation letters and transcript), send each of the individual signed and sealed envelopes together in a single larger envelope. This will help the colleges keep your application materials together and decreases the potential of application items being misfiled.

One potentially confusing item is actually quite simple. Many colleges request that a form be submitted along with your transcript – these are usually called a college prep form or secondary school report. Each college has their own individual form that they will instruct you to print off and provide to us, but they all contain the same basic information. In order to simplify and streamline the application process, we have created a single secondary school report form that covers all of the information all of the colleges are requesting that is submitted with each of your transcripts. Since the form is the same for all of the schools you will not need to print off the individual copies of the forms from each school nor do you need to worry about trying to differentiate about which transcript goes to which school as each copy will be exactly the same.

If you have any questions about getting organized with your college application process or with the steps for submitting your transcript, please stop in and see me.

Making College Visits

You are lucky enough to be out of school on Friday and I know that some of you may be making the most of the extra day off by traveling to visit a college campus so I thought it might be useful if I gave you some information to help you during your campus visits.

During your campus visit, ask questions as you tour the school. After each visit, review the list to see if there are any other questions you might want to add. Remember, you are visiting campuses to get a feeling for the atmosphere of each place – something you can’t get from a brochure or website.

Questions to Ask During a Campus Visit:
- What activities and services are available to help students get settled (academically and socially) during their first year?
- How big are the classes?
- (Ask students) How easy is it to meet with faculty?
- (Ask students) Are you able to register for the classes you want?
- What is the total cost of attending the college?
- What types of financial aid does the college offer and how do I apply?
- Are all freshmen assigned to an academic advisor?
- Where do most freshmen live?
- Can I take a tour?
- What activities are available for students?
- Who teaches the majority of the courses for first-year students?
- How successful are the college’s graduates in finding jobs?
- What services (such as transportation and shopping) are available locally?
- What is there to do on weekends? Do most students stay on campus or leave on weekends?
- Are the dorms spread throughout the campus or clustered in one area?
- Is there any kind of shuttle service between classroom areas, the library, the student union, and dorms? How late does it run?
- Is there a security system to bar outsiders from entering dorms?
- How large is the campus security police force? Does it patrol the campus regularly?
- What services are offered by the campus health center? How large is it?
- Does the student health center refer students to the local hospital? Is there a nearby hospital? How large is it?

Ask Students:
- How many of your courses are taught by a big-name professor and how many by a teaching assistant?
- Is the teaching innovative and project oriented or is it mostly lecture oriented?
- Do most freshmen class lectures take place in an amphitheater?
- What are the strong majors? What are the weak majors?
- How hard do you have to work for your grades?
- What’s the reputation of the ________ department?
- How adequate for your needs is the campus computer network?
- Do fraternities and sororities dominate the social life of the college?
- What do students do on weekends? Do most go home?
- How is the advisement system? Do you feel your professors really care?
- How helpful are the other students if you miss a class? (Are they willing to share a copy of their notes or review the information covered with you?)
- There are a lot of organizations on campus. Are they dominated by a few groups or is anyone welcome?
- How active is the ___________ (fill in the activity in which you are interested)?

Pay Attention to/ Take note of:
- Are the dorms quiet or noisy? Do they seem crowded?
- How large are the dorm rooms? Is there adequate space and light to study?
- Does each dorm room have access to the internet and the campus LAN?
- What’s advertised on dorm and classroom bulletin boards? What does this tell me about campus life?
- How good is the lighting around each dorm, classroom, and lab buildings?
- Do the buildings and grounds look well cared for or do they need painting and general repair work?
- Is the grass cut and are the grounds landscaped?
- What’s the condition of the playing fields and the sports equipment?
- How is the quality of the food in the cafeteria or dining hall? How are the sizes of the portions? Is it healthy or fast food? Are there meal plans?
- Does it look like there is much to do outside of campus?
- How easy is it to get to places off campus?
- Are there places within walking distance?
- Are there places to get extra furniture, like bookcases, for your dorm room?
- Is there a supermarket nearby to stock up on snacks and soda?
- If you move out of a dorm after freshman year, what are the options in apartment complexes or buildings?

Things to Ask Yourself:
- While waiting how did the staff members that you observed interact with students? Were they friendly or did they approach students – both potential freshmen like you and enrolled students – as if they were interfering with the staff members jobs?
- Was the Admissions office a friendly and inviting place with a great deal of information about the school or was it cold and sterile with little information to pick up?
- What did your parents find out about the career planning services offered to graduating seniors and to graduates? What do the services include?
- Do most of the students seem to be like you or are they completely different? Can you imagine being friends with the people you see on campus?
- How would you feel being in a classroom full of these students? Sharing a dorm with them?
- Do the students try to make you feel at home? Are they happy to answer your questions or do they make you feel like you’re intruding? How do they interact with one another?
- Does the campus seem too big or too small?- Do freshmen live in their own dorms? How do I feel about living in a single-sex or coed dorm?- Do you feel comfortable and safe?
- Think about the kind of person you are. Are you a self-starter or do you need someone to motivate you? Do you like being part of a crowd or would you rather be alone or in a small group? How important is it to be near your family? How comfortable are you with challenging courses?
- Compare your offers – financially and what the school has to offer. Make a list of pros and cons of each school and the key reasons for your decisions. Remember some factors may be more important to you than others.

After the Visit/ Interview:
- Write thank you notes to your interviewer and anyone else you met with formally, such as a coach or a professor.
- If you spoke with any students and traded e-mail addresses, send an e-mail thank you.

And, of course, by now it should hopefully go without saying, please don’t forget to take a picture of you on campus to bring back for the “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” display! :-)

Recommendation Letters

Recommendation letters tend to create a lot of stress, headaches, and confusion for students, but the anxiety and drama over rec letters is not necessary!

Personally, one of the absolute FAVORITE parts of my job is the time that I get to spend sitting down, one on one, with each of my students to talk about your entire high school experience as a whole and listening to the stories you share when I am "interviewing" you to get information to write your recommendation letter. I find your stories fascinating, your insight remarkable, and quite often your humor to be very entertaining. Of course, I will also admit that the excitement goes away pretty quick when you walk out the door and I am left with pages full of notes and the actual letters to write. (Talking = Very Happy... Writing = Not so much...)

While the seniors are certainly the students who are more focused on the need for recommendation letters, it is also a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) to drop by my office throughout the year to allow me to get to know you better. I sincerely want to hear about the things you are involved in and are accomplishing during high school. Plus, I am pretty good at saving random tidbits of information that I see or learn about you that might help me "someday" when I need to write your recommendation.

For the seniors, have you started looking at your college applications to see if they require recommendation letters from me or from your teachers? Some schools will require it and some will not. OSU, for example, does NOT require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 22,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Miami University, on the other hand, will require a rec letter from a teacher or from me. If you are having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see me and I can try to help you figure it out.

If you do need recommendation letters, give some thought ahead of time to who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or advisors writing letters or do they want them to come from academic teachers? If it requires that the letters come from teachers, can it be from any subject area or are they only looking for the core subjects of English, math, science, and social studies? Are you looking at a career in a specific area that a teacher at WKHS can write about your strengths in that field? For example, if you are considering majoring in Spanish perhaps a recommendation letter from one of your Spanish teachers would be appropriate. What teachers know you best? Who can speak to your work ethic and classroom contributions? If you need multiple teacher recommendations, when possible it is ideal to show your strengths across multiple subjects, so if you have a few teachers to pick from and 2 are math and 1 is science perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 science teacher rather than the 2 math teachers simply to show that diversity. Remember, in recommendation letters from teachers, the colleges are asking for information about you as a student and your potential for handling the academic rigors of college.

Once you have figured out the teacher or teachers that you want to ask for a recommendation (if needed) it is then time to ASK them (nicely) if they are willing to write a letter for you. It is really important to be reasonable in the amount of time that you are allowing them to have to write your letter. (Think 30 days or more!) They are very busy with their classroom work and grading homework and papers and of course life in general and many teachers are often bombarded by students requesting recommendations. If a teacher is unable to write a recommendation letter for you – either because they don’t feel that they know you well enough to write a strong letter or because they have too much on their plate, don’t take it personally, simply ask another teacher. You will be thankful that you didn’t force them to write the letter because it wouldn’t be as solid of a recommendation letter if they were rushed or only had vague highlights to discuss. If you are applying to schools that do not need teacher recommendation letters, please do not waste your teacher's time by asking them to write a letter. Also, only ask the number of teachers that you need recommendations from - so if you are applying to two schools and both need 1 teacher recommendation letter, just ask one teacher to write a letter that will be used for both schools. You do not need to ask for more letters in case one is "better" than another - if you are not sure the teacher will write a positive letter for you, then you need to pick someone else. If you trust the teacher enough to ask them to write the letter, then you should trust them enough to be able to send their letter (without seeing it) to the college.

In the Counseling and Career Center and on the wkhscounselors.com website we have a form you can use to ask your teachers to write a recommendation for you. It is also helpful to provide information to your teachers regarding your involvement in their classes as a way to help jog their memory. (To make this easier, on the back of the recommendation request form, there are questions you can answer about your experiences in that teacher's class.) It is also really important to specify the number of letters that you need, for which schools, and, if they are not able to submit them online, to provide envelopes as well as any forms required by the schools for the teachers to complete. (For example, the common application has a 2 page form for the teachers to complete in addition to their recommendation letter. Most teachers will complete these electronically, but if your teacher is not completing their common app recommendation electronically, then you need to print this form and give it to your teacher.)

Once your teacher has completed his/ her recommendation letter they will return it to you in a sealed envelope with their signature across the seal. It is important that you do not open the letter as this is the format the college would prefer to receive the letters. You are ultimately responsible for making sure that you get your recommendation letters back in time to mail them to the college by their designated deadlines. Because colleges receive so many different items in the mail, I strongly encourage you to put together 1 large envelope of all of the supplementary materials that the college is requiring and mail it together. So, if you need your transcript, a teacher recommendation letter and a counselor recommendation letter you will be mailing 3 individual envelopes together to the college.

If a counselor recommendation is required it is beneficial to come and see me as soon as you realize it so that we can set up a time to meet. (Yes, I do require EVERY student that I am going to write a recommendation letter for to actually come in and TALK to me!) I write the letters on a first come first serve basis as that is the only way I know how to be fair. Writing recommendation letters is a very time consuming process taking multiple hours per letter which adds up quickly. So please, watch your deadlines and try to help me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have plenty of time. (Like teachers, you should be giving me at least 30 days!) The reason recommendation letters take so long is that each letter should (hopefully) capture the essence of you – and each of you are very different. Remember, when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so I need stories and examples to help give admissions officers a better understanding of who you are and what you can bring to their campus. Plus, it needs to be more than just what they can read about you in your application. The short answer essays that are on the "Counselor Supplement Sheet" that you will complete along with a "Parent Brag Sheet" are important aspects to help guide our 1:1 rec letter conversation. Additionally, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards that can also be helpful.

So, for the next few months, if you are curious about how I will be spending my "free" time - the answer is writing recommendation letters. Thankfully, I will also be balancing that out with lots of time talking to each of you and getting to know you better... and I am REALLY looking forward to that!

Class Rank

When completing college applications you will find that most colleges will ask “What is your class rank?” and if they can’t get you to give them an exact rank they might also ask you for a percentile ranking. (Some schools may not ask you and may ask on the counselor form that I am required to complete for you.) The official answer is “We Do Not Rank.”

That is what I write on all of the forms that I complete for you and what you should indicate on your application – UNLESS you are one of the students with a grade point average of a 4.0 or higher for your high school career. If you have greater than a 4.0, then you are automatically ranked #1 in the class. (So yes, that would mean that there are multiple Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores ranked first in their respective class.)

As you already know, WKHS is an academically competitive high school and we would not want a class ranking to hurt you in any way. For example, a GPA at WKHS might rank in the top 20% , but at a less competitive school the same GPA might rank in the top 5 or 10%. So, unless you have a 4.0 or better, do yourself a favor and write “Do Not Rank” when completing your applications.

Homecoming Week

This week is Homecoming Week! It is full of a variety of festivities and activities to celebrate and honor the tradition and experiences of high school at WKHS.

Here are some of the highlights:

- Windows are painted in the commons - they look great! Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to design and create the masterpieces.

- Tomorrow we will be on a Homeroom Bell Schedule so that you can vote for homecoming king, queen and court attendants. A special recognition and good luck to "my" students who are among the homecoming attendants: Grayson Biglin, Jacob Bloom, Kristen Barone, Mike Coen, Joey Cipicchio, Hannah Vincent, and Sean Baumgardner. There will also be a bonfire at 7:30pm behind the school where the Homecoming attendants for grades 9 - 11 are announced and the senior king and queen candidates are reduced to 3 each.

- On Friday there will be an afternoon assembly in the Main Gym where the Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned. The football game is at 7:30pm.

- Saturday is the Homecoming Dance from 8:00 - 11:00pm.
*Homecoming is one of the events that I volunteer to chaperone each year because I love having a chance to see all of you dressed up, looking great and having fun.

Enjoy this week's festivities!

September 11th

It is hard for me to believe that 10 years ago our nation was changed through the tragedy of 9/11. (For what it is worth, it is also hard for me to believe how young all of you were and, realistically, how little you recall from that day.) As I have been thinking about all of the individuals and families whose lives were forever changed because of the tragedy on that day, my thoughts have also been on all of you. Although you may not have faced or endured the personal impact of a national tragedy, there are often smaller individual or family crises that you are faced with in your life. As a reminder, I am here to listen, support and help you in any way that I can.

On a completely separate note, don't forget that this week is Homecoming week and there are a lot of festivities planned culminating with the football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday night.

I also wanted to give you a heads up that I will not be at school tomorrow because I will be at a meeting with all of the Ohio public and private 2 and 4 year colleges to get the latest updates regarding admissions.

College Application Deadlines

As you start through the college application process you will be exposed to a variety of new terms. One area that can be confusing is what all of the different application deadlines such as Early Decision, Early Action, Regular Decision and Rolling Admissions mean.

Early Decision
The key to remember with Early Decision is that it is a final decision and a COMMITMENT! Applying to a school in this program is considered a contract between the student and the college. You can apply to only one school as an Early Decision school. If you are accepted, you are promising to withdraw all other applications. Few students will ultimately apply to a school Early Decision because you are promising to attend the school - without seeing their financial aid package - and most students are not 100% certain that they want to attend one particular school. If you are considering applying to a school under the Early Decision program, please stop in and talk to me.

Early Action
This is a non-binding option and significantly more students will apply to schools using this option. Early Action has an earlier application deadline and students will learn if they have been accepted to the school much earlier than regular decision dates. (Some schools will defer an admissions decision to the Regular Decision deadline if the student is on the bubble and they want to wait to see how the rest of the applications will look.) Early Action is not a contract and, as a student, you are not obligated to attend school at that institution.

Regular Decision
This is the deadline that you will generally see publicized from colleges as it is the most common. This means you are applying and will hear your decision on their regular time schedule. There are no commitments or early notifications. It is important to note that the Regular Admissions deadlines are often AFTER the deadline for scholarship consideration – which adds in a whole additional set of deadlines to watch, but that is a different story for another day.

Rolling Admissions
This means that the colleges look at each application as they arrive and they make a decision as they go. So, if you apply quickly to a school with rolling admissions you are generally going to receive your admissions decision quickly. Schools that function with a rolling admissions policy of evaluating applications will still generally have a regular decision deadline which is the final date that the college is willing to accept any applications for the fall class.

It is really important to be watching your deadlines carefully – I can’t stress that enough! If you are struggling to find the deadlines for different schools, please stop in to see me.

Searching for a College

When you start the college search – the answer lies in you! I know, that sounds a bit cheesy, but it is true. Before you really start looking for the “right” school it is important to figure out what you want in a school and that can only be found by looking in yourself and determining what factors are most important to you.

For example, for some students distance from home may be a big deal. Being close can have it’s advantages – like being able to come home and have a free home cooked meal or a place to do your laundry and also not having to worry about flying half way across the country any time you would want to come home for a visit. Going to school at a college far from home can also have it’s advantages – often a different climate, a new experience and adventure where you can be independent, and no concerns about mom or dad just dropping in unexpectedly. And, of course, there are some students who will elect to find a school that is not too far and not too close. (Remember, that by communicating with your family about what you are looking for in a school you may find that a college outside of your comfort zone is still worth looking at because you and your parents may be able to reach some mutually agreed upon ground rules – so the concern that they might come see you or you might come home too often can be eliminated by talking about those issues up front.)

The size of a school is another factor for many students. Small, Medium, Large or somewhere in between – the challenge is that many students will say, “I don’t know” and that is where making a variety of visits to schools of different sizes can be advantageous. You can explore a small school and see if the experience of knowing lots of people on campus and in your classes is better for you than a medium or large school where you may have a class in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. As you visit the schools you may find that there are experiences or advantages that a larger school can provide that a smaller school can’t such as a wider variety of clubs or groups for students to be involved. The key is to figure out what size school fits you and then you can narrow your search to explore more schools in that range.

Other factors that often influence a student’s college decision will include the types of majors or programs offered at the school, their athletic programs – both collegiate sponsored and intramurals, the food, the dorms, the cost (but don’t necessarily eliminate potential colleges simply based upon cost because often the private schools have a much more expensive sticker price, but also offer a much larger financial aid package to make it competitive and comparable to a public school), extra-curricular opportunities, and on and on.

Again, I cannot stress the point that everyone is different and what is best for one person is not necessarily the ideal school for someone else. All too often I listen to students who are only looking at the 2 or 3 schools that their best friend or sibling looked at rather than trying to find the school that fits best for them. Also, I truly believe that it is about being a good match – for both you and the college.

I know, it can be a bit intimidating to search for a school and to try to figure out what you really want in a college and for your future, but it is also supposed to be fun so try not to put too much pressure on yourself to find “perfection” and try to take a step back and figure out what will make you happy. It really can be fun, but I know it is also overwhelming so remember that I am here to support and help you in any way that I can.

Also, I wanted to mention that today one of my student's helped me to realize the Wendy's High School Heisman is not a scholarship, but rather an award recognition. Sorry - I clearly didn't read it close enough. (I did go back and fix that blog post so that it is now accurate.)

PTO's Meet the Teacher Night

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 7th, is this year's PTO Meet the Teacher Night. This is a night when your parents can come through school, follow your schedule, and meet all of your teachers. The evening event runs from 7:35 to 9:30pm. Each class will be 10 minutes in length and yes, your parents will have the same 5 minute passing time that you have during the day. (Hopefully they won't get lost and be late or else they could end up with lots of tardies!) :-)

Here is the schedule for the evening:

1st period - 7:35 - 7:45
2nd period - 7:50 - 8:00
3rd period - 8:05 - 8:15
4th period - 8:20 - 8:30
5th period - 8:35 - 8:45
6th period - 8:50 - 9:00
7th period - 9:05 - 9:15
8th period - 9:20 - 9:30

Please make sure you give your parents a copy of your schedule or at least write down the room numbers for all of your classes so they know where they are heading for the evening! The parents of freshman will also have the opportunity to watch a video in the commons of your first day of high school during your assigned lunch period.

Please make sure your parents know about this evening because I know many of them will want to attend and they usually like putting a face with a name so that if you are talking about a test in Mr. ____'s class or an assignment for Mrs. ____'s class they will be able to keep it straight.

OSU Updates

On Friday morning I attended the annual OSU breakfast where their staff provided updates to local counselors about the latest in admissions. With OSU being the school that Kilbourne students most frequently apply, I thought you might be interested in some of their latest statistics.

- The 2011 class has over 6850 students and approximately 52% were in the top 10% of their class. The average ACT of these students that will be attending is 28 and the average SAT is between 1240-1245 (out of 1600).

- For the students that they accepted, 56% were in the top 10%. The ACT Middle 50% was 26 to 31. (Remember, that means 25% of their acceptances scored less than a 26 on the ACT. Of course, that also means that 25% scored a 32 or higher.) The SAT Middle 50% was 1180 to 1340 (out of 1600).

- They stressed that most of the students they accepted had exceeded the minimum requirements in math (93% had 4 or more), science (83% had 4 or more), social studies (99% had 4 or more) and foreign language (90% had 3 or more years of the same language). The strength of curriculum is one of the primary areas that you can control and they look closely at that as a deciding factor when making their admissions decision because the research data has demonstrated that the more math, science and foreign language courses a student takes in high school the better they will do in college.

- As I mentioned at Wednesday's senior night meeting, the deadline for admissions is February 1st. If you want to be considered for scholarships, you must apply by December 1st. All of the materials must be RECEIVED at OSU before the deadline that you are trying to meet. That includes your transcript and your test scores. So, please remember that your transcript will need to be mailed several days prior to December 1st so that they have it in their office on time.

- Last year they received over 29,000 applications and each application is read by two independent readers. If they agree, the decision is final. If they don't agree then the application goes to a committee for a third review. Areas that they mentioned looking at as a part of their holistic application is grade point average, test scores, college prep curriculum, strength of schedule, additional courses in math, science and foreign language, rigor of courseowrk to include accelerated, honors and AP courses, grade trends, strength of senior schedule, extracurricular activities, leadership, work experiences, and other factors the student brings to the university. Decisions will take between 10 and 12 weeks on average with the first decisions being posted/ announced as of the end of November or beginning of December.

- The application fee has increased to $60.

- Admissions into the Honors and Scholars programs will be by application. Students must first complete their application to OSU and after receiving your OSU ID and Password then you can complete and submit the Honors and Scholars application online. The priority deadline is December 15th and the final deadline is February 15th. (If you want to be considered for an honors and scholars program scholarship then you must apply by the December 15th deadline. OSU prides itself on the Scholars Program which includes 14 programs of academic and professional pursuits including themed housing. These are not based upon a specific major, but rather an area of interest or passion. All main campus applicants (including those who may be commuter students) are eligible to apply to the scholars program if interested.

- OSU has just 1 essay question (and I love it this year!) Their question is, "What will you do in your 4 years of college that will surprise your family or friends?"

- Don't forget that the branch campuses are a very impressive alternative. If you attend a branch, your transcript still simply says OSU and once you complete at least 45 quarter hours with at least a 2.0 GPA at a regional campus then you are automatically accepted to transfer onto main campus.

- They also shared information about the Preferred Pathway Program or "P3 Scholars" which is a program that allows qualified students to apply to the program and then attend Columbus State for the first 2 years of college and then transfer to OSU to complete their degree. There is concurrent advising from both Columbus State and Ohio State to make sure the coursework is following a directed pathway to a bachelor's degree from OSU. If you are planning on starting at CSCC and plan on finishing at OSU, I strongly encourage you to check out this program.

Award Opportunity

Seniors that are High School Student Athletes can apply for the Wendy's High School Heisman award.

All applications received will be judged based upon academic achievements, athletic accomplishments, community-leadership and involvement in various extracurricular activities. Applications are available at http://www.wendysheisman.com/ and must be completed by October 2nd.

I realize that a lot of you are still trying to get your head wrapped around starting your college applications, but remember, deadlines are real and some scholarships or awards (such as this one) have deadlines that will come before your college application deadlines. Manage your time effectively and watch all of your deadlines carefully if you want to make the most of all of the opportunities available.

A School Year's Resolution

It's September 1st, we are nearly through our first full 5-day week, and the routine of the new school year is starting to be established. As you prepare for the new school year it is important to focus on your own strengths to build on them and also to identify the areas that tend to make it more difficult for you to be successful and try to minimize them. Making a new "school year" resolution can be a great idea if you are truly making a commitment to some tangible goal to help yourself build on your strength and minimize your roadblocks to success. For example, if you are a student who tends to get all of your homework done, but it is often done at the last minute and rushed because you struggle to keep track of big projects, then perhaps focusing on staying organized and breaking large assignments into smaller chunks would be a good goal for the school year. Be patient with yourself as you try to develop the new skills for success. If you need help brainstorming ideas that will help you to be more successful academically this year, please stop by and let's talk about it.