Application Deadline Terms

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.

Restrictive Early Action

This is a non-binding option that is much less common. Sometimes also called Single Choice Early Action, with Restrictive Early Action you are not locking yourself into attending the school if you get admitted like you would be doing with Early Decision, but you are communicating to the college that this is your number one choice school. If you apply Restrictive Early Action to a college then it means you cannot apply Early Action or Early Decision to any other private colleges.

Regular Decision

This is the deadline that is often publicized from colleges and it is the actual latest deadline to apply to that school. 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.

September 1st

I hope you had a great long weekend and had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather. It will be nice to have a shorter week ahead. But what I found myself thinking multiple times throughout the day today was, "I can't believe it is September 1st!" Obviously just the way the first few weeks of school have already flown past, but also realizing that some of the seniors have college application deadlines that are 6 weeks to 2 months away is mind-boggling.

Because time always gets away from us, I want to remind you that it is important to start working on your applications now. Here are a few steps you can take this week to help yourself be more prepared for your application deadlines.

1. Log into Common App and fill out the "easy" parts. Just go ahead and knock that out. You likely did a lot of the easy questions in the main Common App section during the Common App 101 workshop, but we didn't spend time on the individual college sections and that is important to work on as well.

2. Start brainstorming your essay ideas. This likely starts by figuring out how many essays you're going to need and what aspects of yourself you are going to show in the various prompts. Remember, you can come meet with me if you want to talk through some of what you're thinking as you're looking at your essay requirements.

3. In the Recommenders and FERPA section of your Common App, go ahead and assign me as your counselor. Please be sure to spell my name and email address correctly when you submit that.

4. Fill out your transcript release form on the Counselor Website. This is an easy step that is required for each college and so you might as well just knock that part out of the way now.

5. Figure out if any of your colleges want a recommendation letter and, if so, how many they want and from whom. Then it is time to ASK those people if they'd be willing and able to write a letter on your behalf. 

If you feel like you're making progress on those 5 items and want more steps, please just stop by and see me and I can give you a personalized step-by-step list of other application items that you can start working on now.

College Essay Guy

Anyone who knows me knows how much I genuinely enjoy learning, reading, and expanding my knowledge about what can better help students in all aspects of their lives. College applications is a huge part of that. And college admissions is an ever changing field.

I love College Essay Guy.

He provides amazing resources, great videos, and incredible tips to help students in putting their best foot forward in college applications.

Last night he hosted a webinar on "How to stand out on your college essays this fall" and while I couldn't watch it live because of Open House, I was able to watch it later and I thought you might be interested in seeing it too. 

It feels like it has been a long week, but tomorrow is finally Friday, it is the WKHS vs TWHS football game, and we get a long weekend!

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.

Common App

Here we go! It is August, Common App is live and for seniors who are planning to apply to 4-year colleges, this is a big deal. 

Common App is the website that over 1,000 colleges have joined together to allow students to use this joint platform to be able to apply to all of their colleges with equal consideration as those who might apply to their schools through other application avenues.

Common App is a great resource that nearly all seniors who are applying to 4-year colleges will end up using for one or more of their college applications. The counselors at WKHS are dedicated to helping support you with the Common App and we want to make sure that you don't end up making some of the most frequent mistakes while filling out your application. As a result, we are holding 3 separate Common App 101 Workshops where senior students are invited to come to Kilbourne with your laptop or Chromebook and we will walk through Common App together. You will literally work on your own Common Application while we are going through the time together.

This is one of our most highly attended events which is why we have 3 separate sessions scheduled so that you can find the one that will work best in your schedule. Because we are going to be in Room 201 and space is limited, it is important that you register for the session that you want to attend so that we can make sure everyone is able to have space to attend.

The 3 workshops are scheduled for:

• Monday, August 11th at 1:30pm
• Wednesday, August 13th at 10:30am (this won't be a good option for students who are serving as Link Leaders)
• Thursday, September 4th at 7:45am

Here is the link to sign up.

AI & College Admissions

There is no area that is changing faster and growing more rapidly than the influence of AI in college admissions. It is the area where I find I am watching the most webinars, reading the most articles, and listening to the most podcasts about than any other aspect of college admissions. 

Can AI be a useful tool in supporting your college admissions process? Absolutely.

Can AI be mis-used and therefore hinder your college applications? Absolutely.

And that is why it is a tricky area. 

Tomorrow, all junior students are invited to attend the Junior Seminar on AI & Admissions where we will spend 20 minutes talking about appropriate use of AI in applications. Juniors, as a reminder, the seminars take place before school from 8:15-8:35 in Room 201. I hope to see you tomorrow morning for this workshop!

There are some colleges that say students must cite any AI resource used in any aspect of their application. There are others that know AI can be a helpful tool in researching, brainstorming, or giving feedback. And nearly all colleges would say that you should absolutely NOT use AI to write your essay or complete your application as a whole.

The best rule of thumb that I have seen and heard related to appropriate AI use in your applications is that if you would not ask a human such as your parent, teacher or counselor to do something for you then you should not be asking AI to do it for you! I think that is a key way to help reframe thinking about AI and your applications.

AI and applications is an exciting, interesting area of growth and we will all continue to learn together.

OSU Testing

The Ohio State University announced today that they will now be requiring students to submit ACT or SAT scores as a component of their applications for current juniors (class of 2026) and beyond. They have also decided that they will superscore the ACT and SAT results. Which means that they will take your highest scores from various sections of the tests to calculate an overall highest composite score. Superscoring is nice because it takes away the pressure of trying to score your best in a single test session, but it does add to the appeal of taking the tests multiple times to try to get the highest scores possible.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the other Ohio colleges, but I suspect that many of them will follow OSU's lead and soon announce their own testing policy with a return to requiring the college admissions tests as a component of their applications.

Juniors, I know you just took the SAT yesterday, but if you were unsure if you wanted to take the ACT or repeat the SAT again, this news might help you make that decision.

Deferrals

Decision Deferred... When you receive your college admissions decision and you read that your application has been defered it can often create a lot of questions.  A deferral is not a "yes" and it is not a "no." It is what a college will do when they need more time to make a decision on your application which means that your wait for a final decision continues.  The college knows that you would be successful on their campus, but they're not sure if they will have room based upon all of the other applicants and their institutional goals so they need more time, and often more information, to help them make the final decision.  Most colleges who offer deferals will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

So, what should you do if you are deferred?

One of the first steps should be to stop in and see me so that we can talk about the college decision and develop a game-plan for your next steps.

The other critical step is to closely read the information that the college has shared along with their deferral about what additional information and material they would like to help them as they make their final decisions.

If a college didn't provide any guidance and I were trying to simplify the process, then I would suggest that you consider calling the admisisons office and talk directly with the admissions officer who is in charge of our region. Talk to him/ her about where you stand and what they would like for you to do to be a more "ideal" candidate.

Draft a letter with any updates and information that you can share with the admissions staff. In particular, let them know that of any new experiences that you have had or recent accomplishments that they weren't previously aware of when you first applied. Updating them on your new activities and accomplishments is important because it is your effort to help give the college a reason to select you and add your application to the "accepted" pile. 

Send them an updated copy of your transcript. (I have already uploaded mid-year transcripts to Common App for the colleges that require them as a standard practice, but if you have a deferral and want to send in your transcript, please fill out the transcript form AND come see me so I know that a mid-year report is actually needed.)

If you re-took your ACT or SAT exams and haven't forwarded your most recent scores to the college, request for the scores to be sent directly to the college of your choice.

Consider other outreach efforts to communicate your strengths with the admissions office such as an additional teacher recommendation letter.

Although no one likes to be deferred, remember that this is not the end of the world and there is still plenty of time to communicate your strengths to the admissions committee so that you will hopefully be accepted to their school.

Senior Application Deadline Reminder

Seniors, I know many of you are still working on college applications.  I wanted to remind you to please, watch your deadlines!  

If you are looking at an early January deadline, you need to make sure that you have completed your transcript release form and invited me through Common App to submit your transcript. This should be done no later than this Friday, December 13th, in order to make sure I can get it taken care of before break.  Like you and your teachers, I will not be here during winter break to get a transcript for you, so you must plan ahead.  

Remember, you can have me upload your transcript to Common App without you being ready to submit your application so please, go ahead and invite me on Common App now!  And don't forget that you must also go to the Counselor Website to request your transcript in order to authorize it's release to the colleges.  It's a quick process, so just go ahead and knock that piece out now.

If you have any questions, please stop and see me!

Missing Application Items

This week I have been receiving so many emails and visits from seniors in a panic about the notifications they have received from colleges about additional requirements needed to complete their applications.

There are things that you have to know and take care of related to your applications - transcripts and test scores are two of the big ones that seem to be causing the most problem at this point.  See, the challenge is that colleges know these are components that many students forget so as soon as they download your application, many colleges automatically generate an email to remind you about needing to send them.

So what do you do if you get one of these notification letters?

The first step is to stop and ask yourself - did you request your transcript?  That means, did you fill out the online transcript release form for us?  If you did, and the application was through Common App or SendEDU you can log onto the websites to verify that your transcript was sent and on what day it was submitted and downloaded.  If you applied through a college that doesn't use Common App or SendEDU, you can double check with Mrs. McDaniel that your transcript was sent as requested.

For your test scores, it is often harder to recall off the top of your head if you had submitted your scores or not since you signed up for 4 free scores to go to colleges when you registered for the tests.  So, I suggest that you log into the ACT and SAT websites and double check that your test scores were sent to every college where you are applying that you wanted your test scores used in your application.

Colleges get really back-logged at peak application times and so it can take them several weeks to get all of the various components of applications matched up and processed and updated on their computer systems.  So, if your materials were sent in within the last 2-3 weeks and you can see that your materials were submitted, then you can relax because it just means that their system is backed up.  You can continue double checking on the college website to verify that they have everything.  If you are reaching the end of the 3rd week and they still don't show that they have everything, then you can reach out to them to double check the status of your materials.  Chances are high that they just haven't made it there yet, but there are times where materials can get lost in the mail or filed in the wrong area.  If your transcript needs sent again, we can help you work to take care of that, but first make sure that it is really missing.  (For example, OSU sent us an email last week saying that they know that they have students in a panic about missing application items and that it will take them a few weeks to get everything updated.  They specifically asked us not to re-send duplicate copies because it will just back up their process even more.)

If you have done everything that you were required to do then for now, try to just relax and wait this process out - I promise, this is a common frustration for seniors at this time of year.

Halloween & Reminders

My nephew, Brady, dressed up as a red panda along with their dog (Wonder Woman), my dog Mia (M&M), and Lexi (a princess) from earlier this month.
 

Happy Halloween!  Construction & flexibility has been a major theme for the year and therefore it only seemed appropriate that they selected construction as the staff's halloween costume theme.

Here are some important reminders for seniors as we head wrap up the week...

- Friday, November 1st, is a common early application deadline for many colleges.  You have until 11:59pm to submit your applications, but do NOT wait until the last second.  Inevitably there could be computer glitches and errors due to lots of people trying to submit at the last possible moment.

- Remember, you MUST request your transcript through the transcript request form in addition to inviting me on Common App to submit your school forms.  The transcript request form is on the Counselor Website - www.wkhscounselors.com - hover over the college/ career tab and then it is one of the drop down options.  You MUST do this BEFORE the end of the school day for me to be able to upload your transcript on time.

- You can submit your application before your teacher or counselor pieces are uploaded.  

And finally, to all of the students out collecting canned goods through the Trick or Canning effort, thank you for your leadership in our school and community!

AI and College Essays

How are your college essay drafts coming along?  I saw a LOT of students who were wanting help with their essays and got email drafts of essays from many more so I know that this is definitely a stressful point of emphasis for many seniors right now.  I wanted to give you a few reminders related to AI and your essays.

1. Do NOT use AI to write your essay for you!  That is a hard no.  If you want to go to college, write your own essay.  There are a million reasons for this, but let's be honest, you already know that you should so just do it - write it yourself and get it over with.

2. You CAN use AI to help give you feedback about your essay.  But you should only be using this tool in the same way that you would ask a parent, teacher or friend to review your essay.  You shouldn't be asking any of those people to re-write your essay draft and you shouldn't use AI for that purpose either.  And you're possibly thinking, but you just said we can use it to give us feedback and that is true.  Feedback is different than rewriting your essay!

One of the questions I think is really helpful to ask anyone editing your essay to tell you is, "what did you learn about me" when reading my essay and making sure that the message they came away with is the same one that you had intended.  This would be an example of the type of feedback you can appropriately use AI to help you with as well.  Prompting for feedback on what characteristics/ values were explicitly or implicity conveyed in the essay can be a great use of AI.

You can also use AI to provide general suggestions to consider when you are revising your essay.  Perhaps it will point out that you use the same words repeatedly throughout your essay or that you would benefit from varying your sentence structure, but asking for suggestions vs having AI rewrite it is the essential element of what is vs is not acceptable.

Good luck as you continue working on revising your essays!

Transcript Requests

I wanted to remind everyone that if you are in the process of applying to college you need to make sure you fill out the transcript release form.  This process must be completed for EVERY college where you are applying!  The transcript release form is a Google Form and there is a link to it on the WKHS Counselor website. (Imagine on right side will take you to it and also if you hover over College/ Career it is a drop down option.)

If you are applying to schools utilizing the Common Application or Send EDU, your transcript will be submitted electronically.  You will need to report me as your school counselor on the Recommendation page so that I am assigned the transcript data responsibility and given access to submit them on your behalf.  If you are unsure how to do this, bring your common app username and password to school with you and we will fill out the invitation component together.  

Some students have asked me if you have to be done with your applications to request your transcript and the short answer is no!  But you don't really want us sending transcripts to colleges where you're not actually going to apply.  So if you are 100% sure that you are applying to a school, you can go ahead and fill out the transcript release form to give us that permission to submit the transcript on your behalf.

Also, I will give one more plug for tomorrow night's College Application Completion Workshop.  The counselors will be available from 5-6:30 in the Commons to help work with students on completing your college applications.  If you're not totally finished with your applications, I hope you will join us to get some focused work on your applications accomplished.

And, on a separate note, for all junior students and parents, don't forget, tomorrow night at 7pm in the auditorium we will host the Planning for College Information night!  I hope to see you there!

Early Decision

Seniors are in very different places regarding where they are with the college application process. A few of you have barely given a thought to where all you want to apply (for the record, this worries me, so if you are in that situation, please come talk to me). Others have already received their acceptances and are ready to kick back and enjoy senior year. The vast majority are somewhere in between the two extremes.

While I am always happy to help you in any way possible, there are some decisions that are for you and your family to make. For example, what schools you apply to and when you apply (assuming it is before the deadline) is entirely up to you. The other issue that has been weighing heavily on the minds of some students and their parents is the choice about if they should apply under Early Decision. Remember, as I explained previously, Early Decision is binding. If you are not 100% sure if you want to go to that school, then the choice about should you apply early decision or not is actually quite easy - no. Because it is a binding decision, you cannot wait and see and take more time to decide, so if you are not completely sure about your desire to attend that school, then applying early decision would not be a wise choice. The other aspect that you and your family must seriously consider is the financial impact that attending the school could involve as you are making a commitment to attend the school and that you will withdraw your applications at all of your other schools. This means you will not be able to compare financial aid packages to see which school will provide the best offer. 

Some of you may be wondering what the advantage is to applying Early Decision. Aside from getting your admissions decision earlier, there is a statistical advantage at some schools where applying as an early decision student can increase your potential to be accepted at the school. This is, in part, due to the fact that it eliminates the concern from the college's side of if you will choose to actually come to their college in the future or not.  The data on how many of their accepted students actually end up coming and attending their college in the future is one of the factors that impacts college rankings and therefore it is an important predictor for colleges. Please know though, that just because you are applying early decision wouldn't make up for the fact that you still have to be academically competitive for that college.

Remember, if you plan on applying early decision, I need to know ahead of time because there is a form I must sign off on indicating that I have talked to you and your parents to confirm that you fully understand the binding nature of applying early decision.

A Month Out

Many of you are planning to try to apply to colleges before November 1st - a common early deadline for colleges.  (For the record, some colleges have early deadlines of October 15th and some have early deadlines that are later, but many are falling on Nov 1 this year.)  That means you are exactly 1 month away from when you need to hit submit!

Time sure goes fast doesn't it?!

I spent quite a bit of time today going through the Common Applications that I have received from students and I have a few reminders for you...

You need to request for your transcript to be submitted to each college where you plan on applying.  You will do this by filling out the Transcript Request Form.  It is on the WKHS Counselor website - www.wkhscounselors.com - by hovering over College/ Career it is the bottom pull down option.  I cannot submit your transcript onto Common App without having this filled out!

It is ESSENTIAL to watch your deadlines carefully! You need to provide plenty of time for the transcript to be processed. Most college due dates are for all materials (and not just the application) to be received in their office before that date. Don’t forget that many colleges also have earlier due dates than those publicized to be considered for scholarships so you need to read carefully. For your transcript and school forms to be completed on time, you need to be sure that you have invited me AND filled out the transcript release form at least 3 school days in advance.

If you want colleges to consider your test scores when evaluating your application, you also need to verify that your official test scores were sent from the testing organization (ACT/ SAT) directly to the college. If you did not have them sent to that particular school when you registered to take the test then you will need to pay the fee to have them sent if the college requires official scores from the testing agency.

If you are applying to colleges that require a recommendation letter, hopefully you have already asked your teacher or me and given us your forms.  Remember, you are supposed to give all Kilbourne staff at least a month to write a rec letter for you.  So, if you need a letter and haven't already asked someone, please put this as your #1 immediate priority!  And, if your college doesn't ask for a rec letter then please let the pressure for seeking a recommendation letter go - colleges repeatedly tell us that they are only needing what they ask for in their applications.  If it is optional then it is only helpful to the college if the person who is writing on your behalf is sharing something new about you which isn't already covered in other aspects of your application.  The admissions representatives who are reading your applications only have so much time for each application and so you don't want them to skim through vital parts of your application as they work to read all of the pieces you have submitted if they aren't sharing anything new.

As always, please remember that I am here to help you and will help guide you through the process as we go. Feel free to ask questions and drop in to see me as you work on your applications.

Why THIS College?

Last week I talked about the importance of your college essay and making sure that you answered the question and taught them something about you.  But what happens when they are asking you why you are interested in their college in particular?

These questions are taking you back to the basics.  Why do you like a particular college?  What is it about the school that made it stand out to you and left you with the impression that this would be a good place for you to spend your collegiate years?

Hopefully, you have an idea about what you'd answer for both of those questions for each school that you are including on your list of schools where you are going to apply.  And, let me clear - you should like something about every college that you are considering and you should feel good about each of the schools if you are applying there!

In addition to those answers mattering for deciding where you are going to apply, your answers to these questions are essential when you are trying to answer college-specific essay questions - especially if they ask you a question related to what you like about their school.  They may phrase it in different ways, but the bottom line is that they are trying to determine why you believe their school is a good fit for you.

Remember, the admissions officers who work for the school already think their school is great and they know about the wonderful opportunities available so you need to take it beyond saying that they have a great location, outstanding professors, and wonderful weather.  You need to take it to the next level by identifying specific aspects at the school where you can see yourself contributing to the school and the particular offerings that you plan to take advantage of while you are in college.

Good luck in searching for the right college fit for you and for conveying why it's a good fit in your essays.

Follow the Directions

Today and in the past week or so I seem to be having two very common conversations related to college applications.  Some students are surprised at how "easy" it is to apply to college.  Others are surprised at how "hard" it is to apply to college.

There are a lot of factors that play into how each of you perceives the college application process - probably the biggest differentiating factor is how many colleges you are applying to and how similiar or how different their application requirements are for the colleges.  Those students who are applying to just a few colleges and their requirements are all about the same seem to find the process pretty straightforward and easy.  But for those applying to a larger number of schools with lots of varying requirements and needs are often much more stressed about the process.

Here is what I would like to remind you... the difference is often in the details!  Please, be focused, get organized, and give the colleges EXACTLY what they want and are asking for in their applications.

If they want a 250 word supplemental essay - give them one that is that length.  If they are asking for a list - give them a list.  If they ask for an interview - schedule one in plenty of time.  Yes, I realize that it takes some up-front effort to figure out and keep track of what each school wants, but it will make a difference when the college is looking at and evaluating your application because they will be able to tell who just said, "Oh well, good enough..." and those who truly put forth the effort to make sure that they were presenting a complete and well thought out application.

Take some time today and go through your intended college list and map out exactly what they are asking for so that you can prepare accordingly and then follow their directions including hitting all of their deadlines.

College Essays

Seniors, how are your college essays coming along?  I have been seeing a LOT of essay drafts lately so I know that some of you are making great progress and I have also heard that some of you are still struggling.  It is definitely time to start moving on the applications and drafting your essays is a big part of that.

When writing your essay you want to make every word count.  But you can't really do that unless you have a plan for your writing so that you do not just ramble.  Whenever possible, start your essay with a catch – something that will engage the readers and compel them to continue reading.  As you are writing, try to keep in mind that this is a formal essay so you need to make sure that you are using proper grammar, punctuation and varying your sentence structure.

Be sure to use your voice and stick to the word count.  (An important hint: I know it doesn't seem like it, but I promise, it is always easier to cut words than to try to figure out how to squeeze more detail in later, so answer the question fully first before worrying too much about word count, but plan ahead enough so that you are at least in the ball park of your word limits... you want to cut 50-100 words not try to cut 2,000 words.) As you are writing you want to maximize your word count to provide details and depth.  

There are 3 main aspects you want to keep in mind while drafting your essay:

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 taking a different essay and trying to make it fit for their question.  Put in the time to write an essay that answers the question they are asking.  Also, be sure that you respond to all parts of the prompt and fulfilling exactly what the college is asking you to do (list, define, explain, compare/ contrast, evaluate, etc.)  Yes, you will be telling your story, but that is only part of the process - you have to also reflect back on how that story relates to you and your life in whatever way they are asking.

Show me - Don't just 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 with vivid examples – that will usually be specific, concrete stories to illustrate your point.  It can be helpful to describe the scene or the person with sharp nouns and active verbs or by using details that will invoke the senses. How did it look? feel? smell? sound?  Don’t just say that "Uncle John was odd." Show us by talking about his unique decorating style of mixing plaid and polka dots.

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 you didn’t appear to 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?  I tend to frustrate students a lot when they come in with their drafts and before I even look at it I ask, "What am I going to learn about you when I read this?" If you don't have a good answer to that as you start writing then I am going to encourage you to pause and reflect before you keep writing.  You have to write with the end in mind when drafting college essays and the end is that the college admissions representative is going to learn something about you.

Good luck with your writing and if you are feeling stuck, please stop by and see me!

Recommendation Letters

I have a love/ hate relationship with recommendation letters.  When they are needed, I am more than happy to write them for my students and I love taking the time to try to show you off and make sure the colleges know just how lucky they will be to have you as a part of their campus.  But there is so much confusion that surrounds rec letters and I really do hate when teachers or I are asked to write letters that never go anywhere at all.  Many colleges have moved away from requiring letters of recommendation - in part because all students will pick teachers that like them to write letters on their behalf and so the letters often sound similar and therefore it doesn't really help them to differentiate between the students.  So, your very first step connected to recommendation letters is to figure out if the colleges you are considering will actually need any letters of recommendation - and if they don't then you just saved yourself and your teacher a lot of time.

There are some colleges that will want a recommendation letter and others that will want multiple letters.  You will want to look specifically at what they are asking for you to provide.  Some colleges will require teacher recommendation letters, some counselor letters, others may be open to coaches, bosses, religious leaders or other adults who know you well, and yes, some may even want multiple letters.  Each college gets to make up their own mind and determine what information they want to have as a part of your application package.  OSU, for example, does not require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 80,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Harvard, on the other hand, will require 2 teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation. After reviewing the college websites, if you are still 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 find that you do need recommendation letters, you have some work to do.  First, give some thought about who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or community representatives 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 open to 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 possible, it is often 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 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 at least 30 days - preferably 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.

After you have asked a teacher to write a letter on your behalf (and they agreed), then you will want to provide them with the teacher recommendation letter forms that can be found on the www.wkhscounselors.com website or in the Counseling and Career Center.  You will also need to be sure to invite your teachers electronically if you are applying through Common App.  It is rare that you will need any of your recommendation letters as a hard copy, but if that is the case you are responsible for providing your teacher with an envelope addressed to the appropriate college.  Please be sure that you have indicated to your teachers your application deadline.  You can submit your application through Common App even if your teachers have not uploaded their recommendation letter, but your application packet will not be complete until all parts (including the rec letters) have arrived at the college.

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 fact, you should not be reading your recommendation letters - they are supposed to be confidential.

For those students that will need a counselor recommendation, please be aware that I write the letters on a first come first serve basis. It is the only way I know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when I have so many to write because unlike with teachers, if your college requires a counselor recommendation letter you don't have a choice about who you are asking to write your letter.  So please, watch your deadlines and try to help me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give me at least 30 days to write your rec letter.  Also, there is a Counselor Recommendation Letter supplement form that we ask each student to fill out and a Parent Brag sheet that we ask you to have your parents complete and turn back in to me to use when writing your letter.  Please, be detailed and thoughtful when completing these forms because I want to be able to showcase you in the best way possible.  Each of you are unique and have wonderful qualities that you will bring to a campus, but when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so I need stories and examples to help give people a true image of you and to make it more than just what they can read about you in your application. Once you have turned in your 2 forms, I will add your name to my recommendation letter list.  Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards I would love to have that because this information can also be helpful when writing your recommendation letter.

Before I close I want to point out that the need for counselor recommendation letters is a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (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 know students of all ages so that I am more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things that you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

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.