Schedule a Campus Visit

We have a long weekend coming up next weekend as all students have Friday October 16th off from school. And then a few weeks later, you also have Tuesday, November 3rd off of school for election day. Why am I pointing that out today? Because those are two GREAT days to consider making visits to colleges for students in every grade!

Both of the days that we are off, the colleges will be in session which means you don't have to worry about missing out on school content AND you get to visit the colleges while students are on campus. This is a win-win opportunity for students and families because making college visits while classes are in session gives you a more accurate feel for campus life, learning experiences, and how you could possibly picture yourself (or not) at that college in the future.

Even if you are thinking that you want to go to colleges that are far away and can't make a trip on such short notice to visit them with these two days off, I'd suggest you spend some time at local area colleges. In central Ohio we are lucky that there are so many schools within a very short drive that you can visit. Why would you visit a college that you're not particularly interested in attending? Because it will help you to gain insight and awareness into what opportunities are available to you on campuses, it will make you a smarter consumer when you go to visit your top choice colleges, and you just might be surprised and you could even fall in love with a school you didn't think would be a fit for you.

If you want to make a college visit on October 16th or on November 3rd, we strongly encourage that students talk to your parents about what your plan would be and then the students should contact the colleges to set up the visit including the admissions office information session and the campus tour.

Columbus Suburban College Fair

The Columbus Suburban College Fair is coming up on Sunday, October 11th from 1:00 - 3:00pm at Otterbein University in the Clements Center (180 Center St., Westerville, OH 43081). This is the largest local fall college fair and a great opportunity for all of our students - grades 9-12.

College fairs give you a chance to meet with admissions representatives in person. They are all gathered together in one place in order to meet you and to answer your questions. Many schools also keep track of the number of interactions/ meetings you have with their admissions representatives during your search and application process so that they can gauge your interest level in their school.
Be prepared before you get to the college fair. Know that there will be far more schools than you are interested in or can even truly take in during one afternoon, so it is useful to come up with a list of colleges that you would be interested in learning more about by doing a search that looks for different criteria that seems to be a good fit for you. With that list in hand you now have a starting point for the colleges that you would like to talk to during the fair.

All students are asked to register with Strive Scan by visiting www.strivefair.com because this will allow for you to have a bar code specific to you. Then, when you are at the college fair next weekend and you talk to a college that interests you, they can simply scan your barcode and that will allow the college to know of your interest. I promise you, this is a MAJOR improvement over the days when students had to hand write out interest cards at each college table.

I encourage you to check out the Columbus Suburban College Fair information on the front page of the WKHS Counselor website for more information about this year's event.

A few other hints:

It can be useful to ask the same questions of each college so that you can compare them and their responses appropriately and we encourage you to consider thinking about the questions you most want to know about the school and can’t find in a brochure or on their website. Everyone is different so your questions are going to be different depending upon your interests, but if you are really interested in playing a club sport in college, you might want to ask about their club/ intramural program and the numbers of students that participate. You may want to ask what the top 2 or 3 majors are on campus as that will give you an idea of what most of the students are interested in studying. If you are undecided about what you would like to study, it would be a great idea to ask them what support and services are available to help students in exploring different majors.

Take something with you to be able to jot some notes on - I suggest a pen or pencil over a phone because even though your phones are amazing for the notes app, the impression it may give to colleges is that you're not engaged in what is happening and are side tracked and paying attention to your phone instead. It is a crazy event with so much happening, so if you don’t write it down as you go you won’t remember much after the fact. The admissions representatives are giving you a small look of the college – what do you think following each glimpse?

When you are walking through the college fair with the list of schools that you want to talk to, don’t forget to leave some time for browsing – you may realize that a school you had not previously considered has just what you are looking for in a college. It can be easy for us to get caught in the cycle of only looking at specific schools because that is what “everyone” else is considering.

Ideally, you will be able to avoid getting caught up in the crowds and confusion so that you don’t walk away from the college fair with a lot of brochures, but no real ideas or impressions about which colleges most interest you. At the end of the college fair you will likely have a bag filled with information about colleges. One of the best college fair articles suggested, “Don’t succumb to the temptation of just piling all those brochures in some obscure corner of your bedroom. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a day or two away from the college search. Then get out all of those brochures, along with the notes you took at the fair, and read through them. You may find that some colleges aren’t as interesting as you first thought. Others only look better the more you research them.”

If you have never been to a college fair before, I admit that it often feels like mass chaos. But it is also the opportunity for you to gain a lot of useful information from a large number of schools in a short period of time. Good luck and happy college searching… we can’t wait to hear about the schools that spark your interest!

Why THIS College?

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 be 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 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.  Some colleges will ask applicants to answer supplemental essay questions and often one of these questions relates 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 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. Also, remember, today is October 1st, which means that seniors are just a month out from the majority of college's early application deadlines.

Creating Your College List

As you determine your list of colleges where you would like to apply, it is important to keep a few things in mind...

1. You will only be attending 1 college in the future.

2. College is a match to be made not a prize to be won.

3. There are no absolute guarantees, but there is a LOT of data available that can inform your decisions.

4. You should only apply to colleges where you would actually WANT to attend.

Applying to tons of colleges "just because" or "just to see what happens" is not a good strategy.  It wastes your time and the college admissions reps time if this is a college where you will never plan on attending. Additionally, if you feel like you need to apply to countless colleges it is usually a sign that you're not really sure what you're looking for in a college and so it might be a good point to pause and really reflect on what you're looking for in a college.

When we talk about creating a college list, you will often hear us (and lots of other college admissions representatives) talking about making a list that includes Reach, Likely/ Target/ Match, and Safety schools. So we want to talk to you a little bit about this because we know it can be confusing to students and parents. (For this blog post I am going to use the term "Likely" schools. You may also hear people call this "Match" or "Target" schools.)

When you are trying to decide if a college is a reach, safety, or likely school, you will want to first look at your own information.  What is your grade point average?  What are your test scores?  How rigorous of an academic course load have you selected each year in high school?  Then, when you have a pretty good idea of what YOUR application profile would look like it is time to look at the college websites and look at their accepted student data and compare to see how you match up.

A safety school would be a college where you are ABOVE their criteria of what they have been accepting for admission. These are often (although not always) colleges where students will get the most money for scholarships as well because they want to entice you to come to their school and therefore they will make it an attractive financial option for you.

A likely school would be a college where you are solidly right in the mix of their accepted student profile.  It is most likely that you will be attending a likely school.  That is why they are also called a target school or a match school.  This is where you should really be focusing your college applications.  Schools where you are more likely to get accepted and that you would be right in the mix academically with all of your peers.  Why does that matter?  Well, it means that you'll be able to have a balance in college of a social life along with school as opposed to needing to study 24/7 if you are in a school where you're struggling to stay afloat academically.

A reach school would be any college with less than a 33% acceptance rate and/ or a school where you are on the lower side of their accepted student data.  Now, let's pause for a moment and think about this. If you are sitting with a very respectable 3.7 GPA and the college you are looking at has an 8% overall acceptance rate and their average GPA is at or above a 4.0 GPA, you really need to decide WHY you are applying to this college.  Are you going to be ok getting a rejection from that school?  Because statistically speaking, you are not going to get into this college which is why, if you choose to apply there, it would be considered a reach school.  There are different levels of reach colleges.  If you are applying to that same school with an 8% acceptance rate and your GPA is above a 4.0 it is still a reach, but it makes far more sense that you'd be a viable candidate for admission.  When you are getting ready to fill out all of those applications, having a hard, honest conversation with yourself can help make sure you are prepared for any heartache that might come this spring as admissions decisions are released.

Sometimes students will ask us if they HAVE to apply to a safety school and our answer is no. Just like students do NOT need to apply to a reach school either. In fact, there are plenty of students who will apply to just 1 college. This is often the case for students who plan to start at Columbus State. We often see students applying to just 1 college if they know they want to go to OSU no matter what and will be happy at a branch or at main campus. And we also have had many students apply to just 1 college if their top choice school utilizes rolling admissions because they can apply now, have a decision back in a few weeks and know if they need to keep applying to other colleges or if they can be done with their applications after getting that first decision back.

As a general rule of thumb, you are probably applying to anywhere from 3-7 colleges. If you are needing help narrowing down your college application list, feel free to stop and see your school counselor so we can talk through your intended colleges. With all of the college application fees, it will save you a lot of money and a great deal of time if you narrow down your college list.

Ohio Direct Admissions

As seniors, one of the most common steps that students complete is applying to colleges and then waiting to see if the colleges will accept you. This year, for the first time ever, Ohio has introduced a Direct Admissions program. What is this? It is essentially a flipping of the script.

With Ohio Direct Admissions, Ohio colleges will reach out to Ohio seniors with offers of admission and then the Ohio seniors who receive these offers will choose which ones to accept for ongoing interest.

It is an interesting concept that has been introduced with success in several other states already. Students are under no obligation or commitment to say yes to any of the colleges that offer you admissions without your application.

In Ohio there are 9 main campuses of public colleges, 27 private colleges, and all of the public branch campuses and community colleges that will be participating in the Ohio Direct Admission program.

If students do not want to have their high school data to be considered for matching with the colleges, you have the option to have your information withheld by Opting Out. The deadline to do this is this Friday, September 25th.

Check out the Ohio Department of Higher Education website for more information about Ohio's Direct Admission program.

That's So You

Writing your college essay is often one of the most stressful aspects of the college application for students, but it is actually one of my favorite parts because it is your opportunity to shine. The college essay allows you the opportunity to showcase who you are and all of the wonderful traits that you will bring to your future college community.

All too often students will tell us that they don't have anything unique or that makes them stand out from all of the other applicants, but I promise you that is WRONG! Each of you is different from all of your other classmates. You have your own activities that you enjoy, ways to relieve stress, things that make you smile or laugh and ways of thinking that are completely your own. Those differences may seem small or insignificant to you, but it is what makes you YOU and therefore it is precisely what the colleges want to learn about you in your essay.

In my family, we often laugh about "that's so you" stories. Those little things that each member of our family thinks or does that is "so them." Taking a walk for fun in below zero weather, breaking out in random song, making us laugh with silly words - all of these are but a few glimpses into the little elements that I love dearly about various members of my family. And my guess is, you could imagine why you might want to know more about them from just that simple snippet of information. Your essay is a chance for you to highlight one or more of your classic "so you" stories.  What are things you have done that are quintessentially you? If you are struggling to figure out what all this might include, don't hesitate to ask your parents, siblings, or friends to help you think of the things that you have done that they thought to themselves, "yep, that is so ___ (you)."

That's so you stories can make easy college essays because you get to highlight some aspect of your life that is unique to you and then as you reflect on it, the colleges end up learning about YOU which is their entire goal.

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 71,000 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 your counselor and we 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 we write the letters on a first come first serve basis. It is the only way we know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when we 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 us write the best letter possible by allowing us to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give us 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 we 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 we 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, we will add your name to our recommendation letter list. Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards we 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 your school counselor's office throughout the year to allow us to get to know you better. We sincerely want to know students of all ages so that we are more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

College Application 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 your counselor as there will also be a form we need to complete for you.

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 typically 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!  You need to know what the timeline is for being able to complete all of your applications so you can start with the end target date in mind if you are going to be able to plan and organize your time effectively.

College Reps Visiting WKHS

Every year college admissions representatives travel across the country to various high schools in order to meet with students and to talk about the opportunities available at their campus. It always surprises me that more students are not flocking to these chances to meet with the admissions representatives. Because even though you are technically there to learn about what they have to say about their school, perhaps 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, opened the emails that they have sent to you, or had an official interaction with a representative of the school. You never really know what can make a difference when it comes to admissions or getting a scholarship from a school, so if you are able to attend a meeting with a representative, it can only help you. And, as if that isn't enough, at many colleges the regional representatives who make the visits are also the ones reading your applications and making admissions decision recommendations. You have the chance to make a positive impression on them when they are at Kilbourne. My hope, above all, is that as they review your college application, their impression is not, "hmm, they weren't even interested enough to come and meet with me when I was at their school."

College reps will started their visits at Kilbourne this week. We have a list of the upcoming college visits posted in the Upcoming Events calendar on the Counselor website so that you can see which schools are coming to WKHS. The coming few weeks have some of the biggest and most popular colleges that our students tend to apply to and so you need to check out the list. If there are schools that you'd like to meet with, please be sure to sign up on the google sheet within the event calendar and then write down the dates and times so that you don't forget to come to the Counseling Center.  When you get there, a secretary will introduce you to the admissions representative and after your meeting with them is over, the secretary will give you a pass to return back to class.

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 should 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. 

Freshmen and 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. 

These are great opportunities to talk directly with the college admissions representatives so please take advantage of their visits! While meeting with a representative cannot replace the actual experience of walking on campus, seeing the people, and experiencing the classes, it can be a very important piece of your information gathering process. 

Narrowing Your College List

There are 5,600 colleges and universities in the United States.  Trying to narrow down the list from more than 5,000 to a reasonable handful of schools to which you will actually apply can feel daunting.  It can feel overwhelming to know that there are so many choices available - colleges you have not even heard of previously - and yet you are being ask to select and apply to the schools which will be a part of your future. The good news though, is that the process of narrowing your college list starts with YOU and what YOU want in a school.

On the WKHS Counselor website there are a variety of pages specifically geared toward helping you in the college search and with lots of information and questions to consider for yourself.  These include Tips for Investigating a College, What do You want in a College, and a Self Reflection page.  We dedicated a lot of content to this search process because it is true that 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.

You'll find a lot more on the website (which we hope you'll check out), but a few examples on factors that might differ for various students... 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 considering 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 different sized schools 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.  However, it is important to keep an open mind about size because there is only 24 hours in a day so the way you will spend your time is going to be very similar no matter what size of a campus you select.

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 are much more expensive, but also offer a much larger financial aid package to make it competitive and comparable to a public school), extra-curricular opportunities, career placement services and on and on.

Again, we cannot stress the point enough that everyone is different and what is best for one person is not necessarily the ideal school for someone else. All too often we 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, we truly believe that it is about being a good match – for both you and the college and that there is not 1 perfect school.  You will be successful no matter where you end up attending.

We 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 we know it is also overwhelming so remember that we are here to support and help you in any way we can.

One day left between you and your 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 we are required to complete for you.) The official answer is “We Do Not Rank.”

That is what we write on all of the forms that we 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.

Also, one more reminder to senior students and families that tomorrow night, Thursday, September 3rd is the Senior College Information Night at 7pm in the Auditorium. We look forward to seeing you there!

Senior College Information Night

The Senior College Information Night will be held one week from today, on Thursday, September 3rd, at 7:00pm at WKHS in the auditorium. This is one of the most valuable meetings for senior students and parents to attend because there are so many college related questions that we will be able to answer.

We will be reviewing the college application process, the procedures for submitting your items to WKHS and to the colleges, and other information you need to know. We hope you will make every effort to attend! We strongly encourage both the seniors and their parents to attend this night.  Why?  Because the seniors are the ones who are actually applying to college and you need to know the steps and details involved specific to WKHS.  We think it is ideal for parents to also attend so they can help support you in your application and they don't ask you tons of questions that you will learn on this evening.

We know it is not always possible for every senior student and family to attend, but we hope you will try. Remember, with so many seniors, it can be really challenging if we are not all starting with the same foundation of information. This evening will answer all of your basic questions and then we’ll figure out the rest together as the year continues. We're looking forward to seeing you on September 3rd!

Common App 101 Reminder

Seniors, just a quick reminder that tomorrow at 10:30am is our first Common App 101 Workshop. If you have signed up to attend, please be sure to bring your laptop or chromebook with you because you will be working on your actual Common App application during the time together. We will be holding this work session in Room 201 and look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Interesting College Data

As high school counselors, we spend a LOT of time reading and reviewing information from and about colleges. This is important information for us to be aware of so that we can help provide accurate information to students and families as you are navigating the college application and admissions process.

Data isn't always everyone's favorite to explore - it is way more enjoyable to check out college websites with happy photos and eye-catching graphics, but, when you're trying to figure out if a college is a good fit for you or what the reality is for being accepted or getting financial aid at a particular school, digging into the data can be unbelievably helpful.

Big J Educational Consulting releases data every year that counselors, students and families can use to help compare various colleges. And it is set up in an easily interactive format so that you can play around and look at the colleges you are considering.

If you (or your son/ daughter) is working on figuring out which colleges could be a good fit for the future, it would be worth spending some time exploring their data. We definitely had some eye-opening moments as we looked at the information.

It's August!

It's August... which means a lot of things to different people. For fall athletes, it means seasons are now beginning in full-force. For students and teachers, it means summer is ending and the countdown to classes is on. And for seniors, it means that Common App is now live for the Class of 2027.

Common App is a website that students can use to apply to a wide range of colleges with the same basic core application and then separate individual smaller application sections for each individual college. There are over 1,100 colleges who accept the Common Application so it is definitely a site that a LOT of students will find themselves using if you will be applying directly to a 4-year college.

It can be great for seniors to log into Common App and start the basic information for your applications. But every year we have seniors who think they know exactly the right answers for various questions and then realize that they were not correct. We don't want that to happen to you!

In order to help prepare seniors for filling out the Common App we will host a Common App 101 Workshop where seniors will literally bring your computer and log into your own Common App account and we will walk you through the application step by step to help you be sure that you are completing all of the information accurately.

These are such an important part of the college application process that we will host the same workshop 3 different times so that you can pick the date and time that works best for your schedule. They are:

• Friday, August 14th at 10:30am
• Monday, August 17th at 1:30pm
• Thursday, September 10th at 7:45am

All of the workshops will be held in Room 201 at WKHS. Space will be limited for each session so we do ask that students register to let us know which session you will be attending.

Like you, we will be holding tight and trying to squeeze every last moment of enjoyment out of the remaining days of summer. But we are also looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about your breaks (and, for the seniors, which colleges are on your finalized list.)

College and Finances

Normally, when we are talking about college and finances the focus is on finding a college that will be a good Financial Fit for the student/ family. But, today we want to talk about a different aspect of college and finances - the college's financial stability.

As school counselors, we spend a lot of our time reading, listening to, and attending workshops about all different aspects of supporting students with their pursuit of college. One of the aspects that has been fascinating, strange, scary, and definitely not what we expected to be learning about is the fact that there are colleges who are really struggling financially. And that can potentially have a really big impact on students.

Now, we don't want to create panic among anyone as you are considering colleges, but it is something that students and families should be aware of and it is a great place to ask questions of colleges to learn more. The reality is that when a student selects a 4-year college, they assume that they will graduate from that college. But if the school is in financial distress and ends up having to close while you are in college (which is rare, but happens) then students are left scrambling to figure out how and where to finish their degree. (The good news, is that when this has happened, other colleges have stepped up and provided paths to help support the students in the path towards their future.)

Forbes released a report about the college financial grades that they assigned based upon the financial standing of the school. They looked at over 900 private, non-profit, colleges who have at least 500 students. It is a fascinating wealth of information. Here is a link to the story/ report.

As I was playing around in the data, I sorted to look at all of the Ohio colleges. 14 of the Ohio private colleges have a D grade on their financial stability. The good news, is that 15 have grades of A's or B's so more of Ohio's colleges are in good standing than those struggling.

Once again, we want to caution you that you shouldn't just automatically remove a college who appears to have a low grade from your consideration, but it is worth including their status as a part of your information gathering when you are meeting with the college reps. I hope you enjoy messing around and exploring the data that Forbes has captured.

CC+ Transcripts

If you are a senior who took College Credit Plus (CC+) classes through CSCC or COTC last year or this year, you need to be sure that you request for your CSCC and/ or COTC transcripts to be sent to your future college.

If you are going to continue at Columbus State, then you don't have to do anything with your CSCC transcript (they already have that), but you would need to send them your COTC transcript.

If you are going to a 4 year college, then you will need to send them both transcripts... and yes, this is in addition to us at WKHS sending them your final high school transcript.

We have posted the links for how to send your CC+ transcripts on the Counselor website so if this is something that applies to you, please be sure to request them to be sent.  

National College Decision Day

Seniors, by now you should all be well aware of the fact that tomorrow, Friday, May 1st, is national college decision day. The colleges are all united in the fact that they will not require you to make decisions about where you will attend prior to May 1st, but this is one of the deadlines that is firm.

As you are aware, throughout the college application process each college has their own timeline and often have different application deadlines, financial aid deadlines, and announce their admission decisions at different times, but May 1st is a universal deadline among all colleges requiring students to declare their decision. Please remember this not only means that you have informed the college of your choice that you intend to attend their college, but it also typically includes submitting a deposit.

As you reach the final hours of your decision making window, if you need to talk out your choice with someone, please feel free to stop in and talk to us. Remember to trust yourself. You will make the decision that is right for you!

Making College Lists

Having a good, solid, balanced, reasonable college list that meets your needs academically, socially and financially is an essential part of the college application process. Juniors, it is time for you to be actively working on building that perfect (for you) college list.

To support students and parents in this process we have a Junior Seminar coming up this week focused on building your college lists.

On Thursday, April 30th, we will host the final Junior Seminar of this year in Room 201 from 8:15-8:35am to talk about finalizing your college list.

We hope you will make plans to join us on Thursday!

Making the College Decision

Seniors have 2 weeks left to decide what college they will be attending next year. Remember, there is no right or wrong choice – it is all about what school is the best fit for you and your individual wants and needs in a college. Try to take a deep breath and relax as we head into the final countdown. Trust yourself and know that you will be successful in the future – no matter where you end up!

In talking with some of my students who are stressed about trying to pick which college they will attend, it has become obvious that part of the struggle is even in determining how to compare and contrast them.  As you are starting to think about your different schools, it is essential that you determine what you really want in a school and what is most important to you in a college. If you are still struggling with your choice, then chances are pretty good that the schools that you have narrowed your decision down to are probably relatively similar.

Take the time to go back and look at the same factors you considered when picking which schools you wanted to apply to and try to get really picky about the different factors that played into your choice. Perhaps creating a chart can help you clarify how important each factor is to you and how each school compares in that category. For example, think about the location of the school. How important is that issue to you in picking a college? The schools are likely within your comfort zone of a location from home, but when looking at two colleges consider how far or close they are from your family. What does it mean to you if the school is 10 minutes away, 4 hours away, or a flight away? How important is it to you to be able to come home for an evening, a weekend, or a holiday? You can also look at the size of the school. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the different sizes of schools. For example, the larger school might provide additional choices and the smaller school may provide better teacher/ student ratios. What is more important to you? And if both are important to you then you will need to consider what you will do to adapt to make sure that the school will meet your needs. Consider the social life and activities on and around the campus. Is it what you picture for your college years? Most importantly, you need to figure out what categories and issues are critical to you and compare the schools on those aspects.

If your school comparison charts are similar and you still can’t decide – try to go visit the schools again. Sit in on the classes and, if possible, arrange for an overnight visit (yes, you are running out of time for overnight visits). People watch and consider your interactions with the students on campus. Are the students friendlier at one school over the other? What about the professors you talk to? Are they engaging and whose classes are you most interested in attending? How was school safety? What strategies are in place to help keep students safe? Which campus support staff (admissions, financial aid, etc.) is friendlier and more helpful? (While this is not necessarily a key factor it can give you an image of the school and a glimpse at their culture and values as an academic institution.)

How do the schools compare regarding the costs? What will the difference in costs mean to you over the long haul? Ask yourself if the school will meet your academic needs, if you will have the social life you desire, and if you and your family can make the investment. As you are progressing through your decision making process, remember not to be shy about asking questions and getting them answered because you are entitled to feel confident in your decision. This is your choice. You are not a victim in this process – you are the key active participant. 

Remember, if you want to stop in and talk about your college decision we are always here for you, but know that we can’t make this decision for you – just like your family and friends can’t make this choice for you. The good news – the stress is almost over and you will be relieved to be able to finally answer the question that everyone asks endlessly of “Where are you going to college?”