College Visits

I know that it has been hard for seniors (and for juniors as well) to only search for colleges remotely.  In talking with some of the students, we related it to buying a house and that while it is nice to look at things online to see if you think you will like it, there is still value in being able to explore and see things in person.

Colleges know that this is the case too and so they are in the tricky position of trying to allow for future potential students to be able to come to campus and learn about their school first-hand while also protecting their current students and staff from outside exposure to the coronavirus.

While many colleges remain closed to admissions information sessions and tours, other colleges are doing small groups or family only tours where they will take just you and your family members or just a small group of students through a campus visit experience.  So, for students who are struggling to fully embrace the college application process becaues you are still struggling to figure out if you will like a campus up close, it would be worth your time to check the campus website and see if they are allowing visits to campus.

If your preferred campuses are still not allowing visits, you will likely have to apply to a range of schools and plan to make visits in the winter or spring when hopefully more progress against COVID has been made and you will then be able to visit the schools where you have been accepted.  Remember too that we have highlighted lots of other ways to learn about campuses and so those are still worthy of your time as well, but maybe, just maybe, you will still be able to make that campus visit this fall!

AP Tests

I realize there is so much changing right now, but it is important to plan not just for being back at WKHS this week, but also for the AP Tests in the spring (May 3-14).  CollegeBoard is in charge of AP Tests and they have fall deadlines related to the tests so you need to be sure you understand all of this so that you don't miss out on a key step related to the class or testing.

By now, all students should have “joined” the AP course online at the beginning of the year to access resources from the CollegeBoard throughout the year.  You will need your CollegeBoard account information to login and join the AP classes you are taking.  (If you have taken the PSAT, SAT, or AP Exams in the past then you already have a CollegeBoard Account.)

If you have a CollegeBoard account, it is important to use that account (and not to create a new one) as your scores from previous CollegeBoard assessments (PSAT, SAT, AP exams) are linked to your account.  If you already have established a CollegeBoard account, please visit myap.collegeboard.org and make certain that you can log in. If you have forgotten your password, you may call 1-888-225-5427 or email apstudents@info.collegeboard.org for assistance. 

If you have not already established a CollegeBoard student account, please sign up by going to myap.collegeboard.org. Make sure you write down and save your log-in information for future reference.  Remember, when you are setting up your CollegeBoard account, you do NOT want to use your school email account as your wscloud account cannot accept emails from outside of the district.

If you have questions, about establishing your account or linking it to the AP resources, please contact College Board at 1-888-225-5427 or email apstudents@info.collegeboard.org.

Once again this year students will register for the AP Tests in the fall rather than in the spring.  This is a significant shift for students who frequently would wait to decide how well they thought they would do on a test before registering to take the exam.  Below is information about the costs for registering for the AP exams and the deadlines for registering.

Exam Fees:

    Regular exam fee - $100 if ordered by October 30

·         Late exam fee $140 ($100 exam fee + $40 late fee)

o   Exams ordered between October 31 and February 26

October 30 – Regular Deadline

·         Last day to order exams at regular exam fee ($100)

·         Register for AP exams through My Payments Plus account

·         After October 30, all changes to exam status must go through Worthington Gifted Services Office

February 26 – Final Deadline

·         Last day to order exams with $40 late fee ($100 exam fee + $40 late fee = $140)

·         Last day to make changes to exam status

Questions? Contact Amy Reynolds or Suzanne Palmer in the Gifted Services Office, 614-450-6056/ areynolds@wscloud.org or 614-450-6055/ spalmer@wscloud.org.

Hybrid Starts Tomorrow!

Are you excited that we are back in the building starting tomorrow?  I am anxious to see all of you again and have missed you so much!  Lexi is going to be ECSTATIC to have all of the students back in the building this week so hopefully you will make time to stop by and say hello to me and to Lexi too.

For Tuesday/ Wednesday the bell schedule will be different in order to allow time during 1st period for Freshman classes to be able to tour the school building.

Bell Schedule:

Per. 1 -- 7:45 - 8:54

Per. 2 -- 9:01 - 9:46

Per. 3 -- 9:53 - 10:42 (4 minutes longer for Announcements)

Per. 4 -- 10:49 - 11:34

Per. 5 -- 11:41 - 12:26

Per. 6 -- 12:33 - 1:18

Per. 7 -- 1:25 - 2:10

Per. 8 -- 2:17 - 3:05  (3 Minutes longer for Paced Dismissal)

In addition to us coming back to WKHS for hybrid learning, this week also marks the mid-way point of the first quarter.  Hopefully you and your parents have been checking your grades on a regular basis, but, if you haven't started checking your grades on Infinite Campus yet this year, I strongly suggest that you take a look and make sure you are on track for the quarter.  Your teachers are updating their grades at least once a week so that you can check and have an ongoing update for how you are doing in each class.  This continual information provides you with the chance to celebrate if you are doing well and to identify what you might need to change if you are not meeting your own expectations for the goals you had set for the year.

I have heard students say the program is a bit more difficult to use on the computer, but that for people with smart phones, the free app from Infinite Campus is very easy to use and is a great tool.  If you are interested in downloading and using the free Infinite Campus app, you will need to know that the District Code is: YCWTRL

Just one final reminder in case you aren't fully clear on this... nearly all of my students are in Blue Group.  This means that you will be attending school in the building on Mondays/ Wednesdays and every other Friday.  So this week, you will be in the school for classes on Wednesday and Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday you will have independent work to do on your own.  There will not be zoom times that will be required - it is on your own time and it will be important that you remain focused and disciplined to stay on top of your out-of-the building days assignments.  Finally, remember, I am still available to you remotely on Tuesdays/ Thursdays as well as in person when you are in the building.  I can't wait to connect with you more soon!

Essays

Are you working on your essays?  Remember, one of the great opportunities you have with your essays is to show the college a well-rounded view of who you are and all of the wonderful aspects of you.  This is important because you want to make sure you are able to show different characteristics/ interests of you with each essay topic that is requested from each college.  The essays don't have to be big moments - in fact, those small moments are essential because they provide genuine glimpses of you.  All of your essays combine together to give more context to the colleges of you and your lived experiences.

We have talked about this during the essay writing workshops, but in addition to your general Common App essay, you will have a COVID essay question that you will want to answer.  With your COVID essay, don't forget that you can focus on the challenges or the positives that you have experienced during this pandemic.  The colleges don't know what you don't tell them so they need the information in your application to help provide insight about knowing you and your life and how you approach the experiences such as this global health crisis.  Some ideas that you can consider as components of this essay would be anything that explains the context of your life during COVID.  Try to focus on the insight you might have developed or gained about how it impacted you, how you were able to derive meaning from it, and how it will impact you moving forward.  Specific things to try to reflect on to help you in identifying topic ideas for this essay could include: How have your activities of involvement changed and how has this impacted you?  What have you been doing with your time now that your activities were cancelled? Have you started any new/ different activities? How have you redirected your interests? How do you want to be different coming out of COVID? What have you done to help someone else? What struggles have you or your family experienced during COVID?  Remember, colleges know that COVID didn't effect everyone in the same way, but it impacted everyone in some way so this is your chance to help frame that for them so that they can get that additional glimpse into your life.

A few reminders about your essays in general...

- What you write should align with your personality.  Don't try to be someone you are not.  Don't try to write about something that you think they will want to know.  Be YOU!

- You are writing a story, but you must also include reflection and analysis!

- As you finish your essay and start sharing it with other people, rather than asking them if it is a good essay, ask them if it sounds like you.  You can also ask what they learn about you and make sure that is what you were hoping they would learn about you too.

- Don't hesitate to dig deeper.  You don't want to write a nice story, but leave them thinking "So What?" If that is the case it typically means you have forgotten to include the reflection/ analysis.

- Even though your COVID essay is shorter, remember that this doesn't necessarily mean faster or easier.  Be intentional about your words and making sure they they convey you well.

- If you are writing a "Why this college essay" remember that they are not looking for facts, prestige, rankings or for you to profess your love for the college.  They want to know what your past experiences have been that make you feel like you will be a good fit at this college and what experiences you hope to throw yourself into their college.  

- If you are being asked about your major go beyond that it interests you and explain to them WHY it appeals to you.

- Try to be original but not gimmicky

- If you are struggling with topics I will encourage you to go back to your brainstorming worksheet.  But if you are still having a hard time, try to focus on specific ideas, memories, or stories that really stick out to you about your life and especially high school and why those moments mattered to you.

Here are additional articles related to essays that might interest you:

How to write about coronavirus in college essays

What makes a personal statement great webinar

How to write supplemental college essays

Admissions officers discuss 3 common essay topics

5 ways to avoid that cringe worthy essay

Tulane - COVID essay

Ultimate Guide to picking perfect essay topic

5 essay writing tips to get you through the fall

3 types of essays: The Good, the Bad and the Risky

Stray from the Cliche

Why Us Essay

Transcript Request Form

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 request form is a Google Form and there is a link to it on the WKHS Counselor website.

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, we can meet via zoom on your "out of the building days" once you have completed the majority of your application and we will fill out the counselor assignment component together.  

If you are applying to schools that don't use the Common Application or Send EDU, we will send your transcript through an electronic system or by regular mail (depending on if they are a college that will accept them electronically or not), but you will need to make sure we have the appropriate mailing address to submit them for you.

Some students have asked me if you have to be done with your applications to request your transcript and the short answer is no - although you want to be sure that you are definitely applying to that college before you request for your transcript to be sent to them.  

More Changes are Coming

Are you getting excited about returning to the building next week?  I can assure you that I have missed you and am excited to see you, but it is Lexi who will be the MOST THRILLED to have you all back in the building!

I know there are lots of questions about how it will feel and how things will work.  Hopefully you have seen the videos that the administrators are creating to share insight about what to expect and the rules you will need to follow.  I have total confidence that even though it will be different than what you have experienced before, it will still be manageable and a success because we will all be thankful to be back in the building together.  

And, for those of you who are nervous... please know that this is also totally normal and completely ok!  Remember, I am still here for you and would love to talk to you and help support you.  I actually think far more people are feeling anxious about what hybrid will feel like and how the dynamics of this latest "new normal" is going to play out.

By now all of my students have received an invitation to join my Remind class for your graduating year.  And, if you didn't have a phone number in IC for me to directly invite you then I have sent an email to you asking for you to join on your own.  And you might be wondering why... So, with the COVID/ Hybrid policies, we cannot have students just hanging out in the front of the Counseling Center waiting for a chance to meet with their counselors.  And we also cannot send passes to classrooms to request for students to come to meet with us.  As a result, we are transitioning to using Remind as a way that students can text us and we can text back to you.  So, this means that if you want to meet with me, you can simply stop by my office and see if I am available (just like you always did in the past) but if I'm busy with someone else or behind closed doors instead of waiting up front for me to finish or leaving me a note, you will just text me through Remind to let me know you want to meet with me.  As soon as I am available I will text you back that you can come to see me.  It should be a great option for those students with text message capabilities.

And if you don't have texting or a cell phone?  No worries!  Like always, you can still stop by my door, but if I am not available, instead of sending me a text message you can send me an email to let me know you'd like to meet.

Today I ended up getting to text back and forth through Remind with several students and it seemed quick and easy and I am excited about this transition.

I also need to remind you that this job is not a part-time job just like you going to school is not a part-time commitment!  Why do I say that? Because even though you will only be in the building 2-3 days per week, you will still have academic responsibilities to do on your out of the building days.  The rule of thumb is the amount of work you will be expected to do on your own days will be about equal to the amount of time you are in classes.  So, if you have 6 classes (which is typical for most students) then you will be doing about 6 hours of work on those days that you are out of the building.  This means it is really important that you don't think of the days as "school days" and "off days" because you will definitely NOT be off on those non-building days!  The good news is that I am not off either!  And, because I have about 350 students, I can't possibly fit every meeting and conversation with every student that I want to have into just the in-person days.  So, I hope you will continue to reach out and meet with me via zoom in addition to our face-to-face conversations on the in-person days.

One of the strategies we are going to try out for your hybrid remote days will be a Rapid Assist Time.  During this time I will be available for an hour to answer those random, quick questions that often pop up. There will be a waiting room through zoom and I will take each student in order just as if you were standing in line at my door to ask those quick questions that don't need a full appointment slot or a long conversation.  My Rapid Assist Time will be on Tuesdays from 1:30-2:30pm and the Zoom link is available on Schoology.  (I know that there are some students/ parents who are not in my part of the alphabet who read this blog - please note that your counselor will also have a Rapid Assist Time from 1:30-2:30, but it will be on a different date.)  I am really hopeful that this will be a useful and easy way for students to connect with me as well.

I will close by reminding you that all change isn't bad.  (And yes, I really do mean that which is amazing since I am NOT a fan of change!)  But, the reality is, I am really hopeful that using Remind and implementing Rapid Assist Time will be two great opportunities and resources that will make our work together even more effective.  So, if you haven't already approved my request to add you into my Remind class, please do so or follow the instructions in your email to sign up!  I appreciate your help in this effort.

Grade Point Average

The "easy" explanation for how your Grade Point Average is calculated is that every class you take at WKHS taught by a Kilbourne teacher with traditional grading is computed into your GPA.  Some students begin taking high school courses while still in middle school.  Those grades will appear on your transcript, but they are not calculated into your GPA.  This is done to assist you because many times middle school students haven't recognized the impact that their grades have on their high school GPA and the long-term impact on their future college applications.  Additionally, any classes that you pass that were taken as pass/ fail appear on your transcript but will not be calculated in your GPA.

All regular and honors classes are unweighted which means that they are all based on a 4.0 scale.  AP, IB and CC+ courses are weighted on a scale of 1.25.  Below is a chart that shows how GPA is calculated.

Letter Grades	Percentage	GPA Scale	AP/ IB/ CC+ Weighted Calculation	AP/ IB/ CC+ Weighted GPA
A	90 – 100%	4.0	4.0 x 1.25	5.00
B	80 – 89%	3.0	3.0 x 1.25	3.75
C	70 – 79%	2.0	2.0 x 1.25	2.50
D	60 – 69%	1.0	1.0 x 1.25	1.25
F	0 – 59%	0.0	--	--
S	Satisfactory	--	--	--
P	Passing	--	--	--

All classes are granted credit based upon the semester.  This means that when you pass the 1st semester you have earned that credit and it is computed into your grade point average.  Each semester class is worth 1/2 a credit excluding physical education courses which are worth 1/4 a credit.  So, if you earn a B in the first semester of English 1 and a C in the first semester of Physical Science, then your GPA for these two semesters of classes would equal a 2.5.  Plusses and Minuses in your grades are still calculated based upon the base grade as we don't have different GPA weights for a B+ vs a B or B-.

It is important to know that some students have taken classes at other schools and are transferring their credit to WKHS.  Those classes will also appear on your transcript with the grades, but are not computed into your GPA.  This is because your Kilbourne GPA will just reflect your Kilbourne classes - any classes you took in another district or an online school will have the GPA that you earned at that school.  So, for example, if you transferred to WKHS from a surrounding district, your classes and grades will be transferred over to Kilbourne, but they won't be included in your Kilbourne GPA.  This means that students will not have a grade point average until after a semester at WKHS.  The reason that this is important is that some students have transferred from schools that have different grading scales and it doesn't allow equitable comparisons.  When students are applying to college you will submit both of your transcripts so that they have the complete picture of your grade point average.

You can see a copy of your transcript on Infinite Campus and it also shows your grade point average.  

Now, to make things more complex... there are many colleges that will recalculate your GPA so that it is on a standard scale so that they compare students in common ways.  

College admissions officers look at the school profile submitted with each application to make sure they have an idea of how your GPA stands up to other students from WKHS, but that only helps them gather an idea about you as a Kilbourne student.  It is hard for colleges to figure out how to compare the grade point averages for students from different high schools because each high school determines their own system for calculating GPA's.  For example, at WKHS we weight grades for AP, IB, and CC+ courses, but other schools might weight grades for honors classes as well and yet another school may not give extra weight to any classes.  Additionally, some high schools calculate different GPA levels for grades with plusses/ minuses - so a B+, a B and a B- each have a different weight while others (like Kilbourne) do not compute plusses/ minuses as being different than a standard grade - a B in the example mentioned.  As a result, you can imagine how confusing it would be for colleges as they are comparing the GPA's if they don't use the same scale.  

However, please know that not every college will recalculate and unweight your GPA - it depends on their own policies and procedures.  If you have questions about if colleges will recalculate your GPA or not you can always ask the admissions office.

One other GPA point that I want to remind you of is that all students with a GPA of 4.0 or higher have a rank of 1 for WKHS.  We don't release a rank for any other student because it would not help you for admissions purposes.  For example, in the Class of 2021, there are 70 students with a GPA of 4.0 or higher.  70!!!!  That is a SHOCKINGLY high and IMPRESSIVE number of students who have been excelling in the classroom over the last 3 years and all have a rank of 1.  But with 323 students in the class, that also means that the top 20% of the class shares the top rank.

If you have any questions about your GPA, please let me know!