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.

Teens and Cell Phones

For parents, figuring out how to navigate cell phone use with your teens is an ongoing challenge that is common among many families.  During this month's Lunch and Learn, the WKHS Counselors will share information about the data on teens and cell phone use as well as discuss strategies that teens and parents alike can use to try to minimize some of the negative impacts from cell phone use.

We hope that parents will join us on Zoom this Friday, October 4th from 12-12:30 for the conversation on Teens and Cell Phones.

As always, the link to the zoom presentation will be posted on the Counselor website and emailed home to families on Friday morning ahead of the session.  We hope that all parents/ guardians will grab your lunch and join us for this conversation.

College Athletics

For many Kilbourne students, being a part of a sports team is how you found your fit at WKHS.  And the idea of not having sports be a part of your life in college can be a scary prospect.  There are some students who will want to move on and play at the varsity level in college.  For other students though, the idea of making sports a job (which it definitely is - especially at the Division 1 level) and not just something you do for enjoyment and to be around your friends can be less than appealing.  But that doesn't mean that sports can't still be a vital part of your life in college.  Many colleges have club sports or intramural teams that students can get involved in on campus.  And other communities have adult rec leagues that are thrilled to have college aged students get involved.

But, if you are a student who wants to be a college athlete in the future, I thought this webinar put on by Estrela Consulting earlier this summer was a well done and helpful look at the process of trying to become a college athlete.  So, if you are interested, check out their webinar, "So, you want to be a college athlete."

Articles of Interest

I read a LOT of college related articles and watch a lot of webinars related to college and school counseling in general, not to mention listening to podcasts and reading journals and books.  But periodically I think, "I bet my students would want to read this."  And sometimes it is an article that relates to a particular student or situation we have been discussing and so I will forward it just to that person.  Other times it is something I think could interest many people and so I save the link in my notes about my blog and when that list of interesting articles starts to grow too long, I try to share the links with you all here on my blog.  Today is one of those days.

Read through the topics mentioned below and if you are interested in learning more about them, click on the link and check out the article.

Why Students need to understand Opportunity Cost

Why applying to all 8 Ivy League could hurt your chances of admission

How introverted students can thrive in college

4 college admissions trends shaping top schools’ decisions in 2024

Luckocracy

Famous people who attended community college

Colleges with the most Olympians

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!

Academic Progress

I wanted to make sure that all of you were aware that the last date to drop a 1st semester course without having it appear on your transcript is this Wednesday, September 25th. Remember though, you can only drop a class if you will still have above the minimum number of classes required (6 for freshmen, sophomores and juniors and 5 for seniors). Wednesday is also the last date to submit a request to have a 1st semester class graded on a pass/ fail scale instead of the standard scoring. Please make sure that your requests for these options are turned into the counseling center before the school day ends on Wednesday!

In many ways it feels surprising to realie that we are already beyond the half-way point of the first quarter.  As you are hopefully aware, you and your parents have the opportunity to check your grades on an ongoing basis.  But, if you haven't started checking your grades yet this year, now that we are about half way through, this is a great time to check because it will give you a good feel for how you are doing in each of your classes.  I strongly suggest that you take a look at your grades and make sure you are on track for the quarter.

Hopefully you and your parents know how to access Infinite Campus which is the system that has your schedules, attendance, grades, and transcripts.  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.

One challenge for me is that I cannot see the same things you see when you look at Infinite Campus.  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

If you haven't figured out how to access Infinite Campus at all, please visit the Worthington Schools Website at www.worthington.k12.oh.us and then you will click on the Portal Login Icon.