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.

GPA

Grade Point Averages (GPA's) are a big part of high school lingo... and yet some students might not  know how grade point averages are computed.  Your transcript is a record consisting of every high school class you have ever taken and the grade you earned in each class. 

The "easy" explanation for how your GPA is calculated is that every class you take at WKHS taught by a Kilbourne teacher or a CC+ instructor 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 Weighted Calculation	AP/ IB 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 they have completed 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.  If you have any questions about your GPA, stop by and see me.

Homecoming Week

First, before I jump into the week ahead, I just want to say thanks for your patience last week.  I was out sick and have been struggling to get caught up and so my blog had to be set aside for the week.  But I'm (finally) feeling better and just in time because this is a BIG week ahead!

One of the traditions that the student council coordinates are spirit week themes for the entire week leading up to the homecoming football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday.  This is a great way that students can support Kilbourne and show your school spirit.

Monday - PJ Day (because you didn't really want to get dressed up in real clothes on a Monday, right?)

Tuesday - Thrift Store Mis-Match day

Wednesday - Pink Out

Thursday - Jersey day (wear your favorite sports team's jerseys)

Friday - Beach/ Hawaiian Day 

It is important to remember that your attire for all of these days is still required to abide by the requirements of the student dress code.

In addition to the spirit themed dress, this week will also feature:

- A canned food drive on Tuesday during lunch periods.  The donated food is part of the Battle of Hard Road with Dublin Scioto (who WKHS plays on Friday) to compete for which school can donate the most food for the food pantry.

- Friday during lunch periods we will have a Suicide Prevention day activity where you will be invited to acknowledge those people in your lives who are positive connections for you.  Why?  Because knowing that we are never as alone as we sometimes feel is important to remembering that we all matter in this world and are needed here every day!

- Friday afternoon will feature a Pep Rally in the football stadium.  In order to allow for the whole school to participate in the afternoon pep rally, we will have a modified bell schedule for Friday.

- Battle of Hard Road football game (Kilbourne vs Scioto) with additional canned food collection happening on each side of the field.

- Dance out in the Stadium on Saturday night.

Clearly, it will be a BUSY and Fun-Filled week ahead.  I hope you will make the most of embracing the energy and excitement of the high school festivities.

College Rep Visits at WKHS

Every year college admissions representatives travel across the country 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, 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 the impression they leave WKHS with is that when you apply they don't look back and think, "hmm, they weren't even interested enough to come and meet with me when I was at their school."

College reps will start their visits at Kilbourne next 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.  There are about 50 schools already scheduled and, as of this morning, only 14 students registered to meet with the reps. 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. 

Activities Section - College Apps

Seniors, how are you doing with your college applications?  Are you making steady progress?  I know that there are so many things in your lives right now that it can be easy to think that those deadlines are far away, but I'd like to remind you that time is passing quickly and you need to be working on your applications.

One of the struggles that a lot of students face when working on the Activities Section in the Common App is trying to figure out how to word your involvement in the very limited space allowed.  You want to be sure that you are fully highlighting your involvement in the activity and not just saying something like: "Activity: Cross Country/ Description: I ran as a member of the team."  While yes, that is certainly true, you are missing out on the opportunity to share with the college reader what this involvement meant to you and what you achieved as a result of your engagement.

The College Essay Guy came up with an activity that he calls BEABIES (which stands for Best Extracurricular Activities Brainstorm I've Ever Seen).  You can access information and the questions to help guide you through the BEABIES process at this link.

But I know that it can be hard to put that into action.  And so another college admissions leader in AI who uses the phrase Tech-Neill-ogy has transitioned the BEABIES prompts over into a prompt that students can use with ChatGPT that will walk you step by step through the BEABIES process to help you use AI to craft your activities section descriptions.  We have this AI Prompt linked here and you can also find it on the counselor website on the Common App page.

My guess is that after you have walked through the process with one or two of your activities it will help you get a good feeling for what your descriptions should ideally look like which will help you craft the rest without all of the steps, but if not, the steps are always there for you.

College App 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 as there will also be a form I need to complete for you.

Early Action

This is a non-binding option and TONS 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, so if earning scholarships to help attend college at a particular institution is important to you then you need to be sure you hit THOSE application deadlines whenever they are for that college.

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!  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.

Parent Lunch & Learn

Parents, the WKHS Counselors will be kicking off our monthly Lunch & Learn series this Friday over zoom and we hope you will join us!  

For each Lunch & Learn session we will share information about a specific topic for 15-20 minutes and allow 10-15 minutes to address any questions you have about the topic so that in just 30 short minutes of your time, parents/ guardians will walk away more aware about that topic and hope it impacts their kids.

Each lunch and learn session will run from 12-12:30pm over zoom so that parents can grab their lunch to eat while tuning in to learn about the topic of the month.  We will post the zoom link on the Counselor website the day of the workshop and it will also be emailed to all WKHS parents.

This Friday's topic is focused on the College Admissions tests.  This will be a chance for us to talk about the ACT/ SAT along with the PSAT and Pre-ACT and a test prep plan.  (This is also a reminder that registration for sophomore and juniors to sign up to take the PSAT for free is happening now.)

I hope to see you online Friday, September 6th at noon for this year's series kick-off.