Missing Application Items

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

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

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

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

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

Colleges get really back-logged at peak application times and so it can take them several weeks to get all of the various components of applications matched up and processed and updated on their computer systems. So, if your materials were sent in within the last 2-3 weeks and you can see that your materials were submitted, then you can relax because it just means that their system is backed up. You can continue double checking on the college website to verify that they have everything. If you are reaching the middle of the 3rd week and they still don't show that they have everything, then you can reach out to them to double check the status of your materials. Chances are high that they just haven't made it there yet, but there are times where materials can get lost in the mail or filed in the wrong area. If your transcript needs sent again, we can help you work to take care of that, but first make sure that it is really missing.

For example, OSU sent us an email last week saying that they know that they have students in a panic about missing application items and that it will take them a little bit of time to get everything updated. They specifically asked us not to re-send duplicate copies because it will just back up their process even more. Additionally, they shared an update on how big of a process this is for them... they have received about 57,000 applications this fall and 27,000 of those applications came in between October 27-November 1. That is a TON of data that they have to match up and get updated in their systems. Also, this is a good reminder about why colleges only want the information that they have specifically asked for in their applications. Anything extra is just added data elements that they have to try to connect to your application without a place that it makes a significant difference.

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

Sleep

I had hoped that last weekend and the extra hour of sleep connected to the time change would have meant that we would all feel well rested and ready for the week that followed... but that certainly wasn't how it played out. Each day I repeatedly heard the same sentiments as I typically hear in most weeks with students proclaiming, "I'm so tired!" or "I need a nap!" or "I can barely stay awake!" and the reality is that most of you are sleep deprived.

The pace of our society tends to have people running in a million directions and so sleep is somehow pushed to the back-burner, but teens in particular need more sleep than even adults and yet you are stretched just as thin. I know getting more sleep is definitely easier said than done. You have homework, sports, jobs, clubs, community service, time with family and friends, and hopefully some personal time to spend relaxing or doing the hobbies and activities that are meaningful and rejuvenating to you. But when sleep becomes less of a priority and you become more and more exhausted, research has shown that it has a significant, negative effect on your mental, physical, and emotional well-being.

I know it isn't easy to just say, "yes I need to get more sleep" and then have it happen, but I hope you will consider what small step you could take this week to try to increase how much sleep you can get each night. So, here is my encouragement and challenge to each of you. Consider what 1 small thing you could do in these next few weeks to try to increase the amount of sleep you get each night. Even if you are just getting an additional 30 minutes to an hour of sleep per night, it can make a difference. You need to decide what you think would work for you, but a few ideas you could consider would be to stay off your phone after a certain time, start your homework earlier so you aren't up so late working on assignments, or using your time throughout the day wisely so that you can make the choice to go to bed earlier. If you want to discuss what you are doing to help yourself get more rest or to brainstorm other strategies, please stop by and see your school counselor. The steps you might elect to take will be different for each student and your commitments, but the effort to invest into your own well-being will be worth it!

We hope you had a great weekend with lots of time to rest!

Socratic Society

On Friday morning, 24 students were inducted into the Socratic Society. Staff members are given the opportunity to recognize students for excellence in one or more of the core Socratic values of Scholarship, Integrity, Personal Effort, Compassion, or Lifelong Learning. Students are only eligible to be selected for this honor one time during their high school career.

Congratulations to (in alphabetical order): Amani Alash, John Alley, Lydia Banachowski, Vanessa Bobadilla Illescas, Julia Botros, Hannah Brough, Kimora Budde, Audrey Butterfield, Katie Carbajal, Vivian Cowan, Claire Florea, Spencer Forsee, Shelby Franks, Nathan Gattshall, Allan Hsieh, Avery Lipp, Lily Miller, June Nicoll, Ava Rogers, Addie Ruffing, Kelvin Sam, Anna Sarkozy, Sadie Steele, and Albert Tankovich. Also pictured is Worthington Board of Education member and Kilbourne Alumni, Sheena Costa Flowers, who was the guest speaker during the ceremony.

We are proud of all of you and thankful for the positive impact

PSAT Scores

CollegeBoard has released your PSAT scores today. Your scores are available electronically. This means that you will log into your CollegeBoard account to view and download your scores. (Which is what you will do in the future when you take your SAT as well.) CollegeBoard has a BigFuture mobile app that you can use for accessing your scores or you can use their website.

If you submitted your email account when completing your answer sheet then you should have received an e-mail from CollegeBoard notifying you that your scores are accessible. Even if you didn't receive an e-mail from CollegeBoard you can still access your scores.

Once you have your scores, you may be wondering what they mean.  The score sheets from PSAT provides a wealth of information so it can take some time to digest it all, but if interested, please know that the testing section of the counselor website can help give you additional information, tips and links to better understand your scores.  http://www.wkhscounselors.com/

Don't forget, this is just a practice test so it is giving you an indication of where you might expect to score on your college admissions tests and you can use your results to help guide you in preparing to achieve college readiness.

University of Cincinnati

Did you have a good day off yesterday? Did you do anything productive? We know at least some students took advantage of not having school to spend the day making college visits... and part of the reason we know that is because we saw Kilbourne represented on campus while we were out making a campus visit of our own!

All of the district staff spent the day learning and focused on different aspects of professional development to help them improve in the work we do with and for students. The school counselors were given the opportunity to go and visit a college campus that none of us had seen in person before - the University of Cincinnati.

We picked visiting UC not only because it was a campus we hadn't seen previously, but also because it is a college that so many of our Kilbourne students end up going to and we wanted to learn more about the opportunities on the campus and what makes UC special.

It was an AWESOME day! We had beautiful weather for a campus tour (and yes, that definitely makes a difference...), and we also got to spend meaningful, quality time with the UC Director of Admissions.

On campus tour at UC

In addition to spending time on their Uptown (main) campus, we also made a trip to their Blue Ash campus which is one of their two regional campuses available for students.

UC Blue Ash (look how beautiful!)

We are all so excited to be able to talk about our visit to UC with any and all students and families who are considering becoming a Bearcat in the future. But for now, we will leave you with 5 facts we enjoyed learning today:

1. UC admits students specifically into their major. It's ok if you aren't sure what you want to do some day and you can even change your major once on campus, but they are going to work really hard to help match students to their intended majors. This is why it is important that you spend time while in high school exploring career pathways that might appeal to you.
2. We were uncertain about the essay because it says it isn't required and we wanted to know more about that. It truly isn't required! They do require the paragraph essay about why you want to study a particular major (because of point number 1 above), but the big overall essay, while they will read it just to learn more about you, the reality is it doesn't have a meaningful role in deciding if you get in or not. (Same goes for rec letters which is why those are also optional!) They use a rubric to score applications and there is not a place to score or give you points your essay or your rec letters. Because they don't require the essay they also don't have to worry about trying to figure out if you really wrote your own essay or if it was written by AI.
3. Your activity section is very important to them. They want kids who will be engaged on campus. We specifically asked if a student should fill all 10 activities and she said no, unless those are all really meaningful experiences. If you volunteered 1 time at a food pantry - that is not something they want to see on your activities list. What did you do that truly mattered to you - those are the activities they want to see and read about in your application! There are so many ways to get involved on the UC campus. From their football stadium which is located in the middle of campus to their nearby rec center and student union to the countless clubs and organizations available for students (we had a little laugh about the fact that they have a hot tub club which meets in the hot tub which is located in the same area as their lazy river) and a lot of great opportunities for students to get real job experiences through co-op programs.
4. What classes you are taking in high school matters a great deal! You want to be sure that you are prepared for college and the work that will be required for admission and for success on campus. The 500 person lecture hall is home to several freshman standard classes such as Chemistry and Anatomy. It is also where the smaller Calculus sections will all come together for their exams. Bigger classrooms like this are more common in freshman year, but as you continue forward in your education and specialize into your particular major, you'll find much smaller classes. In fact, our tour guide shared that she is currently taking a Circuit Analysis Class for her engineering major and there are only 4 students in the class in total. From an admissions perspective, if you are applying to a high demand science related major (think Engineering/ healthcare fields), they would like to see that you have successfully completed Biology, Chemistry and Physics. If you plan on majoring in Business at any Ohio public college, they all must follow a state requirement that you will take Calculus as a part of your Business program. As a result, they want to see that you have successfully completed Pre-Calculus during high school (not stats or something else) and yes, that is even for Marketing majors or other types of Business degrees.
5. Their Blue Ash campus is a beautiful regional campus location with a ton of great supports and resources for their students. The regional campuses do not have their own housing for students, BUT, students can live on the main Uptown campus and take a shuttle bus back and forth to the regional campus. The shuttle takes anywhere from 25-45 minutes depending on traffic, but being able to live with all of the other UC students in the dorms on main campus and travel out to the branch for your classes is a great option for our students who might want to start at a UC branch campus. After successfully completing at least 24 hours at the Blue Ash campus, students can transition over to the Uptown campus.

UC Library

Lecture Hall

Football Field (and lacrosse)

Lazy River and Hot Tub

We were so thankful for the chance to visit UC and meet with the admissions staff - especially because they are super focused right now on trying to read through ALL of the applications that they have received. She guesstimated that each staff member will be reading 50 to 75 applications a day! That is a LOT of reading to do in a day! We hope that if you made a campus visit, you also had a good experience and learned a lot about the college and the opportunities available to you in the future! We can't wait to hear about it.

Ohio Direct Admission

Congratulations! You've been Accepted!

Normally, we tell students, you can't be accepted if you don't apply, but Ohio's new direct admission program which is being piloted this year is turning that phrase upside down because yesterday our seniors received an email from the Ohio Department of Higher Education announcing the colleges that have matched with you and have accepted you without requiring you to even complete an application.

I like the perspective of thinking about this as a way of considering it as the colleges applying to you.

Now, we want to point out a few reminders...

1. Just because you didn't get an offer of direct admission doesn't mean that the college isn't interested in you. We noticed in looking at the list that there are many private and some main campus public colleges that did not participate in offering automatic acceptances to students.
2. These are legitimate acceptances, but if you are interested in considering them for your future, you do still have some additional steps to complete.
3. These acceptances are truly acceptance into the college, but not necessarily into a particular major or program.

So what should seniors do now? Log in! Check out the Ohio Direct Admission portal and review the colleges who have accepted you. Explore the information about the colleges who have offered you admission. For those which appeal to you, click on the option to "Claim Your Spot." You can "claim your spot" for as many colleges as you would like.

Claim your spot is NOT the same as enrollment. According to the FAQ's on the ODHE website here is what they say about claiming your spot: "When students access the portal and review their Ohio Direct Admission offers, they may identify institutions they are interested in enrolling in and then select “claim your spot.” This step does not enroll the student. Instead, it begins the institution’s “claim your spot” process, which allows institutions to collect the additional information needed to verify student details, connect students with financial aid (including award letters), match students with competitive majors or programs, and share next steps. Each institution’s “claim your spot” process may differ, but it is designed to be simple, low-cost or no-cost for students."

Remember, this is a pilot program that has just started this year so the school counselors are learning and exploring right alongside you with regards to the Direct Admission Program. We will be attending a webinar on Friday where we expect to learn more about the matching roll-out and next steps and we will share any relevant information on the Counselor website.

ACT My Answer Key

The December ACT is one of the four ACT testing dates when students have the option of ordering their test questions and answers. This is known as ACT My Answer Key (formerly known as Test Information Release. If you elect to order your Test Information Release report then 3-5 weeks after the testing you will receive a copy of the mulitiple choice questions, your answers, and the correct answer key. If you take the writing section then you will also receive the essay question and scoring rubric.

This year, ACT My Answer Key is only available in the October, December, April and June test dates. So, if you are testing on one of those dates we encourage you to consider taking advantage of this as a strategy you can use to better prepare for an upcoming test.

There is an additional cost of $36 to request this option of receiving your questions and answers.

If you want to learn more about ACT's Test Information Release, please visit their website here.

FYI, the registration deadline for the December ACT is coming up this Friday, November 6th.

Enjoy your day off tomorrow!