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 expe

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!

November 1st

Congratulations! For so many of the seniors today represents a significant milestone. As you hit "submit" on your college applications, we know there were mixed emotions - relief that the essay revisions were complete, hope for the possibility of being admitted, nervousness about the possibility of being rejected, and excitement that you had accomplished something that is a typical senior task.

We know many of you still have additional applications to work on over the next few months, but for tonight, take a deep breath and be proud of your hard work.

Reminders

Pre-ACT

If you are taking the Pre-ACT tomorrow, you will report directly to the gymnasium when you arrive to school in the morning. You will need to have your student ID with you in order to check in. You will also need a number 2 pencil (no mechanical pencils allowed), a calculator, and I would recommend a watch.

The test will begin promptly by 8:40 and you will most likely finish testing during 5th period.  (If you have lunch during 3rd or 4th period we will be sure you have time to eat and give you pass to go to 5th period.)

We hope this will be a meaningful practice opportunity for you in preparation for future college admissions tests. Get some sleep tonight and good luck on the Pre-ACT tomorrow!

Senior Transcript Requests

Remember, you MUST request your transcript through the transcript request form in addition to inviting your counselor on Common App to submit your school forms. The transcript request form is on the Counselor Website - www.wkhscounselors.com - scroll down to the "Find it Fast" area. You MUST do this BEFORE the noon tomorrow at the absolute latest in order for your counselor to be able to upload your transcript on time.

Trick-or-Canning

And finally, to all of the students out collecting canned goods through the Trick or Canning effort either tonight or on Saturday, thank you for your leadership in our school and community!

Be Brave

I receive and read Daily Discipline newsletters by Brian Kight where he shares information on different topics that emphasize doing the daily actions we all would be better off by implementing in our lives.

One of those messages shared the following information about bravery:

"My six-year-old daughter loves to jump off things. “Dad! Watch this!” she’ll say as she climbs onto something just so she can leap off it.

But sometimes she gets scared. She wants to jump, but she’s afraid to jump. 
Her conflicting feelings create internal misalignment. Interest but hesitation. Excitement but caution. Ready but unwilling.

She gets stuck, unsure which voice to trust.

Her desire says, “JUMP!” Her fear says, “DON’T JUMP!” Her desire is strong enough that she won’t back down. Her fear is strong enough that she won’t leap forward.

So I gave her a strategy for dealing with fear. And now she uses it every time she feels stuck.

I ask her, “What do we do when we’re afraid?” 

And she answers back, “Be brave.” 

We’ve done it so many times that now she takes the lead. She’ll be doing something, start to get afraid, and lock eyes with me. She’ll ask first, “What do we do when we’re afraid?”

“Be brave,” I’ll say.

“That’s what I’m going to do, Dad.”

That’s usually all she needs. Then she takes her fear and she jumps.

She has permission to take risks and try things she wants to do. And permission to feel afraid while doing it. Because fear will always show up when she tries new things.

Her desires push her into her fears. Her fears stand in the way of her desires. One pushes forward. The other pulls back.

I tell my daughter, “It’s ok to be afraid. You don’t have to hide from it or make it go away. You can be afraid and jump anyway. That’s called being brave.” 

Mom and Dad have to do it all the time, too."

 And as I read it, I thought about how accurate this is and how often conversations with students hit on this topic. It’s normal for students to think they are the only ones who find themselves in situations where they are scared and have to respond anyway. But you are not. This is a common experience in life. So know that it is ok for you to be afraid. You can be afraid and find the courage to act at the same time – it is brave and it is possible!

Merit vs. Need Based Aid

Don't you wish money grew on trees and that you would always have all of the money that you needed? I know that is certainly a wish for many people - and it tends to show up big time when you begin thinking about the costs associated with going to college! There is no question that paying for college is expensive and higher education costs add up quickly so trying to find opportunities to get free money is important.

When you are thinking abotu paying for college and financial aid, there are two broad categories – Merit Based aid and Need Based aid.

Merit Based aid is what you think of when you think “Scholarships.” These are usually awarded to students based on academic achievements, leadership, athletics, special talents such as art or music, volunteerism, or other personal qualities that set you apart. These scholarships do not consider financial need. A significant portion of all merit-based aid comes directly from the college/ university. Some schools may require additional scholarship applications, essays, interviews, and many colleges will have earlier deadlines to be considered for their scholarships. It can be helpful to know that a lot of times the smaller, private colleges will have more money available for scholarships in order to help make attending their school competitive with the lower costs of the public colleges. Please also remember that there are scholarship offerings listed on the Counselor Website. It is important to keep an eye out for unique scholarships that might apply to your personal situation. Maybe you would qualify for an Italian heritage scholarship. Perhaps one of your grandparents won a purple heart or maybe you have time to write an essay for one of the other scholarship competitions… no matter what the situation, if you find a scholarship that you meet the criteria for go ahead and apply – you might be pleasantly surprised at the result and if you don’t apply, the answer is definitely a “no.”

Need Based aid is what you will sometimes hear people refer to as “Financial Aid” even though both Merit Based and Need Based aid technically fall under that overarching category. There are a variety of different Need Based aid programs which will require you to fill out the FAFSA in order to be considered for them and some which may ask for a CSS Profile. Grants are considered gift assistance – they give you money and you do not have to pay it back. Loans which can come from a wide variety of sources – the federal government, the college, and private banks is money that you are required to pay back. Work Study programs are on campus job opportunities that the government helps fund that allows you to earn money for college through working on campus. The big difference between Merit Based and Need Based aid is that Need Based aid is that the type and amount of Need Based aid you will receive depends upon the amount of financial need you have.

And, yes, just to add to the confusion – there are absolutely some scholarships that will consider financial need as a criterion. They are still awarding the scholarship based upon some specific aspect of who you are it is just allowing them to narrow down the potential applicant pool. And, there are also some college scholarships that will have the stipulation that you have a FAFSA on file before they can award the money to you.

One last important reminder - NEVER pay to be considered for a scholarship! That is a scam. Don't waste your money!

Hopefully seniors are working on looking for scholarship opportunities and completing the FAFSA. Those are ways to help address both merit and need based aid as potential ways to try to get some money to help make college a little more affordable.