Recommendation Letters

I have a love/ hate relationship with recommendation letters.  When they are needed, I am more than happy to write them for my students and I love taking the time to try to show you off and make sure the colleges know just how lucky they will be to have you as a part of their campus. But there is so much confusion that surrounds rec letters and I really do hate when teachers or I are asked to write letters that never go anywhere at all. Many colleges have moved away from requiring letters of recommendation - in part because all students will pick teachers that like them to write letters on their behalf and so the letters often sound similar and therefore it doesn't really help them to differentiate between the students. So, your very first step connected to recommendation letters is to figure out if the colleges you are considering will actually need any letters of recommendation - and if they don't then you just saved yourself and your teacher a lot of time.

There are some colleges that will want a recommendation letter and others that will want multiple letters. You will want to look specifically at what they are asking for you to provide.  Some colleges will require teacher recommendation letters, some counselor letters, others may be open to coaches, bosses, religious leaders or other adults who know you well, and yes, some may even want multiple letters. Each college gets to make up their own mind and determine what information they want to have as a part of your application package.  OSU, for example, does not require any recommendation letters. (Can you blame them? Imagine trying to read 71,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Harvard, on the other hand, will require 2 teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation. After reviewing the college websites, if you are still having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see your counselor and we can try to help you figure it out.

If you find that you do need recommendation letters, you have some work to do. First, give some thought about who you would like to ask for the recommendations. Look at the requirements specified by the school – are they open to coaches or community representatives writing letters or do they want them to come from academic teachers? If it requires that the letters come from teachers can it be from any subject area or are they only open to the core subjects of English, math, science, and social studies? Are you looking at a career in a specific area that a teacher at WKHS can write about your strengths in that field? For example, if you are considering majoring in Spanish perhaps a recommendation letter from one of your Spanish teachers would be appropriate. What teachers know you best? Who can speak to your work ethic and classroom contributions? If possible, it is often ideal to show your strengths across multiple subjects, so if you have a few teachers to pick from and 2 are math and 1 is science perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 science teacher rather than the 2 math teachers simply to show that diversity. Remember, in recommendation letters from teachers the colleges are asking for information about you as a student and your potential for handling the academic rigors of college.

Once you have figured out the teacher or teachers that you want to ask for a recommendation (if needed) it is then time to ASK them if they are willing to write a letter for you. It is really important to be reasonable in the amount of time that you are allowing them to have to write your letter. (Think at least 30 days - preferably more!) They are very busy with their classroom work and grading homework and papers and of course life in general and many teachers are often bombarded by students requesting recommendations. If a teacher is unable to write a recommendation letter for you – either because they don’t feel that they know you well enough to write a strong letter or because they have too much on their plate, don’t take it personally, simply ask another teacher. You will be thankful that you didn’t force them to write the letter because it wouldn’t be as solid of a recommendation letter if they were rushed or only had vague highlights to discuss.

After you have asked a teacher to write a letter on your behalf (and they agreed), then you will want to provide them with the teacher recommendation letter forms that can be found on the www.wkhscounselors.com website or in the Counseling and Career Center. You will also need to be sure to invite your teachers electronically if you are applying through Common App. It is rare that you will need any of your recommendation letters as a hard copy, but if that is the case you are responsible for providing your teacher with an envelope addressed to the appropriate college. Please be sure that you have indicated to your teachers your application deadline. You can submit your application through Common App even if your teachers have not uploaded their recommendation letter, but your application packet will not be complete until all parts (including the rec letters) have arrived at the college.

If you are applying to schools that do not need teacher recommendation letters, please do not waste your teacher's time by asking them to write a letter. Also, only ask the number of teachers that you need recommendations from - so if you are applying to two schools and both need 1 teacher recommendation letter, just ask one teacher to write a letter that will be used for both schools. You do not need to ask for more letters in case one is "better" than another - if you are not sure the teacher will write a positive letter for you, then you need to pick someone else. If you trust the teacher enough to ask them to write the letter, then you should trust them enough to be able to send their letter (without seeing it) to the college. In fact, you should not be reading your recommendation letters - they are supposed to be confidential.

For those students that will need a counselor recommendation, please be aware that we write the letters on a first come first serve basis. It is the only way we know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when we have so many to write because unlike with teachers, if your college requires a counselor recommendation letter you don't have a choice about who you are asking to write your letter. So please, watch your deadlines and try to help us write the best letter possible by allowing us to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give us at least 30 days to write your rec letter. Also, there is a Counselor Recommendation Letter supplement form that we ask each student to fill out and a Parent Brag sheet that we ask you to have your parents complete and turn back in to me to use when writing your letter. Please, be detailed and thoughtful when completing these forms because we want to be able to showcase you in the best way possible. Each of you are unique and have wonderful qualities that you will bring to a campus, but when writing recommendation letters generalized praise is wasted space so we need stories and examples to help give people a true image of you and to make it more than just what they can read about you in your application. Once you have turned in your 2 forms, we will add your name to our recommendation letter list. Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards we would love to have that because this information can also be helpful when writing your recommendation letter.

Before I close I want to point out that the need for counselor recommendation letters is a great reminder of why it is important for students of every grade level (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) to drop by your school counselor's office throughout the year to allow us to get to know you better. We sincerely want to know students of all ages so that we are more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

College Application 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 your counselor as there will also be a form we need to complete for you.

Early Action

This is a non-binding option and significantly 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, but that is a different story for another day.

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!  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.

College Reps Visiting WKHS

Every year college admissions representatives travel across the country to various high schools in order 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, opened the emails that they have sent to you, 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 as they review your college application, their impression is not, "hmm, they weren't even interested enough to come and meet with me when I was at their school."

College reps will started their visits at Kilbourne this 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. The coming few weeks have some of the biggest and most popular colleges that our students tend to apply to and so you need to check out the list. 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. 

PSAT Registration Reminder

The PSAT is the practice test for the SAT and the qualifying exam for the National Merit Scholarship Competition. This test will be administered free of charge here at WKHS on October 13, 2026.

This is a great opportunity for students to begin to assess their progress toward college and career readiness standards. All junior students are strongly encouraged to take this test free of charge and it is also open for sophomores as well.

Students can register for the PSAT using this link.  The deadline to register is September 11 at 3:20pm.

If students would like to practice and prepare for the PSAT, CollegeBoard and the KHAN Academy are offering a free supplemental practice tests. Information for this can be obtained online at https://www.khanacademy.org/sat and https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/practice

Narrowing Your College List

There are 5,600 colleges and universities in the United States.  Trying to narrow down the list from more than 5,000 to a reasonable handful of schools to which you will actually apply can feel daunting.  It can feel overwhelming to know that there are so many choices available - colleges you have not even heard of previously - and yet you are being ask to select and apply to the schools which will be a part of your future. The good news though, is that the process of narrowing your college list starts with YOU and what YOU want in a school.

On the WKHS Counselor website there are a variety of pages specifically geared toward helping you in the college search and with lots of information and questions to consider for yourself.  These include Tips for Investigating a College, What do You want in a College, and a Self Reflection page.  We dedicated a lot of content to this search process because it is true that before you really start looking for the “right” school it is important to figure out what you WANT in a school and that can only be found by looking in yourself and determining what factors are most important to you.

You'll find a lot more on the website (which we hope you'll check out), but a few examples on factors that might differ for various students... for some students distance from home may be a big deal. Being close can have it’s advantages – like being able to come home and have a free home cooked meal or a place to do your laundry and also not having to worry about flying half way across the country any time you would want to come home for a visit. Going to school at a college far from home can also have it’s advantages – often a different climate, a new experience and adventure where you can be independent, and no concerns about mom or dad just dropping in unexpectedly. And, of course, there are some students who will elect to find a school that is not too far and not too close. (Remember, that by communicating with your family about what you are looking for in a school you may find that a college outside of your comfort zone is still worth considering because you and your parents may be able to reach some mutually agreed upon ground rules – so the concern that they might come see you or you might come home too often can be eliminated by talking about those issues up front.)

The size of a school is another factor for many students. Small, Medium, Large or somewhere in between – the challenge is that many students will say, “I don’t know” and that is where making a variety of visits to different sized schools can be advantageous. You can explore a small school and see if the experience of knowing lots of people on campus and in your classes is better for you than a medium or large school where you may have a class in a lecture hall with hundreds of other students. As you visit the schools you may find that there are experiences or advantages that a larger school can provide that a smaller school can’t such as a wider variety of clubs or groups for students to be involved. The key is to figure out what size school fits you and then you can narrow your search to explore more schools in that range.  However, it is important to keep an open mind about size because there is only 24 hours in a day so the way you will spend your time is going to be very similar no matter what size of a campus you select.

Other factors that often influence a student’s college decision will include the types of majors or programs offered at the school, their athletic programs – both collegiate sponsored and intramurals, the food, the dorms, the cost (but don’t necessarily eliminate potential colleges simply based upon cost because often the private schools are much more expensive, but also offer a much larger financial aid package to make it competitive and comparable to a public school), extra-curricular opportunities, career placement services and on and on.

Again, we cannot stress the point enough that everyone is different and what is best for one person is not necessarily the ideal school for someone else. All too often we listen to students who are only looking at the 2 or 3 schools that their best friend or sibling looked at rather than trying to find the school that fits best for them. Also, we truly believe that it is about being a good match – for both you and the college and that there is not 1 perfect school.  You will be successful no matter where you end up attending.

We know it can be a bit intimidating to search for a school and to try to figure out what you really want in a college and for your future, but it is also supposed to be fun so try not to put too much pressure on yourself to find “perfection” and try to take a step back and figure out what will make you happy. It really can be fun, but we know it is also overwhelming so remember that we are here to support and help you in any way we can.

One day left between you and your long weekend!

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 we are required to complete for you.) The official answer is “We Do Not Rank.”

That is what we write on all of the forms that we 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.

Also, one more reminder to senior students and families that tomorrow night, Thursday, September 3rd is the Senior College Information Night at 7pm in the Auditorium. We look forward to seeing you there!

Pack Period

Tomorrow will be our first Pack Period of the school year.  For students new to WKHS, when you think about a Pack Period you can also think of it as something like a homeroom where announcements are shared, particular topics are addressed or discussed, or timely activities are completed. Our Pack Periods at Kilbourne are typically held as a component of your 2nd period class. (Sometimes specific grades will be called for an assembly during the Pack Period time to come to the auditorium for a group presentation.)

Pack Periods are held on Wednesdays approximately every other week.  The Pack Period is a time for students and staff members to forge stronger connections, share important information, and to build on student success skills for learning and for life.

One of the main items that all students will see during tomorrow's Pack Period is a video from the Counseling Center. 

We are on a different bell schedule during Pack Period days to give you an extra 24 minutes to be in the Pack Period.  This also  means each class is 3 minutes shorter - so your 2nd period class will begin 3 minutes earlier than normal (a really important point to be aware of if you are a student with late arrival and no class during 1st period so that you're not late to 2nd period on Pack Period days.)