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.)

Grade Point Average

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 us.

CC+ Classes Begin

Just a reminder to all students who are taking a CSCC class through CC+, your classes begin this week!  These classes meet for 2 periods, but only twice a week.  So, those of you who are taking English Comp 1 or Ethics, you will have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.  If you are taking Psychology, you will have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There are no CC+ class meetings on Fridays.

As we have talked about in the past, you will still have work to do for your college classes outside of your designated class time and those non-meeting days are an ideal time to stay disciplined at using for work time on those courses.

One important suggestion - because your CSCC professors will all use your CSCC email, we would strongly suggest you set up the automatic forward option on your emails to send it to a gmail account which you check regularly or set up your CSCC account to your phone.  Check out the details on CSCC's website for more information on how to do that.

Good luck as your start your college classes!