Emotions

I was talking with a student earlier this week about emotions and we ended up chatting about the movie Inside Out.  (Hence the photo)  If you haven't seen the movie, I would recommend it.

But, my purpose of this blog post is to remind you that you are more than your emotions!  It is so easy to get caught up in thinking that how we feel is who we are and nothing can be further from the truth.  For example, try to notice when you say things such as, "I am sad" or "I am angry."  When we use that language it tends to lock us into that emotion as being who we are and not just how we feel.  So how can we reframe that?  We can shift it back to our feelings by sahing things such as, "I feel sad" or "I feel angry."  This sounds like a small change, but it creates a big shift in our mindset which can really help.

Struggling with big emotions can be overwhelming and you don't ever have to face them alone.  Remember that I am here to listen and care when every emotion you are experiencing comes to visit.  Just know that while the emotions come, they will also go... even though it can be hard to know when that will happen.  You matter and how you feel matters!

Demonstrated Interest

Did you know colleges track every contact and interaction you have with them?  For colleges, they typically refer to this as your demonstrated interest.  They want to know that you are genuinely interested in their college and that applying to their school is something you have investigated and feel like it would be a good fit. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that you should call a school multiple times a week - that would definitely get on their nerves, but they want students who are truly interested. You can show that by meeting with their admissions representatives when they come to WKHS (visits are happening daily now) or by attending their community gathers sponsored in the Columbus area, stopping by their tables at college fairs, participating in "optional" interviews and essays, and visiting their campus.

Just because you have clearly demonstrated your interest in a college will not be what gets you accepted to their school, but since colleges are always trying to predict who it is that will ultimately attend their university out of those they accept, it works to your advantage to be sure that the college will be a good fit - not only because it demonstrates your interest, but also - and more importantly - because it will enable you to be confident that this is a school which fits your needs and goals in what you were hoping for in a college campus community and in your collegiate home. 

Also, a final reminder that tomorrow night at 7pm is the virtual Planning for College Information night for Junior students and parents.  The zoom link will be emailed home tomorrow morning and will also be posted on the Counselor Website.

Should I submit my scores?

One of the most challenging questions for many students applying to college this year has been, "Should I submit my test scores?"  And the reason this is a difficult question to answer is because it depends.  During the educational sessions and meetings with colleges their guidance to helping you answer that question is to ask back, "Will this test score contribute to the strength of my application?"  

So how do you figure that out?  You need to look at every college you are applying to closely.  You need to double check their requirements for admission and for your intended major.  You also should review what their scholarship situation looks like regarding evaluating students with and without test scores. (For example, many colleges will grant scholarships to students with a certain GPA and test score, but to qualify for a scholarship without a test score the GPA requirement is higher meaning that some students might qualify for scholarships if they submit their test scores, but wouldn't if they don't.  And you have to look at that for your situation in particular.)  

Every college will have data shared on their middle 50% for test scores.  The middle 50% designates the range of students who are in their average pool of accepted students.  That does mean that 25% of their accepted students have scores that are above that range as well as an additional 25% who have scores below that range.  If you are in their middle 50% then you can, typically, feel confident that your scores will help contribute to your application.

Please realize that this means that you might be applying test optional to one college and with test scores to another and this is ok.  If you have questions about test optional and submitting test scores, don't hesitate to stop and see me.

Welcome to Worthington

Each year we are lucky enough to welcome students who are moving into the WKHS area as new students.  Last Thursday we hosted a welcome breakfast to make sure that all of our new students knew how thankful we are to have them at Kilbourne.  It was fun to hear a little bit about the schools where students have attended previously and the things that they like about WKHS already... for example, the food and snack bar are definite favorites compared to their old schools.  In the counseling center we have a map posted with a push-pin marking where the new students had lived prior to coming to Worthington which included 7 countries and many different states across the US.  Kilbourne is better because of each student who walks our halls and I hope you will join me in welcoming these new students if you see them in your classes or lunch periods.

Class Drop & Pass/ Fail deadline

I wanted to make sure that all of you were aware that the last date to drop a 1st semester course without having it appear on your transcript is coming up on Wednesday, September 28th. That is also the last date to submit a request to have a 1st semester class graded on a pass/ fail scale instead of the standard scoring. Please make sure that your requests for these options are turned into the counseling center before the school day ends on Wednesday!

Homecoming Dance

This was a fun week of Homecoming festivities and it will be topped off tonight with the dance.  A special congratulations to my 2 students who were among the 3 students recognized as Homecoming Royalty - Bilal Chaudhry and Cee Costello!

I know that having a dance out on the football stadium is a lot of fun.  As you get all dressed up ahead of the dance, I hope you enjoy the time with your friends taking pictures and going out for dinner.  Most of all, please stay safe and make good choices!  

I will be at the dance so if you have any problems, don't hesitate to let me know.  I can't wait to see everyone all dressed up tonight!  Please stop and say hi.

Career Club

The Career Exploration Club kicks off this week and this is a club that will meet during lunch periods to give students the chance to join and be a part of a club even if you don't have transportation to be able to participate in after-school clubs.

As a part of this club you will have the opportunity to learn about different careers directly from guest presenters.  The speakers will share insights into what a typical day is like in their job, what they like most/ least about their job, the education required to be able to have this job, and they will answer any questions you have as well.

The club will meet once a month.  The upcoming dates are: September 22nd, October 27th, November 9th, and December 8th.

While we would eventually like to figure a way to make the club accessible during all 4 lunch periods, for now, we will only have the group meeting twice during 4th period and 5th period lunches which are the biggest lunch periods.  So, if you have lunch, prep, options, or learning center during 4th or 5th period then this club will work for you!

The presentations from the speakers will only take half of your period so you will still hve plenty of time to eat.  The 4th period presentation will start at 11:40 and last for 20 minutes until the end of the period.  And the 5th period presentation will start right at the start of the period at 12:05 and be done 20 minutes later at 12:25.

The reality is that every career discussed won't be a good fit for every student, but the more you learn about different careers, the easier it will become to identify jobs that you do NOT want in your future which can ultimately help guide you to the right profession.  

Examples of some of our upcoming speakers already lined up include a Project Manager and Dental Hygienist.

I hope you will plan to join the club by coming to meet with us Tomorrow (Thursday) in the Auditorium!  Everyone is welcome!

College Admissions Updates

The fall is a critical time for college applications and so I have been busy with lots of meetings with college representatives to learn more about their admissions office updates for the year.

Last week I attended a meeting with all of the colleges in the state of Ohio and I wanted to share a few updates that I think might be helpful for my students to know.

Probably the biggest one is regarding Miami University... Miami wants a recommendation letter from someone!  They don't care if it is from a counselor or a teacher, but they do want a letter.  This is VERY confusing on Common App because both the counselor and teacher rec letter areas are listed as optional.  This makes sense in that neither a teacher or counselor recommendation letter is required, but the way Common App is set up it doesn't show that they do want 1 letter and it can be from anyone.

That is also a key reminder that if you are applying to any out of state colleges, it is beneficial to go to the college admissions office websites as well as looking at what is posted on Common App to make sure that other schools are not in the same situation as Miami where they require a letter, but all choices are listed as optional because they don't care who you send the letter from.

University of Cincinnati is test optional, but their nursing program is not.  So if you are applying to nursing at UC then you must submit your test scores for consideration.

Much like UC, Akron and Shawnee State also require test scores to be submitted for students applying to nursing.  And Toledo requires test scores for those students looking to apply for the medical school interview guarantee program and the 3+3 pre-dental program that is offered in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University.

Toledo and Miami both superscore the ACT scores submitted for admissions decisions.

For those students who are undocumented, the Ohio colleges do have application options for you even without permanent residency status.  For many, you will have to begin the application as an international student, but as you progress through the process the colleges can then qualify you for in state tuition rates.  You will want to check out the college's websites for detailed information and/or talk to the admissions advisors to help you with this process.

For the private colleges, I'll repeat again, that the sticker prices are NOT the end price that students typically have to pay!  They gave the data that the average tuition is 33,307 and the average aid offered is 21,200.  The other big thing to keep in mind when looking at private colleges is their rates of students who are able to graduate in 4 years compared to those at public colleges.  (Significantly higher at private colleges than public colleges.)  The reason this is important is that if it takes you an extra year to graduate at a public college, but not at a private college, then that will also play into the total amount of money you have to pay to attend the colleges.

This is just a small glimpse of all the information we have gained over the last month from colleges.  Hopefully you are also getting new insights and updates from individual colleges as they visit WKHS.  (Don't forget to be taking advantage of these rep visits - see the whole calendar on the Counselor Website and sign up for the colleges you want to meet with on the website as well.)  But if you have any specific questions, feel free to see me or to reach out to an admissions officer at the college.

Interims & Conferences

Can you believe we are half-way through the first quarter?  If you haven't been keeping up with your grades in your classes, this is a good point to pause, check Infinite Campus, and reassess where you stand and what changes (if any) you need to make to succeed in your classes.

In addition to checking IC for updates on your grades, it is also time for parents to sign up for Parent/ Teacher conferences.

Conferences will be held on Wednesday, September 28th from 3:30 - 7:20pm and on Thursday, October 6^th from 5:00 - 8:40pm.  Each conference will be scheduled in 15 minute time blocks.  Conferences allow parents the chance to learn about your student’s classroom performance from the teachers, it allows the opportunity for you to ask questions and they provide an opportunity to build a dialogue with the teachers regarding any thoughts and concerns you might have.

Parents, if you are interested in arranging to meet with one of your son or daughter’s teachers during conferences, the online system will be up and running for you to register for a meeting slot as of tomorrow morning at 8am.  Conferences will be scheduled as people sign up for them, so if you want to make sure you have times that work well for you, I strongly encourage you to register right away.  

Please follow the steps below to register for a parent/ teacher conference:

- Follow this link to take you to the conference scheduler:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/Worthington_Kilbourne_High_School 

-  Click on the teacher you would like to meet with for a conference.

-  Sign up by entering your child's last name, first name, your name and your e-mail address and then click Submit.

-  The next screen will direct you to check your e-mail inbox for a message with the subject "Select Date/ Team for Teacher Conference Now."

-  Open the e-mail and click on the link to select a conference time.  If you do not receive an e-mail, please check your junk/ spam folder.  Please note, you MUST follow the link in the e-mail in order to complete the sign-up process.

-  The link will take you to a Time Picker.  Available time slots will appear on this page.  If there are no available appointments that suit your schedule, please e-mail the teacher directly to set up an alternate meeting time.

-  After submitting your time slot, you will be prompted to finish, schedule another appointment for the same student or register another student.  Once you have completed your reservations, you will receive an e-mail confirming the date and time of your conferences and a link by which you can make changes to your date or time if you need to do so.

If you have any problems using the online conference registration system, please contact Sharon DeSantis at WKHS.  She can be reached by e-mail at sdesantis@wscloud.org or by phone at 450-6400.

Also, senior students and parents, Thursday, October 6th at 7:00pm is the Financial Aid Presentation Night.  We schedule this meeting on a conference night to try to help parents minimize the number of nights that you have to be at school, so if you'd like to take advantage of both opportunities on the same night, simply select teacher conferences before 7 and then come and attend the financial aid presentation in the auditorium.

Homecoming Week Festivities

This week is Homecoming Week which means that there are a range of festivities and activities to celebrate and honor the tradition and experiences of high school at WKHS.

Here are some of the Homecoming highlights of what to expect this week:

- Tomorrow (Monday) is Neon Day.

-  Tuesday is Dress Like your Favorite Holiday Day.

- Wednesday is BBQ Dads vs Soccer Moms Day and Wednesday night is the Movie Night at 8:00pm in the stadium.  The movie Madagascar 3 will be shown and the event is FREE to attend.  Students are encouraged to bring their own snacks for the movie.

- Thursday is a Bikers/ Surfers Day (school dress code still applies). 

-  Friday's theme is a Sports/ Jersey Day.  On Friday, there will also be an assembly during 7th period. The football game is Friday night with the Homecoming Court Royalty being crowned at 6:45pm.  It will be a great opportunity to come out and support the wolves! 

- Saturday is the Homecoming Dance from 8:00 - 10:30pm on the Football Field.  Please be aware that no heels are allowed on the football field.  The cost for the dance is $10.

Planning for College Night

Save the date!  On Thursday, September 29th the WKHS Counseling department will be hosting a Student and Parent Planning for College Information Night. In the past, this program has received some of the best feedback out of all of the information nights we host. The students and parents who attended this meeting have expressed how much this helped them get started and move forward with the college search process and developed a better understanding of what to expect along the way.  The meeting is primarily targeted at juniors, but sophomores and freshmen are welcome to attend if interested. The meeting is at 7:00pm and will be held virtually over zoom.  (This will allow us to record the presentation to post it later on the Counselor Website for those students/ parents who are unable to attend in person.)

I hope you will plan to attend! And yes, I want you to ask your parents to watch this meeting with you and no, I don't want you to just make your parents instead... this is YOUR future and you are responsible for deciding what direction you will take.

Optional Essay

I have been spending all week talking about essays and I have one more section that I need to hit on and it is regarding the final 650 word Optional Essay box at the end of the main Common App section.  Let me start out by clarifying that this is truly an optional essay.  If you don't have anything that you need to address in this section, then leave it blank and keep moving with your application.  But a lot of times students are asking what types of information might necessitate this optional essay section to be used so I wanted to be sure I hit on that with all of the other essay conversations of this week.

This section is your perfect area to put something that you want to be sure that the admissions committee will understand about you that isn't able to be covered somewhere else in your application.  Here are some examples:

- If you are taking College Credit Plus classes on a college campus, your current schedule will only show those classes you have this semsester and not what you have planned for the spring.  You can write about those classes you anticipate taking so that the colleges will know that you're not just slacking off in your senior year academically.

- If you had a really bad grade in a class or perhaps you had a really bad semester, this can be your space to address that outlier so that when the admissions representatives are reading your essay and looking at your grades that they will see that you have explained the F you earned one semester when all the rest of your grades are solid.

- Significant personal issues that you want the admissions represenatives to know about you.  This could be anything from personal health challenges you have overcome, family health crises, death of a close family member, homelessness, food insecurity, or any other topic that you feel is important to helping the colleges get a better appreciation for you as a student and the obstacles you have overcome.  Obviously, if you wrote about this topic in your main common app essay then you wouldn't share it again in this area.

- Changes in status, jobs, activities or some other significant switch that the admissions reps might see in your application.  For example, maybe you played a sport for three years and then had to quit due to injuries - explaining that will help them to see that it wasn't a lack of interest or commitment to your sport that caused you to stop.  Or maybe you had been involved in a lot of clubs and activities, but then family situations changed requiring you to get a job to help pay for some of the expenses at home, you can use this space to explain that shift in your commitments.

- If you are a first-generation college student, many colleges have that as a goal for increasing admissions and so if it hasn't been hit on somewhere else in your application, including it here is a great idea.

There may be other life circumstances that you want to address in the optional essay and that is fine.  If you're not sure about including it or not, feel free to come see me and we can talk about it together.

Writing Your College Essay - Part 4

When you are working on college essays, the one message I need for you to understand is that it is not one and done.  You're not going to sit at your computer, write for 30 minutes to an hour, and walk away with your perfect masterpiece to submit to colleges.  Editing your essay is going to work to your advantage... even if you're not really used to having to edit your essays for other purposes.

REVISING THE ESSAY
Once you have written your essay, you want to give plenty of time to edit!  I understand that this is (drastically) different than most of the essays you have written in high school, but it is worth writing a draft, walking away from it for a few days and then coming back to read it again to take a fresh look.  Many students are stunned at how the essay that they initially thought was great doesn't meet their own expectations when they re-read it with fresh eyes.  It can help to read your essay out loud and see if it feels natural and sounds like you.  Taking the time to edit and go through multiple drafts is a gift you can give yourself to drastically decrease your stress with the entire college application process.

When you begin reading through your essay again ask yourself:

Does it reveal who you are?

Does it represent your best academic ability?

Does it sound like you? 

Look at the overall structure of the essay:

Does it make a stunning point at the beginning and then fizzle, or does it steadily build in interest and intensity?

Have you made clear the relationship between your ideas?

Is the essay well organized?

As you begin to get picky, look at your word choice and make sure you are not overusing particular words.  Pay careful attention to the verbs - they should give your reader a clear picture of you in action. Although the essay needs to be personal, you shouldn't overuse the pronoun "I."

The essay also needs to read smoothly. If it is a longer essay, as you revise and refine the piece, be sure that it has an attractive introduction, carefully crafted body paragraphs, and a confident conclusion. Look for clear transitions between paragraphs, and try to vary sentence length and structure.

Please rest assured that I am here to help you with your essays.  I will NOT write it for you, but if you are struggling to come up with topics or want help editing, don't hesitate to stop by and see me.  Also, the English teachers and Ms. Elliott are awesome resources for editing help too.  Good luck and happy writing!

Writing Your College Essay - Part 3

The last few nights I wrote about coming up with unique topics and then figuring out how to focus on what will give you the best topics to write for all of the various questions.  Once you have reached that point, it is time to WRITE!

COMPOSING THE ESSAY
You want to focus on being creative and coming up with a plan for your writing so that you do not just ramble.  Whenever possible, start your essay with a catch – something that will engage the readers and compel them to continue reading.  As you are writing, try to keep in mind that this is a formal essay so you need to make sure that you are using proper grammar, punctuation and varying your sentence structure.

Be sure to use your voice and stick to the word count.  (Hint: I know it doesn't seem like it, but I promise, it is always easier to cut words than to try to figure out how to squeeze more detail in later, so answer the question fully first before worrying too much about word count, but plan ahead enough so that you are at least in the ball park of your word limits... you want to cut 50-100 words out not try to cut 2,000 words.) One tip is to use your word count to provide details and depth.  

As I mentioned at senior night, there are a few key points to keep in mind as you are writing:

Answer the question!

When they give you a prompt or question – be sure that your essay is answering what they are asking!  These are smart people – they know when you are just taking a different essay and trying to make it fit for their question.  Put in the time to write an essay that answers the question they are asking.  Also, be sure that you respond to all parts of the prompt and fulfilling exactly what the college is asking you to do (list, define, explain, compare/ contrast, evaluate, etc.)  Yes, you will be telling your story, but that is only part of the process - you have to also reflect back on how that story relates to you and your life in whatever way they are asking.

Show me - Don't just tell me.

Great, so you told me that you are organized and honest… good qualities for their future college students, but are you demonstrating that to them with your essay?  Show them what you mean with vivid examples – that will usually be specific, concrete stories to illustrate your point.  It can be helpful to describe the scene or the person with sharp nouns and active verbs or by using details that will invoke the senses. How did it look? feel? smell? sound?  Don’t just say that "Uncle John was odd." Show us his dog who smashed through closed windows and his unique decorating style of mixing plaid and polka dots.

Did I learn something about you?

The whole point of these essays is so that the college admissions officers will learn something new about you.  (And trust me, they are learning something about you – even if that lesson is you didn’t appear to care enough about getting into school to pay attention to details like spelling.)  So, step back and look at your essay again – did they learn something about you that they wouldn’t have known prior to reading your essay?

One of the biggest challenges as you write your essay is controlling the tone.  You want to come across as confident but not boastful, self-assured but not aggressive, accomplished but not perfect. Try to avoid claiming that everything you've ever done has been unbelievably great.  Don't be afraid to admit that you are human. Colleges want real, interesting people.  Because it's so hard to control the tone of an essay about yourself, you will want to ask several people – teachers, friends, your parents, and even me – to read and respond to your essay. Get a variety of reactions, and then decide how you want to revise the essay.  Remember, when getting help with essay revisions it is important to go into it with the thought that you want to get revisions so it can be the best possible essay (instead of going in hoping the editors will just say – good enough.)  And yes, that also means you can’t procrastinate and put it off writing your essay until the last possible second.  And I hope this goes without saying, but don’t lie.  Do not make up stories that are not true or genuine.  You are the best you there is and this essay is about you so show yourself off and just be careful on tone.

Every year I have at least 1 student ask me if the colleges read the essays and I can assure you that the answer is YES – they really do read the essays!  Please don’t think you can just throw something down on paper and have it be “good enough.”  These are formal essays for an application to a college that will be the launching ground for the rest of your life.  I know that it sounds intimidating, but relax and start writing – and editing – and then do some more writing and editing… 

Writing Your College Essay - Part 2

In yesterday's post I talked about coming up with a range of essay topics that you could use.  Chances are you're going to have more than one essay to write between your college and scholarship applications.  Once you have identified your brainstormed sheet of ideas - you will be able use this information to think about what you want the college to learn about you that will not be apparent in the rest of your application.  At this point, it is now time to start looking at the college essay prompts.  Sometimes the colleges will ask you for a personal statement which means that you just get to write anything at all about yourself to be your introduction to the admissions committee.  At other times the college application will give you one or more essay questions that you can choose from.  If you are given multiple questions, it is often helpful to work backwards and focus first on what you want to convey and consider the stories and examples that can illustrate your point and then consider which of your anecdotal stories fits best with the questions.

When colleges review your application they can read things like your grade point average and test scores, but they still want to know more about YOU – the person behind those grades, scores, and activities.  You should be the star of your college essay! This is your chance to communicate to the colleges who you are and how your mind works.  It is important to remember that your essay will be one of hundreds or more-likely thousands that the admissions committee members will read.  (Can you imagine reading all of those?!?)  Try to interest them in what you have to say and be sure that it is written well so that it will stand out.  Think of this as your opportunity to personally introduce yourself to the admissions and scholarship officers reading your application. Be open, honest and real. 

I mentioned this at senior college night and I genuinely believe it is true – think of your essay as a blind date.  You are trying to make a positive impression on someone you don’t really know by showcasing who you are and all of the great things about you.  You want them to walk away knowing that you are special and thinking, "Wow, I really want to meet this kid."  The best news of all though is that you don’t have to suffer from the nerves of making a silly mistake on this “blind date” – you can perfect your essay so that you can make sure you are putting forth a positive message with a good tone that also shows your ability to think and write clearly and logically.

As you start coming up with topics and begin drafting your essays, I look forward to hearing the fun, unique, "so you" stories that you decide to share with the admissions committees.  If you are struggling to figure out how your brainstorm handout can translate into the essay responses, please don't hesitate to come see me and we can look at it together.  And, yes, the essays are such a big deal and a big topic that I still have more to say about them... but that will wait for tomorrow.

Writing Your College Essay - Part 1

Writing your college essay is often one of the most stressful aspects of the college application for students, but it is actually one of my favorite parts because it is your opportunity to shine.  The college essay allows you the opportunity to showcase who you are and all of the wonderful traits that you will bring to your future college community.

All too often students think that they don't have anything unique or that makes them stand out from all of the other applicants, but I promise you that is WRONG!  Each of you is different from all of your other classmates.  You have your own activities that you enjoy, ways to relieve stress, things that make you smile or laugh and ways of thinking that are completely your own.  Those differences may seem small or insignificant to you, but it is what makes you YOU and therefore it is precisely what the colleges want to learn about you in your essay.

I know that it can be hard to come up with topics that would make a good college essay, but if you spend some quality time brainstorming different possible ideas you will begin to recognize that the possibilities are endless and all around you.  We created an essay brainstorming handout that you can use to help come up with topics.

On the brainstorming handout you will see that there are 4 different sections to try to come up with answers about yourself.

The first section invites you to write out the 5 characteristics that make you who you are.  Be sure to select different characteristics (so not caring, kind and nice - those would all be 1 characteristic not 3).  Then, after you have listed those characteristics, bullet point examples of stories/ times when you have demonstrated them.  It is possible that some of your stories of when you show a characteristic may cross over into several of the characteristics.  (So, for example, if I had listed caring and adventurous as 2 of my characteristics, I could say that the time I carried a friend on my back while I climbed a mountain would be under both characteristics.)  *No, I didn't really do this, it is just an example.

The second section is a chance for you to highlight some of your classic "so you" stories.  What are things you have done that are quintessentially you?  If you are stumbling on this section, don't hesitate to ask your parents, siblings, or friends to help you think of the things that you have done that they thought to themselves, "yep, that is so ___ (you)."

After you have done that, your next list would be times when you have changed.  These don't have to be BIG changes.  Think about specific moments in time when you went into something and then were different after it.  This might be a new perspective, mood, value, outlook, or priority.

Check out this article which highlights the value of change.  At the end of the article it says, "Ultimately, it's not what you have been through that defines who you are; it's how you got through it that has made you the person you are today, and the person you are capable of being tomorrow."  Doesn't that sound exactly like what the colleges are trying to figure out?! :-)

And then the final section of the handout provides you a place to write down other random thoughts - thoughts about who you are, what you believe, things that are important to you - anything at all as long as it is connected to you.

Remember, it is worth putting time, energy and effort into picking a good and meaningful topic that is powerful for you because the passion you have for your topic will naturally convey itself in your writing.  Additionally, many topics that come to mind immediately for you will also come to mind right away for hundreds of other students applying to college.  You want to explore a new angle and show how you are different from everyone else.  Try to think about what excites and interests you when picking your essay topic.  Be careful though, this is not “true confessions” time.

Coming up with unique essay topic ideas is only the beginning... I'll post more about the essays as the week progresses.

Recommendation Letters

Thank you to all of the students who participated in the #IFeelLoved activities today!  I loved seeing and hearing about the ways you feel most loved and the people who help to make you feel valued and important!

Speaking of feeling loved... knowing that there are teachers (and counselors) out there who see you for the unique, wonderful person that you are and are willing to write a recommendation letter on your behalf is a great example of ways that your teachers (or counselor) are able to put their love for you into action.

I admit, there is always a lot of confusion about recommendation letters.  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.  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.

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 65,000 recommendation letters on top of the applications and essays that they receive.) Case Western Reserve University, on the other hand, will require 2 teacher recommendations and a counselor recommendation. After reviewing the college websites and/or Common App, if you are still having problems determining if the colleges you are considering require recommendation letters – just stop down to see me and I 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 history perhaps it would be beneficial to ask 1 math and 1 history 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 I write the letters on a first come, first serve basis. It is the only way I know how to be fair. Recommendation letters are incredibly time consuming - especially when I 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 me write the best letter possible by allowing me to have the time with it. As with the teachers, please plan to give me 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 I 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 I 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, I will add your name to my recommendation letter list and I strongly prefer that EVERY student who I will be writing a recommendation letter for actually come in and TALK to me!  This conversation will allow me to ask a few additional questions and hopefully help me to get your voice in my head as I work on writing your letter.  Also, if you have developed a resume or list of activities and awards I 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 my office throughout the year to allow me to get to know you better.  I sincerely want to know students of all ages so that I am more comfortable with talking about some of the incredible things that you all are involved in and are accomplishing during your high school careers.

#I Feel Loved

Each year in the early part of the fall, the WKHS counselors like to host an activity in the commons where we encourage students to take over social media and spread positive messages.  There are a lot of reasons for this annual effort...

1. We are grateful to work in a school with such an incredible student body and a community of support.  We want to honor and celebrate that because it isn't something we take for granted.

2. Focusing on the positive aspects of life is a good reminder that even on the darkest days, there is hope, help, support, love, and encouragement around us all.

3. September is suicide prevention month and so it is a great month to focus on the connections we have and share with others at WKHS.

As you have hopefully heard on the announcements, tomorrow is the day we will invite you to share your messages of times that you feel loved and to honor and celebrate the family, friends, pets (etc) who make you feel loved.

I am excited to participate tomorrow... but I can promise that a few of my answers are #IFeelLoved:

- When my mom bakes me goofs (chocolate chip cookie bars)

- When my dad cuts the grass for more

- When my dogs both snuggle with me when I'm reading

- When former students reach out just because

- When I go out to lunch with my best friend

- My coworkers encourage me with project ideas

- When my sister does all of the holiday shopping for me

- When I treat myself to a day completely to myself

- When I get positive feedback from parents/ guardians/ students/ coworkers

Honestly, I should have stopped after 1 or 2 examples, but I could actually go on indefinitely because there are so many times when I feel loved and I am so thankful for that and I don't ever want to take it for granted!  

I can't wait to see and hear all of the ways and times that YOU feel loved in your life!  I hope you will post them on social media and, of course, stop and take a picture for us in the commons during your lunch tomorrow.

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 me as there will also be a form I 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.  (And yes, I have already had my first student be accepted to his college of choice!)

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.

OSU Admissions Update

Ohio State has been on lots of people's minds over the long weekend with the football game against Notre Dame on Saturday night.  But it has also likely been on the minds of lots of seniors who are hoping to apply to OSU for admissions.

Last week I attended a meeting at OSU to learn from their admissions staff about the latest requirements and updates.  To give you the short version - OSU continues to grow more and more competitive to be accepted directly to main campus, but there are still opportunities for every student graduating from WKHS who wants to be a Buckeye to start at a branch campus.  I normally will not highlight updates from every college, but because so many students plan on applying to OSU each year I wanted to pass along some of the information I learned.

- November 1st is the Early Action deadline for admissions.  It is also their deadline to be considered for their automatic scholarships.  Students who plan on applying for the Honors and Scholars program, major in the college of Engineering, major in Nursing, or who want to apply for the Morrill Scholarship program are strongly encouraged to submit their applications by this date as well.  The November 1st deadline includes having all of your supplemental materials received by the admissions office in addition to your application (such as test scores and transcript).  If you apply by the November 1st deadline, you can expect to hear back on your admissions decision on either December 9th or on January 20th.

-  OSU does NOT require a letter of recommendation.  They will accept one if you send it and it can be from anyone who knows you well - a teacher, coach, counselor, boss, etc.  Can you imagine reading 60,000 recommendation letters?!?  Yikes.  Please, be sure that if you're sending them a letter that it is highlighting something about you that the rest of your application isn't covering.

-  OSU had over 65,000 applications last year (a record by 13%!) and will have about 8,000 new freshmen on the Columbus campus.  For those admitted to the Columbus campus, the average ACT composite score was a 29.6 and 98% of the students were in the Top 25% of their class (72% were in the top 10%).  Needless to say it is very competitive to gain admission onto main campus, but they pointed out the opportunities available for admission to OSU at the branch campuses with open enrollment.

-  Students who begin their college career at a branch campus have the opportunity to stay and complete their degree in some majors if they want, but they can also change campuses and move from the branch to main campus after completing 30 credit hours (1 year of full time classes) and earning a 2.0 GPA.  This is not a transfer application, it is an automatic change of location form to be completed with your academic adviser at OSU.  Please note that if you are anticipating starting at a branch campus, you may want to apply directly to the branch instead of applying to main campus because that will qualify you for the branch campus scholarships.

-  There are no set numbers for being admitted or for being deferred to a branch campus.  Representatives from the regional branch campuses also talked and shared about some of the opportunities and experiences on their campus and they are still academically strong.  Additionally, by indicating your back-up branch campus on your OSU application, it does not make you more likely to be admitted to a branch campus rather than main campus.  OSU will automatically assume you want the Marion branch if you don't indicate a back-up option.

- They are test optional again this year.  Students who indicate they want to be considered with test scores MUST submit their test scores before the deadline date or else you need to change your application to that you want to be considered without test scores.  OSU won't automatically switch you to test optional.  You have through the October test dates to submit your scores - just be sure that you have requested OSU as one of your score recipients so that they are sent your scores directly from ACT/ SAT immediately when your scores are released.

- For those students who are sumitting test scores their middle 50% of the ACT was a 27-32.  and a 1290-1420 SAT. Last year, 56.5% of applicants didn't use test scores in their applications.  Those who didn't submit test scores were often non-Ohio residents, international students, underrepresented minorities, and First Generation applicants.  45.6% of those students admitted had not used test scores as a part of their applications.

-  They are major blind in acceptance to the university and then you would be considered for acceptance into your particular major or preferred program.  (So for those students who hope to "game the system" by picking some obscure major that you really are not interested in, that won't actually matter for admissions to the university.)

-  Their FAFSA Priority Deadline is February 1st.  The Financial Aid Officer reminded us to encourage all students to complete the FAFSA even if you know that your family will not qualify for need-based financial aid.  This is because there are some merit based scholarships that are not dependent upon financial need, but that have a pre-requisite that students have completed the FAFSA to make sure that they had already received any need based aid the student would qualify for before the scholarship could be awarded.  

Over the next few weeks I will be attending more informational meetings to get additional information about other colleges in Ohio and beyond so that I have the latest information to be able to share with you as you are working on your applications.

College Reps visiting WKHS

Did you know that many college admissions representatives come to WKHS in order to visit with you? Stop for a moment and think about that – the schools are paying someone to come to Kilbourne in order to meet with you and showcase the opportunities available at their college. The visits to WKHS kick off next week and more colleges continue to submit requests to spend time in the building visiting with our students so the list is constantly changing and growing.

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. Possibly 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.

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. If there are schools that you'd like to meet with, please be sure to write down the dates and times and 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 they 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!