Tagged: College

Check your email! A crucial habit for college applicants

January 21st, 2020

In today’s world we are always connected. Cell phones have created a new way to communicate and respond immediately that is much faster and quite frankly more enjoyable than the way things used to be. Long gone are the days of “snail mail” where response time could take almost a week.

For teenagers, email is typically not the first means of communication and understandably so. Sifting through junk mail to find the important pieces of communication can be a turn-off, and replies don’t arrive as quickly as with texting!

Photo by Stacey Westcott via Chicago Tribune

However, email is still a very important way to communicate in the world of school, work, and especially college admissions. In the article linked below, the Chicago Tribune helps you understand the importance of staying on top of all the information being sent your way so that you don’t miss anything.

Article referenced below from Chicago Tribune, published December 19, 2019 written by Dawn Rhodes

Teenagers don’t use email — colleges do. That’s a problem during college admissions season

Amber Fitzgerald never uses email.

When the 18-year-old started applying to colleges this year, the crush of messages flooding her inbox made her stop checking it.

“I get 10 emails a day just from two colleges,” said Fitzgerald, a senior at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. “If I go a week (without checking) we’re talking 100 emails easily from schools I’m not even interested in.”

Email is not the default for most teenagers, but it remains the primary avenue for colleges to communicate with prospective and current students. That can mean aggravation for college-bound teens and their families at the time of year when schools send critical admissions and financial aid information mostly via email.

Deep dive: show schools and colleges who you really are

January 7th, 2020

When applying to boarding school or college, you work to distill your entire life into a several-page application for someone to read and determine your fate. What do you include? How do you stand out against the other piles of applications?

Sure, you include test scores, GPA, involvement in clubs and other extracurricular activities. But what really makes you, you? What do you do on a day to day basis that doesn’t necessarily “earn points” with the admission office but shows what you really value as a person? In the article linked below from Forbes contributor Brennan Barnard, you’ll learn how to take a deep dive into your daily tasks and discover exactly how to reveal what’s at your core to admission officers.

Seniors sending updates to admission offices may glean some ideas, and juniors looking ahead to next year’s applications can certainly benefit from Barnard’s article. Boarding school applicants, too, may find this article helpfulful as they put final touches on pending applications.

Article referenced below from Forbes, published November 20, 2019 written by Brennan Barnard

What Matters In College Admission

A look of surprise and encouragement washes over his face and with earnest he exclaims, “You mean that matters?”

I am sitting in my school counseling office reviewing a high school senior’s college application, and I have asked why there is no mention of the hours he spends at home after school caring for his grandfather.

Thanksgiving break: time for relaxation and thoughtful work

November 26th, 2019

Fall semester can be grueling! Between standardized tests, schoolwork, extracurricular commitments and college applications, many high school students feel over-worked, fatigued and quite frankly burnt out. High school doesn’t have to feel like an impossible juggling act. It is important to take time for yourself and this coming winter break will be a great time to do so.

Before winter break arrives, though, Thanksgiving break allows a few days off of school. You’ll have time to check some things off of your to-do list (remaining college applications, anyone?), spend time with family and get some much needed rest and relaxation. And let’s not forget feasting and gratitude!

The article we’re sharing below is a great read on how to avoid high school burnout. If you feel overwhelmed, this may help you come up with a “workable routine” and get yourself back on track.

Article referenced below from Kivo Daily, published September 24, 2018 written by Winnie Custodio

What is burnout? Although you won’t see smoke coming out from your ears, it may feel like so. Students, with a barrage of things to do at home and in school, may experience this. Burnout is actually a psychological term. It refers to a condition of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion because of prolonged stress. Along with burnout are other symptoms such as frustration and low self-esteem. One feels lethargic and dissociated from all of their activities. Burnout happens to most people at some points, at varying degrees.

What Are The Symptoms of A Burnout?

What do you tend to do if you’re burnt out? Is there ever a time when you simply feel like sitting on the couch and watch Netflix for hours? Or get stuck in your computer dawdling on social media? Instead of working or studying, you decide to clean your closet instead. These are signs that you’re burning out. What are the other symptoms of this condition?

On the road to independence

November 12th, 2019

The first round of Early Action and Early Decision deadlines has passed. And now, on to the next round of deadlines (some coming up quite soon) while trying to stay afloat during your busiest semester yet! Each step that you complete makes you more self-reliant and independent. Even taking ownership of small tasks, like contacting an admission office to have a question resolved, helps you build confidence to tackle bigger challenges. Each accomplishment, whether large or small, is strengthening you for the next phase of life. That’s worth celebrating!

Empowering teenagers to take initiative in shaping their future is crucial to their growth, and completing applications is just the beginning. The article referenced below from The New York Times details the challenges inherent in this journey and how the overall experience creates the kind of “growth parents dream of.”

Article referenced below from The New York Times, published October 22, 2019 written by Kelly Corrigan

After a College Applicant Hits ‘Send’

In the early days of last fall, my daughter was projecting confidence about the college application process. She’d make a spreadsheet, things would be checked off, it’ll all come together, Mom. But right around this point, with classes and sports in full swing, college mutated from something exciting to that-which-shall-not-be-named. To inquire about, say, a 150-word supplemental essay was to provoke a fit of unholy madness.

It was probably no coincidence that her mood crashed just before the Nov. 1 early application deadline, as I bet it is doing in a couple million households across the country right this minute.

What I couldn’t have known then is this: Something beautiful is being formed in the dumpster fire that is senior fall. Regardless of outcome, the college application process itself can force the kind of growth parents dream of. Here’s why: