Information for Seniors

The College Counseling Circular 2012 – 2013 Circular #1

NEW SENIORS:

News May and June SAT and ACT scores have been entered into Naviance. Please let me know if yours aren’t there. Cumulative GPAs have been updated in Naviance. Although we do not provide GPAs to colleges, colleges will use your grades from 9th, 10th and 11th grades to calculate their own GPA for you.

Essay-Writing Workshops We have completed two Essay-Writing Workshops and have three remaining on the following days: Wednesday, July 18th, Tuesday, July 31st and Monday, August 6th from 9:00 am until noon in Room 12. As you work on your main college essay, which you can use as your CommonApp essay, I suggest that you research essay topics for those colleges on your list which do not accept the CommonApp and for those colleges that have a CommonApp Supplement. You should be able to find those topics on each college’s website. If you can’t find it, it may not be available yet. You might want to contact the college and ask when their application or CommonApp Supplement will be ready. Colleges use the summer to review and sometimes change the essay topics.

The Common Application As I mentioned in the spring, the 2012 – 2013 CommonApp will be available online at www.commonapp.org on August 1st. If any of you have created a profile on the 2011 – 2012 commonapp, and entered data into the commonapp, please be aware that your commonapp will be deleted at midnight on Friday, July 13th. If you want to retain that data, you should print a copy of your work before it disappears.

CommonApp Workshops We have four CommonApp Workshops scheduled in August: Thursday, August 2nd; Wednesday, August 8th; Tuesday, August 14th and Monday, August 20th. The workshops will start at 9:00 am and end at noon and will be held in Rooms 12 and 13. Please remember that each senior must submit to me a copy of her CommonApp by the first day of your College Counseling class in September. The CommonApp should be complete, except the short-answer question, essay and supplements. The Initial Survey Form which each student completed and submitted to me in February includes much of 1 the data required by the CommonApp. If you’ve kept a copy of that form, please bring it with you to the workshop. You do not need to attend any of the CommonApp Workshops, but the workshops offer a dedicated time to work on this document. I will be at all of the workshops, so feel free to bring other questions with you.

College Visits Many of you have visited some colleges this summer and some of you have upcoming visits planned. If you are planning visits, remember that August can be very busy on college campuses, especially late in the month when the college students have returned and classes have begun. So, remember to register for information sessions and tours as early as you can and take advantage of the opportunity to interview, when given the chance. Take pictures and make notes so you can remember differences and similarities among the colleges. And, most importantly, write a note to the college after your visit to tell them what you liked about the college.

College Admissions Reps’ Visits to Notre Dame This fall Notre Dame will host a succession of college reps’ visits. Later in the summer you will be able to check the visit schedule on Naviance. When you return to school in September you will find that we will list the visits week by week on the bulletin board outside the Nurse’s Office. We’ll also provide the upcoming visitors’ names in the College Counseling Circular, which comes out weekly in the fall. Finally, if you have that college on your Naviance list, when it is scheduled, you will receive an individual email informing you of the upcoming visit.

Parents Meeting The first evening program for parents of seniors will take place on Thursday, September 6th at 7:00 pm. We’ll meet in Connelly.

NEW JUNIORS:

Standardized test scores have been entered into your Naviance record, as has your cumulative two-year GPA. Juniors should continue to work hard academically and establish depth in their extra-curricular activities. Some of you may visit some colleges in the fall, but junior visits generally start in earnest in late winter or early spring. One thing that juniors can begin to do is let colleges know that they have an interest in them. This can be done by completing the online inquiry form found on the college’s website. Colleges will create a computer record for the student which will put the student on the college’s mailing list. Many colleges store information about contacts a student has made with that college. They call it “Demonstrated Interest.”

All juniors are scheduled to take the PSAT on October 17th here at school. I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with the test. Most of you took the PSAT as sophomores, but that was a year ago. The College Board website has good information about the test. Most Notre Dame students take the SAT twice during their junior year (and some take the ACT once or twice too). Generally some of the recruited athletes will take their first SAT in the winter of their junior year – perhaps December or January, then again in the spring; but most juniors will wait until January or March to take the SAT for the first time. They’ll usually take the SAT again in the spring. At the October College Counseling meeting for the juniors and their parents, we’ll discuss the importance of having a standardized testing schedule. Juniors who are taking AP courses usually take the related SAT Subject Test in May or June. So, you’ll need to factor that into your plans.

Juniors may attend College Rep Visits only when they have a study or lunch. They may not miss class to attend a visit, so please do not ask your teacher to let you out of class. This has been Notre Dame’s 2 policy for many years. In the big picture it’s better for students to be in class learning than to attend the visit. Juniors who are interested in a particular college, but who can’t attend the visit, should let me know in advance. I will collect material for the student and get one of the college rep’s business cards. She can then send a note or email to the rep letting him/her know of her interest.

SENIORS & JUNIORS Seniors and juniors who have not registered for The Admission Game blog should do so. There is regular and valuable information provided by Mr. Peter Van Buskirk, who gave a great presentation here in May. Go to www.theadmissiongame.com, click on ‘blog’ at the top of the page, then enter your name and email address in the space on the right column.

UPCOMING STANDARDIZED TESTS  The registration deadline for the September 8th ACT is Friday, August 17th.  The registration deadline for the October 6st SAT is Friday, September 7th.

MR. STAATS’ SUMMER COLLEGE TOUR In mid-June I headed north to New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to visit 13 colleges. The list includes a diverse group of private institutions of all sizes. I did a tour at each college, attended information sessions at most and spoke to an admissions staff member at most of the colleges. The list of colleges is as follows: New York – Cornell University, Ithaca College, University of Rochester, Syracuse University, Colgate University, Hamilton College, and Union College; Massachusetts – Williams College: Vermont – Middlebury College; New Hampshire – Dartmouth College; and Maine – Colby College, Bates College and Bowdoin College.

NEW YORK

 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY – 14,000 undergrads….57% live on campus…unique minor in oenology…matches financial aid award letters….40% of engineering students are women.  Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY – 6,000 undergrads….most popular majors: business, music, radio and television….a new $65 million Athletics and Events Center opened in fall 2011….unique major in Outdoor Adventure Leadership.  University of Rochester, Rochester, NY – 5000 undergrads…..50/50 male/female ratio … Combined Admission Programs: Education degree + Med; Business degree + MBA; Engineering degree – MEng….. complete undergrad and medical school in 8 years (10 students per year)…Take Five Scholars Program – fifth year tuition-free…50% of students have a double major….3000 internships available at the Medical School.  Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY – 13,000 undergrads….well-known program in communications and radio/tv/film….offers a program in Florence, Italy for first year students….new programs in Broadcast and Digital Journalism; Magazine and Online Journalism; and Nutrition…Law School is new  Colgate University, Hamilton, NY – 2800 undergrads….72% of students come from out-of- state….29.4% overall acceptance rate, 44.6% acceptance rate for ED applicants…average class size is 19….new areas of academic emphasis include African American literature, ecohydrology, non-Western philosophy and communication studies…40% of students participate in Greek life….offers a semester at the National Institutes of Health in MD.  Hamilton College, Clinton, NY – 1800 undergrads….11 winners of Nobel, Pulitzer, Tony, Grammy or Emmy Award since 2000….most popular majors include Economics, Government, Math and Psychology…no required distribution courses.

3  Union College, Schenectady, NY – 2200 undergrads…..every student belongs to one of seven Minerva houses, which coordinated academic and extra-curricular programming….Schenectady is on-the-move…..most popular majors are history, political science and psychology…..runs on a trimester system…..one of the only small liberal arts colleges offering an Engineering degree.

MASSACHUSETTS

 Williams College, Williamstown, MA – 2000 undergrads….One of the top liberal arts colleges in America…..7:1 student:faculty ratio….9 required courses: 3 humanities, 3 math/science and 3 social sciences…offers Oxford University-like tutorials….47% of seniors have engaged in research at Williams….median class size is 13….offers off-campus semesters at Oxford University, in South Africa and Mystic, CT….4-1-4 schedule, with one 3-week winter term.

VERMONT

 Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT – 2400 undergrads…..considers itself a ‘writing college’……oldest environmental studies program….. a 4-1-4 schedule, with a January term.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

 Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH – 4200 undergrads….the outdoorsy Ivy League college…...13% acceptance rate…..most popular majors include Economics, Government, Psychology and History…..The D-Plan divides the year into four 10-week terms and students customize their own schedules….

 Colby College, Waterville, ME – 1850 undergrads….Biology/biological sciences, Economics and Political Science are the most popular majors….46% male enrollment…..88% of students are from out-of-state….4-1-4 schedule, with a January term that’s mandatory three of four years…..all incoming first year students participate in a 3-day outdoor program at the beginning of orientation….freshmen are housed with upper classmen….15% of students are from abroad…..emphasis on the environment….Visual Arts is the newest major….completion of the largest museum in Maine is anticipated this fall….this year 55% of seniors were employed by commencement.  Bates College, Lewiston, ME – 1700 undergrads….no Greek life….a capstone project is required….4-4-1 schedule, including a five-week term in the spring….all students choose a major plus two areas of concentration.  Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME – 1700 undergrads….no Greek life….”the common good” is an integral theme both in academic and extra-curriculars…New minors in Japanese and Chinese…

NB – Many families will be receiving multiple copies of the College Counseling Circulars and other correspondence from College Counseling. If there are email addresses you would like me not to use, please let me know and I will delete those addresses from my distribution list.