2006-2007 DELBARTON CALENDAR FOR COLLEGE PLANNING
JUNIORS AND SENIORS
Director of College Counseling: Mr. Michael Rosenhaus
Counselors: Abbot Giles P. Hayes, O.S.B.,
Mr. Sean Flannagan and Mrs. Shelly Levine.
College Choice
At this time, you will begin meeting formally in small groups and one-on-one sessions with your junior counselor. Furthermore, you should plan to meet at least once with your parents and your senior counselor between April and August. Also, through the year consult often on your potential college choices with other faculty members, and you might find it particularly helpful to confer with the many recent college graduates among the lay faculty. Finally, during the winter and spring, you should begin visiting colleges. This may take the form of merely driving through a campus with your parents to discover the feel of the college. When you do so, be sure to stop at the admissions office for the tour or a group information session. Or it may mean, if the college requires it (cf. the catalog) and you are particularly interested in the college, taking an interview with an admission officer before or after the tour. Ordinarily, interviews can wait until another visit in the fall of your senior year, and most colleges no longer give on-campus interviews. But certain colleges, generally the small northeastern liberal arts schools, welcome interviews from every candidate beginning the middle of the junior year through the middle of the senior year. Check with the individual college catalog or with Abbot Giles or Mr. Rosenhaus on this. Juniors are allowed two excused absences for college visits.Your basic premise regarding standardized tests should be that you should never take one unless you are well rested, alert, positive, confident and prepared. Very few people will need a prep course beyond what we do in English and math classes here, but again, everyone should put in 30-45 minutes per night, 5 or 6 times a week, 4 or 5 weeks prior to the SAT or SAT Subject Tests.
Juniors should not take the December SAT or SAT Subject Tests, the January SAT (except in very few cases) or the March SAT. Since the latter usually occurs during or shortly after our long vacation, it is an inappropriate time for testing. Juniors should take the May SAT, for which they should register by March 29 and the June SAT Subject Tests, for which they should register by April 27. You should take two or three SAT Subject Tests, after consultation with your guidance counselor. You should obviously take those SAT Subject Tests that you will do well in. Check the Real SAT II: Subject Tests book for sample SAT Subject Tests.
In March of your junior year, you will sign up for senior courses with Mrs. Levine. Be sure to take a demanding curriculum and resolve in advance to do your best possible job with it. Colleges frequently refer to the importance of AP courses and advanced language courses. Also, plan a demanding summer for yourself. Acquire a good full-time job, or spend a month in the country of your target language, or go to NOLS, or travel great distances or pursue a passion. In short, allow yourself to be challenged to your outer limits. Do not spend another summer as a “beach bum.”
Applications
The most important preparation for the application procedure takes place through the summer when the junior completes his autobiography, or “brag sheet.” This is an opportunity for the student to think aloud about himself and to pull together his reactions and observations regarding his personal gifts and future. Mr. Rosenhaus, Abbot Giles adn Mr. Flannagan will in turn use the “brag sheet” to write the School’s recommendation, so it is imperative that you be as detailed as possible.
June, July and August
College Choice
Seniors and parents should meet with Mr. Rosenhaus or Abbot Giles if they haven’t already done so. These initial meetings should take place before the end of August. All are invited to meet more than once through the fall and winter. During July and August, continue to develop a tentative list of colleges. Accumulate information and comparisons by visiting, reviewing college guides and catalogs, noting observations, and by asking, discussing and listening. Finish your “brag sheet” and resume by September 1.
Testing, Courses
Read extensively. Begin to work on weak areas in preparation for the October and/or November SAT.
Seniors report to School for books and class schedules on the day assigned. Schedules will be available in the Senior Commons if you have not received them in the mail. Approval for class changes is obtained from your counselors. Be sure your curriculum is strong and meets the probable requirements of the colleges and majors you are interested in. Again, complete work on the resume and “brag sheet.” These are of critical importance.
Applications
Applications for the current year are usually not available until August.
Take an interview or attend a small group information session while visiting colleges.
Send electronically or call for applications, view books and catalogs. Note deadlines and requirements. Familiarize yourself with essays and forms. Applications should be filled in within a month before the deadline but not before a counselor has reviewed your first draft with you. Never mail applications or letters without this review. Never.
September to Thanksgiving
College Choice
Plan your itinerary for fall college visits (if you are applying early) and schedule interviews. You are allowed six excused absences for college visits (minus the ones from junior year). Call colleges for fall interviews in August or early September.
Attend visits of college representatives to Delbarton. Meet with Mr. Rosenhaus, Abbot Giles and Mr. Flanagan according to the schedule posted in the Senior Commons and the senior guidance bulletin board in Trinity Hall. Continue to develop your list of appropriate colleges. Send for applications and catalogs.
If possible, college visits at this time should be overnights during which you should attend classes and socialize with students. If an interview is required (check the catalog, internet, or College Handbook), call the college well in advance to arrange it. In most cases, you can arrange to stay on campus with a friend, or the Admission Office will connect you with a student. If an interview is not required, yet it is available, try to schedule one. In any event, if you visit a college during business hours stop over at the Admissions Office to ask for materials, the campus tour, and for the small group information session. In addition, should you be willing and able to play a sport for the college, visit the appropriate coach or his assistant at the athletic center. Again, call in advance to make an appointment.
Always, as common courtesy, send a handwritten thank you note to the person at the college who interviewed you or to anyone else who helped you, such as a dorm prefect who gave you a room, or the college professor you spoke with from the subject area in which you might major.
By Thanksgiving, be sure the list of colleges to which you will apply includes two “safeties” you would not mind attending should a “long shot,” which might also be a first choice, not select you. Also, don’t be a “ghost” applicant. Visit your safeties and attend their meetings at Delbarton.
Remember, during your fall and early winter college searching, you must be eliminating college options as well as discovering them. Avoid the temptation to apply to too many colleges, thus leaving all your choosing until March and April.
Regular classes start in early September. Begin immediately to meet the intellectual challenges placed before you. Good September-February grades are essential. No zeroes or ones; twos will keep you out of the most competitive colleges.
Seniors should visit the Senior Commons in Old Main at least once a day to check the bulletin board for announcements pertaining to seniors. You are personally responsible for this.
Remember to register for the October SAT and/or the November SAT or SAT Subject Tests.
Registration forms for the October and November tests should be obtained from the Senior Commons in mid-September, or you may wish to register by phone or online. Registration for the December SAT or SAT Subject Tests closes in late October. During the two weeks between the end of the first term and December SAT Subject Tests, be sure to devote some time to preparation for the tests.
An appropriate time for class absences for college visits would be Columbus Day weekend. The last cycle for fall term testing begins the week before Thanksgiving. Seniors should not miss class from then through the end of the term.
Should you do special tutoring or take an SAT prep course before the October or November tests? Talk that through with your guidance counselor. If your scores are well below your predicted range, maybe you should. But at least be sure to prepare on your own daily for 4 or 5 weeks prior to the test. In any case, do not be afraid to take the SAT three times. Colleges record and judge you on the best scores only, no matter when you took them. You may want to take the late January SAT and rush the scores to your colleges.
Applications
Send for applications and catalogs. College addresses for this are available in the Senior Commons, or go online.
National Merit Semifinalists must complete their Finalist and Scholar forms in late September and early October.
During the fall, seniors should regularly consider the most appropriate and compelling responses to their college essays. In addition, they should feel free to consult with their advisors, their parents, their English teachers, counselors and other interested faculty on their essay responses and other questions regarding college selection.
Choose faculty member(s) to write letter of recommendation. The same faculty should, if you wish, send the same letter to each college. Present the faculty member of your choice with the recommendation form and a stamped envelope addressed to the college admission office. This should be taken care of before October 15 for early decision candidates. Actually, it is a good idea to choose the faculty members who will write your letters at the end of your junior year, thereby giving them ample time over the summer to complete them. Appropriate stationary is available in the Senior Commons.
In addition, your recommenders must receive from you a resume of your accomplishments and aspirations. This should be a one-page summary of your “brag sheet” and is not optional. Because your “brag sheet” often contains self-critical material and is very long, do not give it to your recommender. The brief resume is better.
Early decision and early action applications will be due between November 1 and November 15. Consequently, work on these applications must begin by October 1. As with all applications, please give your college counselor the forms which the counselor must fill out at least three weeks before the due date. Prior to Christmas vacation, when most of this work must be completed by the counselors for the January deadlines, please give them the material they must forward. In addition, with each college form, give Mr. Rosenhaus or Fr. Giles an envelope addressed to the college, but not stamped. To prevent loss, these materials should be handed personally to Mr. Rosenhaus, Abbot Giles or Mr. Flannagan.
Before Christmas vacation, double check with your counselors on the progress of your essays, applications and counselors forms. Check with teacher recommenders also.
After Thanksgiving
College Choice
Complete college choices and visits.
Attend local college receptions when available.
From December through February, schools which require alumni interviews will be in touch with you to arrange a time for an interview with an alumnus. Be well dressed, well prepared, enthusiastic, and send a thank you note.
Early action and early decision returns arrive during December and early January. Respond according to deadlines and contracts. That is, if your early decision acceptance is binding, you may not open other applications. You may only do so if it is not binding (i.e. early action). Finally, you may want to consider the new mid-January or early February option for early decision offered by some colleges. Selecting the Early II option, which it is called, may help you get into that “long shot” school which happens to be the perfect match for you.
Testing, Courses
For most seniors, colleges consider academic achievement during the winter term equally with the fall term achievement. Indeed, colleges have been known to withdraw acceptance in the case of a student whose spring term grades decline significantly from his fall and winter grades.
Advanced Placement examinations will be administered during the first two weeks of May.
Applications
Most college applications should be forwarded between January 1 and February 1. Send them well before the deadlines, if possible.
From October through January 1, Financial Aid Forms (the Profile and FAFSA) may be obtained in the Senior Commons or online. These should be completed and forwarded by your parents according to schedule. Most colleges notify on acceptance from late February through April 15. May 1, for most, is the reply date. If necessary, visit the colleges which offer acceptance before sending your deposit. It is unethical to register at more than one college.