Information for Juniors from the College & Career Center.pdf -

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Information for Juniors from the College & Career Center COVID-19 has changed the way high school juniors will go through their college admissions journey. Click HERE for an article to understand these changes and understand what juniors can do at this time. In addition, please see below for important resources and updates. The College & Career Counselors are here for you, please do not hesitate to email us with any questions you may have during this unprecedented time. Ms. Geraghty - [email protected] Ms. Hall - [email protected] Ms. Hanenberger - [email protected] Newton North College & Career Counselors APPOINTMENTS IN THE COLLEGE & CAREER CENTER The College & Career Counselors are holding virtual College & Career Center appointments for juniors. If you were not able to have an appointment in person before school closed and would like to have a virtual appointment with a counselor, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/4xSwygoXcPqWQbto7 Once you have submitted your response to this form, a counselor will send you an email within a week. In this email, you will find information about accessing a list of colleges that are a good fit for you based on your responses. They will also provide you with information about researching these colleges remotely in the coming weeks as well as information on the overall college application process. If you have any specific questions or concerns you would like addressed, please include it in the form. In addition to a virtual appointment, if you want to spend some time on your own discovering a list of colleges that would be a good fit, the Advanced College Search in Naviance is a great tool! Click HERE for detailed instructions on how to do this. STANDARDIZED TESTING UPDATE The June SAT has been cancelled and they will now hold a new SAT in September as well as the previously scheduled tests on August 29, October 3, November 7, and December 5. If you registered for June, you should be able to transfer the registration to a future date. Registration for all of the fall test dates will open in May. The College Board is giving early access to register for the August, September, and October for students who: • Already registered for June • Are in the high school class of 2021 and have not yet taken an official SAT It remains to be seen if the June test dates ACT will be cancelled. Registration for August and beyond test dates are not yet available. Please be prepared to have to take the ACT or SAT in August, September or later. ACT updates are here and SAT updates are here. Please plan to check for updates regularly, as things have changed very recently. The good news is that many colleges have already gone test-optional (at least temporarily) for the Class of 2021 and possibly beyond due to ACT/SAT test cancellations: Middlebury College, Amherst College, Williams College, Hamilton College,Tufts University, Boston University, all University of California universities, and Davidson College to name several. Click HERE for a chronological view of colleges that have gone test-optional. For a complete list of test-optional colleges please refer to this website - https://fairtest.org/university/optional For FREE online test prep, please click below: ACT SAT AP TEST UPDATES The College Board is providing free resources to support remote learning, and they have just announced the plan and schedule for students to take AP Exams from home. Click HERE for more information. Please refer to this website for all AP tests updates - https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/news-changes/coronavirus-update RESEARCHING COLLEGES REMOTELY COVID-19 has caused campuses to cancel classes, tours and admitted students days. There is no substitute for visiting a campus while it’s in session, attending a class, and talking to current students. However, there are a lot of online resources available to learn as much as you can in the meantime. It is comforting to know that colleges are being really flexible in their typical expectations and policies during the year of COVID- 19 (Examples of their flexibilities can be seen HERE) You can find a list of sites and ways to research colleges below. TWO NEWTON NORTH GRADUATE INITIATIVES TO HELP YOU LEARN MORE ABOUT COLLEGES: 1. A NNHS graduate from the class of 2016 has set up FREE webinars about a variety of colleges including: UMASS Amherst, UCONN, Cornell, University of Michigan, BU, UVM, Tulane, Northeastern, and NYU. Sign up to view these informative webinars on various days in April at http://desyde.io 2. Click HERE for a listing of NNHS Class of 2019 graduates and the colleges they have offered to talk to you all about. Email them to set up a time to talk about how their experience has been so far at their colleges and ask them all the questions that you may have as you research colleges this spring. VIRTUAL COLLEGE FAIRS 1. Strive Virtual College Exploration Week - o Monday, April 20 - Thursday, April 23, 2020 o Register at https://www.strivescan.com/virtual/ o 300+ colleges from 44 states and 10 countries o 96 sessions over 4 days o Day and evening options o Panel presentations on a range of topics for juniors and underclassmen o Free and open to students nationwide 2. College Block Party • Tuesday & Wednesday, April 28th & 29th, 6 – 9 p.m. EST • This is a FREE, two-day, after-school online event for high-school students from all grade • levels, parents, and counselors. Drop-in, whenever you can, to get your questions • answered. • Participating Colleges Include: • Colgate University, Smith College, University of California Berkeley, Emory University, • Washington University in St. Louis, and Tufts University! • Click Here to Download Schedule & Topics • Register - https://www.crowdcast.io/e/online-college-block/register 3. Coalition for College Virtual College Fair o Thursday, April 23rd, 4-6pm or 6:30-8:30pm o Register: http://coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/april-2020-virtual-fair.html o At this online event, you’ll tune in to hear two panel discussions, both featuring advice and inside info from admissions officers: “Tips on Creating Your College List” AND “Behind the Scenes: How Admissions Decisions Are Made” o Then, you'll join virtual “rooms” where representatives from more than 40 colleges will share an overview of their schools and answer your questions, live. Choose the room that interests you, or drop into more than one during the scheduled times. WEBINARS Ethan Sawyer, well known as the “College Essay Guy” is hosting two webinars for juniors to kick off the college application season. 1. Junior Night: What can I be doing right now? (Part 1): April 22nd, 4pm-5:00pm PT (7pm-8:00pm ET) Register Here: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/23/pqz5gal Special Guests: Rick Clark, Director of Undergraduate Admission @ Georgia Tech Susan Tree, Former HS Counselor & Former Associate Dean of Admission @ Bates College In this interview-style webinar, we’ll focus on two themes: de-stressing and focusing on things we can control. We’ll cover: • What impact is COVID-19 likely to have on the admissions process? What’s likely to be different? The same? • How should students and families approach the college admissions process amidst some uncertainty? • Are juniors at a disadvantage? Why or why not? • What can juniors be doing right now? • An overall timeline • What we do and don’t know about standardized testing • Teacher recommendations • What can parents be doing right now? • How to begin developing a balanced college list (even if you can’t visit campus) • Q&A 2. Planting Seeds for Your College Application & Essays (Part 2): April 29th, 4pm- 5:00pm PT (7pm-8:00pm ET)- Register Here: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/23/pqz5gal On this session, we’ll cover: • Big Picture Stuff: 5 Tips for Keeping Stress Low and Creativity High • A Sane College Application Timeline • The Importance of Finding and Showing Your Core Values • How to Create a Great Activities List • What’s the Additional Info Section, Anyway? • The Purpose of the Personal Statement • Two Fun Ways to Find Your Personal Statement Topic • 50+ College Application Resources 2. HBCU Panel Discussion Virtual Mix and Mingle- Wednesday, May 13th 6-7:30pm • Meet college representatives, students and graduates from some of the top HBCUs for an in-depth discussion about the advantages of attending historically black colleges and universities. • The Virtual Mix & Mingle will create awareness for students and families the importance of the HBCU college experience. • Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/paath-hbcu-panel-discussion-virtual-mix- mingle-tickets-95915500845?aff=erelexpmlt What about demonstrated interest? Many (but not all) schools use demonstrated interest as part of their decision making process. Demonstrated interest is how a student signals they are interested in the college such as visiting the school, opening emails, clicking the links in an email, spending time on the website, and crafting well-written school supplemental essays. Since college visits are not an option for many right now, the other measures are likely to become more important. Rest assured, however, that everyone is in the same situation. What you can do now from home: • Sign up for college newsletters and updates • Open every email from the colleges you are interested in • Click on the links • Spend time on the school’s website (cookies can track how long you spend on each page) • Reach out to your admissions officers to establish contact and get any questions you have answered • Attend Upcoming Virtual College Admission Events including tours and information sessions - Click on this google doc to view a growing list of colleges who have moved their tours and/or information sessions online in the coming weeks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZOAtzZNAjwxoOQbKzMY2JvMll2 4LQHBXlpV158qQi0U/htmlview?usp=sharing&urp=gmail_link&sle=true • Utilize the online resources listed below for your college search process: The College Website: The college itself is a great place to start, and spending time on the website helps with demonstrated interest. You can learn about programs, majors, and extracurricular activities. Many will have videos of current students. Keep in mind that this is a curated view of the college, and you are unlikely to get a complete picture of the negatives associated with each school. Admissions Blogs: These can provide a wealth of information. Some have posts from students about their experiences. Others post about how to approach admissions essays or what the college values in an applicant: • Tufts University - https://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/ • Georgia Tech - http://pwp.gatech.edu/admission-blog/ • Tulane - http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/ Virtual Campus Tours • YouVisit - https://www.youvisit.com/collegesearch/ - Experience 1,000+ colleges & universities in virtual reality • CampusTours - https://campustours.com/ - Provides interactive campus maps and college tours • YOUniversity - https://www.youniversitytv.com/ - College Video tours provided • CampusReel - https://www.campusreel.org/ - Videos created by students. Not quite as many videos as you can find on YouTube, but they are better organized. YouTube: There is an abundance of information both official and unofficial posted on the web. All you have to do is search “Your favorite college + you tube” or “Your favorite college + your favorite topic.” Colleges and students post about everything on YouTube. If you want to know about the food in the dining halls or what the dorms look like, you can find it online. You can get unofficial campus tours, rants about what students like and do not like, info about specific classes, and much more. Many schools also have official YouTube pages with official tours, lectures, and news. Here are some samples from Northwestern University: • Northwestern’s official page: https://www.youtube.com/user/NorthwesternU • Watch the rock in real time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdQPn86BfCE • Northwestern’s promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOUvOTmLScA • Here’s an engineering major taking us through a week at Northwestern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTWAJLBKWpE College Data: https://www.collegedata.com/ Statistics on admissions, cost, majors, housing. This is a great free resource for easy to access data. Unigo: https://www.unigo.com/ Reviews by students on a range of topics. College Express: https://www.collegexpress.com Provides lists of schools based on many factors. You can search by college or by school characteristic. For example: colleges for the outdoorsy student, colleges worth every penny, most vegetarian-friendly colleges. The site also has lots of general statistics on each school. Cappex: https://www.cappex.com/ Provides scattergrams of past admits and denials based on GPA and ACT/SAT scores. This is a nice visual for where your stats fall in relation to past applicants. This is similar to the scatterplot in Naviance but with national data instead of Newton North data. Check out this amazing New Spreadsheet with all of the above resources and College Board data combined! ADDITIONAL FAQs What if I already had a tour scheduled? The colleges where you might have registered for campus visits will be sending follow up emails. If you have expressed interest in taking a visit, admissions offices are likely to keep in contact. They might be able to reschedule events, or invite you to something virtual in place of them. How do I pay for college? Every college is federally required to have a net price calculator on their website. This tool allows you to input general academic and family financial aid information and a financial aid award, unique to that college/university, will be generated. Easy access to those net price calculators can be found by searching your college here: https://collegecost.ed.gov/net-price Here are additional resources from MEFA, Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority: • LIVE College Admissions webinars, which highlight current trends in admissions, how to build a balanced list of colleges, and the different components of the college application. • A recorded version of our College Admissions webinar is always available for those who can’t make a live session. • Students can register for a free account on MEFA’s college and career planning tool, MEFA Pathway, anytime to take assessments to learn more about themselves, connect their interests to potential careers, search for colleges, organize their college list, and so much more. • MEFA’s website provides information on each step within the college admissions process, with plenty of articles, videos, and key resources. What should I be doing if I want to play a sport in college? If you aren’t being actively recruited by a coach at a specific school, but want to play a sport, you can reach out to the coach yourself! There are two good ways to do this: 1. Fill out a Prospective Student Athlete Form- Most college athletic websites have a link to a form where interested students can enter their personal information, academic information, and sport statistics (if applicable). The form is then received by that specific coach and you are often added to email lists and coaches can reach out to you individually. 2. Email a college coach and introduce yourself! Appendix 13 in The College Planning Guide provides a sample letter and athletic resume. Appendix 8 also has some interesting college athletics information. Be sure to include both the head coach and assistant coaches on your outreach! What about my extracurriculars during COVID-19? During this pandemic, there are major adjustments to how you spend your time. Although volunteering, some clubs, and sports teams are not meeting, there are ways to adjust and make opportunities out of this time at home. For example, the Newton North GSA still held their ToBeGLAD day virtually, and a Newton North senior has created @medicmessages, an Instagram account to spread positive messages to healthcare workers. Some additional ideas include: • Create virtual workouts for your sports team • Organize a food drive or provide virtual social connection for the elderly in your neighborhood • Provide remote tutoring or virtual music lessons for elementary-aged students • Create an online presence with tutorials on your own YouTube channel - for example, a self-help tip, a how-to lesson, or a stop-motion video • Students with computer programming skills can do home-based coding, create apps or websites for nonprofits that need help. Check out Code for Social Good, DonateCode, or Benetch. • Volunteer politically with Rock the Vote which offers opportunities that can be done remotely, or google “remote volunteer internships” for your favorite candidates • Keep a journal of how and what you are doing during this historic pandemic • Look for virtual academic volunteering opportunities through the Citizen Science database. • Another great place with lots of virtual volunteering opportunities is https://www.volunteermatch.org/. Select “Virtual Volunteering” in the banner on the top of the home page, then use the filters on the left-side menu to find options • Take up running/jogging for exercise - train for that ½ marathon you’ve dreamed about • Some NNHS clubs are still meeting! If a club you’re already part of is one of them, reach out to your club advisor to see if there are ways you can get even more involved. If there’s a club you’ve always wanted to join and haven’t had time, find out if it’s currently active and if you can join. • Get involved with The MasksNow Coalition, an effort to get more protective masks to healthcare providers, including actually sewing them from a pattern provided • Learn a new skill: Teach yourself how to play an instrument using YouTube videos, learn how to make a flower garden, try a new hobby. • Create an idea of your own and tag @NewtonNHSCandCC on Twitter We hope these ideas will inspire you to think in compassionate and creative ways that can actually strengthen your extracurricular experiences down the road. While we certainly are in uncharted territories about what colleges will be looking for, the best thing you can do is stay active and busy doing things that are important to you and your communities. You never know, next year during a college interview or on your college applications, you may be asked, “How did you spend your time during COVID-19?” Some advice from Emily Roper-Doten, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Olin College of Engineering: “Treat this time as a gift. We—those of us who will eventually read your application—know that life is slowing down around you and that your plans may be coming undone. Every junior out there is in the same boat: school is online, you can’t participate in your spring sport or try out for a role in the musical, test dates are canceled. Take the time to mourn these things and when you’ve done that, think about what you CAN do in this time.” Lastly, an insightful article from the Tulane University Director of Admissions on how to cope during the time of COVID- 19: http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2020/03/coping-in-time-of-corona.html *Some of the information above is adapted from https://www.advancedivyprep.com/ Rev. 4/16/20