‘No more pencils, no more books, no more …..’

 In the JUNIOR interviews this past spring, the RISING SENIORS were encouraged to begin the school search process. Yes, you are finally beginning the last year of high school. Take time over the summer to visit colleges or trade schools and begin working on your admissions essay. Use the information you received in your Junior Folder.  Hopefully you have taken or registered for the SAT/ACT.  Students do not have to take both tests. If a student is good with classroom math and chemistry he may do better on the ACT as the math is more straight-forward and there is a chemistry section.  Check out the sample questions at actstudent.org to see if that test is good for you. Prepare! If you just take the test over and over and never prepare don’t be surprised that your score remains the same.  There is an ACT offered in July and an SAT in August. Only take a summer test if you are sure you will continue to practice and prepare through the summer. All juniors have a Collegeboard and Khan Academy account. To register for the SAT log onto www.collegeboard.org and for the ACT www.actstudent.org.  You will notice that the essay portion of the test is optional for both the SAT and ACT. We recommend all students take the test at least once with the essay. Although many colleges do not require it, you don’t want to find yourself caught needing it late in the application season. If your son is considering applying to a very competitive university such as Penn, Notre Dame, Princeton, etc. he may need to take the SAT Subject Tests. Check the college’s website to see what they require.  Students should spend some time preparing for the SAT/ACT over the summer. During the junior interview students logged into their Collegeboard account and we linked it with their Khan Academy account. Khan Academy is the official prep site for the SAT and is very effective.  We also logged into Naviance and went over how to research both careers and colleges.  This site offers information on majors, careers and colleges and there is also a personality profile he can take which will give him ideas on what careers fit his personality. If anyone is having difficulty logging onto Naviance, email your counselor as we can reset your password.

 

SENIOR interviews will begin in September and run through November but Mrs. Desmond and Mr. Shields will send a schedule out to juniors with dates they are available in August. During this meeting we will discuss the application process, transcript requests, etc. We will also have a senior class meeting at the start of the year to give an overview of the process to all seniors.

 

College Recommendations:

All juniors should have their resume almost complete. Mr. Shields and I went into English classes after the holidays and all students started their resumes on Naviance. 

 **Your son needs to ask teachers about recommendations before the end of the school year. **

 We went over how to ask teachers in person first and then follow up with an email via Naviance. In the folder from the junior interview there is a brochure which goes through this process step by step. It is important to take care of this before the end of the school year as some teachers will not accept requests once the new school year begins.

 It is not too early to begin looking for scholarships! Some Internet sites to check out include, www.fastweb.com , and www.EducationPlanner.org.

 

 If you are looking at very competitive colleges Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Rice and The University of Chicago will host an information session on Thursday, June 6th at 7PM.For details and to register go to https://www.exploringeducationalexcellence.org/events_only.php

 

If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Desmond at mdesmond@romancatholichs.com or call 215-627-1270 ext120. If I don’t answer please leave a detailed message and I will call you back asap

 

Freshmen and Sophomores.

 Use your time wisely in the summer – take time to volunteer! Choose something you are interested in as this will help you learn more about certain career paths as well as get your community service hours.

We know how much you will miss schoolwork over the summer so take some to practice SAT Prep on Khan Academy! Another thing you can do during those rainy days is READ, READ, READ! I suggest you read newspaper articles on all different topics as this is an easy way to increase your skills. Believe it or not the class of 2021 will be taking the SAT’s next year. Don’t let time slip by without doing something to prepare. Almost all colleges use the SAT/ACT score as part of their decision process in addition to grades. Colleges look at your grades from EVERY year. When you begin to apply to colleges your transcript has your 9th, 10th,and 11th year grades. All of your lates and absences are also on your transcript.

 

 Once the rain clears and you are done that newspaper article go outside and have a fun and safe summer!

 

To see the complete blog posting click below click News & Social Media

 https://www.romancatholichs.com/student-life/guidance-counseling

 

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