Classroom Presentations

April and May featured visits to both Junior and Senior classrooms. Back on April 18 and 19, Counselors delivered the third and final Junior group presentation on preparing for the college application process. This presentation covered the role of counselor and teacher recommendations, the college résumé, the college essay, making the most of college fairs and college representative visits, using Family Connection to obtain valuable college and career information, and introduced students to the “Junior To Do List,” which is available on the Guidance and Counseling website under News. You can also access the entire PowerPoint presentation on our website under College Guidance. On May 8 and 9, Counselors met with groups of Seniors to administer the Senior Survey, in which we collected information about student impressions of the college application process, individual college application results, and each student’s post-high school plans. As long as your student indicated the college he/she will be attending in the fall, Saint Francis will automatically send a final transcript to that institution once it is available.

College Case Studies

On April 26, the Saint Francis Guidance and Counseling department hosted the College Case Studies program for the second consecutive year. We invited Junior students and families from Saint Francis and fellow Catholic high schools Bellarmine College Preparatory, Archbishop Mitty, Presentation, and Notre Dame San José to gain additional insight into the college admission process. The event featured representatives from 100 colleges/universities who used their collective experience to guide students and parents through four sample applications. Following the exercise, each classroom of students or parents “voted” on who they would admit, waitlist, or deny based on information obtained from the applications and the group discussion that ensued. Afterward, most of the 963 students and parents made their way to the college fair, which took place in both gymnasiums and the Graham Theater foyer. There, they were able to meet with college representatives, ask questions, and collect information on various programs. Next year, Bellarmine College Preparatory will host College Case Studies.

Juniors

All Junior students received a Course Request Verification Form via e-mail in late March. Students were asked to check the form for accuracy and return a copy signed by his/her parents, along with any AP/Honors contracts (if applicable) to the Counseling Office by March 30.

On April 18 and 19, Counselors delivered the third and final Junior class presentation on preparing for the college application process. This PowerPoint presentation covered the role of counselor and teacher recommendations, the college résumé, the college essay, making the most of college fairs and college representative visits, using Family Connection to obtain valuable college and career information, and introduced students to the “Junior To Do List,” which is available on the Guidance and Counseling website under News. Since then, students have turned in preliminary versions of their college résumés and college essays through their English classes. Students will continue developing their college essays this fall in their Senior English classes.

Counselors also met one-on-one with Juniors during the months of April and May to finalize standardized testing and summer plans, remind students to ask for teacher recommendations, complete the related teacher/counselor questionnaires, revisit college priorities, and assess the likelihood of admission to prospective colleges/universities using Family Connection Scattergrams. You will receive a copy of the “Junior Checklist” that came from this second in-depth meeting with your student, along with a preliminary list of prospective colleges, very shortly. Please refer to these materials for tips on what your student can be doing this summer to stay ahead of the college application process.