For those who were not able to attend the college application process on Thursday, September 13, a brief summary of the advice offered follows.

Rich Marta, the LMSD supervisor of K-12 Counseling, Testing, and Holistic Support, introduced the program to a crowd of about 100, students and parents both. He also announced that Ms. Serratore, Harriton’s College Access Counselor, has taken a leave of absence and that her position will now be filled by current guidance counselor Mrs. Bowlby. For her current seniors, Mrs. Bowlby will retain counselor status, but for all classes following the Class of 2013 a replacement will be hired shortly, with a long-term substitute in the interim period.

All of the counselors spoke: Ms. Coleman, Mrs. Bowlby, Mrs. Knight, and Dr. Havlick. Ms. Coleman was the appointed director of this meeting, and began by introducing a timeline, as follows:

• September:
  • Seniors should review their transcripts with Mrs. Newberg to ensure that nothing is out of place.
  • Students should have secured at least two teachers to write their letters of recommendation. These recommendations can either be sent through Naviance or through the mail. If sending paper copies, be sure to provide your teachers with stamped, self-addressed envelopes to each college you are applying to (e.g. if you are applying to two colleges, you should have four envelopes; if you are applying to ten colleges, you should have twenty envelopes, and so on).
  • Register for and take the SATs/SAT Subject Tests/ACTs if still necessary. Remember that many schools require subject tests to be submitted along with general exam scores!
    • Next ACT: October 27^th, registration due by September 21^st
    • Next SAT/SATIIs: October 6^th, registration due by September 21^st
    • SAT/SATIIs: November 3, registration due by October 4^th
• Student athletes should report to the NCAA Eligibility Center if they plan on participating in a collegiate team sport. Details and forms can be found online.
• The Guidance Department begins collecting application forms on September 19^th
• By November:
  • Schedule an appointment with your counselor to update them on your activities and any changes that have occurred since your meeting in the spring of junior year. Also, discuss your letters of recommendation and try to be able to explicitly state your goals in the application process.
  • Visit as many of the schools on your list as possible. Harriton gives seniors 2 days off as excused absences for college visits, so there’s no excuse not to!
  • If a school which you are applying to has optional interviews, take advantage! The counselors stressed that it is an opportunity to express yourself in a way other than your numbers, and that it will likely help your application.
  • Establish a list of schools through Naviance
  • Create a to-do list and know your deadlines!
    • Early Action/Early Decision – approximately November 1^st
    • Regular Decision – around January 1^st
    • Rolling Admission has no real deadline
    • Acceptance of admission and deposit for the next school year due May 1^st
    • Consider financial aid before applying to any school Early Decision, unless you are certain that they will evaluate financial aid at the same time as the rest of your application
      • LM/Harriton meeting on financial aid: December 5^th
      • Completed applications consist of the following:
        • Transcripts (sent by Guidance)
        • Secondary school reports (sent by Guidance)
        • Letters of recommendation
        • High School Profile (sent by Guidance)
        • FERPA agreement, a document deciding whether or not a student waives his or her right to view their letters of recommendation. No student is obligated to choose either path, but those who opt not to waive the right will not be able to view the letters until they have already matriculated in their college of choice. Applications will also bear a mark notifying their readers that the student has chosen to retain the right to view recommendations.
        • Some colleges require midyear grade reports
        • Some colleges require final grade reports
        • Students must fill out a form in the Guidance Department regarding their intentions and schools they are applying to
        • Essay: 250-500 words, electronically attached to the Common App
        • Short Answer Essay: 1000 characters, electronically attached to the Common App
        • Scores on ACT/SAT/SAT II sent directly from either ACT or the College Board. This must be completed through either agency, thereby ensuring official score reports will reach your schools.
        • Since the Penn State application process is so different from the Common App, students should note the following:
          • PSU uses an online application
          • Students must request their official documents from the Guidance Department
          • PSU does not ask for recommendations as part of their application

Dr. Havlick, before beginning his talk on using Naviance, first offered the students advice for reducing college-related anxiety:

• Don’t worry about your application getting lost. Hundreds of applications leave Harriton each year and hundreds of Harriton applications reach schools. The chances of your application being the one that is lost are extremely small, so relax.
• Though applications seem daunting, Dr. Havlick pointed out that the Common App “is like a cookbook.” All you have to do is follow the recipe, the instructions, to guide you through the process.
• Admissions officers are real humans! They are not out to get you, and have no desire to deny anyone acceptance – they simply meet their numbers and thus thousands of students across the nation are cut from colleges every year. But they will forgive slight lapses, and care about creating the best freshman class for their school.
• Go to a school that is the best fit for you. The name should not be the greatest attractor.
• It matters what you do, not where you go. Choose the schools that will provide you with the greatest opportunity to explore your potential.

Other words of wisdom from the counselors:

• Remember: the application is about YOU, not your parents. Write your essay yourself and present yourself as you want to be seen, not how they would have you change this presentation.
• When addressing envelopes to be sent to schools for official documents from Guidance, use Harriton’s address as the return address. This way, schools will know that they are legitimate copies.
  • Make sure to stamp envelopes before submitting them to Guidance.
  • Use a 9” x 13” white envelope
  • The Guidance Department needs 15 school days (2-3 weeks) to process any information, so be aware of deadlines!
  • Be careful what you put on Twitter or Facebook, because some schools may employ people to look through the profiles of their applicants. Do not put anything incriminating or illegal up, and try to keep your pages as ones that will put you in a positive light.

At the end of the day, it comes down to one decision: are you in, or are you out? For ED/EA, letters usually are sent out towards the beginning of December, and Regular Decision applicants are notified around the end of March/beginning of April.

• In the best-case scenario, the student receives a letter of admission from their school of choice and enrolls for the fall.
• In the worst-case scenario, the student receives a letter of denial. Remember, you are not your application! This is by no means a reflection of your personal worth. Everyone gets in somewhere, and though it might not end up being your first choice, chances are good that you will love your undergraduate life in the school you choose.
• If students apply early action or early decision, they may be deferred from the early pool. This means that their application has been moved to the regular-decision group, and will be reevaluated a few months later.
• Occasionally, schools will send out what is referred to as a “hold button” letter. This means neither admission nor denial, but that the school would like to see some sense of improvement that will tip your application in a favorable direction.
• Regular-decision students are occasionally waitlisted at popular schools, meaning that they will be granted a spot if enough potential freshmen deny the invitation to attend that school. You are not required to accept a spot on the waitlist, and can instead completely opt out of the school, thereby ensuring that you will have no chance of attending.

For more information, there will be college fairs at Harriton on September 25^th and November 5^th, as well as the Philadelphia National College Fair at the Convention Center on November 4^th. The Guidance Department is also available to answer any of your questions, through their eboards or counselor meetings.