Eva Spangler
@espanglercourant
With the beginning of the second semester comes college meetings with juniors and their parents, where they will begin the college selection process with a guidance counselor. It may seem crazy that juniors are already talking about college in their junior year, but there’s a method to the madness.
One reason why junior college meetings are important is that students are already moving towards the requirements for the college application process. “Junior year is the year you have to take the standardized testing, and you really do need to start thinking about the college process,”guidance counselor Susan Lenci said.
The aim of having the junior meeting is to establish an outline with your guidance counselor for the future application process that’s soon to come.“It’s a personalized plan, one that starts helping people think about themselves in the process,” Ms. Lenci said. “Often, a student will be sure they want to go to a big school in the South and they end up in a small school in the North after they go through the research part of the process.”
Don’t worry about this being the only meeting, students are welcome to come back and approach their counselors with any questions all throughout the process. “The parent meeting is only one meeting, but students come back to us over and over again. Parents can contact us whenever they need to, and in the fall we’re meeting with the students again as a senior to talk about the knots and bolts,” Ms. Lenci said.
Beforehand, it’s important for juniors to be as prepared as they possibly can. This is the research phase, where students can figure out what they want in a school through visiting various campuses through research on Naviance and College Board.
Even if it’s just colleges they’ve heard about, or that they might like just to do some prior reflecting before coming in so we have a starting place” Chair of the Counseling Department Cynthia Rivera said.
“Other kids have been researching since freshman year and have a list already, then our role there in the meeting is to make sure the list is balanced between reaches and targets and safeties.”
Ms. Lenci agreed with Ms. Rivera on preparedness. “The more specifics you guys can let us know ahead via the questionnaires and college search, we can start to build a list. It’s much more helpful if you’re prepared and you’ve thought about it” said Ms. Lenci.
Although it may seem far in advance, the College and Career counselor Ms. Carroll advises students to think of possible majors, as this can help narrow down your search.
“The questionnaire is helpful if you have thoughts about possible majors, and that would be important especially if you were going to major in, for example, nursing or engineering,” Ms. Carroll said. “There is a prescribed method and school to apply to, such as Villanova University School of Nursing.”
It’s important to remember that this is only the beginning of the process which requires research and visiting schools. But keep in mind that your plan isn’t fully set in stone. “The whole list is fluid, schools that you put in will probably change. Your interests will change, and as the process goes on you will discover more information about yourself” Ms. Carroll said.
Another important point is to make sure that the summer before senior year is used wisely to prevent excess work during the first quarter of senior year. “One of my main tips is to get ahead of the whole process. If you get your college essay done in July you will be perfectly fine. Then in September you can enjoy yourself, and you’ll be able to hang out with friends more” senior Cece Cronin said.
“I had my essay done pretty early, and it helped me so much. I also had a lot of my supplements done; you can go on college board and look at all of the supplements that they require and try to get them all done over the summer because it will be so worth it after.”
Getting ahead of the process is vital in lessening stress during a hectic first semester of senior year, but don’t worry if you don’t have everything wrapped up. “Don’t worry about it if you get to the beginning of senior year and you want to write a different essay than you wrote during the summer,” Ms. Carroll said.
Ultimately, the most important thing to keep in mind is that this individual process. Make your own decisions based off of your interests and don’t let others sway you in any direction.
“New Canaan is a small community with a lot of people who have opinions, and are happy to share those opinions. This is a time to get to know what you want,” Ms. Carroll said. “You don’t have to share that information with anyone else but your guidance counselor and your parents. It’s a time to listen to people, but to also make your own decisions.”
