Year after year, seniors at Riverside Brookfield High School embark on their college application journey. Whether their adventure begins on August 1, winter break, or the summer of their junior-senior year, seniors always need a bit of support in this stressful yet rewarding process, and RB is here to help!
Through counselor visits, test preparation, college representative visits, essay workshops, or talks/presentations, RB is ready to support students wherever their journey may lead them. Still, the first step of post-high school plans begins with counselor visits, which counselor Jim Franko can attest to.
“Part of it is just meeting with you all [students] regularly from freshman year, and as we’re moving along, we’re trying to do more. Junior year, we have a fall meeting where we talk about a general overview of everything thinking about all the possible options after high school. Then, in the spring, we have another meeting with juniors where we talk about a little bit more specific about what a student might be planning on doing, including college. We’ll do college searches, how to apply to colleges,” Franko said.
As early as junior year, students can access college-readiness resources and get ahead in the college application process. From taking the College Admissions Prep (CAP) class to meeting with admissions officers, juniors have the opportunity to expose themselves to what colleges look for and what they have to offer.
“Junior year, from the get-go can meet with college reps. They go on SchooLinks, and sign up for the visit. We try to tell them about it sophomore year, but I think sometimes it goes over their heads. It’s a nice way to get a little bit of a feel for what a school is like, and then just a little bit more familiar with what colleges might be looking for, how to apply, and of course, it’s so convenient,” Franko said.
College representative visits are an essential step in helping students explore what their safety, target, and reach schools look for. From community college to Ivy League, there is a college representative visit for everyone, and each and every one of them can influence students in distinct ways. Senior Lizbet Garcia reflects on how these representatives have given her a new spectacle in college life.
“They’ve definitely influenced me, just learning about the school, the environment, student life, and all that. I feel they did tell you about a lot about the positive parts about it, and it really influences you. ‘Oh yeah, that’s a really good school’: the programs they offer, the classes, clubs, and that all gets you influenced,” Garcia said. “If you want to go there, it’s good to know that stuff so you’re not worried or stressed about what you’re going to do. It informs you a lot.”
Between a room filled end-to-end with over 40 students or a one-on-one conversation, these visits come in many different shapes and forms, but they all offer an opportunity to connect with admissions officers.
“You could have some reps that are meeting with a lot of students, a lot of students. U of I [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] let’s say, you might have 30, 35, 40 students who want to go there, so that would be a different meeting,” Franco said. “I remember last year we had Washington and Lee University, which is this good school in Virginia, but it’s a little smaller, and we had one student there with the rep. A one-on-one conversation, so the rep could be asking ‘what are you interested in?’. “They could even be looking at their grades, or even an SAT score. It could be a personal visit.”
Between junior and senior year, students can learn more about the college admissions process through a summer program. RB offers “Camp College,” a week-long camp that runs for two and a half hours a day, during the first week of June. Senior Gianna Gelb believes that this played an instrumental role in exposing her to the college application process, specifically in essay writing.
“Well, over the summer I took this college prep class, which basically showed us how to use the CommonApp and also just essay writing. They had a couple of teachers look it over, and all that. I thought that was really helpful, personally, but I also did SAT prep as well because I wanted to do well on the SAT, and that really helped too,” Gelb said.
Among this rush to prepare for college, there are opportunities for students to work on their essays and prepare for the upcoming cycle. On September 16, Counselor Melissa Carey organized a seniors-exclusive College Essay Workshop hosted by Jane Hobson, a University of Chicago admissions officer.
“So, they definitely told us what not to do. They told us these are the things you should do: make sure that it’s about you, it’s not about other people because they’re not applying to college. It’s about you, stay true to yourself, make yourself really stand out,” Garcia said. “You don’t want to be blending in, be like every other applicant. They want you to stand out.”
As the college admission cycle begins, students have started submitting their applications for the October 15 or November 1 deadline, which can lead to pressure amidst the inception of college application season and the difficulty of senior year.
“I definitely think making sure that we get on top of our work over the summer because I think, for me at least, it was really helpful that I got a bunch of stuff done over the summer and not having to worry about it because my senior year is probably the hardest course load I’ve ever taken so far. So I think it’s really important to get it out of the way. I think they maybe could do a little bit better of trying to instill that in people and try to really make it happen,” Gelb said.
With the help of counselors and their meetings, seniors are equipped with crucial information on how to navigate platforms such as SchooLinks, ensuring they understand how to manage the integral parts that make up their college application.
“Then, [seniors] just had their senior meetings in August with counselors: talking about an overview of the process: SchooLinks with college applications, letters of recommendation, transcripts. Then evening events, we have different talks we do every year: a talk with freshman parents, sophomore parents, senior parents. Mr. Emerson will talk to junior parents about college, financial planning, college finances,” Franko said.
Throughout this cycle, questions may arise, but teachers and counselors alike have experienced the process first-hand, and they are there to offer guidance and advice to students.
“I definitely had a lot of questions regarding the CommonApp with the transcript; I definitely think that’s a big thing because they got to email that to you. I did have questions about the scholarships and things like that: when I should apply to them, and they [counselors] were really helpful with just answering those questions, even if they were small, and I think that’s been really impactful to making me feel less overwhelmed by that,” Gelb said.
