This post will also include some of the websites and books referred to.
January 8, 2011
Discussion of how students should use their PSAT results and prepare for the SAT. Websites of interest - www.collegeboard.org, www.grockit.com. SAT study guides are available at www.amazon.com.
January 19, 2011
Discussion of how to use www.collegeboard.org
January 26, 2011
Discussion of whether to choose a two or four year program
February 2, 2011
Information on NJ Boys and Girls State Programs www.boysandgirlsstate.org
February 16, 2011
Discussion of features of www.unigo.com, specifically College Match
March 2, 2011
Choosing a College, continued. The book, The Best 373 Colleges,
is featured.
March 16, 2011
Discussion of "feeder schools", undergraduate schools from which many graduate programs accept students
March 30, 2011
Virtual campus tours, college rep visits and college fairs www.campustour.com
April 13, 2011
College admission and the Naviance guidance delivery system www.naviance.com
April 27, 2011
Suggestions for how to get the most out of a campus visit
College Visit Checklist available at www.unigo.com
May 11, 2011
Campus Safety www.neighborhoodscout.com
May 25, 2011
Intellectual freedom on campus www.theFIRE.org
Closing of the American Mind
June 8, 2011
What juniors should do during summer vacation to prepare for senior year. Good review for those who need to catch up!
June 22, 2011
Writing the college application essay www.commonap.org, www.englishclub.com
Showing posts with label high school preparation for college. Show all posts
Showing posts with label high school preparation for college. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Summer Vacation
This is the penultimate (Look it up!) post until Wednesday, September 21. In this post, I will propose a new twist to an old topic. The September "Back to School" theme of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" will become "How You Should Spend Your Summer Vacation". I'd like to suggest a few things that you should do this summer to help you reach your goals.
1. Define Your Goals
Students in middle school and beyond can use the sites I've written about this past year to help achieve this end. My post of December 14, 2010 lists some good ones where you can find career and interest inventories to help you pinpoint career interests.
2. Investigate Possible Careers
Hopefully, you've used some of the information I've posted to enroll in a summer program that will assist you in this endeavor. www.bls.gov and www.careercornerstone.org are two excellent websites.
3. Investigate Training for Specific Careers
The websites above will help you find out what kind of educational background a specific career requires. You can find out more about these programs and schools at www.collegeboard.com and www.unigo.com.
4. Visit Specific Schools
Actually travel to places where you might enroll after high school. At the very least, use the sites mentioned to find out more about a school. In addition to these and individual college websites, www.campustour.com provides virtual tours of many campuses. www.neighborhoodscout.com gives a wealth of information about the region and city in which a school is located. www.thefire.org gives information as to the school's protection of the individual's Constitutional free speech rights.
5. Determine Entrance Requirements and Prepare for Entrance Exams
Students should be sure they have the proper courses to fulfill entrance requirements. These can be found on the school's website or by looking up the school on www.collegeboard.com. If you need to take a class/classes that you haven't scheduled, you'll have to notify your counselor as soon as possible. Students entering junior year in the fall should spend some time preparing for SAT's. Those entering senior year who haven't taken the SAT should be sure to apply to take the first one to be given on October 1, 2011. Register by September 9, 2011. Go to the College Board site for more information.
6. Begin Your College Application
Hopefully, those students who are entering senior year have done all of the previous things on the list and should spend some time this summer to prepare as much of their college applications as possible, specifically THE DREADED ESSAY! More on that next time!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Choosing a College
By this point you should have an idea of what you would like to do and how to prepare for it. Does your career of interest require college, trade or technical school or even apprenticeship, a topic we'll investigate in the future? For those who require a college degree, the biggest dilemma which now presents itself is which college to choose. An invaluable book which I've referenced in the past is, Choosing a College by Dr. Thomas Sowell. The book doesn't seem to be available from Amazon.com but you may be able to find it in the library. (You remember the library, that brick building somewhere near the center of town with those pre-Kindle paper things called books!?!) Dr. Sowell is a brilliant economist who is quite prolific in writing about economics, education and history. As stated previously, the book was first published in 1989. While some of the information about specific schools is dated, the philosophy and technique underlying the college choice process is relevant and that's the major purpose of the book.
There are numerous resources available to help you in your search. Since I wrote about the College Board in the last post outlining use of PSAT results, I'll begin with that. There are many features of www.collegeboard.com that are excellent resources for students, parents and education professionals. The college search and match features are well worth investigating. If you know of a college in which you're interested, you can search it by name and get a complete profile of one of over 3,500 schools. If you haven't a clue or only have a school or two that you know of, use the college match feature. You are asked a series of questions which, based on your responses, will match you with specific schools that meet your preferences as to size, cost, majors and a host of relevant characteristics. You can then use the list of results to further refine your choices.
An excellent feature on this site is the side by side comparison. You can compare up to four colleges at one time. Once you put in the names, a one page "side by side comparison" results which gives you location, admissions criteria, size and cost. In addition, there is the "How do I stack up?" feature which lets you put in personal information as to your grades and test scores and results in a comparison of how you "stack up" against the competition at that school. You can save all of these results in a personal account which you can set up free of charge as a PSAT/SAT taker. This site is definitely a keeper!
There are numerous resources available to help you in your search. Since I wrote about the College Board in the last post outlining use of PSAT results, I'll begin with that. There are many features of www.collegeboard.com that are excellent resources for students, parents and education professionals. The college search and match features are well worth investigating. If you know of a college in which you're interested, you can search it by name and get a complete profile of one of over 3,500 schools. If you haven't a clue or only have a school or two that you know of, use the college match feature. You are asked a series of questions which, based on your responses, will match you with specific schools that meet your preferences as to size, cost, majors and a host of relevant characteristics. You can then use the list of results to further refine your choices.
An excellent feature on this site is the side by side comparison. You can compare up to four colleges at one time. Once you put in the names, a one page "side by side comparison" results which gives you location, admissions criteria, size and cost. In addition, there is the "How do I stack up?" feature which lets you put in personal information as to your grades and test scores and results in a comparison of how you "stack up" against the competition at that school. You can save all of these results in a personal account which you can set up free of charge as a PSAT/SAT taker. This site is definitely a keeper!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
It's January and Junior Year
When I began this blog, I thought I should begin with junior year in high school. However, there is so much preliminary work that should be done before that. On the www.college.gov site, mentioned in an earlier post, they use three main sub-headings the first of which is "Why Go?". If you have been following the blog, you have, hopefully, done the suggested career exploration and have an idea in mind as to the kind of career(s) you would like to have and the type of post-secondary training/education it requires. If not, review some of the previous posts and go from there. From this point we're going to discuss how to find the place that moves you forward toward your career goal.
By this time juniors should have received the results of the PSAT/NMSQT they took in October. Many sophomores may have taken the test as well, although they are not yet eligible for the National Merit Scholarships for which juniors may qualify. If you took the test and have not received your results, be sure to see your guidance counselor.
If used properly, these results are invaluable to help you prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test required by most college admissions offices. The ACT (American College Test) is another test which many schools use as part of their application process and will be discussed in a future post. The PSAT provides you with your scores (ranging from 20-80) on each of three subtests: critical reading; mathematics and writing skills. More importantly, they give you a percentile by which you can see how your scores stack up against other students in your grade level who took the test. A score of 48 in critical reading, roughly what would be a 480 on the SAT, doesn't seem so great. However, when you see that that score was better than 69% of the other students in that grade level who took the test, it's much more competitive. These other students are those who will compete against you for college admissions. As a visual, in a room of 100 students in your grade throughout the country who took the test, you did better than 69 of them. Looks a lot better, doesn't it?
If you don't want to bank on the rest of your group sleeping through segments of the SAT, use your PSAT scores to prepare. Your test booklet should have been returned to you so now you can actually review the specific questions you got right or wrong. The results also give you the level of difficulty of each question and the specific skill it was meant to assess. They also provide an analysis of which skill areas you can improve and provide suggestions as to how to do so.
On the second page of your results you are given a code with which you can fully access the College Board website and use its services for free. The MyRoad program offers the ORA Personality Profile, mentioned earlier. If you don't have a career goal in mind, this will help you. Even if you have a life long dream of a specific job, take the profile to see if it produces results compatible with your plans. It may even broaden the scope of possibilities.
Collegeboard.com provides information on the SAT, which they also administer, and suggestions as to how to prepare. There's a lot of money in SAT preparation. Many students hire private tutors who "tutor to the test", giving them tips and exercises to hone their test skills in general and SAT taking specifically. The Princeton and Kaplan Review(s) along with Huntington and Sylvan Learning Center(s) are just a few among many companies that charge handsomely for these services. Books are available for those who are self-starters and can discipline themselves to prepare at a much lower cost. Among over 1500 titles amazon.com lists when you search "SAT prep" are: The Official SAT Guide by the College Board
; Kaplan SAT 2011; Barron's SAT and McGraw Hill's 12 SAT Practice Tests
There is an interesting online test prep program at www.grockit.com.
No matter what plan(s) you follow, don't just wing it. DO SOMETHING! At the very least, READ - not just subjects you enjoy but pick up something technical if you're a poet and poetic if you're a scientist. You can be both. Decipher it - read with a dictionary - understand it - seek the guidance of a parent or teacher. In May or June many juniors with take the SAT for the first time. (I recommend the May date, as it provides a question/answer service which can be further used to prep for the test if you decide to take it again.) Colleges use a composite of the highest scores for each section of the SAT(s) a student takes.
It may not seem so now, especially for those of us in colder climates, but Spring is just a blink away!
By this time juniors should have received the results of the PSAT/NMSQT they took in October. Many sophomores may have taken the test as well, although they are not yet eligible for the National Merit Scholarships for which juniors may qualify. If you took the test and have not received your results, be sure to see your guidance counselor.
If used properly, these results are invaluable to help you prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test required by most college admissions offices. The ACT (American College Test) is another test which many schools use as part of their application process and will be discussed in a future post. The PSAT provides you with your scores (ranging from 20-80) on each of three subtests: critical reading; mathematics and writing skills. More importantly, they give you a percentile by which you can see how your scores stack up against other students in your grade level who took the test. A score of 48 in critical reading, roughly what would be a 480 on the SAT, doesn't seem so great. However, when you see that that score was better than 69% of the other students in that grade level who took the test, it's much more competitive. These other students are those who will compete against you for college admissions. As a visual, in a room of 100 students in your grade throughout the country who took the test, you did better than 69 of them. Looks a lot better, doesn't it?
If you don't want to bank on the rest of your group sleeping through segments of the SAT, use your PSAT scores to prepare. Your test booklet should have been returned to you so now you can actually review the specific questions you got right or wrong. The results also give you the level of difficulty of each question and the specific skill it was meant to assess. They also provide an analysis of which skill areas you can improve and provide suggestions as to how to do so.
On the second page of your results you are given a code with which you can fully access the College Board website and use its services for free. The MyRoad program offers the ORA Personality Profile, mentioned earlier. If you don't have a career goal in mind, this will help you. Even if you have a life long dream of a specific job, take the profile to see if it produces results compatible with your plans. It may even broaden the scope of possibilities.
Collegeboard.com provides information on the SAT, which they also administer, and suggestions as to how to prepare. There's a lot of money in SAT preparation. Many students hire private tutors who "tutor to the test", giving them tips and exercises to hone their test skills in general and SAT taking specifically. The Princeton and Kaplan Review(s) along with Huntington and Sylvan Learning Center(s) are just a few among many companies that charge handsomely for these services. Books are available for those who are self-starters and can discipline themselves to prepare at a much lower cost. Among over 1500 titles amazon.com lists when you search "SAT prep" are: The Official SAT Guide by the College Board
; Kaplan SAT 2011; Barron's SAT and McGraw Hill's 12 SAT Practice Tests
There is an interesting online test prep program at www.grockit.com.
No matter what plan(s) you follow, don't just wing it. DO SOMETHING! At the very least, READ - not just subjects you enjoy but pick up something technical if you're a poet and poetic if you're a scientist. You can be both. Decipher it - read with a dictionary - understand it - seek the guidance of a parent or teacher. In May or June many juniors with take the SAT for the first time. (I recommend the May date, as it provides a question/answer service which can be further used to prep for the test if you decide to take it again.) Colleges use a composite of the highest scores for each section of the SAT(s) a student takes.
It may not seem so now, especially for those of us in colder climates, but Spring is just a blink away!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The Glitch to Gliding
One of the key factors in college admissions is the applicant's GPA, Grade Point Average. When I first began counselling, my high school did not "weight" grades. Weighting is a formula by which grades in honors and advanced placement courses are given greater numerical value, i.e., weight, to compensate for the fact that they are more difficult in many aspects than core college preparatory courses - bonus points, if you will. It didn't take a student long to figure out that if he resisted placement in these advanced levels he would not risk his GPA. Students who didn't take the honors level courses would often rank higher in the class than those who challenged themselves with more rigorous placements. I campaigned for weighting, and, shortly after I began working in the high school, we had a weighted GPA and ranking system, much to the chagrin of those who hoped to continue to glide and not suffer any disadvantage.
Coasting through the core curriculum may have seemed to these students to be the way to go. They would be able to shine with little effort and get great letters of recommendation from teachers who welcomed their presence in class. They were only hurting themselves. One of the other big factors in college admissions is the rigor of the secondary school program. This factor is right up there with the GPA and rank in admissions criteria. College profiles in the Princeton Review's 2011 edition of the Best 373 Colleges back up this statement. Since many competitive colleges ask for a copy of the high school profile, they know if advanced placement opportunities existed for students who received A's and only took core college prep courses.
Another reason to take the most difficult classes you can handle is to challenge yourself. If you don't, you may be the one left behind in difficult college classes. Many of your fellow students who took honors and advanced placement courses may be knowledgeable about topics to which you weren't even exposed. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant economist and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University wrote a book, Choosing a College, a Guide for Parents and Students
. It was published in 1989. While some of the information about specific programs and places is dated, the philosophy of how to make this most important choice is sound and relevant. In it he states, "In the admissions game, 'winning' cannot be defined as simply getting in. At a minimum, it must also include reasonable prospects of survival...". By testing and challenging yourself in high school, you can maximize your chances of not just surviving but thriving in college.
In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that I'm hosting dinner, I will not be able to blog next Wednesday. I wish you all a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Patience, some of your relatives may not be so thrilled to see you either!!! Remember the great Ralph Kramden's mantra - "Pins and needles, needles and pins. A happy man is a man who grins." Keep smiling!
Coasting through the core curriculum may have seemed to these students to be the way to go. They would be able to shine with little effort and get great letters of recommendation from teachers who welcomed their presence in class. They were only hurting themselves. One of the other big factors in college admissions is the rigor of the secondary school program. This factor is right up there with the GPA and rank in admissions criteria. College profiles in the Princeton Review's 2011 edition of the Best 373 Colleges back up this statement. Since many competitive colleges ask for a copy of the high school profile, they know if advanced placement opportunities existed for students who received A's and only took core college prep courses.
Another reason to take the most difficult classes you can handle is to challenge yourself. If you don't, you may be the one left behind in difficult college classes. Many of your fellow students who took honors and advanced placement courses may be knowledgeable about topics to which you weren't even exposed. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant economist and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University wrote a book, Choosing a College, a Guide for Parents and Students
. It was published in 1989. While some of the information about specific programs and places is dated, the philosophy of how to make this most important choice is sound and relevant. In it he states, "In the admissions game, 'winning' cannot be defined as simply getting in. At a minimum, it must also include reasonable prospects of survival...". By testing and challenging yourself in high school, you can maximize your chances of not just surviving but thriving in college.In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that I'm hosting dinner, I will not be able to blog next Wednesday. I wish you all a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. Patience, some of your relatives may not be so thrilled to see you either!!! Remember the great Ralph Kramden's mantra - "Pins and needles, needles and pins. A happy man is a man who grins." Keep smiling!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sloan Career Cornerstone Center
In searching for links to professional organizations/societies for last week's post, I found a site that is, as the Brits would say, BRILLIANT! Sloan Career Cornerstone Center can be found at www.careercornerstone.org It is a "non-profit resource center for those exploring career paths in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. The extensive site explores over 185 degree fields and offers detailed education requirements, salary and employment data, precollege ideas, and career planning resources."
All 185 "Degree Fields" are listed alphabetically under that heading. Articles are similar to entries in the Occupational Outlook Handbook , accessible at www.bls.gov, in that they include the following sub-headings: Overview; Preparation; Day In The Life; Earnings; Employment; Career Path Forecast and Professional Organizations. Links are provided for organizations such as the American Board of Medical Specialties, The Society of Actuaries, The American Geological Institute and many others that provide and update content to the Center.
They spotlight and discuss resources for students, counselors, teachers, parents, and graduates. Under the sub-heading "Graduates", they link to job search sites. Unlike the OOH, the site includes the sub-heading highlighted above, "Day In The Life". Contributors in different careers describe a "typical" day on the job and there are profiles of professionals in areas such as biology, engineering specialities and more. The profiles detail the professional's educational background and job description. As an example, Urszula Tajchman is featured under the Profiles of Physicists. Dr. Tajchman is a Fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. There's an interesting profile on her which includes, as do all the profiles, her advice to students. There are profiles for a lot of "heavyweights" like Dr. Tajchman. Under the "Healthcare" heading, job titles range from veterinary tech to surgeon. Many of the articles give lists of degree conferring colleges and universities and accredited training programs.
This is another really great site. The information it provides is invaluable and so extensive, it's almost overwhelming. Despite that, it's easy to navigate and understand - and it's FREE! BRILLIANT!
All 185 "Degree Fields" are listed alphabetically under that heading. Articles are similar to entries in the Occupational Outlook Handbook , accessible at www.bls.gov, in that they include the following sub-headings: Overview; Preparation; Day In The Life; Earnings; Employment; Career Path Forecast and Professional Organizations. Links are provided for organizations such as the American Board of Medical Specialties, The Society of Actuaries, The American Geological Institute and many others that provide and update content to the Center.
They spotlight and discuss resources for students, counselors, teachers, parents, and graduates. Under the sub-heading "Graduates", they link to job search sites. Unlike the OOH, the site includes the sub-heading highlighted above, "Day In The Life". Contributors in different careers describe a "typical" day on the job and there are profiles of professionals in areas such as biology, engineering specialities and more. The profiles detail the professional's educational background and job description. As an example, Urszula Tajchman is featured under the Profiles of Physicists. Dr. Tajchman is a Fellow in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. There's an interesting profile on her which includes, as do all the profiles, her advice to students. There are profiles for a lot of "heavyweights" like Dr. Tajchman. Under the "Healthcare" heading, job titles range from veterinary tech to surgeon. Many of the articles give lists of degree conferring colleges and universities and accredited training programs.
This is another really great site. The information it provides is invaluable and so extensive, it's almost overwhelming. Despite that, it's easy to navigate and understand - and it's FREE! BRILLIANT!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Keeping the Dream Alive
To continue the last post's theme of finding ways to motivate yourself, I recommend that underclassmen tap into the resources they know. The idea of visualization leading to actualization/realization - "If you can see it, you can be it" - is very popular but not necessarily the case. In reality, most goals require a lot of work to be accomplished. If you have a career goal, it's important that you begin to find out what steps, e.g., education, training, experience, you'll need to reach it.
A really good source of information is one we often overlook - the people we know. How did your beautician become a beautician? What undergraduate school did your doctor go to? What subject did she major in? You may even have read and know the school name on the medical diploma, but how did the doctor get there? How did your plumber get licensed? I was often amazed at how few of my students knew what their own parents did for a living. If they knew the job title, they often didn't know what that actually meant. What did they DO?
Other good sources of information are professional societies/organizations. There's a good article by Lorie Withop, "The Promise of Professional Organizations", at http:www/back2college.com but it's mainly geared toward college students. However, in each job description article in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, under the subheading, "Sources of Additional Information", you can find contacts for professional organizations involved with specific careers. Many of these societies have precollege student membership categories. The American Meteorological Society at www.ametsoc.org, is a particularly interesting organization that has elementary, middle and high school student membership levels at a nominal fee. They have a Career Center, guides for pursuing a bachelor's degree in Atmospheric Sciences, internship opportunity information and many other services, including SCHOLARSHIPS! The staff is very responsive and helpful. So, all you Weather Channel junkies (I prefer Mr. G on WPIX.) now have an invaluable source to help you further investigate this interest.
Let's alter that trendy formula:
Visualization + Investigation + Preparation/Education = Actualization
A really good source of information is one we often overlook - the people we know. How did your beautician become a beautician? What undergraduate school did your doctor go to? What subject did she major in? You may even have read and know the school name on the medical diploma, but how did the doctor get there? How did your plumber get licensed? I was often amazed at how few of my students knew what their own parents did for a living. If they knew the job title, they often didn't know what that actually meant. What did they DO?
Other good sources of information are professional societies/organizations. There's a good article by Lorie Withop, "The Promise of Professional Organizations", at http:www/back2college.com but it's mainly geared toward college students. However, in each job description article in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, under the subheading, "Sources of Additional Information", you can find contacts for professional organizations involved with specific careers. Many of these societies have precollege student membership categories. The American Meteorological Society at www.ametsoc.org, is a particularly interesting organization that has elementary, middle and high school student membership levels at a nominal fee. They have a Career Center, guides for pursuing a bachelor's degree in Atmospheric Sciences, internship opportunity information and many other services, including SCHOLARSHIPS! The staff is very responsive and helpful. So, all you Weather Channel junkies (I prefer Mr. G on WPIX.) now have an invaluable source to help you further investigate this interest.
Let's alter that trendy formula:
Visualization + Investigation + Preparation/Education = Actualization
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sophomoric Year
Sophomore year in college was when, for the first time in almost twenty years of formal education, I got my first grade below a B. This was rather late in the normal scheme of things, since this often happens when a student is a sophomore in high school. Hence, the word "sophomoric", which means you think you know it all when, in reality, you don't know nothin! You may wonder why they even use the word "sophomore" to describe the second year of high school or post secondary study. From personal experience, I believe it must have stemmed from teacher observations of their students dating from when Socrates lectured young people under the cypress trees. (In his case, they may have been hemlock!)
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (PHEW!) reports that high school dropout rates increase as grade level increases. When I was a school counselor, I frequently saw an uptick sophomore year when students turned 16 and could legally drop out. It is so important for students to have a goal towards which a high school diploma is a necessary step. IES reports that in 2006-7, over 600,000 high school students out of around 14 million dropped out. That's definitely a dead end, especially in these economic times.
Since high school sophomores are often sophomoric, they usually don't see the link between current courses and a career. It is especially important at this time to flesh out a dream and keep it alive. Career interests should be identified and they should be explored through high school course selection. Career Days and College Fairs should not exclude underclassmen in an attempt to focus on juniors and seniors trying to decide on a college/major.
Since many sophomores won't be old enough for summer jobs, this is the perfect summer for exploration through a pre-college program. As I've mentioned previously, I've used and like Peterson's Summer Programs for Kids and Teenagers. Another that might be of interest is the Kaplan Yale Daily News Guide to Summer Program .
If you have a specific college in mind, see if it offers any pre-college summer programs. Many do. Check the school's website. Websites are especially good resources, as they are usually current. Two that I like are: http://www.studenteducationprogram.com/precollege.html and http://www.bc.edu/sites/genpulse/pass/summer_pulse.htmlThis last one is out of Boston College and lists sources of information on summer programs with descriptions.
This post was long enough to make up for missing last week!!!
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (PHEW!) reports that high school dropout rates increase as grade level increases. When I was a school counselor, I frequently saw an uptick sophomore year when students turned 16 and could legally drop out. It is so important for students to have a goal towards which a high school diploma is a necessary step. IES reports that in 2006-7, over 600,000 high school students out of around 14 million dropped out. That's definitely a dead end, especially in these economic times.
Since high school sophomores are often sophomoric, they usually don't see the link between current courses and a career. It is especially important at this time to flesh out a dream and keep it alive. Career interests should be identified and they should be explored through high school course selection. Career Days and College Fairs should not exclude underclassmen in an attempt to focus on juniors and seniors trying to decide on a college/major.
Since many sophomores won't be old enough for summer jobs, this is the perfect summer for exploration through a pre-college program. As I've mentioned previously, I've used and like Peterson's Summer Programs for Kids and Teenagers. Another that might be of interest is the Kaplan Yale Daily News Guide to Summer Program .
If you have a specific college in mind, see if it offers any pre-college summer programs. Many do. Check the school's website. Websites are especially good resources, as they are usually current. Two that I like are: http://www.studenteducationprogram.com/precollege.html and http://www.bc.edu/sites/genpulse/pass/summer_pulse.htmlThis last one is out of Boston College and lists sources of information on summer programs with descriptions.
This post was long enough to make up for missing last week!!!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Finally! Freshman Year
I had thought we would have gotten to this point long before this! There is just so much information and so many topics to cover. I am trying to keep these subjects in some kind of grade order but I will break the sequence as topics I think important come to mind. Also, there is a great deal of crossover, as subjects apply to many grade levels. For example, career exploration may be addressed as early as kindergarten. I used to read P.K. Hallinan's When I Grow Up to the children in grades K-2 and then ask each student to draw a picture about the job they would like to do. I would laminate and collate the pictures into a book for each classroom's library..but I digress. (as usual!)
One of the things that may make going to high school less frightening would be eagerness to take the couses in which you have an interest and, finally, a choice. While freshmen do have to take a core set of classes, they are usually able to select a foreign language and applied/performing arts electives. Having a career focus can help with these choices. Those interested in architecture may want to take drafting while those interested in fashion may want sewing or art. Choose wisely, grasshopper. In making these selections you need to be aware that certain classes may be of interest and fulfill a graduation requirement but they may not "count" toward college admission requirements. For example, Vocal Music is a great choice and counts in New Jersey as an arts requirement for graduation but it is not considered an academic elective for college entrance. A course in Music Appreciation would satisfy both requirements. Sing if you want to. American Idol needs contestants! Just know how your curriculum choices fit your needs.
You can find high school graduation requirements on your state's Department of Education website. Check the pre-requisite classes for admission to a college(s) in which you might be interested. If you don't have one, you can play it safe by checking the requirements for a major state college/university where you live. For example, in NJ, state colleges have the following MINIMUM requirements:
-4 units of English
-3 units of math (Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II)
-2 units of the same foreign language
-2 units of laboratory sciences
-2 units of social sciences
-3 units of ACADEMIC electives
Many private schools and special programs have additional requirements. The sooner you have specific programs/colleges in mind, the easier it will be to make sure you've covered all the bases.
JUNIORS: PSAT - Wednesday, October 13
Saturday, October 16
SEE YOUR COUNSELOR!
One of the things that may make going to high school less frightening would be eagerness to take the couses in which you have an interest and, finally, a choice. While freshmen do have to take a core set of classes, they are usually able to select a foreign language and applied/performing arts electives. Having a career focus can help with these choices. Those interested in architecture may want to take drafting while those interested in fashion may want sewing or art. Choose wisely, grasshopper. In making these selections you need to be aware that certain classes may be of interest and fulfill a graduation requirement but they may not "count" toward college admission requirements. For example, Vocal Music is a great choice and counts in New Jersey as an arts requirement for graduation but it is not considered an academic elective for college entrance. A course in Music Appreciation would satisfy both requirements. Sing if you want to. American Idol needs contestants! Just know how your curriculum choices fit your needs.
You can find high school graduation requirements on your state's Department of Education website. Check the pre-requisite classes for admission to a college(s) in which you might be interested. If you don't have one, you can play it safe by checking the requirements for a major state college/university where you live. For example, in NJ, state colleges have the following MINIMUM requirements:
-4 units of English
-3 units of math (Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II)
-2 units of the same foreign language
-2 units of laboratory sciences
-2 units of social sciences
-3 units of ACADEMIC electives
Many private schools and special programs have additional requirements. The sooner you have specific programs/colleges in mind, the easier it will be to make sure you've covered all the bases.
JUNIORS: PSAT - Wednesday, October 13
Saturday, October 16
SEE YOUR COUNSELOR!
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