Monthly Memo: October 2007

With a registration code provided by the College Counseling Center (CCC), all students and parents can log in to Family Connection and research schools and majors, study HPA admissions data, make college lists, and request transcripts. Family Connection also has a college matcher, a resume builder, a folder for saving college essays and journal entries, and the “Do What You Are” Personality Assessment Tool. “Do What You Are” is a free personality test that provides advice for choosing appropriate majors and future careers. We require all sophomores to complete “Do What You Are” in the second semester. Students and families also should study our Planning Guide.

Seniors: All of you have been doing a great job in our X period college planning class. For the last month, our X period class has focused on the different components of applying to college (to learn more about X periods, visit our College Counseling blog). We also have started our first individual counseling meetings with Mr. Kelsey or Mrs. Montgomery. Now it is time to do more research using Family Connection, refine your college list, make your college deadline calendar, turn in any missing evaluation forms, and finish revising college essays. If you have not already done so, please register for “Family Connection,” enter your college list, type up your game plan, and complete the “Do What You Are” Assessment. You also should explore the search engines and study the admissions data for different schools. If you have any questions, just ask us in person or via e-mail. Remember that you are required to request your transcripts both on paper and on Family Connection.

Note on Letters of Recommendation: You must give your teachers and counselors at least one month to prepare their letters of recommendation or school reports. When you ask a teacher to write a recommendation for you, you must give them a completed self-evaluation for their class (available in CCC), stamped and addressed envelopes for all of your colleges, and a thank you note that includes your application deadlines.

All Juniors have a brief college counseling meeting in the month of October or November. Before you schedule this first meeting, we require that you register on Family Connection and use the search engine to identify an initial list of 10 colleges. You also should understand your GPA and PSAT scores before this meeting.

Please read the note below regarding standardized testing for this year. We require that Juniors take the January SAT and the February ACT. We recommend that you also take the SAT II at the end of the school year. Brown Reading System (BRS) will offers SAT prep each year in October. Please register for Family Connection and come to the presentations by college visitors.

Testing Notes: October is a busy testing month for students and College Counseling. The first SAT of the year is on October 6 (the October test is taken mostly by seniors). On Tuesday, October 17, the PSAT will be administered to all HPA freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. The next Saturday, October 27, the ACT will be offered on campus (the October SAT is taken mostly by seniors). The BRS SAT prep program runs this month (from October 1 to November 2) to prepare students for the November 3 SAT.