2nd Quarter
- Juniors meet with their counselor in January
- PSAT scores returned to juniors either just before or after Christmas Break
Junior year is the time when counselors and students begin to discuss the college search and college planning process. Because the process involves a great deal of "soul-searching" and self-exploration, your son's counselor will meet several times with him this year beginning with an individual meeting in January.
The goal of this first meeting is to help your son to begin to clarify what is most important to him in a college. It is important to realize that many students, perhaps most students, will not have a specific college major or career field in mind at this point in their lives. This is normal. In fact, the average college student changes majors three times once he has enrolled in college. At this early stage it is much more important for your son to begin to state preferences regarding the type of college or university which might best suit his personality, his learning style and personal values. For example, small or mid-sized schools versus large schools, closer to home versus in a different part of the country, highly selective versus schools which may be a bit less selective but possibly offering merit scholarships, etc. Your son's counselor will help flesh out these preferences and may even suggest a short, "first list" of colleges for your son to begin researching. If your son needs more time to develop his preferred characteristics in a college he may not get this "first list" until our second individual meeting in February.
On the first two days of second semester, English teachers turn their classes over to the counselors. Each counselor will conduct a small-group college-planning seminar with his or her assigned counselees during these two days. The seminar is interactive in nature and covers such topics as how to select the right kind of colleges, college admissions testing, how and when to do college visits, how to research colleges, how colleges make admissions decisions, using the internet to explore colleges, etc. In this seminar your son will receive a copy of SLUH's "College Planning Seminar" Packet, a reference for both you and your son. Ask your son to share this with you after the college-planning seminar, as it covers in-depth the entire college decision process, from the search process to enrollment. After the College Planning Seminar, the next contact counselors have with the juniors comes at the end of January with the first college exploration meeting.
Also in second semester, counselors will host a group meetings for junior parents. Please check our Upcoming Events page for the specific date and time. This meeting will address parents' questions about the college planning process.
Finally, in mid-April, counselors will meet individually with each of their juniors and his parents. The goal of this family session is to insure that all parties--counselor, student, and parents--are working toward the same goal and that all of your questions and concerns are addressed.
Remember, now is the time that your son should begin to formulate the right questions to ask himself and his counselor about college planning. The answers to these questions come later for most juniors. Support, encouragement and being a good listener is more helpful now to your son than (unintended) pressure from parents to decide on a career or college major. Please call your son's counselor at any time to discuss your questions or concerns about this important life decision.
PSAT Returns
Juniors will receive their PSAT report, test booklet and an interpretive guide either just before or after the Christmas Break. Since juniors are encouraged to take their first SAT (a standardized college admissions test) in January, a thorough review of their PSAT report can be the best way to get prepared for their first SAT. The score report form from the PSAT includes an analysis of your son's answers, i.e.; which answer he gave to each question and the correct answer. Reasoning through his mistakes on the test items and practicing these types of problems is one of the best ways to get ready for the SAT.
