Are you interested in coming back to WHS to share your college experiences with current high school juniors and seniors?

Dec 22nd you can be the college rep at a mini college fair setting at WHS!  Let us know you are interested and we'll tell you the rest of what you'll need to know in order to participate.

Contact Ms. Dornisch or Mr. Carter for more info or to sign up to be part of this fun morning at WHS.

Ms. Dornisch: margo.dornisch@weymouthschools.org 781-337-7500, ext 5116

Mr. Carter: kevin.carter@weymouthschools.org 781-337-7500, ext 5165

In addition, there is an SAT Prep course being offered through the Evening School Program. That course will focus on the May test date. More information will be available soon regarding the Evening School SAT Prep course.

Suggestions for Juniors 

1. Provide your email address to your guidance counselor so that the counselor can keep you informed of helpful information and deadlines. 

     A-Caz - Mr. Carter - kevin.carter@weymouthschools.org 

   Cb-Dox - Ms. Clancy - kimberly.clancy@weymouthschools.org 

    Doy-Haz - Mr. Woods - frank.woods@weymouthschools.org 

     Hb-Macc - Mrs. Dornisch - margo.dornisch@weymouthschools.org   

    Macd-Nez - Mrs. Powell - fabiola.powell@weymouthschools.org 

     Nf-Sha - Ms. Brennan - kelly.brennan@weymouthschools.org   

    Shb-Zz- Mr. Powers - david.powers@weymouthschools.org 

2. Plan for and register for the SAT - sign up and register by visiting  http://www.collegeboard.com 

Use the CEEB code 220745 to have your scores sent to Weymouth High.                 

May 7^th  SAT exam, you must register by April 8.                                                         

June 4^th SAT exam, you must register by May 6. 

NOTE: Students planning to attend some colleges and universities may need to take one or more SAT subject tests. These may not be taken on the same day as the SAT. Check with the college's website or see your counselor if you are not sure if your college requires SAT subject tests.  

3. Register (free) for virtual college fairs at http://www.collegeweeklive.com         

This is a great way to learn about colleges all across the country. You can merely observe and learn or you can participate in live chat sessions. Many sessions are recorded if you are unable to view them live. 

4. Start thinking about a half dozen schools (or more) that may be of interest to you.  

Plan to visit a few colleges during school vacations, weekend, holidays. There are many colleges close to us including Boston schools like Boston College, Boston University, Suffolk, UMass Boston, Emerson, Northeastern etc. to other more suburban schools like Curry, Stonehill, Lasell, Bridgewater, Endicott, etc. You could also plan to visit some more distant schools or even schools out of state. Begin to plan visits to colleges during the summer as well. 

5. Consider visiting the 2011 Spring Boston National College Fair at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Tuesday April 12 or Wednesday April 13.  

You may plan to attend with friends or with your family in the evening hours. 6-9 on Tuesday.  Keep your ears open for a possible field trip as well. 

6. Sign in to the Naviance website http://connection.naviance.com/fc/signin.php?hsid=weymouth to begin to learn more about yourself by completing personality and interest tests.  

You can also begin to search for colleges by indicating areas of study (majors) that you plan to study in the future.  

You will need your personal access code to be able to save your results in Naviance. See your counselor if you need assistance or need your access code. 

Please see you Guidance Counselor if you are interested in being considered.

If you don't know when your deadlines are, haven't given your guidance counselor a brag sheet, or in general don't know what your plans are... you need an appointment - STAT... or ASAP... or whatever acronym will get you down to our offices the quickest.

You limit your options when you miss deadlines, so please make sure you are keeping track.

Deadlines also apply to financial aid applications, scholarships, etc. Don't miss out on something because you miss a deadline, keep a calendar, or put them in your blackberry, I don't care how you do it, really... just do it!

February vacation could be a good time to visit colleges, along with the upcoming long weekend for MLK Jr. Day. Plan some visits, schedule tours, see some places you plan to apply or some to which you've already applied.

Check out the "helpful links" page on the Counseling Services website for additional resources.  Also, don't forget about the "Scholarship Scoop" page for scholarships we get wind of here at school.  It's all worth your time.

VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL (VHS)  

IS COMING TO  

WEYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL 

• Are you interested in taking some exciting online classes and study with students from all over the world?   
• Are you motivated to work on your own? 
• Do you have room in your schedule for 2^nd semester? 

THEN VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL MAY BE FOR YOU! 

• You will receive credit for these classes. 
• Classes are available during the school day or from your own home 24/7. (Must have Internet service)  

For more information and/or a pass to the presentation  

on December 16^th during Block 4: 

• Please see Ms. Brennan in the Gold Guidance Office or 

    Mrs. O’Neill in the Library no later than the end of school on  

    Monday, December 13^th.   (Deadline is extended, please see either one of us asap.)

• http://www.govhs.org 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtUJBC_QOhs 

Hello, Seniors! 

Questions to ask yourself before you head off for the holiday break: 

• Have I met recently with my Guidance Counselor? 
• Have I filled-out the “Resume/Brag Sheet” and returned it to my Guidance Counselor?  (I will need time to write the counselor recommendation, so please at LEAST fill this out and return it to me before the holiday, so I can start working on it…) 
• Have I requested additional/academic recommendations from teachers?  Have I received those recommendations yet – or given envelopes to my teachers to send the letters directly to the colleges? 
• Do I have any colleges on my list have a January 1^st deadline?  (Note: We do not return to school from break until AFTER January 1^st!!)  (Please do not show up the day before the holiday break looking to send transcripts that day…) 
• Have I filled out the Transcript Release Form and returned to my counselor with large pre-addressed (to the schools) envelopes with three stamps each? 
 

Please request an appointment with me to continue on your post-high school journey, if needed. 

In addition, if you are a student who has applied and already heard back from a school, please bring in any acceptance letters you have received.  We do keep track of this data, and need a copy of the official letter in order to do so. 

I met yesterday with a college representative from University of Alabama, and she reminded me of some of the wonderful reasons to consider... just consider... looking beyond our normal sights for college admissions.

1) Admissions: If you apply to a school in an area outside of New England, you actually could have a better shot at admission since committees often recruit out of area students in order to geographically diversify their campuses. This could mean getting into a school of a higher caliber in the rankings, more competitive programs, etc. just because you are from Massachusetts!

2) Financial Aid: Generally you are still going to have to qualify academically for scholarships, but because admissions departments may be specifically looking for students from out of the normal range, your financial aid package could be particularly generous. Many of these schools have lovely large endowments from big deal alumni which is a huge help for defraying costs to new students. (Yeah! We love generous financial aid packages!)

3) TOTAL Cost: Overall, especially if you look at school in the southern US states, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board, etc. is less than what it costs up here.  This makes sense due to cost of living in general, etc.  For example, when meeting with the rep from University of Alabama, they estimate that the TOTAL cost for the student from the Boston area, including two round trip flights, transportation to/from airports, tuition, room, board, books, etc...(and there were a lot of etc...) would be about $34K per year. 

4) School Spirit:  Okay, I know I may become not popular for saying this, but the school spirit in some of the schools, particularly in the southern states is HUGE, maybe more so than some schools in this area. You've watched those college sports, the attendance at games, the school colors, the band playing the school fight song... it's a big deal, a very big deal.  And if it's something you're looking for, all I'm saying is that school spirit will generally not be short on supply in a school in the South.

5) Top Ranking Schools: Think you can't get a quality education outside of New England?  Think again, check out the rankings and you'll see that some of the top programs and top schools are located elsewhere, and they'd be thrilled to have a New England student attend their top-ranked institution.

6) Large Alumni Networks:  Large schools, no matter what the location offer large alumni networks.  This could mean internships, summer job and after college job opportunities... many large universities have alumni spread out throughout the United States.  Asking about Boston area alumni is a worthy question when considering an out of area school.  How many are there and how strong is the network? 

Concern about being far from home:  Really and truly, you will be in touch all the time as you are now, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, phone, texting.... you won't be able to bring your laundry home all the time, but trust me, you'll be in touch. 

All I'm asking is that you consider it.  Consider schools outside your geographic comfort zone. Apply to a "reach" in a different area, apply to a strong program, and see what happens with admissions and financial aid - you might be positively surprised and when it comes to admissions and financial aid, we love happy surprises!

If you would like to be able to visit a college, but it’s too far for a quick weekend trip or you find yourself tied up with other activities, consider signing up on www.collegeweeklive.com  for virtual college fairs, virtual college open houses, and live online chats with college admissions representatives.

You can go to the website, create an account and get sent information about colleges you are interested in, when they are having online events, etc.   

In this digital age, it’s just one more way to learn about colleges to which you may otherwise have less exposure.

Generally speaking, we like to have information, brag sheets, envelopes, etc. 2 weeks in advance of a college deadline.  If you are concerned about this, please see your Guidance Counselor, ASAP. The next big Early Action deadline is Nov 30th/Dec 1st.

Also, please note that schools with January 1st deadlines, must have been processed through our office PRIOR to the holiday break... since we are not here for the holiday break.  Do yourself and everyone else in your life who is going to stress out over this a favor and get the necessary paperwork to the Guidance Office 2 weeks prior to your deadlines.

You did all of your homework, an extra credit project AND you fit in a college visit?  You ARE a superstar.

I wrote recommendations, possibly yours. (Unless, of course, you haven't given me your brag sheet yet - better get on that!)

Please don't panic.  If you gave your counselor the envelopes, stamps, and other necessary documents, chances are - the letter from the college and the documents from WHS crossed in the mail and you are all set.

What can you do to quell your fears?  Call the Admissions office of the college and ask them to recheck your application file to see if the documents have arrived yet.  Often, they'll ask you for your student ID or application file # which is often on the email or letter they sent. You can use this to check or double check your application status.

Rarely does the paperwork actually get lost - delayed, maybe - due to high volumes of mail coming in, etc.  Sometimes the mail is there and simply not logged as present in their system yet... so overall, don't panic, please!

Seniors 

- What your post high school plans are... no matter what they are... keep us in the loop!

- Check your status for graduation credits, courses, etc.

- Sign up for college representative visits.

- Naviance login information (college database and tracking system)

- Pick up a Brag Sheet, etc. Find out what you should be doing for college applications (yes, you should be doing things...)

Juniors 

- Check your status for graduation credits, courses, etc.

- Sign up for college representative visits.

- Current progress in classes, are you struggling?

- Naviance login information (your personality and interest profile and college profiles)

Sophomores & Freshmen 

- Current progress in classes, are you struggling?

- Talk about possible strategies to get you on track, progress reports, parent meetings, peer tutoring, after school homework hotspot, organizational assistance, etc.

- Career Exploration tools

- Looking for opportunities to get involved in after school activities?