College Planning Kick-Off September 20th 2018 Benjamin Laster Director of College Placement Seton Hall Preparatory School

Itinerary Set the tone-Get excited! Express ideal roles in process Explain program objectives Establish college planning timeline & programming schedule Emphasize Fall/Winter Items Introduce Naviance-Student & CP Web Cover (in general) Standardized Testing & Academic goal setting

Pillars Of The Program It is comprehensive It is student centric It is intensive It is organized It is detailed It is predicated on fit

Defining Individual Roles College Counselors To advise & guide Student To own Parent (s) To support

Expectations: Your College Counselor Being “With You” in this process…building trust Providing long term organization & balance Positioning the student effectively Promoting accountability Pushing student to discover & mature Help you maximize opportunities & present school specific strategies Advise & assist on EVERY portion of the process

College Search Perform Introductory Search Student criteria connects the dots Define Your Criteria: What are your must haves? Key Criteria: Program, Admissibility Size, Geography, Culture, Campus type/location, Student Life Visitation

College Visitation Tours & Information Sessions General vs. Specific events Interviews Demonstrated Interest Admissions Contact: Self Advocacy

College List Formulation Dig deeper post-visitation Attend SHP sponsored College Visits Fill out “Colleges I am thinking about” in Naviance Balance of List & Admissibility: Be Mindful Preparation for introductory college meeting

The College Timeline: Fall Programming College Planning Kick-Off College Representatives Night (September 25th) University of Virginia Information Session (September 27th) Financial Aid Night (October 25th) Individual College Visits: (September 12th-November 8th)

The College Timeline: Winter & Beyond Introductory Meetings with College Counselor: Begin January College Information Night (February 21st) Follow up College Meetings in Spring & Summer (as requested) College Planning Assembly (students only, April 9th) Senior Year Programming & Individual meetings as requested

Naviance-Student What is Naviance-Student? Who has access? Helpful search functions of Naviance-Student College Search Colleges I’m Thinking About Scattergrams Communication Materials & Tracking

Naviance-Student Naviance-Student data is PREP sensitive Naviance-Student is a good “benchmark” College Placement will always have the most specific data & insight

The College Placement Webpage Event Itinerary Forms/Documents College Visits Prep Internship Program

Standardized Testing: The College Landscape What do colleges want? ACT vs. SAT What to take? Why? Test Optional vs. Test Sensitive SAT & ACT Timeline SAT II Subject Tests

Academic Goal Setting & College The College Process should be a positive motivator Trends are important-They look at everything Everything can matter depending on the process……you never know where you are.

Questions?