January 24th: Coffee with Counselors and the College Process for Students with Disabilities

On January 24th, join the counselors for some morning refreshments and a discussion on the college application process for students with disabilities.  From 7:30am-9:00am, counselors will address the differences between services at the high school and college level, along with information on testing,  the types of accommodations available, and the importance of campus visits.  Ferne Bork of Landmark College will present from the college perspective. 

In case you can't attend the session, HHS counselors recognize that the transition from high school to college can be a confusing time for students with learning disabilities and their families; in addition to the challenges that all students face when transitioning to college, other obstacles confront students who need extra academic support. Complicating the process even further is the fact that there is not a standard model of how special education services must be conducted at the college level.  At a minimum, all colleges are required to offer disability services, and thus all schools are required to designate an institutional contact person who ensures that students with disabilities receive accommodations such as extended test time, a separate exam location, or access to assistive technology. However, this person is not required to have training in special education, and s/he may have additional responsibilities on campus. As such, institutions are not allowed to charge families fees for providing these basic accommodations.

Nonetheless, many institutions go beyond this minimum standard and offer a disability program, which has a full-time coordinator or director. Although the nature of these programs still varies from college to college, they may provide support in study skills, instruction in writing strategies or individual tutoring. In these cases, the college may require that families pay a fee for these more comprehensive programs since the institution will need money to fund additional staff members who run the extra support groups.  If you are a parent who is planning to visit a college in the near future, check out these questions you could ask of the disability service office.

It is also essential for families to know that any special education services, as well as modifications outlined in a student’s IEP, are terminated when the student graduates from high school. At the college level, institutions are not required to change admission standards, course content, or programs of study for a student because of his/her disability; for an applicant to be admitted, the college or university must consider him/her to be “otherwise qualified” despite the existence of a disability. Furthermore, the student is responsible for self-identifying to the college and providing adequate documentation of the disability. If the student chooses not to disclose this information, accommodations will not be made, and they also cannot be granted retroactively to a student who struggled because s/he had not identified him/herself as learning disabled.

If a particular college does not allow for formal self-disclosure on the application, applicants might consider including information about his/her disability in a supplemental statement. Describing how a learning disability affected a particular class, or what techniques the student learned to compensate for his/her weakness can be helpful information for a college to have. Bear in mind that this disclosure will not guarantee admission, but it may give committee members better insight into inconsistencies in his/her transcript, or inconsistencies between grades and standardized test scores. The statement should be carefully and thoughtfully prepared, and counselors are more than happy to help their students work on these disclosures.  As always, starting conversations with counselors early in the process is helpful, so please reach out if you're not able to attend our coffee but still need personal advice for you or your child.  

Resources:  Madaus, J.W. (2005). Navigating the college transition maze. Council for Exceptional Children, Jan/Feb, 32-37. 

November 1st: Coffee with Counselors and Holistic Review

This school year, our counselors are inviting parents for a meet-and-greet opportunity to enjoy coffee and conversations related to the college admissions landscape.  On Friday, November 1st, we will offer our first session (7:30-9:00 a.m.), discussing the holistic admissions process in the United States, which contrasts sharply from the colleges/universities abroad.  In particular, our dialogue will be most informative for first-generation college applicants, as well as families with an international background who may be unfamiliar with the process here.  

Generally speaking, the most selective universities and colleges in the United States consider more than grades and test scores when accepting applicants.  Instead, they use a holistic approach, which according to ThoughtCO,  can be defined as an emphasis on the whole person, not select pieces.  As such, elite colleges lean heavily on extracurricular activities, personal essays, letters of recommendation, demonstrated interest, and college interviews to weigh the merit(s) or detractor(s) of each student.  Colleges want to admit exciting students who will contribute to the campus culture in meaningful ways.  Thus, under a holistic admissions policy, a student with a 4.0 GPA might be denied while an award-winning athlete with a 3.4 GPA might get accepted. The student who wrote an outstanding essay might get preference over the student who had higher ACT/SAT scores but produced a mediocre essay. In general, holistic admissions take into account a student's interests, passions, special talents, and personality, and not simply quantifiable measures, such as GPA or SAT/ACT.

To get a bird's eye view of the admissions process, check out Today's Show, where their reporters were allowed to peer over the shoulders of Grinnell College's admissions staff in 2014, as they sorted and evaluated applicants across the nation.  Although the clip can be stressful to watch, it also liberates the viewer, knowing that the decision is completely out of one's control, and as such, students and families can relax and enjoy the process as much as possible.  We encourage you to watch the clip, take notes, and come prepared to ask questions on November 1st; we are fortunate to have highly seasoned counselors here at HHS, and we are prepared to take the edge off in the college process.

Summit Educational Group: The Importance of a Testing Plan

Calling all parents of juniors and sophomores!

About two weeks ago, Drew Heilpern of Summit Educational Group presented at our Junior Parent Night and offered an in-depth exploration of the landscape of college admissions testing.  In case you missed his engaging approach to the differences between the SAT and ACT, parents and students can now preview this information in the comfort of their home.  Join Summit in a webinar from 6:30-7:30pm tonight by clicking here to learn the importance of a testing plan.   

Although the counseling department and Drew both emphasize that students should wait to take these exams until the spring of the junior year/fall of the senior year, it is always beneficial to get as much information in advance.  On Saturday, October 19th, sophomores will be taking the pre-ACT, whereas juniors have signed up for the PSAT, and this webinar may give you an inclination about your child's strengths and weaknesses without even seeing their scores.  Sign up and you won't regret it!

Summer Tasks for Rising Seniors Applying to College

Rising seniors can undoubtedly make the college application process more smooth by taking some proactive steps in the summer.  Here are some helpful tips for students:

1.  Complete a solid draft of your college essay over the vacation.  Send it to your counselor, so when we are writing your letter of recommendation, we can highlight your strengths that emerge within your narrative.  We can also support your essay by elaborating on your story, or we could amend our letter if the two documents become redundant.  

2.  Visit colleges, even if you don't have time to make an official tour.  Narrow down your list and, ideally, by September, have at least three to four colleges in which you intend to apply.

3.  If needed, create a college email that is separate from your personal email.  It may be useful to allow your parents to have the username and password to this account; about 99% of colleges' communication is entirely electronic, and if you're not consistently checking your email, you may miss essential information.  Your parents can keep you on track by monitoring your college email to see if anything is missing in your application file.

3.  Do some research to see what application(s) is/are required by your schools. Individual southern schools (e.g., Elon, Clemson, U Maryland, U of South Carolina, UT at Austin, U of Florida, James Madison University, and a few others) do not accept the Common App and instead, have signed on to the Coalition.  If you are a person driven by detail, check out the pros and cons of both apps.  My personal advice:  If all of your schools accept both applications, use the Common App; it is more intuitive and user-friendly.  

    After committing to an application, you can start to fill out your personal data, educational background, awards, and activities.  Additionally, add each college onto your account; for the Common App, perform a "College Search" to add schools onto "My Colleges" (see upper right).  For students using the Coalition, click on "Colleges" (see lower right).  Once this step is completed, you can note whether you'll need to write additional supplemental writing pieces for specific schools.  I suggest you should attempt to group topics to minimize the writing you'll need to produce.

4.  If you have an extensive list of extracurriculars (e.g., more than ten significant activities) consider making a resume; here is a clear, concise example, as well as tips on how to format it.  If you don't have more than ten activities, then don't waste your time duplicating your efforts by making a resume.  Most applications (including the Common App and the Coalition) have an "activities" section in which candidates can list roughly ten activities and five awards.  

5.  If you plan to re-take the SAT or ACT in the fall, try to sign up for the earliest test dates available (SAT/August, ACT/September).  You will likely have to go to each website (www.collegeboard.org or actstudent.org) by July/August to register.  Remember, statistics show that most students' scores will peak in the fall of their senior year due to maturity and brain development.  It can't hurt to try these tests again unless you are completely satisfied with your results from your junior year.

The puzzle of the holistic admissions process!

6.  At the end of August, email your teachers who have committed to write your letter of recommendation, and politely remind them of your first application deadline.  Most early deadlines in the Northeast are on November 1st; however, some southern colleges have deadlines on October 15th.

Above all, enjoy your summer and relish the freedom before you head into your senior year.  Try to keep a balance between preparing for college and spending time with friends and family.  Your senior year will fly by, so it is essential to make some high school memories while you have time.

Free College Course at MassBay Campus

If you or your child haven't made any plans for the summer, the counseling department recently learned of a wonderful opportunity from Elaine Rosenburg of MassBay Community College.  At the end of June, the school will offer a FREE 3-credit college course, Scripting (CS118), for current high school sophomores, juniors and seniors.  Students don’t need to have any prior experience, as the course introduces fundamental programming concepts, as well as teaching how to design and implement platform-independent scripts.  Additionally, students will learn to script for system-administration, database communication, and provide user-interactivity through the use of multimedia resources.  By the end of the course, students will have a concrete understanding of programming in several important scripting contexts.

The class will run on the MassBay Framingham Campus from June 24 – July 11, 2019, Monday – Thursday, 9:00 – 12:30, and students must commit to attending all of the days, as well as completing daily assignments.  To register, students must complete an application at this link.  When the application is received, Ms. Rosenburg will send the applicant a registration packet to enroll officially in the course.  For additional questions or concerns, please contact her at erosenburg@massbay.edu or at 781-239-3161.

"Colleges that Change Lives" Admissions Night

In the wake of the college admissions scandal, it can be challenging to trust one's instincts as a parent.  A mom myself, I always lament, "Should I have signed up my second-grader for the Spanish immersion program in his school?  Is he losing out?"  Parents are often tortured by self-doubt, and although the dilemmas we typically face are less benign than bribery or fraud.  Nevertheless, at our core is what we want most dearly:  to protect our children from a world that oftentimes makes no sense (especially during the college application process), and to give the best opportunities available to provide a happy, successful life for our beloved offspring.  Although this awareness begins at birth, it never ends, and it certainly reaches a crescendo during the high school years.

As such, I'm here to promote an event that may give you hope and a reality-check during the college application process.  When I first started at Hopkinton High in 2006, I was introduced to a book called, Colleges That Change Lives that changed my perspective on choosing a college.  According to author Loren Pope, "you don't have to be an "A" student to have a better-than-Ivy-college experience that will make you a smarter, better and more confident and effective person." He subsequently lists scores of hidden gems that are unrivaled in altering students' lives both intellectually, socially, and philosophically.  Moreover, his forty colleges profiled in the book claim that they are outdoing the Ivies and major universities in producing stellar students.  And, they do it not just among the A students who were admitted, but also those who earned Bs and Cs in high school.

Colleges That Change Lives now offers a national college fair, and their next stop will be in Boston on May 18th, 2019.  If you are interested, please visit their webpage and sign up to register; the event is completely free (parking excluded), and provides detailed information about the unparalleled opportunities that these post-secondary options afford. Additionally, some applicants from HHS often receive academic scholarships from these particular schools, especially when the student is willing to branch out and venture into different states that most Massachusetts residents do not consider.  For a college-bound student seeking curiosity and engagement, coupled with dynamic, caring professors, this event will be right up his/her alley.

College Essay Workshop for Seniors

Just a quick reminder, Thursday, May 2nd, is the final day to register for the English department's college essay summer sessions.  Please re-read the information from Mr. Bishop and Ms. Ellam, which was sent out to families on March 11, 2019:

Dear Parents & Guardians:

You are receiving this letter because you have a student who is completing his or her junior year at Hopkinton High School. As you know, in the next several months, your son or daughter may need to write a college essay. We would like to help your child accomplish that task during the summer months.

Essentially, we will spend part of the time teaching writing strategies, and part of the time teaching the students to use a process called descriptive feedback. This process will allow students to look closely at their own and others’ writing using a method that suspends judgment per se, but invites participants to first offer general impressions of a piece of writing and then offer several rounds of focused, increasingly analytic descriptions.  

Students should leave the workshop with two positive outcomes: the first will be a completed college essay, and the second will be an increased writing repertoire, including strategies for reviewing their own work. As for the instructors, we are excited to witness the ways in which students compose a piece and return recursively to their work.

If you are interested in having your student participate in this program, please have your child register in the school counseling office by Thursday, May 2.  Forms will be available in English classrooms, and a fee of $75.00 must be paid at registration as well as an indication of which session you’d like to attend.  Checks can be made out to Hopkinton Student Activities. If you have any questions, please contact our English Department Subject Matter Leader, Sarah Ellam, by email or phone at Hopkinton High School at sellam@hopkinton.k12.ma.us or (508) 497-9820.  Students must be available to attend all sessions in the week.  For a session to run, we will need fifteen students to register.    

Session I – June 24 - 28                      (10:00 – 11:30)

Session II – June 24 - 28                     (12:00 – 1:30)

Session III – June 24 - 28                    (2:00 – 3:30)

Session IV – July 29 - August 2           (1:00 – 2:30)

Please don't hesitate to reach out to Ms. Ellam or your child's school counselor if you have more questions.  This opportunity is certainly well worth it, especially for its affordability, so please capitalize upon it while you still have time!