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COLLEGE GUIDANCE NEWSLETTER
September 11, 2018
SENIORS:
The College Guidance team welcomed back the Class of 2019 to find that they are eager, engaged and focused on the college application process that lays ahead in the coming months. College Guidance classes for the seniors resumed in our very first cycle and we look forward to seeing all the seniors before the end of this week.

Our first order of business will be to meet with each senior individually to assess and support her at her personal place in the process. There is no one pathway or singular prescription for the college process and we are encouraging our seniors to be congenial and considerate of each other’s approaches and progress in the coming weeks. We fully recognize and validate the increasing stressors of this semester for the seniors, but we also hope to manage the process to effectively address their concerns and expectations.

As previously announced, Senior College Information Night for the Class of 2019 and their families is set for Monday evening, September 17 th . We highly encourage that each senior be represented at this informative presentation.

Our department is pleased to present, Exploring the College Admissions Landscape with Boston College on Thursday evening, October 4 th at 7:00 pm. This year we are delighted to welcome Ms. Susan Migliorisi, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Boston College to the podium. Ms. Migliorisi will share her professional insights and updates relative to the current trends and aspects of the college admissions process. The entire Sacred Heart Greenwich community is welcome to attend this valuable event.
ADMISSION REPRESENTATIVE VISITS:
JUNIORS:
The College Guidance Department whole-heartedly welcomes the Class of 2020 into the very early stages of the college process! Sacred Heart’s newly minted upperclassmen have begun to attend their College Guidance classes in Cycle I. Our juniors will explore key components of the college process in timely, manageable steps affording them the ability to be prepared to make informed decisions come senior year.

To support their introduction to the process we have a full complement of experiences and opportunities scheduled for the fall. Highlights include:

Optional PreACT Test –Saturday, September 29 th - 7:30 am.

Exploring the College Admissions Landscape with Boston College - Thursday, October 4 th at 7:00 pm. 

National PSAT-NMSQT Exam at Sacred Heart - Wednesday, October 10 th 

J unior College Information Night – Tuesday, November 13 th  at 7:00 pm. Juniors and their families are encouraged to attend.
UPCOMING COLLEGE EVENTS FOR ALL STUDENTS/FAMILIES IN THE UPPER SCHOOL:
Every Fall, the College Guidance office receives innumerable mailings with information about events being held at specific college campuses and in our area. Everything received is posted in the College Guidance suite, and we encourage students to come in and review the material for events which may be of particular interest to them. Much is for Juniors and Seniors but some, such as the events indicated below, also provide an opportunity for Freshmen and Sophomores to get a sense of different types of colleges and universities, while also learning a bit about the college admission process.
TESTING INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES
Creating a Test Plan is an important step in the college process.
gives a great overview on how to go about making a test plan that will be of most benefit to you as a college applicant. A meaningful test prep plan is one that is thoughtfully customized for you as an individual.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSIGHTS
Mrs. Gerrity and Mrs. Crane attended the NEACAC / NYSACAC Super Conference held at Marist College last June. This super conference was a blended effort between the two professional, collegiate bodies to bring together a large community of college admissions counselors, high school counselors and industry independents in broad-stroke discussion of the admissions process at large and the current state of affairs of higher education in our country. In her keynote address to the assembly, Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid and the Betrayal of the American Dream, set the tone with her frank and research-driven perspective regarding the alarming inequities present in our higher education system while issuing a clarion call to action for social justice and reforms across the industry.

In general, the over-arching position of the workshops attended by Mrs. Gerrity and Mrs. Crane, was the unified message that both sides of the desks at colleges and high schools are collectively addressing the issues of accessibility, affordability and opportunity across all sectors of the high school market. Regardless of the subject matter, these trends in discussion quickly rose to the surface in each workshop as topics reinforced the reality that there are many institutional priorities and directives driving an annual admissions cycle that have a direct impact on the numbers of students being accepted, the origins of students being accepted and the circumstances involving each applicant. All sums tolled, these factors are contributing to what we know to be a remarkably competitive landscape for high school students in America. The subject matter, of the many sessions that Mrs. Gerrity and Mrs. Crane attended, consistently pointed to and supported the fact that the education our students receive at Sacred Heart Greenwich, along with their meaningful endeavors, provide an important foundation as they go through the college process.