College Counseling
Newsletter
May 18, 2021

Dear Upper School Families,

The end of the year is nearly here! I wanted to use this last College Counseling Newsletter of the year to talk about summer activities for students.

I often get questions about what students should do during their summers. The answer is surprisingly simple: students should do things that are meaningful to them. Examples include getting a part-time job, attending a summer program, doing community service, or helping out at home. These experiences will provide them not only with a restful and meaningful summer, but they will also provide content for their college application essays.

I also wanted to highlight the two college-focused Summer Programs that I will be hosting at Oakcrest this summer.

The College Essays Workshop is a great opportunity for rising 11th & 12th grade students to work on their personal essay writing skills. Writing about yourself can feel a bit awkward. I will take this time to introduce some tips and tricks of writing personal statements and essays.

This is a great workshop for rising seniors as it is a chance to finish your Common Application personal statement, while also getting ahead on how to answer each college's supplemental essay questions. I encourage our rising seniors who have not yet finished their Common App essays to look into this workshop!

Rising juniors will also gain valuable skills for how to write these personal essays, preparing themselves for college applications and scholarship essays in the future.

The SAT Prep Course is a class focused on the skills of standardized test taking. Learning practical test-taking skills will yield results for the SAT as well as other standardized tests you may take in the future. This course is a great way for rising 10th, 11th and 12th grade students to prepare themselves to take the SAT in the coming year.

Even if you do not have a test scheduled, these are skills that you will gain for a later testing date. This course will be taught by an experienced test prep educator from Educational Connections, a premier provider of SAT and ACT prep. Their highly-credentialed tutors specialize in research-based strategies that help students build and strengthen their test-taking skills and tackle the SAT with confidence. Daily homework will be assigned to strengthen skills and two mock SAT tests will be administered online; one before and one after the course to track results.

Thank you for a fantastic first year at Oakcrest and I look forward to the 2021-2022 School Year!

All the best,

Miranda Johnson
Director of College Counseling
Congratulations Class of 2021!
Who: Class of 2021
What: Our graduating seniors have been admitted into 86 different universities around the country, including Columbia University, the United States Coast Guard Academy, Cornell University, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, and Georgia Institute of Technology. You can find the full list on Oakcrest's website!
Paying for College
Resource Page
Who: Rising 10th, 11th, & 12th grades
Where: NACAC Website
What: NACAC has compiled this list of trusted, up-to-date sources to help your students and their families navigate the financial aid process.
Reminder: Scholarships & Summer Opportunities on OakcrestConnect
Who: Juniors & Seniors
Where: OakcrestConnect College Counseling Groups
What: Any scholarships opportunities or external summer programs that are sent to me will be posted on OakcrestConnect. Please check it weekly for any new opportunities!
Upcoming Deadlines and Dates
6/5 Class of 2021 Commencement!
6/14 - 6/18: College Essays Workshop with Mrs. Johnson
6/18: Registration deadline for July 17 ACT
6/21 - 7/1: SAT Prep Course with Mrs. Johnson & Educational Connections