College Advising Timetable

Winter Term

Course for Juniors: late January

A required course for juniors about the college admissions/application process will meet in January. Juniors will be divided into small groups and are scheduled for the course during free periods. We will explore the various factors that can influence college choice, such as location, size, proximity to a city, relative degrees of competitiveness and selectivity, and the availability of special programs or facilities. We will introduce them to Naviance and give them their password for this internet database so they can begin researching colleges. We will also touch on essay writing, testing, interviews, recommendations, visiting schools, how admission officers make their decisions, and any other concerns which the students in each group may have. In this meeting we will stress the tremendous variety of colleges and the fact that the search must be an individual one. By explaining the process in great detail during the junior year, we hope to make each student feel comfortable with this new responsibility and encourage rational, intelligent decisions during the senior year. We are starting now so that the student has time to digest a significant amount of information and thoroughly complete a sensible exploration of colleges, a task that is very often time consuming. Begun now and pursued diligently, the process need not compromise a student’s academic performance during the junior or senior year. As you might expect, it is imperative for students to attend the workshop, for we plan to cover important material, after which each student will be required to complete a Spring Information Form which will guide us in the advising process.

Meeting for Parents: mid-January

Long Winter Weekend and Spring Vacation

This is a good time to make preliminary college visits while college students are on campus. Admissions offices will be in the thick of their meetings and thus tours and information sessions may be limited, but a visit to nearby colleges may help your child begin to think about what type of college he or she might be interested in and why. If possible, visit a larger university and a smaller, perhaps more rural college outside of New England to give your child some sense of the variety of colleges there are to choose from. Students will be assigned randomly to specific advisors in February; assignments will be posted on the window outside our office. Each advisor will work with a cross-section of the class.

Late Winter Term and Spring Term

As students complete their Spring Information Forms, we shall begin having individual interviews with each junior. After an interview or two we will come up with a list of fifteen to twenty institutions which will satisfy some or all of that student’s requirements, and give our estimations of the student’s chances of admission to particular colleges, using the rough categories: “30% or less,” “50-50,” and “70% or greater.” When the list has been compiled, we will discuss our suggestions with the student, and send a copy of the list to parents. It is then up to each student and his or her family to research these schools as fully as possible, attempting to be realistic about the student’s qualifications and needs. For those of you able to visit Deerfield for Spring Weekend (typically early May) there will be a time set aside for us to get together, by appointment. Each year we invite an outside expert to speak to the parents of juniors to offer insights into how a student should approach the task of choosing a college and how the college admission process works. That same weekend, we will host a college fair for approximately 75 college representatives. Advisors are also available at other times by appointment.

Summer

While websites and catalogues can be of some help, visiting colleges is highly recommended. In consideration of the possible expenditure of $50,000 – $200,000 for a college education over the next four years, the time and money spent in touring colleges seems a reasonable investment. In addition, more and more colleges are measuring student interest in making admissions decisions, especially at some of the less selective schools. Colleges have their welcome mats out over the summer. Plan an itinerary and call ahead as early as possible for tours and interviews. It is also a good idea to meet with coaches if a student’s athletic prowess in any particular sport might play a part in a college’s admission decision. Be certain to see those schools that are in the 50-50 and 70% or greater range, as well as those schools listed as 30% or less. Unfortunately, students are oftentimes not on campus in the summer, and they are the key to what makes a college. Most colleges are in session by the end of August so that is a good time to visit, if possible. Please plan to make college visits a priority in your planning for the summer, because it is the policy of the Academy NOT to excuse students from their academic commitments for the purpose of visiting colleges during the school year.

Fall

Next fall we shall ask for another Information Form and conduct another round of individual interviews in order to share the thinking that has taken place over the summer. At that time your child will narrow the list of colleges to which he or she will apply. (In past years the average number has been eight.) Throughout the fall, Deerfield will be visited by representatives of college admissions offices. Most of these sessions will be held in groups, a few will be individual interviews–some are used as selective measures, most are simply informational. It is the student’s responsibility to see those representatives when they are on campus and to arrange with teachers to be excused from class when necessary.

Weekends (especially the Fall Weekend holiday) and Thanksgiving vacation can be used for further college visiting if appointments are scheduled well in advance. But students will need to use time in the fall to write their applications so don’t postpone too many college visits. Consider your Thanksgiving vacation plans carefully. Students will need plenty of free time in which to work on college applications while they’re away from Deerfield.

Any student wishing to apply on any type of early plan (with an application deadline before January 1) will need to let us know his or her intentions by October 1st, so that we will have time to complete our paperwork in support of that application. Otherwise, students will present a firm list of colleges to which they are applying the week before leaving for Thanksgiving vacation.