Monthly College Counseling Update: January 2024

Seniors

All semester transcripts have been sent to colleges that seniors still have an active application at (accept, defer, awaiting a decision). It is a good time for seniors to consider a point-of-contact with any schools they were deferred from, or are awaiting a decision. This communication can include semester grades if strong, application updates, and a message of continued interest. Last round of early action decisions should be reaching students in the next two weeks. ED2 decisions will probably be released in mid-February at most schools. Regular decision applicants and students who were deferred in EA and ED can expect final decisions throughout the month of March. We recently shared our deferral guide as a reference and will also share waitlist information when those decisions are shared. As a reminder, all possible decisions, and the recommended healthy responses to these decisions, were discussed in College Seminar class. 

 

Also, the new-FAFSA is accessible. The release was not a huge success. No matter, if a family is applying for financial aid the form should be completed in January. Schools will probably not be able to award based upon FAFSA information until at least mid-February, perhaps later. This is not the fault of universities, it is completely a Department of Education issue. 

 

Juniors

We’ve now had two-plus college seminar classes with the junior class. We’ve done a lot of introspection and reflection. In the coming cycles we will begin to project forward and ask juniors to identify fit-factors and priorities in their search. 

 

All junior introduction meetings have been completed. Class of 2025, thank you for your attention to this requirement and kudos for getting it done. Family meeting registration will be mailed out in a couple weeks with meetings starting on February 21st. We have two Virtual Junior Parent Coffee webinars prior to meetings to answer questions for families about the meeting, the college search process, and any uncertainty about anything college. On February 15th there is an 8:10 AM Coffee and a 6:30 PM Coffee.  Please use the links to register. 

 

Sophomores

We visited Work Periods this cycle to provide students CIALFO access. Students are required to complete a short worksheet and two personality inventories in CIALFO as homework. 

 

February 7th - Special Schedule #2 and during Liturgy time slot each class will have different programming:

February 15th - Virtual Junior Parent College Coffees at 8:10 AM and 6:30 PM

March 13th - Why Engineering? 6:30 PM (in-person)

March 20th - Junior Career Day