Senior Newsletter
July 2016

We hope your summer is off to a great start! Please note that the CCO is open for much of the summer, and the college counselors are checking email regularly. We encourage you and your family to keep in touch with our office as you conduct campus visits, narrow your college list, and start working on your essays.

Summer Checklist

By the end of August, please attend to the following: 

• Complete all campus visits and interviews for colleges that will receive an application
  
• Have a draft of your Common Application essay and/or Coalition Application essay submitted to your college counselor
  
• Set an appointment with your college counselor for early September
  
• Plan on attending the Senior-Parent Breakfast on August 30; formal invitations will go out over the summer
  
• Register for the September ACT and/or the October SAT

Monthly Focus

Reminder: Summer Application Essay Workshop

This summer Dr. Harris and Mr. Ahlgren will offer a week-long essay workshop. The program will have two sessions: August 15-19 and August 22-26. Both weeks run from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Register now; enrollment is capped at 30 students per session.

Old and New SAT Scores

For students curious to see how old and new SAT scores compare, please make use of this College Board Score Converter tool. Many colleges are still determining exactly how they will use new and old SAT scores. Generally, most colleges will superscore (use best individual numbers) within the old and within the new tests, but will not superscore across new and old tests.

Free Online Test Prep

A reminder: Online test prep is available for the SAT and the ACT. The SAT prep is free and can be accessed here. The ACT online test prep can be accessed here.

Campus Visits and Interviews

Please visit our CCO website for helpful tips and guidance on making a successful campus visit and interview. This recent blog post by the Vice President of Enrollment at Augustana College ​addresses what to do when colleges "recommend" an interview.

Gilman CCO Facebook Page

The CCO will keep families informed about admission stories and higher ed trends around the nation via our Facebook page. We also include updates on events happening around campus. LIKE us today!

NCAA Eligibility Center 

Those considering playing NCAA Division I or II athletics need to begin their initial eligibility at the NCAA Eligibility Center. This process must be started this month. Our office will submit your transcript once you have registered.

For Your Consideration

Often, supplemental essays ask the applicant "why" he is applying to that particular college. An applicant can often easily determine that he desires a school, but articulating why can be one of the most difficult portions of the application. As colleges look to gauge your interest in their institution, the ability to convey why you are attracted to a school can be a very important admission factor. We look forward to working with the rising seniors on this component of the application. For now, we recommend that both seniors and parents read this article by Louis Menand. While reading, we hope that the students begin to formulate an answer to the challenging question: "Why am I going to college?" which will then help them evaluate why they are interested in specific colleges.

We also recommend the book Academically Adrift, a revealing and sometimes alarming profile of what students are actually learning in college. A helpful and interesting review of the book can be found here.

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