Class of 2018 Newsletter
July 2017

​Mark your calendars for the​ College Counseling Office's​ Senior & Parent Breakfast which will be held on August 29th at 8:00 a.m. in the Lumen Center. Please plan to attend this breakfast for seniors and their parents to kick off the school year. Our guest speaker will be Calvin Wise, Director of Recruitment at Johns Hopkins University. Please RSVP to Ms. Sawyer at vsawyer@gilman.edu.

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
  
• Create a Common Application and/or Coalition Application account
  
• Have a draft of your Common Application essay and/or Coalition Application essay submitted to your college counselor
  
• Book an appointment with your college counselor for early September; appointments can be booked using the links provided at the end of the newsletter
  
• Register for the August 26 SAT and/or the September 9 ACT  

Monthly Focus

Summer Application Essay Workshop

This summer Dr. Harris, Ms. Follensbee, Mr. Herman, and Mr. Baker will offer a week-long essay workshop designed to help you complete a significant amount of essay work within one week. The program will have two sessions: August 14-18 and August 21-25. Both weeks run from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Register now.

Standardized Test Prep

A reminder: Online test prep is available for the SAT and the ACT. The SAT test prep is free and can be accessed through Kahn Academy. Various forms of ACT online test prep are offered for a fee by the ACT and can be purchased here.

Campus Visits and Interviews

Please visit our website for helpful tips and guidance on having 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. As he notes, when "colleges 'recommend' or 'highly recommend' an admissions interview… [they] really, really, really want to get to know students on a personal level, and expect that you will take them up on the admissions interview and will find it useful." Thus, please schedule an interview at colleges that offer such an opportunity.

Demonstrated Interest

Please take some time to read the following blog post from our colleague at William Penn Charter School on the importance of demonstrated interest at some colleges: The Lowdown on Demonstrated Interest. Visiting a campus, signing up for an interview, and connecting with a school's regional admission officer -- in appropriate and thoughtful ways -- can "demonstrate your interest" in a school. As Ms. Sweeney notes, at colleges that track demonstrated interest, "admissions officers may be more apt to admit the applicant who has connected with the institution than the one who has not, even if both students are admissible."     

The Coalition Application

Some Gilman students will be submitting a Coalition Application to one or more colleges. For example, if you plan on applying to the University of Maryland, please note that you will only be able to submit an application to UMCP through the Coalition Application. Here is a full list of the over 90 schools that will accept the Coalition Application. Also, here are the essay prompts for the Coalition Application. If you have questions about the Coalition Application as it relates to your list of schools, please be in touch with your college counselor.

NCAA Eligibility Center

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

For Your Consideration

As a college professor, New Yorker staff writer Louis Menand was occasionally asked by his students, "Why do we have to read this book?" Reflecting on that very valid question, Menand offers this take on why college matters -- Live and Learn: Why We Have College.  

Looking for something to read at the beach? We recommend 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.

Lastly, in the spirit of our mission "to produce men of character and integrity" we suggest you read this recent article about Harvard's decision to revoke admission of students who posted offensive material on social media. Remember, nothing online is private. "Be Gilman" regardless of the medium.

Contact the CCO