Sophomore Year
Students take PSATs in the fall.
In January, students and parents meet with college counseling staff. Staff provides information on end-of-year standardized testing, assigns students to visit one college before the end of the year, discourages students and parents from a premature focus on college, and encourages students to follow their personal passions.
Junior Year
In the fall, college counseling staff holds informational evening for parents. Importance of continuing focus on high school is emphasized. Students take PSATs a second time.
College Night kicks off second semester. Counseling staff introduces students and parents to the college guidance calendar, outlines areas of responsibility, and answers questions about the process.
Students receive college counseling handbooks and begin a series of writing assignments designed to help them discover who they are and what they want in a college.
Counseling staff meets with each junior to discuss college options and review testing schedules and strategies. Students receive a customized list of colleges to research.
In February, weekly college counseling classes begin.
In April, deans of admission representing roughly twenty colleges and universities from across the nation present a case studies program (cosponsored by Prep, Webb, Westridge, and Polytechnic). The deans lead groups of students and parents in a discussion of four sample application files. The evening ends with a college fair for the participants.
In May, counselors meet with those parents who wish to do so.
Senior Year
College counselors are available to seniors and parents beginning in late August.
Parents attend an evening coffee at which the Director of College Counseling addresses important issues for the fall.
Seniors are required to meet with their college counselors within the first six weeks of school.
Weekly college counseling classes help seniors with their essays and applications and provide answers to college-related questions.
In November, college counselors evaluate the college list of each senior in light of that student's grades, scores, strengths, and activities to insure that each student has a balanced list in terms of admission opportunities. Parents are asked to sign off on these lists.
The Assistant Director of College Counseling drafts a letter of recommendation for each senior based on the information gathered from student assignments, faculty evaluations, and peer and parent comments. Based on these drafts and personal contact with each student, college counselors write recommendations designed to distinguish each student from others in an applicant pool.
From mid-September through mid-November, more than eighty college representatives visit the campus to recruit students.
College counselors remain available to seniors throughout the second semester, helping them with college decisions and the emotional highs and lows of notification by the colleges.
In May, seniors and parents gather for the annual Senior Celebration, where the prospective graduates announce their college destinations.