What Juniors Can Tackle Over Winter Break
Have a junior at home? Winter Break is a great opportunity to set aside some time and have an open dialogue with your high-schooler when it comes to college planning. We’ve included some information to help you get started:
What Your Junior Can Tackle Over Winter Break:
Grade Check-In: Take stock of what’s working and what’s not? With our juniors, we perform a weekly grade audit. This means logging onto their grade platform and taking inventory of grade trends and patterns. In which classes do grades remain consistent? In which classes do we see a lot of fluctuation? Where have grades been improving? What can be contributing to that trend? Conversely, where have we seen grades drop? What’s the story there? Having a calm and open conversation with your junior about grades consistently and routinely can help lay the groundwork going into senior year. Your high-schooler will not be blindsided by the conversation and you’re instituting a healthy and consistent check-in system that still allows for personal responsibility blended with accountability. If you’re noticing dipping trends in any classes, now is the time to dig in. Do you want to explore tutoring options? Can you help support your junior at home by modifying the after-school homework schedule? How can you help your student adjust his/her test prep routine? Can he/she get in touch with the teacher for additional support or tutorial? Building those communication skills and metacognitive approach to grades and studying will pay off in the long-run.
Standardized Testing Roadmap: Traditionally, Spring Semester is where we recommend that juniors develop a clear-cut testing blueprint. With our WLG juniors, we administer mock SAT and ACT tests during their Fall Semester to get a pulse on testing preference. While we do examine how scores compare, we are also interested in the anecdotal feedback from students re: testing format, sequencing, timing, etc. That way, in the Spring, we can help students register and plan for their chosen standardized test. Winter Break is the perfect excuse to spend some time on CollegeBoard.com or ACTStudent.org and find some tests to register for. We recommend anywhere from 8-12 weeks of consistent test prep (again, this approach widely depends on the student’s particular strengths, areas for improvement, etc), but that’s a standard rule of thumb as you preview testing dates.
“Light” College Research: Take some time (with your student) to develop a “High and Wide” college list. We subscribe to this approach because it lends itself to an open dialogue as your student is encouraged to explore a variety of school types, locations, and niches. At this point in the process, we recommend that students have anywhere from 15-20 schools on their High and Wide College List (we always whittle this down later into the spring and into summer!) Next, we send students to the Internet. Putting students directly in the driver seat of the search process gives them some ownership into this process. Help your students learn how to navigate each school’s website, hunting for elements that are important to them (student culture, location, admissions requirements, major tracks, course offerings, etc.).
We firmly believe that by starting early, we can help alleviate some stress and anxiety when it comes to the college search process.