An Event Open to the Public:

Inside the College Admission Process: An Evening with Jacques Steinberg

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 7:30pm at Westfield High School

Mr. Steinberg is the author of “The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College,” a New York Times bestseller. The book is being reissued on its tenth anniversary, in fall 2012, with a new afterword. Mr.Steinberg has been a staff reporter for The New York Times for more than two decades and is currently the newspaper’ senior editor for education initiatives. Mr. Steinberg moderates The Choice, The NY Times' college admissions blog, which he created for the NY Times in spring 2009.

 

All Prep seniors have been given a copy in his group guidance course!

Please visit the Westfield PTSO website for registration information: http://www.westfieldnjk12.org/education/dept/dept.php?sectiondetailid=9011&

Quick Tips When Writing Your College Essay

The essay is the most personal piece to a college application. It is the students chance to really state his case, use his voice, and tell the admission team additional information about himself that cannot be found on the application. Here are a few quick tips to remember when writing a college essay.

·         Be Honest

·         Use Your Voice – ask someone who knows you best “Does this essay sound like me?” The admissions team will be able to tell the difference between a 17 or 18 year olds voice and that of a 40 year old.

·         Do not repeat information that can be found in your application. Give the admission counselor something new to consider about your application.

·         Proofread and Get a Second Opinion – Typos and Poor Grammar will be noticed

·         Be Passionate – Odds are if you are not interested in the topic you are writing about, your admission counselor is not going to be interested when reading it.

 

Need Inspiration? Check out some sample essays below:

http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/essays.html
http://www.conncoll.edu/admission/essays-that-worked.htm

Mrs. Sarah Morissette, M. Ed.
Junior/Senior Counselor

Greetings from Denver!

Back from an amazing week in Denver, Colorado attending the2012 NACAC National Convention. NACAC stands for the National Association of College Admission Counselors. Admissions counselors from all over the world attended to promote their schools and share ideas regarding higher education. High school counselors, like myself, were treated to sessions ranging from NCAA and the student athlete to tips on writing the best letters of recommendation. It was a three day marathon of all things college.

One of the highlights of the trip out west for me was a visit to Regis University, a Jesuit university just outside of downtown Denver.  http://www.regis.edu/   I, along with my fellow Prep counselors Joe Giglio and Yetunde Rubenstein, joined counselors from every other Jesuit high school and college, including Georgetown, Fordham and Loyola Maryland to network and share ideas surrounding our students. Regis U is an amazing campus – I had the best time on their tour and am slightly jealous of the students currently attending. I can’t wait to plan my next trip back to Colorado, and look forward to seeing all of my higher ed. friends again really soon.

Sarah Morissette, M. Ed.

Junior/Senior Counselor

A New School Year Begins!

The 2012-13 school year is underway at Grand & Warren!

There are some changes in the college counseling department.  Mr. Korfmacher has moved on to a position at Xavier High School in Manhattan (one of our brother Jesuit schools in NYC).   He plans to continue blogging in his new role, so you can expect a link in the future on this site!

We have two new counselors.  Ms. Yetunde Daniels Rubinstein comes on board as our Associate Director of Guidance and College Counseling and Ms. Sarah Morissette will work with juniors and seniors as a guidance counselor.

Yetunde is a familiar face at Prep, having previously been a member of the guidance department (2005-09) and Sarah joins us from the Laurel Springs School. Both bring college admission experience with them.

Starting this year we will be submitting transcripts electronically through Naviance and e-docs (Docufide).  This will allow us to see receipt of documents online for all participating colleges.

Remember, you can follow our office via twitter @PrepGuidance.

http://twitter.com/PrepGuidance

Farewell From Prep...But Not Gone!

I wanted to take this moment to say farewell to all of the people I worked with at Saint Peter’s Prep. As most of you know, I have taken a position at Xavier High School in their college counseling department. For all of you that have followed my college information blog since its conception in January, I truly do thank you. With thousands and thousands of site views, I have been assured that this blog has been helpful for many parents and students as they navigate through the college search and application process. Since the blog has been successful, I will be continuing the blog on my own. The blog’s title has changed slightly to ‘Mr. K’s College Knowledge’. The new college knowledge blog can be found by clicking this link: Mr. K’s College Knowledge. Once again, thank you so much for utilizing my blog and I hope I can continue to support you and many others during the college admissions process.

-Mr. Joseph D. Korfmacher, MASC

Prep Blog Taking a Break...But First, Some Summer Reminders!

Summer break is right around the corner, and just as students and teachers are taking some much needed rest, Prep’s College Knowledge Blog will be doing the same. As this is the first year of the blog, I am sure there are improvements that can be made. I know this information has been helpful to a multitude of parents and students, and I want to continue its success for many years to come. So to make this blog as helpful as it can be, please feel free to email Mr. Joseph Korfmacher at korfmacherj@spprep.org with any suggestions for future posts and any other comments you may have. I will be sure to post periodically throughout the summer with important announcements and helpful tips for the upcoming college application season, but posts will be less frequent.

For rising juniors and seniors, here are some final reminders of what to do during the summer in regards to the college process…

·         Visit colleges

·         Research schools and their programs/majors

·         Work on your college essay

·         Begin to develop your college list (6-8 schools)

·         Begin to search for scholarships

·         Start saving money

·         Stay active and involved (summer job, club, travel, research, etc.)

·         Starting in August-Create a CommonApplication account and start working on it

·         Continue to prepare for the SATs, ACTs, and SAT Subject Tests

·         Take some time to relax! Once September hits, the college craziness will ensue!

Thank you again so much for visiting Prep’s first ever college information blog! I hope to make the blog better and better, and I truly do appreciate all of your support!! Have a great summer and the blog will be back fulltime in August!

Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

U-CAN...Visit One More Website!

Although I am sure that the parents out there with children in high school have heard of all of the college search websites including CollegeBoard, Naviance, and College Prowler, and you may not want to see another option with even more information, but part of my job is to get AS MUCH information out there as possible…so here is another extremely helpful college search resource: U-CAN. U-CAN stands for University and College Accountability Network.

What makes U-CAN different from other college search sites is that it is exclusive to the nation’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities. Since there are far fewer schools this resource concentrates on, they are able to provide much more detailed and up-to-date information on independent colleges and universities. On the profiles for each college, U-CAN provides parents and students information points across the following areas:

·         Admissions

·         Enrollment

·         Graduation Rates

·         Most Popular Majors

·         Price of Attendance History

·         Financial Aid

·         Loan Debt

·         Specific class room size numbers

·         And Others

The other really cool feature to this website is that each college profile provides around 26 links to specific pages on the college’s website. This is extremely helpful, as it is often difficult to navigate college websites and find the information you need. Finally, this site provides the latest news stories on choosing a college…which I encourage you all to read…as long as you continue to visit this blog too! Enjoy the site and visit it by clicking on the U-CAN website.

Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA