Photo courtesy of Harold Melamed
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Introducing the Blake
College Counseling Program
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Blake's college counseling program is designed to support each phase of the student's college search process: exploration, selection, application, and the transition to college.
Students enter the college counseling program in the junior year and receive comprehensive education about the college process. Through the fall Junior College Seminar students are introduced to each phrase of the college search process. Juniors learn how colleges review student files and determine admission. The Seminar teaches students to use various resources (written, computer, the internet), familiarizes them with standardized testing, and builds understanding of the student's role in the college counseling process.
In grades nine and ten, students and parents are guided by their grade Dean, who is available to answer program and testing questions. All sophomores take the October Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test (PSAT), which provides practice for the junior PSAT, the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Sophomore parents are invited to Sophomore Parent Dessert with the Dean where they are introduced to Blake's college counseling program.
Parents of juniors are invited to the MISP College Fair, The National College Fair, Junior Parent College Night, Financial Aid Information Night, college information For Athletes Only Night, and the Junior Parent Breakfast.
Programs offered to senior parents include the college fairs, Financial Aid, and Athletes Only, as well as the fall Senior Parent College Night. In the spring, the College Counselors and Erin Adams partner with the Dean to discuss the transition from high school to college during the Spring Coffee with the Dean.
Students and their families begin meeting individually with their College Counselor second semester junior year. These meetings focus attention on the student's specific needs. The College Counselor guides each student and his/her family through the now familiar phases of the college search process: exploration, selection, application and the transition to college.
Following are our commitments to you as your College Counselors:
- We will assist you in defining, clarifying, and prioritizing your needs and desires as they relate to the search for appropriate college possibilities.
- We will suggest colleges reflecting the criteria you have outlined for yourself.
- In your best interest, we will review, discuss, and, occasionally, urge changes or additions to your final college list.
- We will serve as a resource for you about planning a college trip and preparing an essay to be included in an application.
- We will support your candidacy at the college to which you apply, principally through a positive, yet credible, school recommendation, but also through other contacts and communications when appropriate.
- We will give you guidance about your academic program for the senior year.
- We will welcome communication with you and your parents, as we proceed through the college search process.
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