When do you begin to prepare students for life after school? Does it have to include selecting a college or university?
Lindsay Kafitz: We begin to prepare students for their future the minute they enter school. Some of the crucial soft skills they learn in reception and primary school set students up for success later in life.
When it comes to university, we begin working with our students in Year 10. We meet with the students early on in the academic year to talk about how universities consider grades all the way back to Year 10. This is when we also talk about the importance of being involved in extracurricular activities and summer opportunities, in order to help their chances with college selection. We begin to build a college list for students in the spring of Year 12. This gives college counsellors enough time to get to know their students, and enough time for students to develop without the pressure of drawing up a college list.
Ruth Lahnston: We begin working with students in Grade Nine. In Grade 10 students spend time exploring potential careers and what type of job opportunities interest them. At Windermere Preparatory School (WPS) we see the choices our students make change dramatically and quickly. If they say they want to go into medicine for example, we know that by the time they’re about to leave school they may end up choosing something completely different.
As students move into Grade 11, students focus more on selecting and applying for college or university. They look at certain schools that offer particular subjects or majors. They may want to narrow down on the type and size of college, and then the college selection piece comes at the end of their junior year, which is when they begin applying to those schools.
When guiding students on selecting a college or university what factors do you look at when matching them to the right school?
Kafitz: Building a college list with students is my favourite part of this job. When we build a college list, we focus on finding the right fit for each individual student. There are a lot of factors that are at play here. Firstly, academic fit. Do the student’s grades, curriculum and test scores fall within the chosen college’s range? Does the student learn best in smaller discussion-based classrooms or do they prefer to learn in large lectures? What do they want to study? Does this college offer the right course? Secondly, location. Does the student want to stay in the US for college or do they want to go abroad? Then we find out does the student prefer to be in a smaller setting or an urban environment? We ask what kind of social environment suits them and what sports are important, as well as the college fees and if we need to consider colleges with a lower price tag or colleges that offer generous merit aid or scholarships?
Having worked in college admissions and college counselling for more than 12 years, I think it helps to visit as many college campuses as possible. While one college may be perfect on paper, it might not feel right when they visit the campus in person.
Lahnston: In the beginning students, especially international students, come to us saying 'I'm going to a top 50 school', not really understanding why. As they spend time at WPS they meet more than 150 representatives from different universities that come to the school. They listen to them speak, or they go and visit colleges. The following year they may say they would like to look at Harvard, and Boston University because of a certain course.
The third year they might say: ‘I found this school called Emerson. It’s in downtown Boston and I'll apply to Harvard and I'll apply to Boston University, but I'm really excited about this small school, and it's in line with what I want to study’. The more time they spend with us the more they transform, and they start to understand what ranking is, what does that means to them and their goals and interests. They think about what these schools are really doing for them as far as internships, job placements and other opportunities.