The College Advising Schedule

Junior Year

Winter Term:

A required course for juniors about decision-making and the college admissions/application process begins meeting in January. Juniors are divided into small groups and are scheduled for the course during free periods. Together, college advisors and students explore the various factors that can influence college choice, such as location, size, proximity to a city, relative degrees of competitiveness and selectivity, and the availability of special programs or facilities. We also discuss essay writing, testing, interviews, recommendations, visiting schools, how admission officers make their decisions, and any other concerns. By explaining the process in great detail during the junior year, we hope to make each student feel comfortable with this new responsibility and encourage rational, intelligent decisions during the senior year. We begin early so that the student has time to digest a significant amount of information and thoroughly complete a sensible exploration of colleges, a task that is very often time consuming. Begun in the junior year and pursued diligently, the process need not compromise a student's academic performance during their junior or senior year. It is imperative for students to attend the workshop because important material is covered, after which each student is given an information sheet to fill out, which guides them in the advising process.

Long Winter Weekend and Spring Vacation:

This is a good time to make preliminary college visits. A visit to nearby colleges may help you begin to think about what type of college you might be interested in and why. If possible, visit a larger university and a smaller, perhaps more rural college outside of New England to give you some sense of the variety of colleges there are to choose from. Students are assigned to specific advisors in February.

Spring Term:

As students complete their spring information sheets, we begin having individual interviews with each junior. After a meeting or two, we will come up with a list of fifteen to twenty institutions that will satisfy some or all of that student's requirements, and give our estimations of his or her chances of admission to particular colleges, using the rough categories: "30% or less," "50-50," and "70% or greater." When the list has been compiled, we will discuss our suggestions with the student, and send a copy of the list to his or her parents. It is then up to each student and his or her family to research these schools as fully as possible, attempting to be realistic about the student’s qualifications and needs. For those of you able to visit Deerfield for Spring Weekend there will be a time set aside for us to get together, by appointment. Each year we invite an outside expert to speak to the parents of juniors to offer insights into how a student should approach the task of choosing a college and how the college admission process works. That same weekend, we host a college fair for approximately 75 college representatives. College Advisors are also available at other times by appointment.

Summer:

While websites and catalogues can be of some help, visiting colleges is highly recommended. In consideration of the possible expenditure of $35,000 - $150,000 for a college education over the next four years, the time and money spent in touring colleges seems a reasonable investment. Colleges have their welcome mats out over the summer; plan an itinerary and call ahead as early as possible for tours and interviews. It is also a good idea to meet with coaches if a student's athletic prowess in any particular sport might play a part in a college's admission decision. Be certain to see those schools that are in the 50-50 and 70% or greater range, as well as those schools listed as 30% or less. Unfortunately, students are usually not on campus in the summer, and they are the key to what makes a college. Most colleges are in session by the end of August. Please plan to make college visits a priority in your planning for the summer, because it is the policy of the Academy NOT to excuse students from their academic commitments for the purpose of visiting colleges during the school year.

Senior Year

Fall:

In the fall we ask for another information sheet and conduct another round of individual meetings in order to share the thinking that has taken place over the summer. At that time you will narrow the list of colleges to which you will apply. (In past years the average number has been eight.) Throughout the fall, Deerfield will be visited by representatives of college admission offices. Most of these sessions will be held in groups, a few will be individual interviews—some are used as selective measures, most are simply informational. It is your responsibility to see those representatives when they are on campus and to arrange with teachers to be excused from class when necessary.

Weekends and Holidays:

Weekends and Holidays (especially the Fall Weekend holiday to attend to college business) and Thanksgiving vacation can be used for further college visiting if appointments are scheduled well in advance. However, you will need to use time in the fall to write your applications, so don't postpone too many college visits. Consider your Thanksgiving vacation plans carefully; students will also need plenty of free time to work on college applications while they're away from Deerfield.

 

Any student wishing to apply for any type of early plan (with an application deadline before January 1) will need to let us know his or her intentions by October 1, so that we will have time to complete our paperwork in support of that application. Otherwise, students will present a firm list of colleges to which they are applying the week before leaving for Thanksgiving vacation.