Practical Advice for High School Juniors From Pingry's Director of College Counseling Tim Lear

Dear High School Juniors:

You are next in line to begin the college process.  Here is some practical planning advice for next's year adventure.

Regards,

Tim Lear

Director of College Counseling
The Pingry School

Five Tips for High School Juniors: 

1) Focus on your classes! Your transcript is the first and last thing a college admissions officer will look at, and how you perform now (and on your final exams) is critical. 

2) Participate in your classes (and get involved in your school community). Since most colleges require students to submit one or two teacher recommendations along with their applications, you want to end your academic year on a high note and provide your recommenders with lots of examples of your leadership, generosity, curiosity, work ethic etc. Quality is more important than quantity, so you don't need to become the most vocal kid in class -- you do, however, have to make sure you are involved and heard.

3) You should have a standardized testing plan in place by now, and following through (whether on APs, Subject Tests, SATs, or ACTs) is important. Over the summer make sure to evaluate your winter and spring scores and set a fall testing schedule as soon as possible. With that in mind, what sort of preparation are you doing to raise your scores and reach your goals? 

4) What are you doing this summer to grow as a person and help your application stand out? While catching up on episodes of Mad Men and The Walking Dead sounds nice, especially after a stressful year, you might also want to consider working, volunteering, exercising, and reading too. (Baby-sitting isn't a bad way to earn spending money, and with three kids under the age of 7 I'm always on the lookout for help ;)

5) Continue working on your college list and, believe it or not, start working on your college essays. After reviewing your final junior year grades, standardized test scores, and senior year curriculum, you should re-evaluate your list of schools and ask yourself how realistic it is. Do you have too many reaches? Have you really considered a diverse group of schools, some with admit rates over 30%? Does it make sense to make some campus visits and start interviewing now, before senior year starts? The Common Application is now live, and you should begin filling it out and reflecting on what you want to say about yourself. Work through several drafts and don't rush this part of the process -- writing (especially about yourself) is hard work, and students rarely find their voice (or appropriate topic) right away.  

This summer, The Pingry School is offering a new summer academic program, "REACH," to provide the ultimate jump-start to college preparation for 11th and 12th grade high school students seeking to utilize the summer to embark upon the college application process and prepare for the SAT.

Under the direction of Tim Lear, Director of College Counseling for The Pingry School, and David Blobaum, Director of Business Development for Method Test Prep, this vigorous, two-week college essay writing workshop and SAT preparation course is targeted at high school juniors and seniors seeking to reach higher with their post-high school academic aspirations.  The REACH program was carefully designed as a complement to, not a replacement for a high school student’s current college counseling system.  This workshop will be offered at Pingry’s Basking Ridge Campus beginning July 8 and running through July 19 as part of the school’s expanded academic and enrichment offerings for the Summer of 2013.  

Over the course of two weeks, the REACH Program will help students to excel on the essay portion of the college application as well as on the SATs.  Participants will also obtain a firm foundation of the popular and recently revised Common Application so they can confidently begin this task. There will be numerous opportunities and exercises designed to help students brainstorm topics and create and revise multiple drafts.  Additionally, students will be practicing and troubleshooting test strategies in small group settings in preparation for the Fall 2013 SATs.  A review of important reading, math, and writing concepts for the SATs and PSATs will be conducted along with test preparation tactics.  Moreover, REACH provides an open forum for students to ask their most pressing questions regarding standardized testing and college admissions’ practices in a relaxed, informal, and productive setting.

Tim Lear is Pingry’s Director of College Counseling and a 1992 graduate of The Pingry School.  He received his Degree in English from Princeton University and his Masters in English from Middlebury College.  Prior to joining Pingry, Lear spent ten years at Oak Knoll School in Summit, serving as an English teacher, a five-sport Varsity coach and then was promoted to Director of College Counseling.  Pingry students apply annually to over 160 different schools and are admitted to a wide variety of the nation’s finest colleges and universities.  Under Lear’s helm, Pingry students are enrolled at 127 different schools with the highest current enrolled (based on the Classes of 2009-2012) at the following universities: Cornell University (22), Princeton University (22), Bucknell University (22), University of Pennsylvania (21), Lehigh University (20), and Columbia University (15).