Here’s another article I happened to run across in looking for something else.  I found it referenced on College Board in their own article addressing how to combat Senioritis, so I looked up the original article entitled, “Slackers Beware.”  Am I making the point yet??

* Hopping off my soapbox now*

One of the largest studies ever to have been done on AP courses has shown that students who take AP courses do better in college.  Of course, this makes perfect sense when you think about it.  Students who take these challenging courses learn how to write more effectively, analyze content and synthesize it with what they already know, take good notes, STUDY (since many bright students often go through their school years without having to study), among many other things.  One thing that this study does not address (probably due to the fact that it was written last year) is the fact that AP courses are now being audited, which will have an even greater impact, since there will be more mandatory standardization across the nation to ensure that all AP students are learning the same material.  In the past, some schools have labeled courses “AP” but the content was not up to the standards to warrant the label.  Now, College Board is instituting some accountability to the schools to guarantee the quality of the curriculum.

Read this study - do you agree or disagree?  Are there any other positives  to taking AP courses?  Are there any negatives?

This is the time of year that our 12th graders develop the very hazardous characteristic called “senioritis.”  Some may have caught it as early as the fall and, frighteningly enough, as we are working on meeting with our juniors for advisement, there are even some 11th graders who exhibit early signs.  It is a classic occurrence among students on the verge of graduating to a new stage of life, but there is danger in allowing it to progress to the point that the student completely stops working or majorly slacks off, believing that his/her grades are under control, they’ve been accepted into their college of choice, or they just want an excuse to get lazy.  But, what many students need to realize is that the college will be reevaluating their transcript after they graduate to make sure that they’ve continued in the manner by which they were accepted.  In the same way, juniors should also be very careful that they choose courses for their senior year very carefully.  If they have taken honors courses all along and at the last minute decide to drop down to on-level, the admissions counselors will notice.  Yes, they will notice.  This is why we emphasize the importance of course and level choice.

 If a student appears to have misrepresented him or herself as a hard worker and committed to education and then presents grades or courses that are well below their typical caliber, the college may become suspect.  I have personally seen letters from UGA admissions asking that the student explain why their grades dropped, asking for a prompt letter in response.  And, in some rare occurrences, students have had their acceptances withdrawn.  This is no joke – if you take a look at your admission letter, it probably states something to the effect that the student has been “conditionally accepted” pending receipt of the final transcript.  I call this the “senioritis clause” (although there are many other reasons a students’ grades can drop – illness, death of close family member, catastrophic event, etc.  Typically, an explanation in regards to one of these reasons would be excusable).  Do you really think that an admissions counselor would be sympathetic toward a student who gave an explanation similar to this: “Dear admissions office, The reason my grades dropped during the spring semester of my senior year is that I developed a very strong case of senioritis.  I just could not bring myself to work!  You know how it is…”?  Obviously not. 

And this isn’t all just for admissions purposes.  Recall that college is HIGHER education.  College is harder (in most instances) than high school.  Does the logic fit that you should slack off a few months before you will be studying harder than you’ve ever studied before?  Students need to be prepared and ready for the challenges ahead of them.  Athletes – do you spend all your time before the season starts laying around, eating junk food in front of the tv, thinking, “I’m going to be really busy and will be working hard in the next few months, so I’m going to veg while I can!”  Most good athletes I know, anyway, are training, conditioning, working out, etc. so they can become better.  Same rules apply to going to college.  But you all know this already! 

 Anyway, I say all this to introduce an article that I found that addresses this topic from the collegiate perspective so you’ll know that I’m not just spouting a bunch of nothing.   Enjoy! 

It can be a very difficult time for parents and students alike when the time to head to college draws near.  This is, for many, the biggest step in independence their kids have taken, and it can be an exciting, scary, stressful, and emotional process, all rolled into one.  Because most parents aren’t really eager, no matter how much they love their kids, for them to stay at home forever, there comes a time when they must accept that their babies are growing up and help them transition easily and successfully.  Having them attend college and live on campus is one of the best and safest ways to accomplish this feat.  They live with peers in a relatively secure environment, receive additional education to prepare them for a career and get to ease into the role of being responsible for managing their own expenses (food, entertainment, cleaning supplies, etc.) and basic living skills (laundry, maintaining a car, living by a schedule without being hounded by mom and dad, etc.).  While some may struggle with this, most kids adapt well and seem to mature quickly after getting an, albeit, small taste of the real world.

Because this is an issue that every family who has a child heading off to college deals with, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) has written a very informative article addressing many of the issues that fledgeling college students and their anxious parents get to face.   Check out this article and let me know what you think!

If you haven’t visited the Guidance Webpage, you are missing out on a TON of information that is very useful.  We post information on an ongoing basis as things come into the guidance office – scholarships, summer programs, college visits and open houses, and much more.  There are many links to often visited websites and probably a whole lot that you don’t even know about yet. 

It is very typical that a question that you have regarding guidance procedures can be found on our webpage, so if you are wondering, for example, where to get a work permit, how to request a trancript for college, what you need to do if you want to meet with your counselor, you can find it on our webpage.

Basically, if you have not visited it, you are missing out on one of the best resources the Kell Guidance Office has to offer. 

 So, how to get there??  Go to www.kellhighschool.org and click on Guidance at the top of the page.