001um do i think we're all set okay cool thank you hi there good evening um my name is deidre cuffy gray i'm the college and career advisor as you can see from the banner i like to actually refer to myself as the friendly neighborhood college and career advisor but it was too many characters so i had to uh go with the short version but um i think most students know me as the friendly neighborhood college and career advisor and and mostly um that is to uh de-escalate what is sometimes a very stressful uh situation which is thinking about life after arhs my hope tonight really is is to speak to parents and guardians of juniors or maybe ninth or tenth graders um about this process um knowing like really acknowledging um that uh in as
002much as students who were the class of 2020 or the class of 2021 were were immersed in what covid um realities meant for the college planning process or they they sort of were steeped in that water either as seniors who whose process was upended by covet and not being able to visit colleges that they've been admitted to in the spring or juniors who have been really living this since uh march of of their junior year so much so that that the they took an sat on march 14th maybe it was the saturday before school closed so that they they have sort of been tracking the changes whereas a parent of a junior might not and so just wanna take some time to to maybe uh bring you up to speed around that um i think
003my other title is buffer um and the reason i say that is is that you are essentially launching your juniors into adulthood with this process um and it's stressful and it causes tension um and uh and a lot of that is because um you are having conversations that you might not have had before with your junior even if this is the third junior that you've gone through this process with um that that here are some young people uh sort of on the edge of 17 and on the edge of 18 trying to be independent um and then they are also in the midst of this high stakes uh process um which i think we we attribute a lot of like are you winning or are you losing to um and so so it's so it
004is stressful and they're trying to do it on their own and you're trying to get in there they don't come home and show you every piece of work um that they've done and and it has the the added stress of money like affordability like what can a family afford what are your students what do you expect your students responsibilities to be for this really probably the one of the larger decisions that they'll make in their new adult lives um with with money that's not theirs and so um all those things that independence right from that from that junior and and these issues of um like all these pieces of this admissions process come together and really literally collide so um when i say buffer um i my hope is that um that that that i
005and the counselors who have been doing this for a very long time at arhs um can provide um an opportunity to sort of add into the conversation of your junior you know lots of times like if i say if i'm talking to a junior who's named deidre i said we're on team deidra and that is a big number of people so just just to go ahead and name it that that there is the college and career advisor but there's also your counselor of a number of years who knows your student um for the length of time that they've been their counselor um and christo garrity who is the guidance secretary who does an incredible job of managing the process with us so um so we're we're here to be part of your team 2022 um
006junior um with this process um and so just just to sort of give you a sense of what what i'm hoping for tonight is as i i want to just spend a little bit of time outlining the process um uh as as we know it here at arhs um and thinking about life after a rhs and also really um highlight the fact that the conversations that i'm having with with with students with with juniors and seniors is not just about college that that there are a number of pathways that that students explore i think emerging in this role at arhs which has primarily been about college is also conversations about um career and and and uh and that that also speaks about a gap year or are getting a certificate or getting a two-year degree
007or getting a job or enlisting in the military or or signing up with just an incredible range of americorps programs like figuring out what what a next step is going to be for your for your junior and senior that makes sense um and so uh that it's a work in progress that broadening um and so i'm learning um and and uh and just really here to sort of engage in conversation with you and your junior about about what what the possibilities are um and so so that's just sort of the initial piece so um so i'm going to spend about 20 minutes or so talking a bit about uh what what happens and and during the junior year for juniors at amherst regional high school um and and sort of what's in place for us
008um uh in terms of support and and and in logistics and then um i want what i want to do is open it up to questions um so uh so the the first thing is is that we want to start with your junior um and so uh i have uh spent a little bit of time in some classrooms and will will do some more spend some more time um meeting with juniors um to just introduce myself and talk about the process um but the first question that that i ask them is is what's important to them like what are their values what's what's important really personally to them in terms of values and then um move into preferences like what what deep preferences do they have for their next step what kind of community do
009they want to be a part of and participate in and learn and and grow in um before we start naming colleges which has it's inevitable we can't avoid it you know i think one thing that stands out in my mind is the fact that oh geez um maybe it was 10 years ago there's going to be some basketball fan that's going to set me right on this but uvm was in sweet 16 the men's basketball team was in the sweet 16 for march madness uh and the uvm's application skyrocketed um and it wasn't because they had some amazing program um that suddenly came on on the horizon um it was because people saw the the uh uvm team in their green and gold uh i say outfits but uniforms and they added uvm to their
010list um and so there's a lot of sort of non-sequitur or sort of hard hard to know why a school is on a student's list um but i i really want to emphasize um that that thinking about their selves thinking about what's important to them what their skill set is how they want their skill set to grow um and what what kind of school community they want to be in is a good first question to ask um so so that's um really where we try to start um and with with juniors you know the knowing that some of the reality is that um there's a there's we have this pull of urgency right there are timelines that are connected to this process um and so we're we're sort of running around circling around sort of
011that sense of urgency but you know i think it's really important to put the brakes on um speak in quiet tones when you're talking to your junior give them space when they're freaking out or if they are freaking out and um and i'll and allow time to step back and think more carefully about them like who am i as a student what what what are what do i enjoy studying what kind is this is this is a school that has 950 students or so feel too big or too large or just right to me um how far away do i want to be from home what do i want to study what kind of relationship do i want to have with professors do i want to continue to play the sport or be in the
012activity that i want to be in um is is the campus um one that's comfortable for students who are lgbtq or do i want to be at hbcu after being a student of color in a predominantly white school so those kinds of questions i think we should start with with our juniors rather than this is the form you need to fill in here's the common app like take the sat or not um so that that that they are just a little bit clearer about who they are and who they're becoming or who they want to become um so that's sort of my first want want let let's let's le it's all about you let's talk about you not it's all about you let's talk about colleges and what you need to do it's all about
013you let's talk about you um just just sort of the the pieces of the pie just in terms of calendar what happens is i go into junior classes in mid-january and introduce myself and introduce the process um and uh and in years past i've handed them what is the junior handbook um and that we are we're actually going virtual with sort of the pieces of of that handbook is going to be more of um documents different documents that are looking at specific parts of the process that will be in the virtual office that is the guidance office and um i will talk beefy and i'll be honest i haven't figured out exactly how i'm gonna get to juniors um i'm what i'm hoping is that that they'll they will hear from me and they'll have
014a number of opportunities asynchronously to to learn about the process and then we will open it up for um meetings family meetings that are include the junior and their parents and guardians um uh it's using google meets which has been worked really well really just to sort of for me to learn about you and your student and first students to ask questions and for parents or guardians to ask questions so that happens in the spring um admissions reps visit in the spring also um and and they are um very aware of the fact that we're we're not able to get on campus and and trying to use lots of different ways to provide information to [Music] families and students without the ability to get there it's some schools have opened up and have had drive
015drive tours or vert or or self tours abiding by the the safety precautions of the campus for instance smith college is you know they have signs all over campus that say you must wear masks and they have provided sort of audio tour so they're just lots of ways that you can take a tour without sort of the traditional there's a student that's walking around but they also are providing information sessions opportunities to sit in on classes um opportunities to meet with current students um because they realize that that we are kind of we're having to suspend disbelief um and and and not being on campus um and so colleges are are working very very hard to connect with you and your students in in this remote reality um so that's um something just to realize
016that there that that colleges are refining how they are um talking to students and uh families and they are really working hard to to find ways to to get to you and your students um so so that that is kind of one i think one piece that i that i want to um point out uh so so there so there's that um i think one big question that that people have um is is what impact does covid19 have on on this process i think the the there are some i don't knows um for the class of 2022 but one reality that is that a number of schools that uh have been really score driven when i when i say score driven that have relied heavily on the s.a.t or the act for for entrance are
017test optional definitely for the class of 2021 some schools said that they were test optional just for the year others we're really going to have to wait to see what what they say um about the the next year but i think uh that schools are figuring out a holistic admissions process which which i think is good for students on a number of levels that colleges are taking more time to to read applications and they are um and then and they're i think looking much more subjectively at students not just looking at a gpa and an sat score and and deciding whether or not a student is admissible i you know i think in in my career i've seen some really amazing students who are really capable who who haven't scored well and and and haven't
018gotten into selective scholars colleges and i can point to their sat scores um as as the reason and not whether or not a student was capable which doesn't isn't really i think looking deeply at an applicant when we're when we're that score driven um and so uh what that reality right now is that uh while arahs it has um spring s.a.t slots dates that are available it has everything to do with health and safety and so those dates um um while they're up may get cancelled and i just i think you know i'm starting at the end um and and just saying that that what you want to think about with your junior is what you can control versus persevering on what what we don't have any control over which is whether or not the
019date is going to get cancelled in march whether or not a school is going to be test optional what students do have the ability to control is uh is what they're doing in school what courses they're taking what how they're managing extracurricular activities even in the world of remoteness um what kinds of relationships they have with their junior teachers um because those are the people that are gonna write recommendations um and uh and just sort of thinking about what they you know being engaged in the process um around essays and and all those other logistics those are things that you control can control um whether or not a school is going to be test optional as something that is that you're not able to control um and so i think focusing on what you can
020control in versus what you cannot control is a really super duper healthy way to go about about this process um so um and so i you know i think uh that's my two cents like focus on what you were able to control and and and uh and and don't perseverate on what you can't control um i have a little smile on my face because at this moment my brother is texting me about his senior um who is uh refusing to log into college board and send his scores so uh and i'm not gonna answer that text i should have turned my phone off but those are those are the kind of the the sort of the the uh the the uh struggles that that that we are entering into with with our juniors and our
021seniors like i you know i think if i had to cycle island advise it this senior is trying to have control and his dad is on the other end sort of asking auntie to try and help out so if you you know free college counseling from anti deidra um so i you know i think i think you know if i had to say there are five things that that you need to pay attention to it's you know getting solid grades and appropriately challenging classes so that's not to say take as many essay ap and and and honors classes as you can take an appropriate number of challenging classes um get stay involved in extracurriculars in meaningful ways even if it's remote right so that's that's important um i think thinking about the summer um as
022as being sort of enrichment opportunities like starting to have an eye even if sort of traditional summer approaches can't happen like thinking about ways that your youngster can be involved or thinking with them about ways that they can pursue their their interest during the summer is is also important um and then start starting you know after you've sort of done the internal personal um review starting to think about a list and starting to spend time just going online and looking what college at what colleges have to offer and then lastly like if there's some schools that are really pushing um like have have been really just only when i had a one-year hiatus on on the sat or act like looking at your list to see what schools are saying about um testing policies um
023i think you know certainly um some of that standardized testing is happening at home that definitely happened with the ap last year so that's kind of that's my my really my short list on on what to think about in terms of process um and then you will be invited to schedule a meeting in late january early february um with me and it's it's a good sort of first step um students will be asked to prepare a survey where they where they answer questions um prior to meeting with me and we we use online links and so you you don't we're pretty accessible um and and in terms of um being able to set a time to meet with me um as well as i think it's perfectly appropriate to have conversations with with your your
024for your student to have conversations with their school counselor because they know them really well about sort of what they think they should be considering as well i don't feel at all um territorial about the conversation around um college and and career there are lots of people in the building are that can sort of engage your junior uh around um this um so so that i think you know that's those are that's sort of my my my sort of two cents um about process i i guess um it makes sense to open it up to questions um uh that that you might have about the process ah that's a that's a great question um so the question i guess oh it came it came up um here's here's what i think your junior is experiencing
025school in the same way that juniors across the world are experiencing school like some are hybrids some are like outside running around in the snow some are are in person and so colleges are all looking at it in the same context they understand that but i think here's some things that your junior can do there are office hours still right checking in with a teacher um a couple of times for office hours to to have a conversation i think is important um that's important no matter what it's what i would what i tell college students that i'm working with like stay for office hours ask questions like establishing a relationship um that is remote is is going to be important they colleges have not backed away from the idea that they want junior and sometimes
026senior year teachers um they're really sticking to that and some of that is developmental who a student is as a junior or senior in terms of emerging college readiness is is has much more weight as a junior or a senior than than a 9th or 10th grader it is great if it's a teacher that you have as a junior and and you had them in 9th or 10th grade so they can chart growth but they are still going to prefer i haven't heard anything different junior year and senior year teachers that's a good question and just to elaborate on that here's what they're looking for an english or social studies teacher so one of the humanities and a math or science teacher so we have a process in the spring that we managed actually pretty
027well remotely where students connected with their junior year teachers granted they had a little more time in the physical classroom but um but they we do guide them through the process of asking for recommendations and thinking through who who they will ask and um and it went pretty well actually in some ways better it was actually a more accessible process in some ways for some students um because it was remote but but thanks sarah for asking that question that's a good question so landing on junior teachers maybe senior year if you're applying regular decision meaning have a january deadline and just just in terms of timeline um uh one thing that didn't uh change uh interestingly enough despite covid were early deadlines and regular decision deadlines so the first deadline that we encounter is november
0281st which comes pretty quickly there's november 1st and november 15th those are what are called early decision or early action deadlines um early decision is this is your love the person that you will you will never leave early decision is a binding um uh uh agreement where you say i want you and uh if you pick me i will never leave you um and so uh that's early decision early action is i like you uh and i like to date you maybe not marry you um but uh will you date me um and uh and that is it means you apply november 1st november 15th december 1st december 15th and the new fun thing is that there are some january 1st and january 15th early action 2 dates were where students here early and they
029they are not it's not a binding decision they um still get to apply to other schools so students that apply earlier um get a decision earlier they do not have to commit until may um and early decision students essentially are saying if you say yes to me i'm i'm i'm locked in um and then regular decision is uh tends to be january first some there's some january fourth date which i'm not sure what that's about um and some january 15 dates um for regular decision and there's also um rolling which means uh colleges just give students um their answer when their application is complete um they they disburse scholarship money as they have it until they don't um and uh and so you can apply rolling sometimes as late as june uh so they're they're
030just a range of ways to to apply for students um all right uh let's see so jessica asked um what other college search websites do i recommend besides naviance um and you're welcome happy to be here uh the website there's a couple of websites that i like um are um the let's see what's a favorite of mine there there's one that is called college express which i'm trying to see if there's a i'm learning this technology is there a way for me to put it in the chat box maybe not um let's see um so it's called college express i that is a good one it's actually connected to um a fellow named steve antonoff who wrote a wonderful book called college match the reason i like the book college match is because it starts
031with self inventories who am i what do i care about and then it goes into colleges but all he he compiled all these different lists of schools um and and um and so it's like what's a great school for cafeterias who has the best cafeterias that might be a little more esoteric than than really is there but just hundreds of lists that he has put in one place um and so i think that is a great way to just sort of for students to skulk around to to think about different kinds of of lists so i i tend to start with college express when i'm when i'm talking with students um college board is fine um they they um i think in some ways the the graphics are a little bit more um friendly to
032a 17 or 18 year old not being a 17 year old 18 year old myself but i think um sometimes it's just a little bit more user friendly so i do do like college express as well um and then another website um is is one that sort of came through is through the federal government the the doe the department of education which has um is called a college navigator um which i think is is a fine search site but there's so many it's amazing the energy that has gone into college college search sites um so um and i do have um we on the guidance website uh in my office there are a number of those lists are there uh let's see doug is asking can i talk a bit about uh how how colleges
033are taking are looking at taking a gap year what do they perceive as useful time spent and how do students document their experiences so there are a couple of ways to do a gap year one is to apply to colleges sort of the both and apply to colleges and then differ a number of students deferred from the class of 2020 and in schools ended up becoming more versant around deferring and gap years so umass amherst asks students to um document their learning um and and provide that before they go to umass some schools are really totally free and open they say they you say you want to defer you want to take a gap year they say yes and then you come the semester or year later um so it all it all depends i
034think um there i think so doug the answer to that is it really is i think if a student can speak to their learning and growth it's it's considered acceptable a student can work at uh uh as a babysitter or an au pair for an entire year and learn something and grow and so the documenting of their experiences if they've deferred at a school the school will tell them what they need if they haven't i think really sort of thinking about journaling and and video and vlogs and and blogs um to document sort of what you've done um is is a is a good way to sort of actively um record what what a student has done over time ah um the psat so um the p we didn't the psat is the preliminary sat
035um and um we didn't offer it in october for safety reasons and there is another date that college board has announced which is january 26 and i think that has everything to do with whether or not that's a healthy time to have 30 kids in a room uh in the middle of the winter taking the test and so right now this is a great i don't know question generally what college board has done for people who have missed the psat because it is something that qualifies students for the national merit scholar qualifying test which is scholarships money they provide an alternative so they might say if you take the s.a.t by june um then we'll use those scores for the national merit scholar um qualifying test um but we haven't heard from college board to
036my knowledge sort of what the alternatives are um again i you know i think there are a couple of i have a couple of thoughts about about like i i think the best thing a student can do is is sort of engage with their academics um like that's the best prep that exists but um preparing for the psat or sat khan academy has a free website for that sort of really is what what khan academy did was contract with kaplan and to make the prep um more accessible but so many schools are are really test optional meaning you don't have to send your test in or test blind meaning they're not going to take your test so what's a test blind school mcla massachusetts college of liberal arts is now test blind they said they're
037not taking sats um at all and the university of california system is saying they're not using sat because they're biased along racial lines um so they're just they're not going to use sats or acts ever again um and so i think sort of one question that i think you want to ask is the degree to which you know what what is the value of a score driven school for your student um and and are they going to be better served by schools that are looking at students much more holistically um and and so i think that's a that's a sort of a half answer to your question lisa thanks um it's it's definitely sort of where it's a wait and see answer that's one of the things we can't control let's see make sure ah
038there's a great boston public library has test prep materials available free thank you yeah there's a there is a there's also um uh now it just totally slipped out of my head i will remember and and say what it is but there's a there is another site that i think is pretty good and i'll it will come back to me hopefully not at two in the morning uh early decisions okay so a common app is um a cool site common app is like a clearinghouse um maybe you applied to college and you filled out 10 applications 10 separate applications you had the same name the same birth date the same social security number but you wrote that 10 times what the common app allows is is to to fill the basic information in once including
039the essay the main essay and then schools ask very specific questions what we call which we call supplemental questions um the common app is open right now students can actually sort of create their common app now it it does a little dishwash um and and throws away all the supplemental questions um but the the basic information stays um on august 1st it reopens after having shut down for a couple of weeks in july you know i think for students that are applying early and students that are flying regular can start to to fill fill that in in the summer and again you know this is like you as a family deciding what level of push and pressure to put on your students to get started early like you're gonna start to see where they are
040and how ready they are for that like don't turn it into a knock down drag out fight if your junior isn't interested in doing that in june right so like i think having de-escalated conversations um sometimes actually scheduling um conversations um is is is is a good healthy way as a family like every other saturday we're gonna talk about your life after ahs process right like um even step back from college don't assume that that's the next step and and start to have regular conversations so that you can gauge sort of what level of stress your junior is willing to take on and what level of stress um you're able to take on and again like asking for the buffer asking for the auntie or the the neighbor or you know sometimes outside consultants to
041help um de-escalate this conversation let's see um i guess one one other piece one one piece that i think comes up for students is the ncaa clearinghouse speaking of clearing houses athletes who are hoping to play division one or division two have to meet requirements that are set by the ncaa and they create an account um through the ncaa i mean we're don't have a ton of students that that that that utilize that reality but but if you are a student athlete or you have a student athlete um spending time on the in in the ncaa clearinghouse like creating an account and and being aware of what the requirements are around athlete a is a good idea to sort of begin now if you you haven't already i think um one little caveat that i
042have around athlete recruitment is um is that you you you i think it really really makes sense to to be alongside your student um because coaches sometimes are really enthusiastic and they sell some uh you know i don't know they they they sell a kettle of fish sometimes you know like you're my top recruit i really want you and then they're not always aligned with what the admissions office is saying and so sort of really closely modernizing the conversation asking where does my student stand in recruitment is really important and being in touch with admissions offices as well as coaches um to make sure that that that the the conversation is um consistent um and aligned is is a really really important piece so that so the ncaa does have a website that talks about
043recruitment and talks about sort of what what kinds of contact is is acceptable division d3 schools don't offer scholarships um and have a slightly different set of requirements sometimes division three schools strongly encourage students to apply early decision um and and if they're if they're a top recruit um and so that again like is your student ready to make that level of commitment is like as a conversation that you would want to have as a family ah any other questions something i didn't cover uh i you know i i do want to just talk a little bit about about ways to look to sort of get more information about colleges they you know they they all have websites websites obviously are giving school putting schools in their very best light but it is a start
044i think going deeper than the admissions page is really important so going to if your students are saying i want to study psychology going to the psychology department looking at what's required to be a psychology major taking a look at professors and seeing what they've written what their focus is um finding out about if you can sit in on a class that's in the psychology department i think is important talking to students that are studying psychology asking can i talk to a freshman um that that is studying psychology to see what their experience is like um is is is really important just in terms of going a little bit more deeply than um what what is a real sort of manicured approach or a way of of talking about a school right like you're going
045to put your best foot forward on a tour live or online um but but beginning to to sort of dig a little deeper into websites to know what's being offered um and then i think using less official um ways to look at schools like instagram accounts you know i think one thing that happened after the george floyd murder a lot there was a lot of conversations about access and equity on college campuses and so a lot of websites called black at umass black at yale black at uc boulder came up and so regardless of what your race or ethnicity is if you're someone that's concerned about social justice and equity um going on instagram to see what students are saying given knowing that it's their opinion is another way to sort of look a little
046more carefully at a school looking at and going on instagram plugging the collagen to see what what's going on social media wise about a college campus is is just a way to just get a little more honest and and real about what's happening um i think and there's another website that um is is doing a little bit of tracking of that which is called admit e-d-m-i-t dot me forward slash browse which is doing a great job of both pulling recent news articles about schools looking at their financial health um and and and also reporting on the demographics so that's it's it's also spending a lot of time um outlining the college process 9th through 12th um and uh and so i think i i really love that website i think the affordability question is one
047that we all have um and so they answer quite a bit about affordability on that website and it it allows families to compare apples to pears as opposed to sort of apples to to lego blocks i think you can sort of look at each school that you're considering and see where they stand using the metrics that that admit me has put forth any other questions um there are more and more virtual websites that aren't sponsored that are that are sponsored independently um uh let's see if i had to name one it would be campus real it's um real as in the old-fashioned movie reel so c-a-m-p-u-s-r-e-e-l org is a is a is a great um website but they're they're online college fairs which i will i will send all of that um naviance for juniors
048will be up and running at the new year and so that you will um parents will be invited they'll get a registration link and and juniors already are connected it's connected to their ar ps email email coming to some agreement with your junior about email this is the deal email is not the way of communicating for high school students it is remains the the the uh the mode of communication for colleges and old college and career advisors like me um so agreeing coming up with an agreement for checking email is really important because that's how colleges are communicating with students that's how colleges are saying you're missing this part of your application and so if they're not checking their email they're not getting that information if i'm saying hey i'm offering this common app session
049and it's coming through their email and it's it is an ambience as well um so we're i think the college process is a little behind the times around that um and but i think it really just really impressing and we do too upon your your junior to check their email once a week even is a good idea for students that want to go to college but don't have any idea where they want to go to or what to study what is a recommended way to take the next step if a tough subject you know i i think sort of the the having the values conversation like what's important to you conversation is is a good first way to go um and then um there's a another website that i i really like um which i
050actually really encourage juniors to do before they meet with me which is this um app called corsava card start so it's c-o-r-s-a-v-a um um.com um and it really is is is it's about 168 questions um that allows students to go a little deeply into sort of what they're interested in um and like do you want to go to a small school do you want to be a big smith big fish in a little pond what majors do you want to have access do you want to be on a liberal campus a conservative campus like uh a religious is do you want to study do you want to go to school that um is connected with the catholic church like they it asks all these questions and then to sit down and look at what the
051student has done i think is is a good way to go i think using the relationship that exists through school counselors as well like asking your student to meet with their school counselor um just to talk about it because it's you know it's good to have sort of once removed conversations i think they're they're a little bit uh less uh activated when there's when they're talking with somebody else i think that is a good way to to start to have that conversation um you know he you know somebody peeks over the fence and says where are you going to college grandpa says where are you going to college like you walk in the store and the person knows that you're a junior where are you going to college like it's a little bit fraught and
052so i say think taking a step back is is is totally way to go i i think something real good question for parents and guardians is how they encounter stress how do they deal with stress stress and knowing you know you've been watching your junior you know how they deal with stress sort of really weaving how do i handle difficult conversations into this process i think is really really important oh yeah sure it's um c-o-r-s-a-v-a dot-com and that and that's something that i will provide um when i when my first conversa first email that i send to juniors it's awesome i love it it now here's the thing about of course and you do that and it doesn't spit out all these names of schools that's not what happens it it says here's what's important
053to you here's what here's what you must have here's what would be nice here's what you don't care about um and so then sort of it it just sort of it's the beginning of a conversation about what's important to me right um so um i think we're so used to plugging things in and and having schools spit out um or you know the results spit out to us um but it it really what it is doing is asking people to reas juniors and seniors and ninth graders too what what's important to you and you know centering the conversation around your student versus around the schools that they're going to apply to but there are just so many ways to learn i you know i think that's really important to to just talk about like they're
054just these rich americorps programs that students can can engage in their their um certificate programs at community colleges that give people incredible skills like i can't tell you how much i love every phlebotomist that i have had has drawn my blood that knows what they're doing because they spent 16 weeks in a certificate program they are so much different than the pediatrician that turned me into a pink cushion when i was a kid um because they have high training so you know i think they're they're just um they're apprenticeships they're you know there are a lot of things to explore um with students and so so that's important um if students if schools look for sat scores are there programs not that i'm aware of i think you you have to sort of do the
055work of um going on the act website and the college board website to look to see what what test sites are available in your area um yeah and you know i think the many many many schools put on hiatus for more than one year um the sat the i think ivy leagues maybe said we're not going to do it for a year there's a there's a lot of conversation amongst um admissions officers on the on the high school side of things um around access and equity really pushing schools to to think carefully about the sat and and you know it's where where it is in terms of bias you know like that that we just know exists and so asking schools to really consider landing on looking at students holistically but um that's i think
056in terms of testing sites uh you know safety is a big deal um is if your students there and nervous that they're gonna get coveted like are they being their best self like those are are two sort of questions that i think you want to ask as a family um something that we have seen happening is that like like families with a fair amount of privilege are traveling to other places the new york times has written about it um and uh and so asking colleges to also sort of be aware of sort of the pressure that's being put on families and what what is kind of a untenable situation right now um maybe that will feel different in the spring but but really asking families asking schools to take this off the plate of families
057because the level of anxiety is is high around it um another great website around testing fairtest.org is tracking schools that are test optional or test blind um even if temporarily so that's fairtest.org um and they they just have you know that list has grown really exponentially um and so so that's a good site to use to track whether or not a school is is going to be test optional they're really tremendous um and and doing the work that they've done the national association of college admissions officers also has has a website so i i that that site is um nac a c n e t dot org um and then you'll they'll you can it points to what is called the newsroom um that is is tracking what schools policies whether or not they're open
058right now if they're remote it's a it's a great site to just see where schools are in terms of their policy um and then the the um the test prep um uh site that i've mentioned that i'd forgotten it's called compass prep c-o-m-p-a-s-s-p-r-e-p dot com and they actually have a number of webinars that can be helpful all right any final questions from people i'm gonna what i'm gonna do is in in my in the uh guidance office my office i'm gonna put something that um that is just a list of of what one can be doing um along with with the links that i mentioned so that i'll put it i'll post it up in in my office uh and uh you can the the that's in the guidance office which um i'm trying to
059think the best way to get to that um it's in my signature um but there is a link um that that's available for the guidance office and then you can then their doors for every counselor um and i'll have in my office the the notes um from tonight with the links to the to the um to the sites that i mentioned and some links to sites that i didn't list as well so um yeah thanks for being here tonight um and i'm looking forward to working with you and your students and breathe breathe read that's really the key to this process and i guess i'll text my brother back about his senior