FRESHMEN COLLEGE COUNSELING AND SERVICES
FRESHMAN YEAR PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Students and parents meet every quarter to discuss the student’s progress towards academic goals. A four year academic plan is developed and a standardized testing plan for SAT ACT, AP tests, etc. is outlined. Advice is provided on how to maximize the high school experience with peers, teachers, and counselors. The student is assisted in researching various community service opportunities, extra-curricular activities, and summer experiences.
College Planning Tips for Freshmen
- Use a planner for all of your activities, commitments and academics.
- Start a College Application file for report cards, awards, achievements & honors.
- Maintain contact with your teachers throughout high school.
- Expand your vocabulary and READ!
- Know your high school graduation requirements and plan a challenging college prep curriculum.
- Establish/fine tune study strategies and maintain good grades. Volunteer for 25+ hours and submit form to your counselor. Explore career interests and passions.
- Volunteer, visit, and view websites.
- Set some realistic and challenging goals for yourself for the year. At the end of the year, write an essay about your experience as a freshman in high school. Describe your extracurricular activities and work experience.
How to Support Your Freshman
- Get Involved–Know how your child is doing in his/her classes and identify challenging subjects early.
- Help Your Child Explore–Encourage involvement in extracurricular activities & community service.
- Start Thinking About Summer–Use the summer break as an opportunity to visit colleges, gain work experience, volunteer, and explore career interests.
- Create a 4-Year Plan–Review college entrance requirements and be sure your child is not only taking required courses but going above and beyond.
- Create a Summer Reading List–Keep your child’s reading skill up and build vocabulary through reading challenging books during the summer.
Academic Coaching
The Academic Coaching Program is ideal for busy middle, high school and college students who are finding it difficult to manage a challenging curriculum and juggle multiple priorities. Our coaches work with students to improve study skills, goal setting, time management, organization, and personal accountability. We begin with an initial consultation with the student and parent to identify the student’s areas of strengths and weakness. A customized action plan is then developed to specifically address the student’s needs. Over the course of 6 weeks, new skills are introduced and the student’s progress towards mastering new skills is monitored. The goal of our academic coaching curriculum is for the student to gain confidence while mastering the skills crucial to his or her long term academic success. Are you concerned about how your student will handle his or her challenging schedule? Does your student struggle with juggling multiple priorities? Our mission is and always has been to prepare students to thrive in a college or university environment. Academic Coaching is a great way to strengthen your student’s academic performance along the way and help them develop the necessary skills to successfully manage a challenging academic course load.
Depending on each student’s individual needs the following skills are integrated into the sessions:
- Study Strategies specific to the student’s learning style
- Organization, time management, and using planners
- Note taking
- Test taking
- Final Exam Preparation/Accountability and self-advocacy
- Managing papers and projects
Our Coaches are graduate students, doctoral candidates and credentialed teachers who enjoy working with middle, high school and college students. They all have achieved a considerable amount of success in college.
Summer To Do List
- Keep track of extracurricular activities and community service hours–this will help in building your resume.
- Start researching colleges and keeping track of those that interest you.
- Visit friends and/or relatives at local campuses to get a sense of what college is like.
- Look at different career exploration websites and complete the assessments to begin developing career interests.
- Volunteer at an organization or job shadow someone to start exploring career interests.
“You helped him so much, you have no idea. He needed a ‘jump start’ and organization and I couldn’t provide either. He is looking so forward to beginning a new chapter in his life at Pomona College! Thanks again.” – Parent
