Thank you for joining us tonight. Sorry we're a little late. You could see us struggling. We're clearly guidance people, not IT people. So, thanks for your patience. We are very excited to start our college um application process part one of our miniseries with having a
few workshops coming up. Um, we are thrilled to welcome our panel of experts over here. So, we are so excited for them to be joining us. They came from all over the Pioneer Valley and beyond. And so, I'd love for you guys to
introduce yourself and then we'll get going. >> You want me to start? >> Sure. Sounds good. >> My name is Chris Weiss Pendle. I'm the executive director for admissions outreach and recruitment as well as the athletic leazison at Western New England University, which is only a few minutes up the road. Uh, I am a graduate of Western New England. Uh, and I've been
working in admissions at at Western New England for 21 years. >> Uh, my name is Kate Sheay. I am the associate director of admission at Westfield State University. Um, and I've been working in admissions at the university for 23 years.
>> All right. Good afternoon or evening now. My name is Mike Rossi. I'm the admissions coordinator at Springfield Comm Technical Community College. And as of this January, I will be there for 25 years. Um, hi. I'm the assistant director of
community outreach at UMass Ammeris and I've been there for three years. Um, I was a student at UMass. So, I graduated three years ago, been working here for three, but nowhere near as much experience as CC. >> And hello everyone. My name is Danielle
Blair. I'm the associate director for recruitment at Springfield, and I'm starting my ninth year at the college. So, >> fantastic. >> Nice in between. >> Yeah. and we're so happy to have them join us in supporting our families and students and community as we start thinking about the process or in the
middle of the process if you're student or if you are a senior. I'm glad you're here to get more information. So, my name is Beth Mian. I'm one of the counselors in the guidance department. I work with students in grades 10, 11, and 12 with the last names that start with G
through M. This is Shelby Matroni. She's our department head and she works with just our freshmen to help them transition. Hi. How are you guys? >> Thanks for coming. Um, and then soon joining us is Dan Keller. He's our adjustment counselor.
So, tonight is going to be a combination of I'm going to share some brief information that our senior students got from our department last week in their English classes about the college process. Um, and then we're going to hand it over to our panel and Mrs.
Matron is going to share some question and answers that are very typical that we're hearing over and over that might be helpful, but we would love for you to ask questions along the way that would be helpful for you and your child's process. So, this is kind of the abbreviated
version of what we gave our students last week. Um, we wanted to let you know about two areas that we're working in these next few months as we go through the process. You might have heard your students talk about Navviance. So, Navviance is a program that we use for
all four years of students times here. We work with it to help them do some research on careers and then eventually colleges, majors. it helps us do some um exploration there. But this year, we're
using it for kind of these four reasons. One of them is more of a document holder. Um it helps us manage the application process. It's where students will request transcripts. It's where we hold our letters of recommendation. It helps us um manage their applications
and get things off to these folks. Um, Naviance works in conjunction with Common App, which is something that you might have heard of. Um, we've been going through this process. We've been having individual meetings with our seniors at this point. We have been answering any questions that they might
have about specifics within the Common App. It's a little tedious. It takes a little bit of time. So, we really encourage them to get going on it as soon as possible. It opens up on August 1st. So that's when we ask students to sign up for an account and start working
on all of the questions involved there. It's helpful because it's one application that they can send off to about a thousand schools. Some schools use their own um application directly for their institution, but most schools
participate in the common app. I think most of you guys do. Yeah. Um we are linking a PDF in here that will show you screenshots. You can't access it unless you have an account. I created a dummy account so that we can show students how to navigate that. Um, but there's a
helpful PDF that Common App put out to assist you when going through it if you have questions and of course we're always available for questions. Um, couple quick reminders that often pop up. So, we figured we would hit on them
here are the different types of decisions that you can see in the um the different pathways to apply to a school. So, the first one is early decision and that's a binding um agreement between
the student and the school. So, when that happens, it's pretty serious. It's like a contract. I have to sign off as a counselor. Parents have to sign off. Um the student signs off and that says no matter what happens in this process in terms of financial aid, I agree to go to
your school, you have to withdraw your applications from all the other schools. So this is a great choice if you know 100% this is where you want to go. Um it is tricky because it's binding. So another good option is early action. So,
some schools offer this, some don't. You can find out their deadlines on their websites or if you log into the Common App, there's a section there. Um, early action puts you again in a little bit of a smaller pool, so it might increase your chances of getting in. Um, and it
also just eliminates the longevity of the whole process, so you get everything done a little sooner and then you can um wrap up the whole process and enjoy your senior year. And then there's regular decision which is typically the latest
decision um or the latest date I should say. Um the fastest should be opening in October. The past couple years has been a bit of a mess and it's opened in December. So we the next part of this series is that we're going to be having a financial aid night on November 13th
here. A representative from MEIFA will be coming. She came last year and was extremely helpful even for myself as a counselor. It's a very nuanced process. So, um, come back for that if you have questions about the financial aid process.
>> Back up here. >> Okay. So, Mr. Keller just wants to say a quick word about senior year. It can be a really stressful time with navigating this whole process, with going through the transition of going into college. There's just a lot of things that come up in this. So, Mr. Keller just wanted
to say a quick word about staying sane in your senior year. >> So, having gone through this with four of my own kids already, it's a very stressful time. Um, so if your senior or your son or daughter is having an issue or you're they're stressed out, please feel free to reach out to either myself
or any of the counselors so that we can support them. Um, lots of times I think they all try to, you know, navigate on their own and feel like they're doing it on their own. But again, it's it's a very stressful time because they're leaving what's very comfortable and they're going to something that they're
not aware of and then who's getting into what college and things like that, it's it's very stressful. So, we just want to make sure that if if you're if you're seeing it and it's difficult for you to deal with it and you're trying to not have to have the battles, feel free to let us know. we can sort of help support
um your your child and and get them through the process. >> So, what I just went over was a really brief version of what we shared, like I said, with the seniors um last week in their English classes. Are there any questions about that? I know some of we
have a mix of classes here. Um, but do you have any questions about what we are doing to support the seniors going through the process before we hand it over to the panel? >> Yeah. >> Can I just ask a question about early action? Is that is there a limit to the
number of schools you can apply to under early action? >> There's restrictive early action sometimes, but for the most part, no. So, that's always a really good option. And I encourage students if you are ready to go, if you have all the pieces
of your application there, I always um suggest getting early action done. The earliest ones could be October, but some of them are in like I know UMass is November 5th, but um so they're coming up. Does anyone else have any other
questions about the process or guidance's role in the college admissions process? No. Okay. So, I'm gonna turn it over to Shelby so that she can walk through um a brief question and answer and feel free
to chime in as we go along. >> Thanks. >> So, our department kind of compiled a couple of questions from throughout the application that we hear oftent times. And so, you guys panel, we're just going to ask you, anyone can jump in to answer any question that you think you can answer well. Um and then we'll kind of
open it up to the floor. anybody who has any questions that we haven't already addressed, um, feel free to raise your hand and then ask the panel. Um, so our first question that we often hear is, how important is an interview? If your school is offering it, should their child interview?
>> I guess I'll start. Um, what I always tell students, if anytime a college offers an interview, a one-on-one, an information session, always always take advantage of it. And the reason why is because you might actually get more information out of that while that
interview than you would not have if you skipped it because as many times when we speak with students like we offer interviews and there's many times where students were like well I didn't know about that. I'm like well if you spoke with us we would have been able to tell you that. So um but it's also vice versa because these interviews these one-on- ones it's not so much us interviewing
you it's you interviewing us. It's you trying to figure out is this a good fit? It's your opportunity to ask whatever questions you can. Not in all cases, but some colleges you might actually interview with an admissions counselor that is going to be the person reviewing your application. So, they're going to get to know you on a personal level to
the point when they see that application, they're going to be like, "I remember little Johnny. He came for a visit. We had a great conversation." That's going to come across a lot better than them getting the application saying, "I don't know who this person is, but what do I have to do anything to to advocate for them?" And there's many many colleges out there that track
demonstrated interest. They they will track whether or not you did an interview. They will track whether or not you saw a mission rep here at the school or a college fair or whether you've been on campus or whether you opened up that email. So anytime you have that opportunity to do so, go for it. I know some schools will only say
students, we only want them. Um parents, if you're invited in that interview oneonone, let the student do the talking. All right? because there's many times if the parents basically monopolize the whole conversations that gets us concerned for that student and I know even at Western Union what we do is we actually flag those students as uh
connectivity issues we're wondering if their transition is going to be a lot more difficult so we try to put a little bit more emphasis but that gets us a little bit more concerned all right so this is their search let them ask the questions and everything else and then and trust me you'll really and I know I said this process can be stressful but
doing this stuff as far as the communication the interviewing It's going to make it so much easier because you're going to get the answers you need to make this process go smooth. >> I'd like to add um I love interviewing with my students, too. I feel like it's a great way to get to know us and
definitely to get to know the tips and tricks. But if you have concerns about your application, it's also a really good time to get to meet with one of us. Maybe your transition to high school is really tough or you changed schools at some point during your career and your grade slipped. can be a really good way for you to get to advocate for yourself
and let us know because not everyone's going to dig into your application and call your counselor and say like I see we got a C one year and that's not normal for you. Some will. Um but it's a really good way for you to get to do that. And at the end of the day, even when students are so nervous during their interview, at least with me, where
they like can tell me two words, I still count it in your favor because you tried something new. And if you're looking at schools with really competitive programs, it can also be a really easy way to set yourself apart. So, we encourage it. Don't get too stressed about it. Sometimes I have a brand new admissions rep who's doing the interview
and they are more nervous interviewing you than you are to interview with them. So, just keep that in mind. >> Great. Thank you. Um, the next question that we get a lot, but we want them to hear it from you guys, is what is the benefit to apply early decision versus
early action? Um, I can talk about this one. Um, so at EMAS Ammeris, we only have EA and regular decision. The main difference, we kind of touched on this at the beginning, is if you're a student who's ready to go, ready to apply, you should submit your application EA. So, I always
say students that had a pretty steady freshman, sophomore, junior year, EA is for you. If you're a student who struggled a little bit at the beginning of high school, you got a little bit better sophomore year, but junior and senior year are definitely going to be your best academic years, you should
apply regular decision. And we say that because when you apply EA, we may or may not be able to see your senior year grades. So that's the main difference. Um, in the past few years, EA has gotten very, very popular, not only at UMass, but across the board. Um, so the
majority of students are applying EA. So just keep that in mind. >> Can I also add one difference? Some schools may also have rolling admissions like we do for several programs. That means the second you apply, we review your application and can get you a decision depending on program like
physicians assistant, physical therapy. Little bit different. But for most of our programs, I've already accepted seniors into next year's class. So when you're ready, you also don't need to wait at every school. Um it doesn't make you early decision just because you apply early. you have to specifically
check that off on the common app. So, don't hesitate to just submit things once you're ready or you don't have to wait till you have every single piece of your application. Colleges will put everything together like an electronic file for you. Sometimes I hear like, "Oh, but I don't have letters of wreck yet, but we don't necessarily need those
before you submit your common application." >> I have a followup question. If you apply early decision or early action and you don't get admitted in th like either of those, can you apply again like regular
like with the regular time frame or if you don't get admitted, you're kind of like out and you need to look somewhere else. So with our early action, if you if we don't feel like we can admit you during that early action timeline, we'll just defer your application to the
regular decision timeline. >> Yeah. If a student gets denied early action, early decision, they're basically they don't meet the requirements for the university at all. So, so it's not a bad thing if a student applies early action, early decision, they get deferred or weight listed. That's basically they're saying, you know what, we're going to wait to see
what the other applicants look like before we come back to you. Um, so it's definitely not a bad thing. Now, I know one of the other vers uh vice versa is like, what's the benefits of early decision compared to early action? I know this is a personal feel. I hate early decision cuz I feel like that just pigeon holes students onto a decision.
But there's some of the ED schools that will not say this, but it is true where a student does get a little bit more of an advantage applying early decision because they're telling that in this institution, if you accept me, I'm going to go. So, and there's a lot of college universities that will literally fill up
more than half their class just on early decision because then they're like, oh, we can meet our budget goal. Now, we can just look at every everyone else, too. So, but like I said, we was saying earlier, only apply early decision. If money is not an issue and that is your dream school and that's where you want to go, then fine, go early decision. But
if money is going to be an issue, don't apply early decision because it's hard to get out of that contract. >> Fantastic. Thank you guys. Um, so we also wanted to hear a little bit about how you guys accept advanced placement scores and giving credits for those.
So, we have kind of a guideline um very ugly Excel spreadsheet that lays it all out for um not only us but for anyone interested in um submitting their AP scores. So, we do take them. We need
them directly from the college board. Um most of our required scores are three. That will vary from co university to university with the exception of our English. um AP scores that we do require at least a four or a five. Um but it's
absolutely worth the ask no matter what. I will say and I will give a plug that if it comes down to advanced placement or dual enrollment um I would encourage dual enrollment if that's if that is an opportunity for you or you as student.
>> Anybody else? >> I think we're all literally on the same like we're basically Can you give us a little bit of the why behind dual enrollment being preferable to an AP?
>> So I I know my thing the reason why I did and I agree with >> Kate just >> well here's she knows I have this hatred for college board. I think they're just a money maker thing. So you got you got that on. >> So no I I do I'm very transparent, very full. But the reason why I like dual
enrollment is because it's going to give students a more realistic approach what college classes are actually going to be like because AP classes college board makes them very very rigorous and said this is what college is going to be like. It's not. Plus you have to get a certain score to get college credit which most schools out there if you get a certain GPA which is usually like C C
plus some maybe a bit a little higher then you get the credits. So, it's easier to transfer dual enrollment credits than it is getting AP. And then all a sudden like paying for AP scores be sent compared to transcripts from dual enrollment. I hands I can tell you right now I've had I encouraged so many
students to take dual enrollment. I had three that came this fall that had their associates degree before they even came to college in high school. They finished it while they were in high school. So, not only by taking these dual enrollments if money is an issue and you get enough dual enrollment credits, you can cut it off by a semester or two, you're saving money. So there are perks
to uh doing dual enrollment. So >> So if I can just say something for everyone's information. Um we have changed our relationship at dual enrollment a little bit. Well, we're working on trying to get into sick, but right now we have a relationship with HCC for our students.
Um this year if a student is taking a class in person at HCC, we are able to schedule time in their day. So they have two blocks at the end of their day where they can go into the class or use that time for that class. If they are taking
a class online at HCC, we can give them an independent study to use that time to work on their work while they're in school. So that's how it works in our program of studies and our students schedules. >> Is that like juniors and seniors do that
>> or Okay. Um, is it better to get an A in an AP course or a B in an honors course? >> I feel like I so struggle with this one always. I feel like we all do because like an A and B, the distinction between
those is like a smaller gap. So, honestly, like a B and an AP course, it looks just as good. Um, versus honors, it still looks okay. If we're talking like C D territory in the AP class, that's when we start to get a little bit concerned. At least at Springfield. Um,
we definitely look for rigor. So, challenging yourself is important, but I'm not saying get C's and D's in CP classes and then suddenly try to build your schedule with a bunch of dual enrollment or AP classes. We just want to see if you're successful in that college prep level that you can add in
some honors. Start trying maybe one or two, not just a jump to senior year, you're going to take five AP classes all of a sudden because that's when those grades might start to suffer just a little bit. Um, and we want you to be intentional about what classes you're taking sometimes, too. You don't need to take an AP just because you felt like
taking an AP, at least for us. Um, we really want to see that you are taking the classes that matter towards your eventual goal or degree or something that interests you. So, just because your friends earn five APs does not mean you need to do that. Um, at the end of the day, we want to see that you are just trying your best. And if that means
a C in an AP, that does not necessarily mean the end of the world. But if you know you can be successful, try to increase just a little bit of rigor throughout, you know, that college career is what more what we look for. >> Fantastic. Thank you. Um, students often
struggle with which teachers should write their letter of recommendation. Any advice on how students should pick their teachers for letters of recommendation? >> So, I'll be honest and put it out there. I have a senior in high school right now, so I'm in this with you. Um, and you would think that working in the
fields I would be confident in my advice and I'm not because it's my daughter who questions everything I say. So, um, what I would suggest, and I suggested it to my daughter, is to take a look at the teachers that you've had. Who knows you the best? Um, who can attest to how hard
you work? Um, who have you gotten to know? Have you had them once or twice maybe? Um, and you know, do they I'm a big fan of English teachers. Um, my daughter's looking into science-based curriculum, so I'm like, we got to have
a science teacher in there, too. Right. Um, and then depending on which school you're applying to, you have the opportunity to select different teachers to submit their recommendations. So, she probably asked for teachers, which might be a little
bit of overkill, but um I know that she wanted to have the option. She had some good relationships with some of her science teachers from 9th and 10th grade, but really liked her English teacher from 11th grade. And so, I would choose the people that you've established relationships with and um
who can attest to what a great student your child is or you are as the student. And the other thing to keep in mind too with all the schools having early decision, early action deadlines, do not ask a teacher the night before the deadline for the recommendation because
you will miss that deadline. So always ask them if juniors I would say ask them before the end of your junior year so they have all summer to write it. So just and be thoughtful. The other thing we always like to say when it comes to recommendations, less is more. Two, three, you don't need more than that.
The most I've ever got was eight and I stopped reading at two. I'm not reading them all. All right. So, less is more. >> My record was 12. Just saying. >> It was too many. >> So, I had a rep from Dane that had 20 that were bound together. >> That was technology.
>> It also doesn't hurt to ask a teacher when you're asking them. I know it can be awkward to ask like, "Are you willing to write a positive letter of recommendation for me?" And then use the language. So, then leave it up to them whether or not they're willing to say yes or no. And don't be hurt if a teacher says no. Sometimes they have a large volume and sometimes you do need
to ask in advance. I know teachers, your school counselors, they have a lot of students to work with. Um, so be kind when you're asking too. It's a big process for you, but definitely a lot of letters for them too. >> And the number two to three, is that two
teachers and a counselor? Like how because you all still write the letters, correct? >> So all of the counselors write a letter for our students. So each of us have about 70 seniors on our case load. So you don't have to go through the request
process with us, but it is really helpful to have something that we can work off of when we're writing the letter. So, I encourage my students to have a resume or a brag sheet and to it's hard for a lot of kids, but to write all those bright and shiny things
about you so that we can put them in our letters of recommendation um for these guys. So, they don't have to go through the process of requesting it from us, but we're working with each of them in these individual meetings to show them on that program that we use, Naviance, on how to request their teachers within
the school. >> And each college is going to be different in what they'll look for. or some of them may actually say we want one from this teacher or we want from that teacher. And there's some schools and I think for most of us like we'll even accept it from like a coach or a supervisor or a pastor or like whoever.
We're willing to accept those two. So because I always like to say get one from at least the person that knows you the best. Those are the usually the really good ones. And just another note, all right, we usually ask for both our teachers and ourselves that we have two to three weeks notice so that we can
really dive in and make sure we're giving the best letter of recommendation and not doing something quick for these guys. They have to read it. So, we want to give them something good to read and valuable to your student. Um, another letter uh question about letters of
recommendation. How do you view one from a very important person versus a teacher? I mean, I could tell you it doesn't make a difference to me. I actually had Miranda Rivera write a recommendation for a student, you know, the Yankee Exposer. I kept that recommendation as
our um but I've had senators write it. Honestly, it really doesn't do much. It really doesn't do it. So, in fact, to be honest, my favorite I know Kate's favorite is English. Mine's actually the school counselors because I feel like they tell us more in the summit teacher because in the past I had teachers write
recommendations where there were templates and I would have literally have like three applications from the same school, same teacher recommendation and it was the exact same recommendation. So that's why the school counselors are always the number one I always go to first. >> Thank you. We appreciate that's why we put time into it. Um our next question
is about standardized testing. How important is your standardized testing scores compared to your transcript? We're test flying, so we don't we don't want them. >> Um, do you want to >> I was just say at the community colleges, we don't require standardized testing for admissions at all. So,
>> yeah, we're test optional at UMass Ammerst. Um, I honestly encourage students to only submit scores if it's going to positively impact your academic profile as a whole. Um, if you don't want anyone to ever see your test score, they don't have to. Um, we're not trying
to trick you. We really are test optional. But then this opens the question of like, okay, I have a 3.5 GPA and a blah blah blah ACT score. What should I do? Talk to your college counselors. They're going to be able to help you the most, but at the end of the day, the majority of students that apply
to UMass and are admitted to UMass Ammerst are not submitting their test scores. >> Do test scores impact the financial aid that you may offer? That is another question we get a lot in our office. >> It does not for us anymore. There used to be one scholarship that was a hanger
honor and it's set by the state but we are past that. So standardized test boards have no impact on financial aid or merit scholarships. >> Just keep in mind though there are other college and universities that in May. So this is why you need to ask the questions if there's no cookie cut approach. I
really wish there was but there isn't. So, anytime your your son or daughter is here at the college fair, I know you guys have it at the end of October. We're being visit great opportunity for you to go up and say, "Can I go test optional? What happens if I go test optional? Are there any other requirements if I go test optional?"
Because there's some schools you have to submit a portfolio if you go test optional. Are scholarships still available if you go test optional? Because there's I know what school off top of my head you need to submit them if you want scholarships. So, you just have to ask those questions. So, oftentimes when we have our one-on-one
meetings, um, in senior year, I'll sit down with a student and go through their schools, especially if it's those highly selective schools and research kind of what their Indian SAT score is. And you can decide if you send it or not send it on Common App. So, I we can show
students how to like put it in there, apply to the school, go to the next school, take it out, apply to the school. So, it just takes a little bit of manipulation of the Common App to um finagle those tests for us as you're sending your application. >> And as it was mentioned, we are having a
college fair here at the high school on October 24th. >> All right. Um the next question is about the essay. How is the essay evaluated at your institutions? >> I'll start. K knows this is like one of my favorite topics. She's shaking her
head already. She doesn't look good. Um I I could tell you the essay we do require the essay. Some you guys don't require it. Yeah. So I can tell you right now they're actually we are now taking the essay a little bit more lightly at this point in time. We still like to bring in consideration but more
to enhance the application not so much to uh to uh hurt a student. I mean there are ways it could hurt students. Um one of the main reasons is because the whole idea of AI come into play. So that's why some schools have decided not to put a lot more weight on the essay or even
require it. Um, but really we tell students all the time like this is your opportunity to tell us something about you that we can't find in your application. What's unique about you? What have you done not many students have done before? Or maybe there was a certain event in your life that helped that fetched your grades but the what
you learned from it and so forth. Like there's so much that you can tell us about yourself. And I keep saying yourself about you because that's what it's all about. We want to know about you. If you write about Aunt Susie and all we read about is Aunt Susie. Oh, we got to know Aunt Susie well. Didn't get to know you. And that's the reason why a
lot of colleges like to refer to the essay is if academically you a little borderline for them, they're going to be like, "All right, let's look at the essay. Give me something I can advocate for you." All right. It's also one of the things with the essay means a lot more when we meet the students because I feel like the voice and how we read it
is actually different than when we don't meet the student because I've read essays in the past of students where I'm like, I could picture like having the conversation with them and reading about it. I get to know them a little bit more. And I've had other stu essays where I'm sitting down like, man, where are they going with this? And to be honest, when we get to a certain point and they're not getting to the point
where we want them to be at, you start skimming because we're like, this is not going to help them. Um, the other thing to keep in mind with the essay with the common application, you can't put more than 650 words. But what we're noticing is students feel like you have to hit 650 words. Here's a secret. We don't sit
and count the words. All right? Get to the point. All right? We don't me personally the the ones essay the essays I really like bother me is when that first sent was a crisp autumn day and the gear was no just say it was raining out or whatever and you like but there's certain things we always tell students
like be aware of your topic um know the audience know what you're writing I always said like keep political views out of it um I because we had a student who wrote about having a fascination with guns probably not the best essay to write to a college so regardless of what your GPA is I mean right now we're seeing students put hashtags in their
essay But please stay away from it. Um, if you have a first choice college, don't write about that college in your essay because especially if you do the comm, it goes to other schools. I know we deny students who write about other schools because you're basically telling us you're going to go there if they accept you. All right? Don't bash
teachers. We've had that happen. Don't write how much you like to do homework. Believe it or not, all this stuff actually happens. All right? In the end, a simple personal statement. You can use one of the questions off the common applications, but honestly, all you have to do is just get to the point. The essay, believe it or not, should be one
of the easiest parts of the entire process. But I can also see the stress because the writer's block and some students are sitting down saying, "Well, I'm not that interesting or my topic's not interesting." Keep in mind, you might not find it interesting, but we do. All right? And I've literally had
essays where I've emailed students afterwards and be like, "Hey, your essay really meant a lot." I mean, I had a student up at Smith Academy where all of a sudden I'm reading her essay because her grades were really not that great. They were choppy, but reading her essay really stood out. I mean, the battles that she was going through and then she was talking about how going for the
extra help and and everything else and how she's working through it and I was like, "Wow, this is great." And it stuck out more because her name was Charlotte and my daughter's name Charlotte. So, I was picturing my own daughter. So, I actually called her up when she was leaving school and be like, "Hey, I just want to let you know." You'll get some of the counselors maybe write handwritten notes. Some may not. You
don't know. But it's your opportunity to speak up and say this is who I am and this is why I'm going to be successful at your institution. But um but yeah, this is a topic we can like talk an hour on. I know Kate wants me to be quiet. >> I think it's important to know that like Chris said, this is a stressful time and
I know probably lots of you have started thinking or writing your essay. It your topic does not need to be groundbreaking. It can be fun. It can be whimsical. Um, I mean, we want to know about you, but some of the best essays
that I've read are one of them was one of my future tour guides. Um, and how she she wrote about how she wears mismatched socks every day. What? Um, so how do you craft an entire college essay? She managed to do it and I remembered it and when she came into
interview, she mentioned something and I put it together. Um, you know, I had a student who wrote about why the kitchen was the most important room in his house. >> And he talked about how, you know, that's where all of his family gatherings were and where he learned
about, you know, big events, whether it was the deaths in the family or celebrated holidays or that's where his friends would hang out and have dinner with them. That's where so he talked about how that was really shaped him. I had a student who in last example who
talked about um and detailed how they were going to miss their ride to school, their daily drive to school and all these important places along the way and how those places really impacted them and shaped them. So it does not need to be like this huge,
you know, like trip or or experience or it can be something that you experience every day. But we want to hear it from you. You want to learn about you. Um, and the more I don't want to say creative because creative gives me
stress, but the more you it can be, the better time we have reading it. So, but don't, in my opinion, in most cases, an essay is not going to make or break your your admission decision.
I just love to add it will not make or break your if you're a straight F student and you write the best essay we've ever read, you're not going to suddenly get accepted. But in the same way, if you're a strong student and it's about a sports related injury or Aunt Sue, it's not going to get you denied
from the program or a school necessarily. But I also wanted you to keep in mind that especially now that students are using so many tools, pay attention to like the grammar and what you're writing because the divide between essays may also grow. While we
don't use that necessarily to like weed out applicants, we as a school actually mark any students we have concerns and then if you come to Springfield, we might put you in an extra writing studio class or a support. That's again just because we want to like take care of students who we have concerns about once they land at the school. But just keep
in mind, let your counselor or someone else read it. Read it out loud to yourself. That's an easy way to catch simple mistakes. We don't want you to like get stressed about your essay, but also make sure it's still something you're spending a little little bit of time on at least. Thank you very much. Um, okay. So, we
have some other factors. So when students are if my student is interested in continuing to play their sport in college, what supports do you offer to assist their balance in both academics and their athletic schedule? It's probably going to be different
everywhere. Um for us, it really depends a lot on like sport to sport and coach to coach. Some might have like designated study halls that you have to be a part of. A lot of our teams like the coaches are responsible for monitoring GPA because technically if
your GPA even at the D3 level drops below a certain point you are no longer allowed to play your sport. So it is still important to pay attention to your GPA and keep your grades up. Um we have outside of that at every school they'll have like tutoring services that are free and unlimited to students academic
coaching. Um, if you are using like specific support services in high school, a lot of schools will have ways that you can continue those supports in college. But when it comes to being a student athlete, a lot of it, at least for us, falls to the coaches. Um, and then you really raising your hand and
going to get those services for yourself. >> Yeah. >> Fantastic. Um, how important is it to know what major you're going to be entering when applying to your school? >> You don't need to know. I mean, try and tell a 17, 18 year old, what do you want to do for the rest of your life? I don't
think any of us went to college to become admissions counselors. >> Never knew that was actually a career out there. So, you were a science major, are you? >> Psychology. >> Closely, but honestly, people change their mind. And data shows that students will change their mind. Half the
students that go to college will change their minds at least once. I had a student that started this fall. He changed his mind five times in within five weeks. But it's okay. You don't need to decide because when you get to college, you might get exposed to a class, a club, organization that really says, "Hey, I kind of want to do that. I
wanted to become a police officer, but now I really want to go into higher education." Like, you don't know where life's going to take you. And many schools out there will have a program designed to help you explore your options. Now, I probably would recommend a school that has a wide variety of options. Like, you don't want to focus
on schools like primarily engineering or primary business because if you don't like business, you're stuck there. All right? So, but always ask like what supports do you have? How early do you go in the career center? Um, but choosing choosing that major. My junior year, I wanted to go to culinary institute and as we can see that didn't
happen. So, I'm not a bad cook. We just didn't have the food network back then. So, um I still cook. I do all cooking at home. But, uh, but that's the thing. And then I also I was like, "Oh, I'm go management." And I was like, "Well, maybe I'll do sport management because I really love sports." And I was like, "I kind of like marketing." So, I took a class in high school. And then I decided
to go to Western New England to do sport management and sport marketing. Not in the field. Did one season but not in the field because life took a turn. So you never know what's going to happen. So parents, they don't need to decide right now. Let them figure it out. And there will be something that they're going to
find passion. Students don't select a major just because it makes money. All right? You may not enjoy. I know people that make a lot of money. They don't enjoy their job right now. So, um, I also know more about your career and what it entails. And what I mean by that
is, for example, whatever you see on TV doesn't actually happen in real life. I had a student who wanted forensics and was like, "Well, I could get locked up in a trunk or something like that." I'm like, "What do you mean you're going to get locked up in a trunk?" And they're like, "Ah, it's all right. I'll be packing." I'm like, "Oh, what are you talking about?" Because I was like, "What you see on TV, that's not it.
First of all, you wear scrubs. You get a police escort. You're not always on the scene when the suspect is there." So, knowing the major, knowing the career, have a good understanding. It's just the start, but you don't need to decide that right now. >> I will put an asterisk and I'm sure
>> Oh, with certain majors >> with certain majors. So, for us, that's nursing. >> Um, it is and I think a lot of universities have direct entry nursing programs. We don't necessarily take transfer students unless they're from an
RN to BSN program, which is a great opportunity as well. Um, but you, in my experience, nurses know that they want to go into nur future nurses know that they want to go into nursing. So, it's important that you pay attention. There may be earlier deadlines. You may be
encouraged to apply early action. Um, it is at Westfield our most competitive major um by a lot. >> Um, same with UMass Ammerst. This is kind of a big one. So, we do offer over 90 different majors, but we do have
three schools and colleges that are very, very competitive. Uh, similar is going to be our nursing program. This is by far the most competitive. This is a closed major. So, if you want to study nursing at UMass, you do have to apply directly to the nursing program. Um, same with our core business majors. So,
like management, finance, accounting, oim, marketing, you have to apply directly to those majors. We do not allow any internal transfers. So, as much as I agree with the advice of you don't 100% need to know what you want to do, if right now you want to be a nurse, apply directly to nursing. You can
always leave, but you cannot be admitted as like a biology major and try and transfer into nursing. We also have programs like that, physicians assistant, physical therapy. Those are really, really difficult to get in outside of when you apply in as a senior in high school. So, yeah, definitely
just do your research. And what I feel like students do not always know is even if you get accepted and then start in that major, you can then leave those majors. I think sometimes we get so like hung up on what we come into college with, but then once you're there, just because you got a spot in the nursing
program or RPT program or whatever, you can leave that major if you change your mind and have a passion in something else. So it's not 100% locked in at the time that you're, you know, 17, 18. And even at the community colleges, we have some highly selective programs as well.
These are healthcare programs. Nursing, of course, being the class example. But for students who want to come into those programs, we have a health science major that acts as the entry point for students that want to go into a selective admissions program like dental hygiene, nursing, PTA, etc., so they can
start taking their prerequisite courses prior to applying directly to those programs. But I think students who tend to want to go into the health sciences, it's a very different, it's a calling almost. It's a very different decision whether someone's deciding between history or polyai. It's a very different
type of choice. >> Um, so this year we've or in the past couple years we've seen a handful of students going into the community college field and then deciding after they associates that now they are ready and they're going to go to the four-year route. How do you guys view those
applications versus some of our students who are coming right out of senior year ready to apply straight to you guys? >> Transfer students are some of the best students that we get um in our biggest feeder schools are SECCC and HCC. um
they come to campus with a sense of maturity and they understand what's expected of them. Um and are driven and focused and you know our our transfer students are great and especially as a state institution, we
really want to work with our sister schools to make that transition from a community college to a 4-year um university as easy as possible. And so, you know, we have representatives at both HCC and stick almost weekly, I think, um, to to make sure that students
are aware how easy it can be to just continue your education after that associates degree. So, it's a great option whether students aren't sure what they want to major in, um, whether they want to start off in those healthcare programs and then, you know, maybe move
on, like I said, the RN to BSN, um, or it's financially responsible for them and their family. Um, so there's a lot of great reasons to start at a community college. >> Yeah. >> And there are also transfer articulations between the 15 community colleges. If you're staying within the
state college system, there's the mass transfer program. So if you're going from state community college to state four-year college or university, there are transfer pathways you can follow. And then both us and Hoyo Community College have transfer articulations with our private school partners. So, if you're looking to go to a 4-year
private, there are different transfer pathways that you can do. If you graduate from a certain major with a certain GPA, you're eligible for a direct transfer onto that four-year college and go into there as a junior to continue your education. >> Thank you. And our last question we have
is aside from taking a deep breath obviously, what advice do you have for our students and parents in terms of keeping the peace at home during this very stressful time? Kate, you cannot answer this question. I'm just kind of curious to hear if he had to say you go first. I wouldn't be able
take a deep breath. Um I think it's best to start early. Um I've been I mean obviously we've had the conversations for years, but we did start junior year. Um so we started touring with our entire family and during spring of junior year
went on a bunch of college tours. We kind of narrowed our larger list to a little bit of a smaller list. did some um I know there's college search tools, but last fall when she was a junior, I did sit her down in front of the college board. I know. Um and there's a a college search tool called like my big
future or big future. And it was a great starting point for her to kind of think about what different kind of majors are out there as we as you know majors are called different things at different schools and it can be really challenging for students um to kind of decipher what each of those programs um means and what
it means for them. Um, so I think starting early, whether that's the college search process early, then touring early because you really got to visit a school to get a feel for it. There are so many different types of fit when you're looking at colleges, academic fit, financial fit, social fit. But to determine those, you really need
to step on campus to see if your student or you as the student can envision yourself here for four years. And parents, it's really hard when you step onto a college campus, you're like, "Yep, this is it. This is going to be a great fit for my student." and they're like, "It's
not my fave." Um, but you have to remember that it's their two years, their four years. Um, and they need to feel good where they end up. So, you know, I encourage you to let your student have a um
I want to say lead the process, but in my experience, she doesn't lead this process. Um, give them the opportunity to to really express their opinions, their thoughts, their questions, their concerns. You can reach out to any of us if you have questions. Um, reach out to
your school counseling office. They are have so much knowledge. And if they're not sure, they'll give one of us a call. So, that's that's an easy easy answer. Um, but let your student or students, we need you to kind of take the reigns on this because this is your future. I was
just telling Shelby on the way up the stairs that my daughter has submitted a college application. Um, and you know, I keep telling her, "We need to submit the others." And I said, "Finally, I can't want this more than you do. So, the deadlines are coming up and you need to
get your stuff in if you want those schools to be an option for you." >> The one thing I always always tell students and families that can really aid you in this process is communication. It's so simple. All you have to do, email, text, call, meet with
the representative here. you'll get your answers if you but there's a lot of times I think students and families are like well this is a dumb question or I'm not sure if I should ask there is no such thing I tell families if you're thinking of that question that means it's important to you always always ask the more questions you ask I'm telling
you it's going to be easy students check your email check your text you don't want to miss deadlines all right I had email >> check check your email like actually I had one student here who told me he's like yeah I don't check my email I'm like you you really need to start doing that because a lot of times your
decision letter will come through your email. Schools are not mailing them out anymore. You don't want to miss it. Or scholarship opportunities, you don't want to miss them. All right? So, communication is going to be key and help you out through this entire process. And it's not just communication between you and the college is as a
family. Talk to each other. Have those realistic conversations about the major, the location. If you want to go to California, hey, you're not coming home for Thanksgiving because I'm not paying $800 round trip for you to be home for three days. The finances, have that conversation about money. Students, you
may not realize how much college is going to cost and how much debt you could potentially be in. All right? Those are conversations you need to have, but we're all of us are very accessible. We can even be a resource for you. There's a lot of I mean, we all know each other. So, that's why when I get a student that wants nursing, I'm
like, "Yeah, go talk to Kaitton at Westfield or go talk to Elms AIC." We help each other out because we know our job is to actually aid you in the process and not try to convince you to come to our institution. All right. But communication is going to be your best friend.
>> Yeah. I have a one-year-old, so I don't know much about keeping the peace between parent and family yet. Uh but at the end of the day, remember like students in the driver's seat, parents maybe in the back seat, not a backseat driver, but had a lot of parent phone calls like we applied on this date. and
I'm like, you didn't apply, your student applied. So, definitely have the conversations, but also like the onus is on the student, too. And some schools might have guidelines about what they can and can't talk to parents about. So, don't be surprised if you do ask for some updates that schools say like you
have to have your student call, like we can't share that information. I know it's hard, especially because, you know, you're the ones paying nine out of 10en times. But some schools do have like a right to protect student information, too. So, if you're not hearing back, I guarantee your student has about five
emails in their inbox. Maybe a text or two or three now, depending on the school. Um, so don't hesitate to call us, but also know making your student call might be the solution to a lot of your problems, too. >> In a lot of colleges, we have a program. Do you guys have Slate in Springfield?
>> Yes. UMass has it? Westfield State has it. We have it's a program called Slate. So, we get a student that tells us like, "Yeah, I never got your email." Well, guess what? We can tell if you opened it. We can tell you where you opened it. We can tell what time, what device. >> Don't lie to us. So, that's how a lot of colleges will track demonstrated interest, too. They're like, "All right,
have they been opening up emails, everything else." So, it's a great way for us to track it. Now, some schools go extent where they know like where you clicked on the website and so forth. So, that's why you get certain emails versus certain stuff. We don't do that. It's just too much work. Um, but just keep that in mind. There's there's ways that we can see what you're opening and what
you're not. And if you got if you're no longer interested, this is another big thing. If you are no longer interested in the institution, don't be afraid to tell us. You're actually doing us a favor. >> Nicely. >> Nicely. Yeah. Don't tell us the I've had that happen to a couple nasty words. But
um but it's okay to tell a school, hey, I found another a better fit for me. Perfect. Because if another school tries to convince you or starts bashing that school, it's only because they're worried about their numbers and they start they need bodies in the door. So, and there's some cases where I've had a student, I'm like, you know what? I don't know if we're the right fit. let's
figure this out and they'll I'll help you out with the other school. All right? So, it's okay to tell us. We're not going to get mad at you. We're not going to bite her off your head. It's just let us know you're no longer interested. >> And if you have questions, we're still and you're seniors. That's okay. There is a college fair.
>> Uh she didn't want me. All right. So, on Sunday from 12:00 to 2, we're hosting a It's not our fair. We're just an organization's using our campus from 12 to 2 in our gym on Sunday. Um where we have a college fair. We have over 100 college and universities that are going to be attending. So, highly recommend to
come. Um, one of the best parts, especially those representatives that are going to be there Sunday, most of them are going to be here at East Long Meadow on October 24th. And guess what? Have that conversation, grab their business card because nine out of 10 times that's the person reviewing your
application. So, I'm the one that reviews all the applications out of East Longmetal. So, if I have a student that comes up and they're applying, I know who they are. I'm going to put the effort into that application. So, we love love talking to students. We we're in this profession because we love it. All right? We want to help students out.
We want to help families out. So, don't be afraid to go up and and have those conversations. And also keep in mind when you go up and you have those conversations, I had a student who just asked me this the other day. They're like, "How good is your pharmacy program?" No one's going to tell you their program sucks. All right? I'm just telling you that right now. >> But what you really need to do is go up
to them and say, "Tell me more about your nursing program." because I guarantee their response to you and how much information they provide will let you know how popular that is. All right? Because I know we have some programs someone's like, "Hey, how good is your or how's your intern um tell me more about your international studies." I can give some basic. It's not one of our
popular majors. So, we don't talk about it often. So, we don't we start forgetting a lot of the information. So, it's a good way for you to learn a little bit more of what's popular, what's not, how programs are different for each school because you're going to realize that one program like we offer is going to be different than what Westfield offers. It's going to be
different than what Springfield offers. We might have similar, but how we're running it is going to be different. So, you need to figure out what's going to work best for you. You got the plug for me. Thank you. >> We're going to open up to the parents if you guys have any questions at this time. This is your time to ask the
panel. >> Go ahead. >> Uh you specifically, I know you have an extra um why do you want to attain the school? What are you looking for in the interview? What do you not? >> Yeah. Um, I always get this question and it's one of my favorites because it's
really not that serious. I always joke that you can say, "I want to go to UMass because on Halloween I'm going to get a lobster and steak." It really is not that serious. You're the one that's applying. You know why you want to attend UMass? Obviously, don't say I'm going to UMass because it's my safety school. That's like probably not a good
look. But really, um, for all of our supplementals, we have why do you want to go to UMass? Um, why do you want to study the major that you selected? And then as a product of this community, how are you going to impact our campus? We just want to hear like your student voice. Um, we don't want to know why mom
wants to go to UMass or because your uncle went. It's you're the one that's going, so you know why you're applying, but don't let it take up too much of your time. It's going to be a very simple answer and that's okay. Don't feel like it's too simple. >> Is this concept of an enrollment cliff
real? Um, and if so, uh, does that mean that more colleges are going to be offer offering better merit scholarships or merit aid? And the third part to that is can you negotiate between schools? So, if you have two packages from two
schools, your child really wants to go to college B, college A is offering more aid, can you go to college B and say, this college is offering us this for aid. Will you match it and we'll go here? >> Hi sir.
>> Thank you. Um the enrollment cliff is real. Um it's based on numbers of graduating students and the amount of students who are you know um the percentage of students who are going on to pursue a two-year or four-year degree. It is um the cost of college
that impacts that as well. So it is very real and um our universities have been preparing for this or trying to prepare for this. Um its impact on financial aid it depends. So I wanted to go first because coming from a state school our
over our overall cost is lower right. Um so to kind of give it baseline total cost to attend Westfield State and live on campus for one year is about $27,000 a year. Okay. That's that's before any financial aid merit scholarships. That
is tuition fees, room and board. Um we have several merit scholarships. Um our highest uh for the majority of students is a $5,000 merit scholarship. If you apply to Western New England, whose overall cost is sorry double what we do
and they come back because I have heard Chris at events with a $25,000 scholarship. We had more than that. >> That up does not you calling us to say, well, Western New England gave us a $25,000 and Westfield only gave us five.
It's all relative. So, that's not apples to apples. So, if you call us and say Worcester State, who has a very similar um tuition fees, room and board cost, and they say you say they gave us 7,000 or that, you know, that's more realistic in in our mind certainly, but and it it
seems kind of obvious to say that um in in some ways, but we have these conversations every year with multiple students and families. So, I'm done with my CIA >> So, from the private institution, I can say you don't want to call a school and then and say negotiate. What you want to
do is you want to call the school and say, "Can I appeal?" Because that will go a long way because there's some schools out there who say, "Well, can we negotiate the price?" They'll hang up the phone. All right? But you can appeal. You have nothing to lose by appeal. A college cannot withdraw your acceptance letter just because you're asking for more funds. Um and and like
Kate was saying, the cliff is definitely real for the private institutions. A lot of private institutions are getting a little bit more creative. They're getting a little bit more aggressive with financial aid. I know even between Springfield and myself, um we've had cases where because I've looked at Springfield college packages where they became less than the state schools,
believe it or not. We have our own initiative as well where if we have a student that's a full PEL student, full mass grant student, we can get them free tuition and fees. All they have to do is get us an acceptance letter to a state school and then we offer them free tuition fees for the year. So, not even taking the loans. All right. So there
are ways and we have other ways uh where students can appeal for additional funds where in the end I know for us we don't want cost to be that final factor. So we have different policies different initiatives in place to help but you would have to call and say can we appeal this and we can explain how the process works because we have like two or three different appeal processes depending on
the student and where they're from what major um what their overall income is that could truly help out. >> Is that admissions that we would call have conversation? >> If you're looking at Western it all goes through me. So, in case you guys want, >> I would also encourage you to be like respectful in other ways when you're
appealing. Know that some schools have a limited budget of appeals. So, if you're appealing between like five colleges to just play like let's make a deal, keep in mind that some of that budget might then go to away from a student who's like genuinely really interested in trying to make it work. Some schools
will say like we'll match any package that we see. We do not do that. We will not do that. Um, so it just really depends on a lot of factors, but definitely keep in mind you want to be respectful through the process, too. We consider financial need. Every college does, um, some colleges will give you
the best they can do the very first time around, but it never hurts to appeal and ask what that process looks like. Um, just maybe not at every single school. And usually you can't appeal twice. So just keep that in mind, too. Then if you go to the next school between us and Western New England, you can't play us
both for that long. Also, Chris and I know each other and each other's offices, so we might call at one point, too. >> The master programs in the colleges that go on business because I have the is for all of you. >> Um, is it better if you have a specific
thing that you want to do? Is it better to go to the state college the community college first and then transfer to do a master's at a specific college? Well, if you start in the community college, you have to finish your bachelor's because all master's degrees, you need a bachelor's degree first. So, now also
keep in mind, and once you go, and this is not even if you go to stick or HC, this is if you start at any other college and then you transfer out. Keep in mind when you become a transfer student, the financial aid package, the scholarship packages are different. >> So, I know we offer less, and I think Springfield might be the same. We offer
less scholarship for transfers than we do for first year students. For many colleges out there, the financial aid package, like you could get 70% need met as a first year student, but now you're a transfer, you only get 50%. >> So, if you go to to the fouryear for a master and you get that and all that,
will continue to stay at that school, then you get your masters. >> Well, that's up to you if you want to continue on for the masters. >> That's if you want to continue on for a master's degree after your bachelor's. >> Okay. So, but there's times like we we have students that will come in that want a physician assistant and after
they come in health sciences with us and then they apply to Westfield or Springfield for their masters and PA program. >> They can and continue on past. >> We have combined programs with accelerated programs that they can get it done quicker. We offer two free grad courses for graduates. So, where it
saves them like between taking courses their senior year, the two free grad courses, it cuts like almost $18,000 off. So they only pay for half of a grad degree. And even with that route, if a company's willing to pay for it, then you drop down to parttime, let them pay for it. You don't have to pay for your masters.
>> Well, could be more better than have school price and do. >> It depends on the program though. Like if you want to stay at one place for like PT, I say go to Springfield because you can do both at Springfield. >> Yeah. So that's why like there there's it's certain programs that it works well
with. Well, it would I would have pretty sure um unpre a certain program, but Okay, >> sure. >> I had two questions. So, I know that you
guys said like for nursing it's important to know your major. Is there any like other majors that would be important to know beforehand to apply for? And also like I know you mentioned like emails and stuff. If you don't check your emails like very like you don't open the email very often from the college will that affects like the
>> it won't really affect it. It it's just that's if you ever get deferred or weight listed they may refer back to that. >> Okay. >> If you open it up like once a week you're fine. I'm not saying you have to open up every hour of the day. Um you just don't want to miss any deadlines. Like you don't want to all a sudden wait three to four weeks and then realize
like oh I missed that email that was sent two weeks ago because there could be like events that are on that campus that would really excite you. So even if you like look at it once or twice a week because you want to get used to that because in college a lot of professors use email and everything else about like submitting papers and so forth. And I
think Danielle you mentioned some of the programs at your campus because I think a lot of it's going to depend for each school like UMass has certain programs that are more challenging to get into. I know for us yes it would be nice to know pharmacy and engineering early on than other programs like business criminal
like that's okay you can flip-flop that's no problem. some schools I know like with PA, nursing, PT, a lot of actually the science fields. It's usually a lot of the science fields. So, but what were some >> Yeah, it just for us it's physicians assistant and physical therapy because they go directly into the graduate route, their accelerated like direct
entry programs, which is why we typically want them applying beforehand. And that just reminded me of something too when you said PT because I know especially with uh transfers and the free community colleges. There's some private institutions now that are not taking transfers for certain programs anymore because they want you to start
the program at that institution. So you got to make sure you be careful as far as like all right I want to go to the community college but I want to go into PT. There I know one school out on the east coast that they're like nope we're not taking any transfers for PT. So >> we still look at transfers. >> Yeah I that's why I said the east coast. I we were good. That's why
>> I think we can do what you want to do in one school, you know, to stay in a lot of schooling on the deed and all that. >> Yep. >> But you prefer >> it'll be easier. >> Yeah. >> And do you want to scarf once they that I said earlier? Uh so we heard our
chance to do dual enrollment their junior and senior year. They can do it. We do not give them a block off till their senior year. So I just wanted to go back and correct myself. I realized after I did it. What does that mean? >> I don't know what dual enrollment is. >> Dual home is when you go or Mike, you
want to talk? >> You basically take college course work while you're in high school. Actually, Mike, you talk about it. You're the I just started. You're the dual enrollment person. >> Typically done at one of the community colleges. um currently stick with technically our dual enrollment students that aren't coming from Springfield
public schools are students who are at a high school here like East Long Meadow who are basically enrolling as nonderee students as undeclared students and taking classes. There's other dual enrollment programs again with us at Springfield Public Schools where there's
actually some grant money to pay for the courses, but um if you're coming from that, it's really between the school because very often the school might have some criteria for their students to participate in dual enrollment with HCC or stick um and then the student would
fill out an application as a non-deree student and then work with our registars's office to enroll in classes. But as a typically as a dual enrollment student, at least with us, the family is responsible for the cost of tuition fees and books for that class because at that point they're not a high school
graduate. So they're not yet eligible for financial aid or the free college programs offered by the state. >> And so we do take a transcript from either sick or HSA and I personally put it on our transcript so that your students high school uh transcript
reflects that they took a dual enrollment course. So that when everyone is looking at it, it's easy to ex uh designate that these are East Lmettos and this was taken at HGC government whatever um stick whatever the course
was. So we do reflect those dual enrollment classes on our transcript so that everybody knows that they forget. What um classes would you recommend as a dual enrollment or from each of your
institutions? Which ones are you looking for? >> Um I can talk about this. So for pretty much all of us, I'm sure you can look up what our like gen ed requirements are. I always use the example of like if you're taking a push or dual enrollment AP level history, that's going to cover
your history gened or AP lang or an AP language. Um, typically any dual en enrollment course will end up covering something. Like when I was in high school, I took um dual enrollment anatomy and that covered my science gened for UMass Ammerst. Um, so I
recommend taking a look at your gen ed requirements and then kind of basing it off of there. But it never hurts to take dual enrollment. you would think there was no stupid question so that's why I'm asking this but I recall there was a conversation about weighted GPA and GPA
like unweighted GPA I found that very confusing and I also found very confusing that there was like on applications and I can't recall if it was for colleges or if it was for scholarships it was like what's your school ranking and Eon Meadow High School doesn't do school ranking so it
was a very awkward situation to be like I don't know in that application. So I was wondering if you could give any guidance to either of those. >> So yes, we do not rank. We school does not rank. >> Um sometimes I will provide students the
percentile that they are. Um that um so if a student asked me for that I just did the other day. I gave her she was in the fifth percentile of the class. >> We gather 3%. >> Okay. And then weighted unweighted. we we equate it. So let's say you take an
AP class and you get an A in that class. When we calculate it, it equals a 4.5. And then if it's an honors, it's a four or sorry, standard is four. Honors is 4.5 and AP is five. >> We have a handy chart that
>> So they say like well provide your unweighted GPA, you guys give a weighted GPA. Email us and we can provide you the unweed. >> Okay. So we just have to check with you. Okay, we like all four years to mind, >> right? >> Yep. Your cumulative GPA will be all
four years. >> The one that's on the transcript is a GPA. >> Correct. >> If it makes it more confusing, we're not even going off of that GPA. We recalculate. We're figuring out on our own. >> So, I was all stressed out. >> That's why that's not a stupid question because that is actually an excellent question that a lot of people don't ask.
And it's going to be different for every school because how Westfield weights is going to be different than how we weight, different than how Springfield weights. I think it's so confusing. >> Yep. >> That's why it's each indiv it's all about talking to each individual college and asking like do you recalculate? How do you weight the grades? What classes
do you look at? Cuz I know with Westfield State they'll do four years in math and I think you count accounting potentially as one of the math >> if it's in the math department. >> If it's in the math department, we don't count accounting at all. >> So we take that out of the GPA. So whatever GPA we get is gonna be different than a transcript. Yeah.
>> We even count PE at Springfield. So we count literally everything. Also, if it helps, not all colleges will look at your self-reported data on the common app anyways because we see the transcript. We'll see anything that that information provides us. So, all the self-reported data, while it's like nice
to fill out on the common app, not every school's even so like I've had a student once who got a 780 total on their SAT, but reported that they got a 780 in each section, which is why we don't necessarily look at that as like an accurate portrayal of data.
And some schools don't even look at ranks anymore. We don't look at ranks. We don't even factor them. Yeah. Many schools got rid of looking at ranks. >> It's more important. Ranking is actually more important in Texas, believe it or not, because they offer free tuition. Anyone who's top 10% of the class, so
they look at it. So, but you have to be a Texas resident, though. Sorry, forgot to mention that. um for a student is trying to figure out early admission, regular admission, are you good people to ask about that tournament choice?
>> Yeah, regarding counsel might be a good resource. >> And honestly listen to them because they meet so many of us over the years. >> They speak to us. They know more about us than they think. Believe it or not, you guys do. But honestly, if they
don't, they'll pick up the phone. I get phone calls weekly basis from all the schools around the area say hey I have a student what do you think like so >> no one else has questions I just want to thank you all for coming and staring with us our library is a little warm in here today but this was great and thank
you guys so much your night to come and to give our parents some information we appreciate everybody thank [Applause]