All right. Hello everybody. Uh this is um College 101 and uh I'm Vinnie Cersei. I'm the director of counseling and therapeutic services uh for uh Norton High School. And uh I'm lucky enough today to have Ashley O'Donnell from
Bristol Community College who's going to do the college 101 presentation for us. Um so Ashley, I know you guys have changed um roles and all kinds of things. What's your title this year? >> I'm just the admissions coordinator. >> Admissions co. Not just the You are the
admissions coordinator. That's great. Um, so thank you as always for coming out and joining us. Um, you know, I think this is a really nice introduction to um the process for our parents that are in ninth and tth grade. Um, so without um for the folks that are that
are joining us as we go through, if you want to put questions um in the Q&A, I will do my best to um either answer them or have Ashley answer them. Um and then at the end, we'll definitely ask again if there's any questions before we sign
off. Um, this is recorded, so if uh somebody's watching and has to leave for some reason, uh it'll be up on the uh high school website under the guidance department under presentations. Um usually within 24 to 48 hours, our tech team gets them up. Um and so or if you
know other folks that uh that might want to see it, um please let them know. So with that, Ashley, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Hi, my name is Ashley. I'm with Bristol Community College. I am one of the admissions coordinators. I'm based out of our Taton office. Uh Bristol has four offices. Fall River, Adel, New Bedford,
and Taton. So I am the representative for admissions out of the Taton area, but when someone applies to Bristol, they apply to Bristol as a whole. So that means they can take classes at any of the campus locations. It doesn't necessarily mean they have to come to Taton. Uh so we're kind of versed in all the areas, all the programs. So just a
little bit of background about me. I have my bachelor's from Stonehill College. So I was a double major in English and communication with a focus in media. Um from there I realized I wanted to go into higher education. So I went to Bridgewire State uh where I
received my masters in counselor education with a focus in higher education counseling. Um and then from there I've primarily been in the public sector. So I've been at UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, Bridgewwater and now at Bristol. Um, I've also been the director
of admissions at a private high school as well. So, to just give you some background because sometimes on these slides I kind of draw from my personal experiences um to kind of give some additional commentary to kind of what we're doing and what we're talking about. So, in terms of college, what it's about
and why it matters. So, what college does, it gives you the opportunity to unlock different opportunities that may not be available without a college degree. That could be getting a particular type of job. So certain jobs like even teaching, engineering, accounting, you need a particular degree
to be in those particular fields. That's anything from nursing to parallegal to vette. It requires a particular credential behind it. And that's typically in the form of a degree in some manner. Those students who have a degree tend to have higher outcomes for
salary long term than those that hold just a high school diploma. What it also does is allows you to have become more independent with different courses because you no longer have to take what is kind of prescribed to you. You don't need four years of math, four years of English, 3 years of science, three years
of history. You don't have to do that. You might have a general curriculum that everyone has to follow, but once you're into your program, it's a program that you've selected is a program that you have decided upon. If you're studying, say engineering, you're going to be doing calc 1 2 3 4 physics 1 2 1 2 like
that. that's kind of what you're looking at for curriculum and you're picking it because you like it. Um, it also gives you the option to discover your passions and identity. So, sometimes you might take a class because it's required, but that class might help trigger, you know, what it is you want to study and what
type of profession you want to pursue. So, it's okay if going into college you aren't quite sure where it is you want to land or you might think you know exactly where you're going to go, but then that might completely change as well. College also along with the courses
gives you the option to look at sports, clubs, volunteer opportunities, different ways to learn more about yourself and it just gives you the ability to invest in yourself including like growing intellectually um in a classroom setting. So to just give an idea of median
earnings for full-time workers, this is what I meant by those that have a degree tend to see a higher earning overall um based off of their education level. So essentially the h more money that you invest in yourself and in your education
tends to have a higher yield on the reverse based off of the degree that's been achieved by the person. There are different types of colleges and universities. So we have publics and privates. So a public for example would be a UMass. Private for example would be Wheaten. So the publics are typically
funded in part by the state. So they are not fully funded by the state. They are partially typically funded by the state. So that means that typically the cost of attendance is lower because it is sub subsidi has some subsidy from the state and from state funding whereas privates
are getting all their funding from the students from endowment from donors. So everything comes from that private funding piece. There are some that are like a for-profit so they most colleges are considered nonprofit status. A for-profit basically means they're in the business to make money. They're not
necessarily in the business to educate you. their primary goal is to make money. There's also balora and associates degrees. So a balora degree or a bachelor's degree is typically a four-year degree. You've gone for four years postsecary and now you have your
bachelor's. An associates degree is typically a two-year program. So it's half of a bachelor's program. And some of the places that have associates degrees will build it in that those first two years on the associates degree also piggyback the first two years of the bachelor's degree. So if you do the
associates degree, you can then transfer the credits to the bachelor's school and just do an additional two years for the bachelor's. So the bachelor's and the associates tend to work handinhand with each other, especially within the state system. Liberal arts colleges tend to focus more so on the arts and
humanities, business, sciences. They don't have a specialty. So there are some schools that have a special focus. So examples would be like a Risie. So they're very much known for the arts. Berkeley, MIT, WPI. So, some of those
are arts, some of those are more STEM focused, but they are known for a particular specialty, and that's what you go there for. Bryant, Bentley, those would be examples for business. People know them as a business school. Some are that are still around, but less so would be like a single sex college. Um,
typically primarily female. Um, best example in this area would be Smith College out in Western Mass is typically an all female college. Simmons and Boston typically an all female college and then religious affiliated colleges that would be like Holy Cross and Assumption Boston College. They
typically have some type of religious connection to them. And that religious connection is kind of what drives some of their courses, their mission, and their focus areas. So, what college is right for me? So, you're looking at size, location, campus, housing, test scores, GPA,
majors, costs, sports. There's a lot of pieces that go into what makes the right school. And so, looking at size and location, you're looking at, you know, how big or how small do I want my school experience to be? Do I want it to be in a small school where it's really small classes, where it's really
individualized with the professor, or do I want to be in a larger school? I like that larger setting. I want to be in a large university like a Yukon or an Alabama. I like that. I want lots of people. Or maybe you want something in between. You're looking at, do they have
housing on campus or not? So sometimes schools in the Boston area, they don't always guarantee the housing all four years because housing is a premium in the city. So do you want your housing guaranteed all four years or do you not want your housing guaranteed all four years? That's something to think about and to ask when you're touring. Test
scores, GPA, selectivity. In terms of those pieces, more schools are moving away from SATs and SAT requirements. Um, but there are still some schools and some programs that do require them. The GPA tends to be a bigger piece of it. You know, what is that GPA? How is that
GPA ranked? What's the average GPA for students in that particular program? And again, it may vary based off the school and the major. So, you might meet the minimum for the school, but maybe you want nursing, but you don't need the minimum for a nursing major. So sometimes that comes into play as well.
Does my does the college have the major I want? If I want to be a psychology major, I can probably find it at any college in the area. Psychology is an extremely popular program. Most schools offer a psychology degree. But maybe you want something more specific like a communication sciences and disorders
that is not going to be found at every campus or a neuroscience that's not going to be found at every campus. So you your SK your list might tick all the boxes, but if they don't have the major you want, then they're probably not going to be the right school either. The other piece is cost. So looking at the
cost aspect is really important because you want to know how much am I paying for my education, but also, you know, am I going to have to take loans to afford my education? So that's where kind of that public versus private comes into play. Publiclix do tend to be cheaper.
Privates tend to be more expensive. That's just typically how they function. With a public school um because it is subsidized by the state, they try to keep those costs down, especially on the tuition and fees. Where they tend to make their money is on the housing component.
Whereas with the privates, they have to make their money all around. So, it has to be from the tuition and fees, but also from the housing component. So, you're kind of looking at all of those pieces to determine what's the cost. A lot of times with the private schools, the sticker cost is not the cost that students tend to pay. Typically, those
students are paying some type of reduced rate because they're going to have some type of scholarship or grant awarded to them by the college. But until you apply, you don't know what that looks like. So, if you're kind of looking at that perspective, you know, maybe you do want to apply to some private schools and see what the packages come out as,
but you probably also want to be applying to some public schools where the cost is more affordable. And then the other piece to consider is sometimes you'll see billboards where it's like go to Sunni for the price of UMass. So there are sometimes those like competitions um within the public sector
where they're trying to get you to come out of state to their public school by giving you the instate rate for your school. But sometimes that isn't the case, especially if you're say I want to go to Florida. Like they're not going to try to comp Massachusetts. New York wants to comp you because they're the next state over. They want you to come
there instead. But so if you're choosing to go out of state, you may pay a higher fee because you're not paying any taxes into the system and those taxes help support the public schools. I know when I was looking, I know I really wanted something smaller. I wasn't looking for
a larger school. I came from a Catholic high school. I really was interested in having, you know, a Catholic background or some type of really more serviceoriented background. That was really what I was looking for. Um, I was 16 when I started my search process. I
was 17 when I finished high school. I was really not looking to live away at that point. Um, and it was kind of like, you know, what school is going to hit those boxes for me. And one of the pieces I always tell students is to always visit schools because sometimes you just know when you visit there's a
certain fit that you're like, "Yes, I can see myself here." Or there's schools where you go on campus and within 20 minutes, you know, it's not going to be the right fit. even if it has the right program. Um, when I went for grad school, I went to Bridgewire, very different, bigger public school. Loved
it. Was also older then. It was like I really like this like larger environment. But at 17, was very overwhelmed by Bridgewater when I toured. I felt like it was really big. I was going to get lost. I wasn't sure about the campus even though they had education. At the time, I was looking to study education and had a great
education program. Um, you know, four years later, I was like, Bridgewwater's great. Um, I always, you know, when I worked in the office was was like bertoire is great. I went here for under for graduate school. I would recommend it to anyone for undergrad. Like the cost for the education I feel like is
100% worth it. Um, but so that's why it's so important to kind of go through this process and figure out what are the most important pieces. And for some students that is going to be the sports and amenities. Um, I was a swimmer. I really did want a pool. Stonehill did not have a pool. So that was something
but Bridgewwater did. So that was something I had to think about of, you know, how important is having access to a pool on campus? Is that like a high priority item or is that a low priority item? If someone's looking to play sports um at the collegiate level, you know, are they targeting a D3 school?
Usually D1's are very difficult to make it onto. They start their recruitments very early. But if you still want to play at the collegiate level, maybe you are looking at a D3 school where that might be more feasible. So again, it's kind of looking at all of those pieces to figure out what's the best fit and
what's going to be the right school. And >> can I just interrupt um >> real quick on a couple of things just because um especially for the families that are listening. One thing about the test optional that we'll talk about when when you get to juniors, but just kind of thinking about it is um sometimes people take a quick
look at a website and they'll see that they're test optional um but then they're looking at the nursing degree or the engineering. um those programs may not be test optional. So, you may have a school to get into general admission is test optional, but for specific um
programs, they're going to want to see your SAT or your ACT scores. So, we've run into that a little bit. And then the other big thing, you know, um with MCCAST, um we want to stress that the uh at least at this time, the Adam Gale Adams and Copic scholarships um are
still dependent on MCCAST. So, I've had some kids who are like, "Oh, no big deal. I'm not even going to really try on my MCCAST." Um, if you're even thinking you might go to one of the UMasses, for example, you're going to want to try to do your best in order to get get possibly get one of those
scholarships. So, um, we just thought with this year in particular, it's really important to stress that, especially for our sophomores who are going to start taking some of those exams. >> So, in terms of how to kind of build this list, what does that look like? What should you do to make this list happen? The first resource you're going
to use are your guidance counselors and your teachers. They've all been to college. They all have somewhere they've been. They have students that they've said, you know, you have a similar background or profile. This might be a good school to match with you. But they are a resource. So the student at the end of the day is responsible um for
this process. So if someone has 200 students on their case load and each student has, you know, 10 to 15 schools on their list, the guidance counselor can't manage all those deadlines for each student. So, as they become juniors and then seniors and it's, you know, this school has a November 1 deadline,
but that school has a November 15th deadline and that school has a December 7th deadline. You're going to have to kind of, I would say, you know, make a spreadsheet of the school, the deadline, what needs to go in. So that way you can stay on track for making sure you are
not missing any requirements and timelines. programs like nursing, engineering, biology, those tend to have earlier timelines and it tends to be if you don't have everything in on time, you're not going to be reviewed for those programs, especially nursing. So, it is important to really be aware of
your deadlines for your schools and to stay on top of them. College fairs are another great way to kind of do like a quick hit. So, you might have 40 or 50 schools in your gym at one time and you can just go table to table to table and grab all the materials off of it. You can choose to talk to the counselor
that's there from the school and chat about the campus, chat about the programs, chat about the majors. If you're like, I call them the lurkers. They walk by and they take the pieces of paper off everyone's table, but they don't want to talk to anyone. You're still getting valuable information because you are grabbing some content.
So, you can have a sense of, you know, what does the co what is the cost of that school? What programs are offered? Where is it located? You can still gather information, but you do want to take advantage of the admissions counselor that is present at the fair because they might be able to answer some of the questions that you have later on. And then if you have a similar
question that you ask each school, then you can also kind of compare and contrast the answers that you receive as well. The admissions counselors are based out of each school. And so as you kind of work through the process, you can always schedule meetings with them. I know at Bristol we schedule those meetings in person, by Zoom, or by
phone. So, we try to be really flexible and work with students as far as, you know, what's going to be the best format for you. If it's easier to communicate back and forth by email, we are happy to do that as well. And we tend to say we know a little bit about a lot of things.
So, we might not know exactly where your clinical placements might be in nursing, but we know who to get you in touch with who would know the answer to that question. Campus tours are also really great. So those tours typically are about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the campus. They're usually run by students. So you
can then talk to a student who's there. They're one of the best resources because they're the student in the classroom. They're the one on the athletic field. They're the ones in the clubs. They're the ones living in the halls. They're the best resource for like firsterson point of view of what does it what is it like to be a student
at this school. So the campus tour allows you to see, you know, buildings and res halls and all of those pieces, but gives you that ability to talk to a student more on a one-on-one basis about, you know, why did they pick this school and why do they enjoy the school so much that they are now a tour guide
at it? Open houses are large scale events. So most schools will operate one to three of them every fall. And it's come see our campus, come talk to our staff, come talk to our faculty, get a sense of what we offer. Do you like it? Do you not like it? and you should definitely be attending some of those.
Sometimes if you go to open houses or tours, they'll give you fee wavers and then you don't have to pay to apply to that particular school. Um, so there is an incentive to go to some of these onampus events. Once you've been accepted, a lot of times schools will offer accepted student days. So now it's
no longer are you interested in coming to our school, here's what we have to offer. It's you've been accepted. Do you want to come here again? Here's what you can take advantage of now that you can be a student. So at the open house it's do you think you want to be a student here? Do you want to apply here? Am mids student day is you can be a student
here. You've been accepted. What is it that you are looking for and can we meet that need for you? Some places will do like a college for a day or an overnight visit where again you are with a student for that day. You shadow them to their classes. You stay overnight with them.
You eat in the dining hall with them. You really get a sense of this is what it's like to be a student at this campus. And we always say, you know, that gives you the ability to connect with current students because that student perspective is so important. There's only so much that you can glean
from a website or social media post. It's much better when making those final decisions to have some of that in-person interaction. >> In terms one more time, sorry. Um I think especially again for our families here I think the of ninth and tth graders um we
are very lucky to be in New England. Um outside of having not having one of the giant like Penn State kind of size schools we have lots of different kinds of schools um with uh different kinds of campuses urban suburban even rural
campuses in in New England all within driving distance. So, even if your student doesn't have a list as a freshman or especially as a sophomore um about like, oh, I want to apply here, I want to apply there. um just getting out and looking at different campuses. Um
you know, going into the city and and walking around and and maybe taking part in a campus tour of Northeast and then going over to Stonehill, you know, which is more of a suburban and then, you know, going down to, you know, University of Rhode Island and seeing something that's more like like that
kind of campus. It gives students an idea of like maybe what what they they feel what what the feel is for them. I've had many students like I'm gonna go to the city. I'm gonna go to the city. And then they get on a city campus and they're like, oh no, there's a lot of cars and noise and you know, like I
don't think they really thought about it that way. So, u or the opposite where they thought, oh no, I don't I don't want anything to do with the city. But then they get in there and they're they're excited about it. So, I would really encourage, you know, as kind of step one, um, if by the spring of
sophomore year to get out and great, if you're you and your student kind of know what what colleges you're really interested in in the area, um, definitely hit those. Or if you're thinking about going to colleges, you know, down south or whatever, um, you
know, book the book sometimes and go out and see colleges, you know, in a general area, let's say down in the south, um, that you can drive to. you can make a week of it during April vacation. Those kinds of things I think are really helpful in helping students start to think about okay, what is it that I want
from college beyond um you know just the the what I think is out there but actually experiencing it and that helps them narrow it down. Um and then I think the other concept maybe for for parents um and for students at at the undergrad I mean underassman level is everybody
thinks you know I'm trying to compete to get into college which is true but colleges are also now competing for you um especially if you're a top tier student. So they really are trying to guess who's going to accept once they accept you, are you going to come to their campus? So, if it's one that
you're really interested in, the more visits as Ashley was saying, going to those open houses, um, doing the college for a day, being on the websites, being part of their social media or signing up for things, talking to the admissions counselors, you know, I think that can
go a long way to whether you're going to be accepted because they're trying to guess whether if I if I accept this student, is that student going to come? Right. Right. Right. Ashley, like you are trying to to try to figure that out. So, you know, really >> a lot of schools will like over accept
knowing that you're going to be feeling other offers. So, that accepted student day is basically a woo a woo event trying to woo you to put the deposit there. Um, that's really what the focus is of that accepted student day of here's everything bright and shiny we
have to offer. Do you like it? Do you want it? Do you want to pay our deposit? That's really what that accepted student day is about. The open house is to be like, oh, do you like this enough to apply the accepted student day is okay, you're here and now you want it, right? Like here here's all the shiny things
that we can offer to you. >> So sorry, I just want to, you know, think about because again, I think this is, you know, we're gearing this towards ninth and tth grade families and students and these are the kinds of things that could be helpful or you know in that process at this point. So anyways, go ahead. Sorry.
So, in terms of different applications, so there's a few different ways applications tend to work. So, we have our application forms. Um, so there's a few different forms. Some schools like Bristol will do our own form. Um, we're not a Common App school. We do it individually. We do it on our own. We
don't collect an application fee. It is absolutely free to apply. Um, but some schools do require a fee. Usually those fees are anywhere around like 50 bucks an application. sometimes like they're getting more and more expensive to apply to schools. So, if you attend some of
these events that offer you a fee waiver, then it allows you to apply to that school without paying the fee. Um, so again, especially private schools, they need funding. So, if you they are charging $50 for you to apply, like that's money they're making just off of
an application. So, just something to think about as you're building your list. It's like you probably don't want a list of a 15 schools at $50 a piece on the application fee. Some of them might be 20, some might be 25. Like I said, I've seen some as high as 50. Um, not out of the realm of pro possibility on
the cost. In terms of those fees, those fees go through Common App and they go to the school. Like that's how the fee piece works. So, if you can get a fee waiver for anything, that is really helpful. So, it does save you that cost of the application. With every application, whether it's
through the portal or through Common App, there's going to be a request for transcript. So, the high school transcript, you're going to essentially send two um one when you apply that has the interim grades. So, we're going to typically see 9th, 10th, 11th, and
usually marking period number one on 12. And then when you graduate, wherever you've decided to go, they will receive your final transcript that has all of 12th grade and the graduation date on it. So essentially, every school will get two transcripts. The one that's
current when you apply and the final that confirms the graduation. There are a few times where a school might get more than the two transcripts. So sometimes a school might defer your application. So what that means is we aren't going to accept you right now, but we're not going to reject you right
now. we're kind of pushing you to another term and we want to see more grades. We want to see another transcript. We want to see, you know, did quarter two go as good as quarter 1 because maybe the GPA is lower than that school would like to see. So, they're going to push you out, see what their pool looks like, and then come back and
re-examine you. But you will always have two transcripts, the current and then the final official. The other pieces do really vary from school to school. So, some schools are test optional, more and more are, but programs like nursing do tend to still require the scores. The
SAT or the ACT still can take either of those exams. Um, something to be said about the exam scores is if your GPA is low. I would definitely recommend taking the SAT or the ACT because a lot of times what happens, especially in the state system, is the lower the GPA goes,
the higher the SAT they want to see to offset the difference. So if you have a strong GPA, but maybe your test optional or your test score is low, basically that sends the message of this is a hardworking student. They still have a good GPA. Maybe they're not the strongest test taker. Assuming whose GPA
is more borderline but has a stronger SAT, you know, some admissions will say this student probably not living up to the potential that they have based off of this test score. So we're going to take a chance on them because they have a strong test score. So, it is important that if that GPA is kind of in the
middle range for some of the schools that are being applied to to take the SAT because it could potentially assist with that application and kind of bumping your application over into the accepted area. A lot of schools will ask for an essay or a personal statement.
So, usually this is a topic of choice. You can pick whatever topic works best for you. I used to tell everyone I read dozens and dozens and dozens about the beach. What's your place? Your favorite place? What place brings you inspiration? It's always the beach. Um I'd be like by the fifth one, all right,
I'm kind of sick of reading about the beach. So, you know, if you're going to pick a common topic, try to take it in a different direction or give it a different type of writing that's a little bit more unique. Um the other one I read all the time was sports injuries
and overcoming sports injuries or I won the big game or I lost the big game. So those are always kind of really popular topics. The other one is typically, you know, write someone who has inspired you and they pick grandma. Well, grandma's
great. I know lots about grandma now and I want to accept her, but I don't know anything about you. So you have to connect it back to you. So what about her has inspired you? Like was she a teacher and now you want to be a teacher because of the relationship she had with students? Like link it back to you. Um,
if you're kind of picking that inspirational person essay, sometimes too it will be very specific. There might be an additional supplement writing sample that's like why do you want to attend this college? So if that writing sample is why do you want to
attend Providence College and you write I really want to attend Boston College because probably going to hurt you because it's not the right school. So, if you're looking at one of those specific ones that it's like, why do you want to come
to our school? Really make sure that the content matches and that the name matches because I definitely read ones that said, you know, I'm applying to X school, but I was UMass Dartmouth. I was not UMass LOL. So, you know, really
think about that and make sure you have someone checking it. A lot of times English teachers do help with the essays, but to just be aware um of the writing component on it. I've also seen essays written like text talk um where nothing has a capital and everything is
abbreviated. Not the best way to write a college essay. It should still be a professional piece of writing. You can be creative without having it written with like lowercase I's and the wrong twos. So think about, you know, the writing style of the essay as well. Some
of the selective schools will have interviews. So those interviews again you want to go into it prepared for that particular school and not a different school. So those interviews are to learn more about you and to see how you are as a fit for them. So this is typically for
more of those highly selective schools that will have the interviews. A place like a Stonehill or an assumption like they're they're private but they're not going to have you do interviews necessarily. Some places will do elective interviews where you can choose to interview. If they give you the
option of elective interview, I would recommend doing it, especially if it's a top school for you because that shows demonstrated interest. And some schools will track that interest. So then if you're on the bubble, but they're like, you did the interview, you came for a tour, you went to open house, you did an
overnight, they're going to see that you are a serious student for them. And then, you know, even if your grades maybe are borderline, they might take a chance on you because of that interest. So, anything that is elective, you should be doing if it's a school that you really think you might want to go
to. The last piece is recommendation letters. Um, a lot of times schools will ask for two recommendation letters, sometimes three. I usually say get a mix of those letters. A lot of times it's a guidance counselor or school counselor and then two teachers. I would recommend typically like a junior or senior
teacher. So, someone who has you in that upper level, but you probably also want someone that you've had like junior uh sophomore or freshman year who's seen your growth over the four years as well. Especially if you had them say as a sophomore and now you have that teacher again as a senior, they can kind of see
you from those two points of view as a student. Another option is they've seen you in the classroom as well as as an athlete. So, they're a teacher who also is a coach. So that also gives that perspective of I've seen you in a classroom setting X Y and Z, but I've seen your leadership skills and
communication skills on the field as well and you're a team player. So sometimes those letters um you really do want to think about who you're asking to write them. You do want to be a teacher that you do have a relationship with. You don't want to just pick anyone that
you feel like picking. You do want there to be kind of that connection with them because it does come across in the letters themselves. Um, anything you want to add about the application process other than >> Yeah. So, um, once we get to the junior year, um, for the families again that
are on the call here, um, we'll go over kind of the application process and and how we do it here at Norton. We do have Naviance, which is a U platform that the counselors use. That's what your transcripts will come through. That's how the students will uh indicate to the
counselors like these are the colleges that I'm interested in and then later on these are the colleges that I'm applying to. To go back to kind of the deadline um discussion from earlier, you know, those deadlines are in there. oftentimes students will decide um you know uh I'm going to do regular admission and then
they'll go and decide nope I'm going to do early action or early decision and they don't always update the counselors and you know as you said we have you know 180 kids or whatever on their case loads um so you know making sure they stick with the um the deadlines uh or or
notify the counselors if they're changing the deadlines but we'll go through um I think all of that you know when it comes to um junior year when you actually go through the application process. But again, kind of thinking of that. I love the suggestions about you know having relationships with teachers.
So you know those teachers that you know you um made a connection with or your student has made a connection with I think is really important to continue that connection. Um or you know teachers that maybe they are also their coaches. Those are the kinds of of folks to think
about. In terms of the essays, um, we do do junior year, um, at the end of the year, they'll work on their essays with their English teachers. One thing I would stress, as you said, you know, we want somebody to look over their, um, essays when they write them, especially if they haven't finished them there, you
know, during their um the the spring of their junior year. Uh, so obviously parents or older siblings or somebody who's good at editing. Um, but what I really want to stress and I I'm sure you actually would agree, it has to be the students words, right? Like, um, we've
had situations and I've had admissions counselors reach out and say, "Who wrote this?" Right? This wasn't this doesn't sound like a student that doesn't seem to jive with the rest of their application. So, um, you know, I think it's really important to have the student write it and then as a parent or
a family member edit it for grammar and spelling and all of those kinds of things, but um, you know, you can make suggestions about you might want to tweak this or tweak that, but it really needs to be their words. Um, so that would be my my recommendation. >> And another piece on essay to just be
aware of is AI. Like there's a very specific formula for AI in how it writes papers. Um because I read for our scholarships and at this point I can pretty much peg an AI scholarship. We we just have them do paragraphs. It's not even a full paper. Um I can pretty much
peg them at this point. It's very formulaic. It doesn't match the rest of the application. There's language and vocabulary and words used that the student would never decide and choose on. Like it is very obvious when AI is being used. And so you know use AI as a
tool. use it to help outline or you know like figure out how you want to tackle a topic but it should not be writing your essay. >> Excellent point. >> So instead So now we're going to look a little bit at the standard applications
um and applications in general. So always check the college website to see kind of how they work with applications. The bulk of schools are probably going to be on common application. That's why it's called common application. It's the most common. that's where you're going to apply for the bulk of your schools. But like I said, for us at Bristol, um
we have our own application and even when I was at Bridgewwater for a while, um there they were not a Common App school. It was a separate application. So, you know, some schools will move towards common app each year. But you do want to make sure that you are applying um through the correct portal and make
sure that you're on top of that piece. The piece with common application is it's very standardized. You send the one application to several colleges. So that's why on that essay, you want to make sure you are not naming a particular school in the essay that goes to everybody. You want to make sure you're naming this college only in the
supplemental piece that is only going to that other college. So that's where that can be tricky with the common app because a lot of times students will close their essay within this is why I want to be a student at Brown, but that application went to UMass too. And so you want to make sure that like there's nothing in that essay that mentions a
particular college. But if they have a supplemental section, that supplemental section is only going to the college that's provided that supplemental section by all means like put it all in there how much you really want to go to that school. But make sure it's not in the primary essay that's going out.
>> And and for families, um sometimes students will see supplemental or optional. Um they're not optional. So um if you're you're working with your student, you're checking and you're saying, "Did you complete your applications?" um you and they'll say
yes and whether supplemental essays I can't tell you how many times kids like oh I I wasn't going to do that if you're not going to do that of shows that you're you're really not that committed um and that's going to hurt their application so make sure um I would say as family members that you're checking
that they've done all of the supplemental or optional essays so >> in terms of the different options so we've thrown around words like early action and early decision decision, but what do those terms really mean? So, for me, I wanted to go early action for my
schools. I was someone who just wanted to know. I did not want to wait till March when regular decision timelines hit. I wanted to know sooner. So, I applied to all my schools early action, had all my letters in hand before Christmas, and basically had my decision
made by the new year. Um, so it kind of depends on each student what's going to work best for them. And sometimes it might be dictated by personality. Sometimes it might be dictated by the programs they're applying to. So early action is essentially an earlier decision date. That early action means that usually you're going to get that
decision earlier in the cycle. They might be making a decision with no senior grades. It might just be 9th, 10th, and 11th grade that they're looking at in an early action applicant. So your students that are sophomores, um, sophomore year is really important.
It might not seem that way as a 10th grader, but it is because if you're applying early action, that final 10th grade is a third of what's being looked at. And I think sometimes students start to take school more seriously, like junior year when it's like, oh, college is now around the corner. Not realizing that freshman and sophomore year play
such a big role in what that GPA looks like. and then that the GPA, they go down really fast, but it's harder to like make them go back up as fast as they went down because now you're trying to play catch-up on your GPA. So, it is really important for those grades to be
strong, especially in those earlier grades, especially if you're looking at like an early action program or a program like nursing. Um, I was talking to a student today who had applied to a four-year school and did not get into nursing, got into the general program. And that's how we talk about, you know, general admission versus nursing
admission are very different things. Um, that with the nursing admission, because she was not as focused on school freshman and sophomore year, she didn't get a nursing seat because her math grades weren't strong enough. And so, they looked back that far at the math grades to determine who was going to get
the nursing seat. So, it is really important to think about that and to be aware of that 9th and 10th grade do matter. they're not throwaway years, especially for a program like an early action or a highly competitive program like nursing, it starts mattering right away. So with early action, a lot of
times those decisions will go out the December and January. Um when I was at Bridgewire, sometimes it went out as early as like the end of November. Um so you do get your decision early. It doesn't change when you have to notify the school if you're accepting. So May 1st is the national deadline to say
which school you're going to. Some schools will give you extensions. So, if you say, "Hey, I'm between the school and that school. Can you give me an extra week?" Most schools will say yes. Unless you're in a program like nursing and they're like, "Yeah, no, that's the deadline. We need to offer it to somebody else. Like, you need to make
your decision now." Or if you're looking at like a highly competitive school like an MIT, like they're going to hold you to the deadline. But if you're applying to a state school and you say, "Hey, I need an extra week or two." They're probably going to give it to you if you ask them. So, something to think about. May 1st does tend to be that transpost
deadline um for schools across the country. So that's not even just like a New England thing. That would be even if you're looking, you know, down south or out west. What's nice with early action is you apply earlier, you get your decision earlier, but you don't have to go there. So you can do all your schools
early action, have everything in hand in December and January, and still wait till May to give your decision. And you can still say yes to one school and no to another school. It doesn't take anything off the table. Early decision is different. You still have a very similar timeline. You're still applying in November. You're still probably going
to get your decision in December or January, but early decision is binding. So essentially what that means is you're telling that school, I am only applying to you. I am not applying anywhere else and this is the only school I want to go to. And if they accept you, you are going there. So it is something to
really think about because if it's your top school and you're like financially I can swing it like it's all good. go early decision. If you're like, I just want things earlier, early action. So, sometimes students who apply early action may get pushed to the regular
decision because they want to see senior grades or they want to see semester 2, but early decision pretty much it's like this is your file and this is what it is and this is the decision we're giving you. Sometimes you can back out of it if you can't make the numbers work. But I would only recommend early decision to
someone who's like, "This is the only school I want to go to because of the binding nature of it." You sign the piece of paper that basically says, "If I attend this, if you accept me, I'm coming here." Um, and usually finances are the only way out of that binding piece of early decision cuz they're saying they're taking that say of you're
you're coming. They're putting you in their headcount if you're applying early decision. The last piece is rolling. So rolling means you apply, we review you, you get a letter, your friend applies the next month, we review them, they get a letter. There's not necessarily a hard deadline to apply by. We're constantly
reviewing your file and sending out decisions. So that's how like a Bristol works. We don't really have decisions other than health programs like nursing. Everything is rolling. Student might apply 2 weeks ago, they'll probably have their decision this week. So it is constantly sending out letters. We don't
hold them all for one particular date and release them. In early action and early decision, they tend to release on the them in bulk on particular days. The rolling it's we're constantly sending out those acceptance letters to students. There is no particular deadline for them to be applying. We
tend to recommend applying to a mix of those schools. You know, have a couple that are early action, maybe have a couple that are rolling, and also a mix of reach, probable, and safety. So, these are schools that I will likely get into if I apply. These are schools I most likely will get into. And these are
schools that's probably like a 5050 7525 chance um based off the data. So, you do want to have a mix of those schools because you don't want to be like, oh, it's June and I have no schools to go to. That's when you come to me because I'm rolling decision and I can enroll you in August for September. But, you
know, you want to be able to have that mix of options so that that way, you know, come March when you're making those decisions, you have kind of all the options available to you on the table. >> So, um sorry, uh just a couple of things on that that we've noticed um the last
year or two. So, in terms of early action, the the dates are getting we're starting to see them push those dates earlier and earlier into the year. One of the disadvantages of being in Massachusetts um is that our start dates
for our school are later compared to say the southern schools. Um so there's a lot more um our guidance counselors have a much um shorter time frame to get everything done. So, one of the things that we do is at the very beginning of senior year, um we will ask seniors to
do a senior survey. Um basically saying what is your who's going early action, who's going early decision, who's going to go regular admission. Um and then we prioritize and triage um how we're going to meet with the students based on that information. So, I think that's really
important. And I know for our freshman and sophomore parents, this is way off down the road, but it is something I just wanted to make you aware of because um again, there's only so many hours in a day and so many spaces for our counselors to meet with kids. So, they really try to make sure they they take those things into advance into uh
account. The other thing that we've noticed is kind of this idea of breach probable and safety schools. Um sometimes the students and to be honest, sometimes the families get upset with the counselors because they're saying, "Well, yeah, that's great. That's a that's a really good school. You should absolutely apply there. That's a reach
school for you. And um but you should also apply for these other schools or schools like those. Um that's not an insult to the to the student or you know, it's not that we're saying they can't do it. What we're saying is the probability. You know, we're playing the percentages. Um, so you want to make
sure that yes, you want to reach for the school, you know, um, but you have to look at your GPA, you have to look at your SAT, you have to look at what they're they've been accepting and um, try to fit schools in each of those categories. Um so we will work with you on that but also Namiance um has a a lot
of tools that will help the students and again we'll get into this more in junior year. Um but to understand kind of where they fit in their probability of being accepted at at each of these uh universities but even then it's not always a lock. I always tell the story that um the year my son graduated for
whatever reason um Providence College had a big bump in their they were the hot school in this area. their applications were through the roof. Um, so students including him that should have easily based on GPA in in test scores been in their acceptance got
weight listed or um outright rejected because they had so many applications compared to previous years. So there's always that factor as well. So just things to think about again for our our sophomore and and freshman parents. It's this is more about getting that
information. So then when we talk to you junior year, this isn't all new. So >> and then how to narrow down decisions. Again, it's going to look similar to, you know, how do I pick a school? Well, how do you narrow it down? The biggest thing is cost. What does that financial
aid package look like? How much do I have to make up in a difference? Does that work for me or does that not work for me? Cost is always going to be the number one factor. Another factor that tends to show up a lot too is job
placement. So, you know, how many of these graduates tend to see job placements afterwards? How many tend to go to graduate school and professional programs? What does that piece look like? Then other pieces that come into play are things such as co-curricular
activities. You know, how close or how far is it from home? Some people want to be close, some people want to be as far as possible. So, it really just depends on kind of, you know, does it meet that need? Um, sometimes culture and diversity is a plays a role in making a decision. You know, how what is the percentage of students of color on
campus? I don't want to be the only one. So, that is sometimes a deciding factor. Um, what are the internship or co-op options? I want a school with a co-op. Well, then you're probably looking at Nor Eastern. They're the most well known for co-op programs. Um, the school's too big, the school's too small, the
program's too big, the program's too small. So you could have a really large school but a program that's really small within that large school. Are there options to study abroad? You know, is that something that's really important? And is that important so much that you are like I want to go to this one
particular country and it's not like England, Ireland, France, Italy, you know, one of those countries that everyone tends to gravitate towards for study abroad. Um, one of my friends studied abroad in Costa Rica. I also had one that was in Iceland. um very
non-traditional countries that people tend to pick. Um so, you know, are you looking for something like that or are you looking for like short-term study abroad options? So, some schools might offer like a 3-week course in the summer. So, you're not going for the whole semester. You're only going for
the short course term. You know, is that something you're more looking for? Well, some schools may offer that type of program and some schools may not offer that type of program. And another piece is support services. You know, I've had an IEP or a 504 and I want supports. So, which school is going to provide me the
strongest supports that I've had in the past? So, like at Bristol, we have our disability services office. We tend to ask on our application if a student has had some type of accommodation in the past. We then pass you on information for our disability services office. You can meet with a learning specialist and
get those accommodations reviewed. So, an IEP or 504 is a K to2 document. it does not necessarily transfer with the student to college. But if they have had documentation in the past and had accommodations in the
past, then they can sit with someone with disability services and talk about that and say, you know, I've had X, Y, and Z work really well for me. Is there any way I can have, you know, extra time, preferential seating, and be near a window. You know, those work well for me in a classroom and make make me more
successful. They can probably work with you on that. If you're like, I need to bring my cat to class, that might not work as much because maybe there's someone with a severe allergy. So, you know, it's going to be looking at those pieces and we always say it's a
reasonable accommodation. Um, so it's kind of looking at what works for you, but also works for the classroom dynamic as well. Um, I know someone said that like one person requested a window seat and then everyone was like, I need a window seat, too. So, you know, thinking about those pieces and we always say it's an accommodation,
not a change in curriculum. So, you're still accept expected to keep the same curriculum, but the accommodation may mean, you know, you have that different space, you have a different timeline, you have a different deadline, but does not change the assignment itself.
Um, one suggestion, um, again thinking about from from a family perspective as you're, um, I think going and meeting or, um, on campus if you're able to to go see how the support services um, works, I think is really important. um
just kind of their response to the student um what the process is, how do they notify professors, like having those discussions are really important and also understanding that um developing advocacy skills while this
for the students independent advocacy skills as they kind of go through high school is going to be really important because they're going to talk to the student. Most of the colleges are not going to talk to the parent or the guardian. Um that is that is not going
to be a thing that happens. Um they'll be like thank you very much please send the student. Um so the having a student have those some of those skills and developing some of those self- advocacy skills is going to be really important >> and the parent can always be involved.
Um it doesn't mean the parent can't be involved any for us for our disability services office they are welcome to bring you know support people to those meetings. So that could be a counselor that could be a therapist that could be a parent you know >> they are absolutely welcome to join them. Um same with you know if they call
our office looking for information on their students file we technically can't give that. We can give general information. We can say oh well this is the deadline these are the programs we offer. But we can't say your student applied and they have a decision. Um, and this is what the decision is. We are not able to do that unless a student
signs what's called a furpa form. So that essentially is the student saying, "I give permission to my parent or guardian to request information on my behalf." And you can the student can pick and choose what that is. So they may sign the fura and say, "Yeah, you
can talk to my dad about my bill, but no, they can't get my grades." So, you know, they they can state what they want shared and not shared with that form as well. >> Right. And I think what I was kind of saying is that they're not going to talk, you know, the disabil most of the
disabilities at least the officers that I've dealt with are not going to have that conversation without the student there uh at the very least. And then, you know, having those discussions with the professors are that has to they have to have those skills. So, I guess I'm just saying like developing those skills
and having the time that they can do it in high school, I think is really important because they'll have those skills when they move forward. And then just kind of going over decisions again for acceptances and a recap, we have our early notifications. So, those again are your non-binding decisions that typically come out around
December. The early decisions, which is the binding that if we accept you, you're going there. That again come out around December. and then regular decision which for a lot of times it'll be like regular decision one and then regular decision two. So a lot of times those decisions will come out like January February and then like around a
March again for that May one deadline. Some schools will carry a weight list. So even for us we carry weight lists for competitive programs like nursing and dental hygiene. We see more applicants for those programs um than seats available. So dental hygiene I probably review 100 applicants for 22 seats every
year. nursing is probably close to 300 for 100 seats and that's at a community college. So just kind of give you an idea of kind of what the weight list looks like even for us for competitive entry programs. Um and we do carry weight list for those programs. Last year we did not touch our weight list
for dental hygiene. We did take some students for nursing. So it does depend you know program to program school to school what that weight list looks like. With the weight list it means we like you but we're not quite sure. There's something in the folder that gives us
pause, that makes us hesitant. So, we don't want to reject you, but we're not quite sold yet either. So, we're going to put you on this waiting list. And there's always a pattern to holding them as well. May 1 is that deposit deadline for everyone. Like even for our health
programs, we use May 1. So, if you haven't given us a decision by May 1, we assume May 2nd, you don't want your seat and we're going to give it away to someone on that weight list. So, typically after those deadlines, those May 1 deadlines, that's when you start to see a lot of movement off of a weight
list because that's when we start to get more of those no, I'm not coming here emails or phone calls and say, you know, I'm going to XYZ school. So, if we've gotten, you know, 100 people say no, I'm going to another school, well, then we can take 100 people off the wait list because we know those 100 people aren't
coming. So, weight lists are definitely used. They might be used for a college in general. they might be used for a major. So my brother was weight listed at Stonehill. He got pulled off the weight list in like April, like right before that May one deadline. So weight
lists definitely happen. They definitely do get used and they definitely do get utilized, but by programs it can be different. So you might have a program that has 20 students, still 20 students take the seats where there's no movement off the weight list. If it's a general acceptance or rejection to a college,
then the wait list probably will have some movement, but you have to be patient with it as well. And then that deferral is you've been reviewed once and we want to see more information. So that's typically you've applied early action. We want to see senior grades. We're going to push you to January and
say we want to see, you know, grades after midterms. We we want to see some senior grades because maybe freshman sophomore year not the best. Junior year really doing well. We want to make sure you're staying like that senior year. We want to make sure that that pattern has broken and now we are doing well with the senior year. So sometimes it's kind
of check on those pieces. If you're deferred and you haven't done SATs, might be a good time to take an SAT so that that way when you get re-reviewed, you can say here's some new grades and here's some new test scores. So that deferral isn't a no. It means we want to see more more information on your
application. Then paying for college. So, there's a few different ways that this works. Um, free money is always the best money. That's typically grants and scholarships. Um, you get the money, it goes towards school, you don't pay it back. It's like the best type of money for school. There are also payment
plans. So, if you have a balance, you need to spread it out over the semester to pay it. You can typically go on a payment plan. You also get loans. Loans can be private or public. If they're federal, they tend to be subsidized or unsubsidized. So, if you do want one, you definitely want the subsidized one.
So that typically means that you're not going to be paying the interest on them. So if you have to take a loan, you're always going to pay back more than what that loan is for. So a loan should always be, you know, the last resort for that process. So definitely think about
um you know, loans versus scholarships versus grants. In terms of the FAFSA, um that is the application that we tend to uh Hold on one second. The dog just he picked up a piece of paper. I got to take it from
him. One second. >> Um just so wait and talking about financial aid. Um as I said um I think earlier we run two uh financial aid nights. Uh one in the spring. Typically we um gear one in the fall and one in
the spring. Sorry. We typically gear those to 11th and 12th grade families um just because they're in that that process. Uh we have a guest speaker that comes in and um goes over in more detail everything that will be done tonight. So just so folks are aware
>> this is Gino. So for FAFSA, so that's the main document that you're going to be filling out. So with FAFSA, that's federal level. um state funding is sometimes incorporated into that FAFSA as well. So, it is really important to be filling
it out. Some financial aid, such as like a mass grant, does tend to have deadlines, which means having things filled out by May 1st. Uh typically, the FAFSA will open in October. It did open in October this past year. It was like pushed out to like December, January the past few years, but hopefully we were
kind of back on track with an October opening. If you're looking to come to Bristol for the free community college program, because right now community college is free for students in Massachusetts, we do require this document. So, it is important to make sure that you are finishing your FAFSA.
Some people do get concerned with the FAFSA because they don't want to disclose income. They don't want to disclose properties. They don't want to disclose social security numbers. If you want financial aid, you have to give that information. uh if you want to pay a full bill of like 70 grand to like be
you, you're welcome to. But if you want to, you know, have aid and assistance, you do you do need to disclose that information. With the FAFSA, there's typically a student section and then a parent and guardian section. Again, both sections do have to be filled out. And
the thing with a FAFSA is it does have to be filed every year. So if you don't file it and you have say a PEL grant and you forget to file sophomore year, you don't get your PEL grant. So it is something that does need to be filed every year and how much aid you get
really depends on the school and the cost and what your income looks like in association with those costs. With your federal package is typically a combination of grants and scholarships, loans and work study. So work study is essentially you work on the campus, you
earn a paycheck and you make the decision of where that funding goes. I would say you can use it to pay your bill, you can use it to go out on a Saturday night, you can use it for a car repair. We don't tell you is your money, but the idea is that you're working at the school with a very flexible schedule
in the hopes that you're earning income to help with your school expenses, whatever those expenses might be. With FAFSA, again, deadlines definitely May one. You want everything in by then to be considered for mass grants. That's after that those that funding is not available because sometimes some funds
are first come first serve. So you do want to fill out sooner rather than later. And the other piece to think about is the CSS profile. So some of the private schools will require a document called a CSS profile. So a CSS profile is typically private only. So if you're
only applying to public schools, it's probably not a document that you'll think about. But that one you only fill out once. you fill it out when you apply. So, the CSS profile only goes once and a lot of times that's for their restricted endowed scholarships at the private schools. So, if you do have private schools on the list, you may be
filling out a second form as well that's going to ask for similar information. My mom, I know when she filled out said the CSS profile was worse than the FAFSA, it asked more questions, but she was happy it only had to be done once and the FAFSA had to be done for four years. So, definitely something just to keep in the
back of your mind. You always need to do a FAFSA. Depending on your students list, it could also mean doing a CSS profile. And really just about college success, we want the students to really work on initiating whether that's, you know, I want to go on this college tour. I'm
really interested in this program. I want to see, you know, schools outside of New England. You know, we want them to be part of the process cuz they're essentially the ones that do have to go to school. Um, I will be, you know, honest with students if they sit with me and they're like, "I really want to do
rad." I go, "Well, we don't have that." So, I'm not going to say, "Hey, come here. We can give you something else that's medical, but it's not rad." I'm going to send them to Mass Soyet who has rad. Um, I'm not going to try to get them to take a program with me if that's really what they want to do. So, we want
them to really have an idea of what they want to do. And you know, as a counselor, I try to steer them to the schools that that's going to meet that need. Um, even when I was at Bridgewwater, you know, they didn't have nursing. I'd be like, "Oh, but UMass Dartmouth, they're down the road. They have nursing. Go talk to UMass Dartmouth." You know, it's about finding
what's right for the student. Um, and really that is important to everyone because at the end of the day, we want the student to be happy and we want the student to be successful. But some of that does come from them helping with that list and being an active participant in building that list. and really advocating for what it is that
they want out of their experience. So, just give you a quick overview of Bristol. Um, we have Fall River, Alberon, and New Bedford as our main campus locations in person. And then we do have really robust online program as well. Some of our students will mix and
match those classes. And we do allow for full or part-time enrollment even under the free community college program. So, if they're doing the free community college program, then essentially what that means is they just have to be enrolled in six credits, which is two courses, so they can be part-time and
still receive those services. So, we really do try to be affordable, allow for transferability. So, a lot of our students will transfer, especially to Bridgewwater and UMass to do their bachelor's degree when they're done with us. And we do try to have those support services in place, whether that's
disability services or an academic adviser that they work with. So, just to kind of give you some cost comparisons and these numbers are probably lower than what they actually are these days. Um, to kind of give you an idea because these annual costs,
you're looking at just the tuition piece. You're not looking at the housing. So, you're looking at, you know, local privates 44,000 plus housing. That housing is probably another 15,000 and you're probably looking close to 60 grand. And that's like a cheap one. Um there's some in the
Boston area that you know 70 80 90 grand a year um times that by four years. So even if you get a financial aid package that says hey we're going to give you 40 grand you're still paying 40 grand. So it is something to think about. Whereas like a local school of p local public
you're probably looking at you know 10 grand to commute maybe 20 grand to live on. You know it is a fraction of the cost but your financial aid package might say hey you got a $2,000 scholarship. Well, $40,000 scholarship sounds nicer, but your bomb dollar is going to still be a higher price tag.
So, just something to really think about um is that cost component because for a lot of students, that cost component is the most important factor in making the final decision of where they attend. And a few things about joint admission and articulation agreements. So, we do try to work with schools. Our
articulation agreements are not just with the public schools in the area. We do have agreements with like Urri, Bryant, Nor Eastern. Like we do partner with some of the publiclix and the privates so that that way when a student finishes the degree with us, they have different pipelines that they can go
through to go on for the bachelor's degree if that is what they are looking for. With these programs, typically the way it's written is that you do the two years with us, you get the associates, and when you do the transfer, you enter as a junior. So you're not losing any time. You're just doing your first two years for free and doing the transfer
over. And then mass transfer is typically our biggest piece. Um so with the mass transfer, essentially the way the mass transfer works is you come to us for two years. You take a program like history, communication, biology, accounting, something that is very
clearly a 4-year program. You do the entry level classes with us. You transition and transfer over and you're basically guaranteed admission at the 4-year Publix um with the B or better. and your 60 credits of course work goes with you. You need 120 to graduate with
the bachelors and you're starting right away as a junior. So, it is a really great option for even students looking at the 4-year track um that some students may not even be aware of as being an option. So, like for our business program, we tend to have students do like micro macroeconomics,
accounting one to managerial, intro to management, intro to marketing. So that that way you have this background of business before you're even into the business school at the four-year level. And when you do that, you'll then say, "Oh, I really liked accounting. I want my focus in accounting. I really liked marketing. I want to take my focus in
marketing." So we set it up so that all your gen eds are done, your intro coursework is done, and when you do the transfer at your upper levels, you can add a second major, you can add a minor, you can do what you need to do at the four-year school when you get there. In terms of outside the classroom, we talked a little bit about um disability
services. We do also have a career services because some of our students may want to go directly into the workforce. So along with that advising and transfer office, we do have the ability to assist students who are looking to go into a career after graduation. And we do also offer counseling services on campus. Um
especially since CO, we've definitely seen an increase in the need for counseling services on campus and the needs of mental health. So, we do have mental health counselors available at all locations for short-term counseling and they can do referrals out for long-term counseling as well. Our
learning commons is not just a library. It's also our tutoring resources that we offer. We offer tutoring in person and online for courses. And we also offer developmental coursework. So, if a student really struggled in high school, then we can help that student kind of get back on track and get college ready
in college level in courses like chemistry, math, and English. In terms of our enrollment process, we talked about it a little bit. Um, we would just have you submit the application, submit the transcript. We start students September, January, and June. We're super flexible about when
these PE pieces of paper come in. Um, we've had students, you know, deposit somewhere else for their May 1st and then like in July come back to us and say, I I've changed my mind. Or they do one semester, say up in New Hampshire and go, oh, it was further away than I thought. I want to come back closer and
more local. We keep everything on file so it's there waiting for you. Um I'm fully aware, you know, as a community college we're like the safety when you're building out that list, you know, you're probably going to get into Bristol because unless you're applying for a health program, you're going to get accepted to Bristol as long as you finish high school. So, you know, it is
a nice safety to have on the list, especially right now with that free tuition piece. So, it's not a bad thing. And I always tell students, I'm okay being the second choice. It's really okay because we're here. We offer this service and it's up to you to decide, you know, which service is best for you.
We just ask for you to do the financial aid, the application, send us a transcript. Super, super easy. And then once you're accepted, we have you do placement testing if needed. So that's typically if you're below a B minus GPA, set up your account, do your orientation, then we sit you with an adviser, and you pick your classes. We
try to make it as easy as possible for students to be able to enroll in school and to try to remove some of those barriers. This is the mass transfer piece I was chatting about earlier. Um that we get you through the general education foundation. We try to get you to the bachelor's degree and if you know where
you want to go, there's called the Commonwealth commitment. So essentially, you are making a binding decision with them at that point that says, you know, when I'm done with my associates, I promise I'm going to Bridgewater and they'll lock in the tuition rate. So, it it does kind of do a lock in for you for
if you're 100% sure of where you want to do the transfer to afterwards. And again, just to reiterate, the benefits of that is that you graduate with the B or better, you're guaranteed your admission. You transfer in as a junior, your credits go with you, and the application's super easy. So,
there's no application fee, no essay, no SATs, nothing. You just send the transcript, you send the form, and off you go to the next school. We try to make it as easy as possible. Um, so that's my slides. If there's any questions, I'm happy to take them.
>> And I was just going to add a few few things here just because again we're talking about uh junior I mean sorry uh freshman and sophomore parents. Um we recognize you know obviously this is about college 101 but not not you know kids are still exploring. Um so we do
have a school of career specialist Miss Kay. She's in what we call the bubble in the guidance office. Um and you can uh their student can meet with them with her I'm sorry and she can do career exploration um do those kinds of major
explorations uh that kind of work. She also oversees and works uh with our faculty to do internships. She has opportunities to do um you know job shadows. She'll help with working with resumeéumés. Um she has different um
businesses come in and they do um meet and greets with with uh students to kind of explore different uh careers and opportunities. Um so please make sure your students take advantage of that as they they come across. Each of our classes um has their own Google
classroom. So each grade has their own Google classroom where our guidance department keeps them up to date on on things that Miss K is doing but also on deadlines and other opportunities uh to explore. Um we have an early college and a dual enrollment programs. Uh we have a
lot of kids that use uh dual enrollment uh at Bristol Community uh college and we also do some work with Mass Soy. So again that's typically for upper classman but it's things to to think about as as sophomore students and parents. Um and then we also do um some
work with the trades union. So those kids that are maybe I don't know if I want to go to college, I don't want work in the trades. Um, we have a uh an association with the carpenters union. We take kids out at least twice a year, sometimes more out to the carpenters union. They spend the day there um
getting an understanding of what that what it's like to be part of the trades. And then for our juniors and seniors, again, if that's an area that your student is interested in, um we have a pre-apprenticeship with the laborers union. Um and they do a full week uh working uh and getting an idea again of
what it's like to be in the trades. And there's all kinds of other benefits um if they are a part of that program as well. So, you know, we're here trying to explore college obviously, but um just want folks to know that, you know, there are other opportunities that we offer here through the guidance department at
Norton High School. So, with that being said, I do not see any questions at this point. Um Ashley, thank you for this great overview. Hopefully, we said uh freshman and sophomore students and families really get an idea of, you know, kind of what's ahead. And now when
we start using these terms in junior year, um they won't be all um you know, it won't be new to them. They'll have an idea of what what they're talking about. So, as always, Ashley, I really appreciate your your work with us and uh we value your partnership and the the
partnership with Bristol Community. So, um have a great night everyone and again, thank you Ashley. >> Thank you. >> Bye.