Fall 2008 Newsletter

Dear Senior Parents:

By this date, the seniors have submitted their UC and Cal State application and have received an acknowledgement that their online applications have been received. Each student has kept a hard copy of his/her application for reference.

As you know, the essays for the UC seem to be the daunting part of this application. Although I value exquisite writing, those essays is informative and does not at a total word count of 1,000 words always allow students to express themselves as creatively or vividly as they wish. The essays give students the chance to have the readers know who they are and what is important to them. Naturally, the essays need to be proofed, several times, for coherence and care and I am more than happy to read them one last time before your student presses the submit key on his/her computer.

Each guidance counselor should now have the secondary school forms and midyear reports for each school and recommending teachers should have their forms to complete for personal recommendations. And finally, students need to request that their final SAT or subject tests results have been sent to each school: since the reports are cumulative, this needs to be done only at the last testing (December testing). If your senior is not taking the Dec.6 test, he/she can go into the College Board and/or ACT website and request his/her scores be sent to each school he/she is applying to.

Now that the first round of applications (UC and Cal State have been filed) students are thoroughly involved in applying to the other universities on their application lists. In some cases, the personal essay which they wrote for the UC works for other schools, but often it does not. I recommend that they spend sufficient time developing, revising essays as they are a critical part of the application. I am always available to work with students on this part of their application and enjoy helping students discover and express their own voice in the essay. The Common Application has a major essay, short essays and most colleges have supplements as well. They vary in their requirements. But many ask rather specific questions of the applicants.

If you have read the LATimes today, there is an article worth your attention. It describes the advantage students will have this year in applying to smaller and out of states schools. The reason is the relative decline in the number of candidates as well as the economically stressful times for many parents. This means that your child may have a slightly better chance of getting into out of state and selective schools. It also is true that the UC and the Cal State schools have threatened to reduce the number of California candidates admitted this year. I remind the seniors of this reality, not to worry them, but to make them more enlightened applicants.

Among all of the things I feel Thankful for this year in particular, it is the enthusiasm and individuality of each of your children. It is a pleasure to be part of their lives especially during this time of their considerable growth.

Do let me know if there is anything that I can contribute to making this process easier or more transparent, do let me know.

I send my best regards for the coming holidays.

Cordially,

Bonnie Corman