College Office Institutes Group Meetings Plan to Increase College Process Awareness
By Greg Chung ‘08
News Staff Reporter
The college process has been a daunting task to the fifth formers at Choate: a veritable rite of passage. But now, with new changes to the school’s college process, the journey to higher education looks a bit easier and less stressful. Starting with the current fifth form class of 2007, the College Office will hold first group meetings, the first one having taken place on Tuesday, January 24th.
With the new group meetings, the College Office plans to provide more all-inclusive information to the students. Through this new approach, mutual concerns and information about the college process are dispersed out more efficiently than before. According to David Olins, Senior Associate Director of the College Office, one student’s questions might be the same as another’s. Thus, through group meetings the students can be informed in a timely manner.
“The main essence to these changes is to reach people in different ways, so that information gets across,” explained Mr. Olins.
Fifth form students seem to have favorable opinions regarding the College Office’s changes. “I believe the group meetings will be effective, because I can compare myself to other students,” said Kamsen Lau ’07, “Unlike individual meetings, I can widen my perspective of what colleges others are considering as well.”
In response to these new group meetings for the fifth form, sixth formers currently entrenched in the college process also seem to have good opinions of the new program over their current one. “Any effort the College Office makes to help students to become informed makes the college process a whole lot easier,” said Jason Bertoldi ’06.
Unlike individual meetings, group meetings are expected to focus more on information rather than individual needs. Individual meetings tend to be more conversational as opposed to the lecture-oriented group meetings. “I believe group meetings can be more proactive and more visible to students in informing juniors of the college process,” said Mr. Olins.
The group meetings will be held during conference periods once a month in an announced location. Because the content of the meetings on Tuesday and Thursday of the same week will be the same, students are obliged to attend only one.
The College Office believes that with the conference periods this year, it allows more time for the students to assemble in an organized fashion. Nevertheless, individual meetings will remain a component of the school’s college counseling. “The group meetings are designed to supplement individual meetings- not replace them in any way,” said Mr. Olins, “We are actually hoping/planning for the reverse: the group meetings should instigate more one-on-one meetings.”
The idea of group meetings was first initiated as a result of brainstorming. As new people enter the College Counseling staff every year, brainstorming helps produce new ideas with regards to new approaches to inform students of the college process. “People have been directors in different places and from each of their experiences, new ideas emerge,” explained Ms. Tina Grant, a college counselor.
All the changes the College Office is implementing are rooted from their main initiative to make sure students, as well as parents, are informed of the college process. The College Office’s philosophy rests on the phrase “knowledge is power,” as one counselor put it, so that students and parents can go through the process with the least amount of stress possible. “Our primary goal is to help provide students information to better understand and demystify the college process,” commented Mr. Olins.
As always it has been, the College Office encourages fifth and sixth form students to come in individually as much as he or she wants to ask questions about the college process. Aside from the new plans the Office is implementing, counselors maintain that it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to seek out information for his or her right college.
Aside from counseling, counselors are also encouraging students to attend the Spring College Fair taking place on April 24th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Getz Auditorium. The event is open for all students.
