Finals Week Preparation Tips
The first day of finals is Wednesday, May 24. The Counseling Center has developed a resource on how to best prepare for your finals. If you have any questions or would like further test taking strategies, please come see you counselor.
2017-18 Course Selection
Course selection for the 2016-17 will begin February 1. The deadline for completing course selection will be February 10th. Current Freshmen and Sophomores will receive course selection information during their Access period. The counselors will distribute information and answer questions regarding this process on the following days:
Monday, January 30 —Freshmen (Class of 2020)
Tuesday, January 31—Sophomore (Class of 2019)
Juniors (Class of 2018) will receive a graduation credit check on January 25 or 26 during Junior Presentations by counselors in English classes. Course selection material will be distributed and reviewed.
Course selection takes place online through StudentVUE. Students who need assistance must come to the Counseling Center during Access/Lunch on February 1, 2, and 3. At that time, counselors will be available to assist them in this process.
It is important to choose electives carefully. Space and scheduling constraints may make a later change impossible. A resource available to you is the Course Catalog https://www.cusd200.org/Page/364. This provides additional information about courses and requirements.
*****Mobile Makers is a two semester course. When requesting this course, please select for both semesters.*****
Course Selection StudentVUE Instructions
eLo ----Online Summer courses and 2017-18 courses
Educators from Naperville District 203, Indian Prairie District 204 and Wheaton Warrenville District 200 recently joined forces to create Expanding Learning Opportunities (eLo). This program is designed to engage students and ensure their success by providing meaningful and high-quality online learning opportunities.
For information on the eLo summer programs, please read more
here.
If interested in taking a eLo course during the 2017-18 school year, please talk with your counselor as a part of the Course Selection process.
Scholarship Information
Scholarship information, both national and local, is available on Naviance, under the “Scholarships” link. Updated throughout the school year, this list of various scholarships includes criteria, due dates, and website links to applications. For the best opportunity to earn awards, students are encouraged to review local scholarships. A list of nearly 20 local scholarships can be downloaded by clicking on the “Local Scholarship Information and Guidelines” link found in the alphabetized list. These local scholarship applications are due in the Counseling Office NO LATER than 11:00 am on Thursday, February 23, 2017. Additionally, for those students looking to access other national scholarship opportunities, students are advised to set-up an account with www.scholarships.com and/or www.fastweb.com. These sites ask questions that pertain to the student and then they attempt to match various scholarship criteria with the background information provided. There is NO cost to either of these additional sites. See Mr. Pawlak with any questions.
Junior College Planning
In the last week of January, all juniors will meet in small groups with their counselors for an overview of post-secondary planning ideas. These presentations are conducted through your child’s Junior English class. Topics will include course selection for senior year, college search process, ACT and SAT, and utilizing the web-based college search/application tool: Naviance. Following these presentations, each junior will have an individual conference with his or her counselor to discuss questions specific to your child. These conferences will run from January through April. Contact your child’s counselor if you have questions.
Sophomore Presentations
In December, Counselors met with the sophomores for a career search presentation. The Counselors connected the students to Naviance, a career and college electronic resource, and worked through a career assessment tool with them. As a result of their survey results, the students were provided with various job clusters in which to further search. They were able to see: job descriptions, job outlook, pay, majors required, potential schooling required beyond high school, etc…The students were also able to identify potential colleges and search ACT, GPA, and high school course requirements. The purpose was to provide them with a tool that they can utilize for career and college exploration.
Junior Family College Night: 7:00 PM, Monday, November 7
The Counseling Center
is excited to have college expert, Rob Franek, present on the college
admissions process. He will cover on a variety of topics, including:
- SAT and ACT - What you
need to know
- How to get the max
amount of scholarship dollars
- The college admissions
process
Additional topics:
-School Counselors role
in the college search/application process
-Naviance
-College of DuPage –
Admissions Representative
This presentation is open to all, but we encourage all juniors and
their parents/guardians to attend.
Attention juniors: As college talk becomes more prevalent, we wanted to give you some general information regarding the ACT/SAT discussion:1. All juniors will take the SAT on April 5, as part of our state testing. We will register you for the SAT.
2. We are still encouraging juniors to take the ACT on their own, which is provided on National Exam Dates. Students can go to actstudent.org and access all test dates.
3. Students are usually taking the ACT on their own, at least twice (students can take it as many times as they would like and schools will take their best score).
4. The reason for the change to the SAT is that state accepted SAT’s bid to provide the test to the state’s students.
5. Colleges all have conversion charts, as they have for years, so students can send either their ACT or SAT score (or both), and colleges will use whatever score helps the student more.
6. There are test prep opportunities within the community through places such as Kaplan, Excel, Huntington, private tutors, C2, Khan Academy or Princeton Review (online prep), etc....If you have questions, please see your counselor for more information.
7. Students will apply for colleges, on average, starting next September. In most cases, students should have completed taking the ACT by that point.
8. There will be a Junior Family Night at 7:00PM, on Monday, November 7th in the Auditorium.
9. Counselors will be meeting with all juniors, at the start of 2nd semester. We will be meeting in small groups and then having individual meetings. See us sooner if you have any questions.
Junior/Senior Night at College of DuPage - October 25, 2016
Senior College Presentations: August 25, 2016
On August 25, the counselors will meet with the seniors to explain the college application process. Each student will receive an unofficial copy of their transcript which includes a credit check for graduation. Please review this information with them. Beginning Monday, September 29, through October, counselors will meet individually with your senior. Please remind them to stop in the counseling center to set up their appointment. If you have any questions please contact your son or daughter's counselor. Thank you.
