College Counseling
Finding the Right College
The Process
Our office offers a comprehensive, four-year college counseling program to give students the tools to reach their own decisions about college by providing information, advice, reflection, and resources throughout the process to both students and their parents/guardians.
Our mission is not about placing students in particular colleges. SJS College Counseling focuses on the integrity of every student’s educational and growth process, allowing students to identify colleges that align with their values, interests, and needs. In Class 9, students and parents/guardians receive a basic introduction to the process through class-wide programming and periodic newsletters. The degree of counseling increases and becomes more specialized as students advance from Class 9 to Class 12.
During the spring semester of sophomore year, students are assigned their College Counselor. Individual meetings with students and parents/guardians begin in late March to discuss junior year course options, summer activities, and to develop a working relationship for the years ahead. This in-person counseling is heavily supplemented by e-mail communication, newsletters, the school’s website, grade-wide meetings, and other special programs and events throughout the year. Refer to our four-year overview for a more detailed breakdown of the college process. For specific events, visit the College Counseling calendar.
During the spring semester of sophomore year, students are assigned their College Counselor. Individual meetings with students and parents/guardians begin in late March to discuss junior year course options, summer activities, and to develop a working relationship for the years ahead. This in-person counseling is heavily supplemented by e-mail communication, newsletters, the school’s website, grade-wide meetings, and other special programs and events throughout the year. Refer to our four-year overview for a more detailed breakdown of the college process. For specific events, visit the College Counseling calendar.
Getting Started
We hope that our students will go beyond ordinal ranking and use personal values to guide their search. To achieve a value-centered approach to the college process, students will need to synthesize their opinions by combining information from multiple sources.
The best place to start is on the college’s admissions website. Students can also learn about different colleges and universities by reading books that focus on qualitative descriptions of colleges and student experiences rather than numerical ranking. Please refer to our Recommended Reading and Helpful Links sections.
Additionally, there are many ways to use social media in order to stay in tune with college news and information. Almost all colleges use a social media platform to communicate with prospective students (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram). These additional sources of information can usually be found on the “Contact Us” page of the college's admissions website.
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