Sounds like OP is an adult with a family who took some time off after HS and is now applying to college. Perhaps she is not in High School but attempting to get in touch with the counselor from the high school that she graduated from. In that case I guess she did miss the deadline. Had she been in high school she probably would have received a reminder from her counselor prior to break. Below is a copy of the letter that DD20 received on Dec 15, 2019.
Class of 2020 (and parents!):
First – best of luck finishing up final exams this week! You’ve got this – finish the term strong!!
Second - a few reminders and announcements from the College Office as we prepare to head into break.
- DECISIONS:
- Please report all Early Action and Early Decision results to your counselor in a timely fashion. We are here to help! But, we also need to know how you are doing to celebrate with you, give words of encouragement when necessary and/or advise you effectively. Many decisions have already been released. If you have not updated your counselor, please do so before you leave for break. Many more will release this week – again, please notify your counselor with results.
- NAVIANCE - COLLEGES I AM APPLYING TO:
- Please check your “colleges I am applying to list” on Naviance. Or, stop by the office to confirm it with your counselor in person. Check THREE things: are the colleges listed on Naviance the correct schools? Are the dates of application correct (Regular Decision, Early Action II, etc.)? And if you are applying to a school Early Decision II, is it marked correctly?
If anything is incorrect on your Naviance list, you must email your counselor or stop by the office before you leave for break. If you are applying to schools with a Jan. 1st – Jan 6th deadline, this is even more important.
PLEASE NOTE: The College Counseling Office will be closed from Dec. 21st – Jan. 5th. It will reopen Monday, January 6th. Given the way the calendar falls this year, we will push out all supporting documents (teacher recs, transcripts, etc.) to colleges with deadlines between January 1st and January 5thBEFORE we leave for break. That way, all supporting credentials will arrive in time. We will then file the mid-year report, which is required, when we return January 6th. Don’t worry – this will not be considered late. Colleges understand mid-year reports often aren’t available until mid-January.
Again, if you are applying to schools with January 1st – January 5th deadlines, we need to know that before you leave for break. Please check your “colleges I am applying to” list on Naviance. For schools with January 15th and February 1st deadlines, you do not need to worry – we will have plenty of time to file documents when we return.
If you know you are applying Early Decision II, but you are not sure where yet, you will need to coordinate with your individual counselor about this. Counselors can sign the counselor Early Decision agreement remotely, but there will need to be a plan in place for how and when you will notify your counselor. You must also mark the school as Early Decision II in your Common Application before the form will populate on Naviance for your counselor to sign. That’s just how the system works!
If you do not check your “colleges I am applying to” list and you do not inform your counselor of any discrepancies, we cannot guarantee that your supporting credentials will be sent in on time. Thank you for your attention to this!!
- COMMON APPLICTION:
- Please make sure that your list on Naviance mirrors your list on your common application account for your common application schools.
- Please remove any common application schools that you are no longer applying to from your common application account so they don’t continue to pull over to Naviance during the syncing phase.
- Please make sure all schools you intend to apply to are listed on your common application. Unfortunately, for common application schools, we cannot send documents unless you have added the school to your common application first. Again, that’s just how the system works. You don’t have to have completed the application for us to send supporting documents – the school just has to be listed in your common app.
- If you are applying to a common application school using another application (coalition, school specific, etc.), you must inform your counselor so we can make the necessary changes on Naviance to be able to file your supporting documents.
- And, for any non-common application schools: the only way your counselor will know you are applying is if you notify them. There is no syncing function between Naviance and non-common app schools.
- OTHER THOUGHTS:
- List balance: whether you have already applied to schools, or aren’t planning on applying until January, you need to keep list balance in mind as you finalize your schools.
- If you already have an acceptance in hand, you can be more flexible with your final list, assuming your acceptance is affordable for your family and is a place you would be happy attending.
- If you do not have an acceptance in hand, you need to make sure there is appropriate balance in your list. The College Office recommends having at least two “likely” options, and we prefer three. College admissions is difficult to predict – you need to make sure you have at least two schools that we consider great fits on all parameters (testing, course of study, GPA, etc.). If you choose not to include “likely” options in your final list, you do so against the advice of the College Office and may not have as many (or any) options at the end of the process.
- Lastly, while final list choices are ultimately yours to make, the College Office also recommends that no final list have more than 35%-40% “Reach” or “Far Reach” schools. This will ensure choice at the end of the process and will also reduce the impact that repeated rejections can have on students.
Please reach out to your individual counselor with any questions or concerns!
Counselors will be checking email periodically over break, but you should not assume they will be checking it every day or multiple times a day (as they would during a normal school week). Also, be mindful of timing – if you send your counselor an email at 10pm the day before an application is due, you should not expect to hear back from them – they may have already gone to bed!
Best of luck with finals. And enjoy a well-deserved break! We look forward to finishing up the process with you when you return in the New Year!
College Counseling Office