Kevin McMullin

College admissions advice for students, parents, and counselors

High school counselors: need help writing your school profile?

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Northwestern University posted a guideline for counselors that describes what they look for in a high school profile.  Northwestern makes no claims to speak for all colleges (and we’re sure that students at the University of Chicago, in particular, would never permit their arch rival to speak for them), but it’s hard to imagine that a profile that met these criteria wouldn’t be appropriate for other colleges, Northwestern rival or not.

A good resource for high school counselors

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If you spend 30 minutes looking around the NACAC (National Association for College Admissions Counseling) website, you’ll find all sorts of useful information, including college planning calendars that you can distribute to your students.  There’s also a solid “Resources” section  with lots of tools to use with your kids.   And the NACAC website is also the first place we go to find the dates for national college fairs and for performing/visual arts college fairs.

In May, NACAC releases an annual “Space Availability Survey” that lists colleges who still have room for freshman applicants (even though many application deadlines have passed).  This survey would be a lifesaver if you had a kid who was not accepted to any colleges.