College Guidance:

An Increasingly Challenging Task

The competition to get into every college has increased significantly. Our country's population grew by 50% in the past 30 years, and the percentage of Americans going to college has increased. Students think that "if you have a bris you can get into YU", and that a 1300 is an Ivy League-worthy score. Perhaps in their parents' day, but not today.

Many students dismiss the wake-up call that preliminary college entrance exam (SSAT, PSAT, and PLAN) scores should provide, and don't "open that e-mail" until they take their first ACT or SAT. It is true that studying, courses and tutoring can help, within reason. There are different tiers of schools open to students of different abilities. 

Once one identifies safety, appropriate and reach schools, the college application process dauntingly requires students to capture their unique personality in 500 words, make no grammatical or spelling mistakes, to interview for first time in their lives, and to meet unforgiving deadlines. 

To complicate matters further, beneath a senior's 18 year-old bravado is the unstated but real fear of leaving friends and family, and the nurturing and structure of a private high school.

In addition, WYHS' classes are growing rapidly. There are 100 students between grades 11 & 12 this year. Next year there will be 140! There will be more students competing for acceptance to the relatively short list of colleges with significant observant populations.

To address all of these issues, WYHS has begun increasing its college guidance services, and will do so even more dramatically next year. This week, I'd like to share with you our plans for early intervention.

WYHS Director of College Preparatory Subjects Dr. Laura Becker, herself a Brown and Penn grad whose two sons went to MIT and Yale, has researched every incoming WYHS student academically even before they enter our school. Dr. Becker will continue to guide students' course selection decisions and closely monitor their grades in freshman and sophomore years.

Next year, Dr. Becker will be meeting with each sophomore during their second semester to help them align their academic and extracurricular performance with their abilities and interests. In the first semester of the junior year, Dr. Becker will be meeting again with each student to make sure they are on track, to help them make wise summer plans, and to plan when they are taking (and how they are preparing) for the ACT and SAT exams. Dr. Becker, who does undergraduate interviews for Brown, will also help students create a list of a preliminary list of appropriate schools to investigate.

Next week I will share our plans for the second half of junior and first half of senior year.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Rabbi Perry Tirschwell  

Head of School