Juniors attend last college counseling meeting of the year

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Vineet Kosaraju

College counselors Martin Walsh, Nicole Burrell, Kevin Lum Lung and Andrew Quinn discuss tasks that need to be completed before the upcoming school year, including registration for college athletics. Juniors attended their last meeting of college counseling today in the Nichols Auditorium during extra help.

After nearly a semester of being introduced to the college counseling process, juniors attended their last meeting of the school year in the Nichols auditorium today during extra help.

Counselors Martin Walsh, Nicole Burrell, Kevin Lum Lung and Andrew Quinn discussed the writing process for the personal statement essay and the action items that students should complete before their first meeting at the beginning of the upcoming school year.

Tasks that juniors should complete include working on college lists, researching colleges, creating a spreadsheet to remain organized, brainstorming ideas for the college essays, and writing at least one draft for the personal statement essay.

Walsh advised students to write a meaningful essay by setting aside time during the summer to brainstorm ideas and reflect upon interesting life experiences.

“I almost feel like we are ordering you to go for a nice long walk, go to the beach, to do something to get away from all the white noise that represents being 17 and 18, and getting ready for the application process,” he said. “The only challenge here is to be an interesting dinner party companion. Write something so [the admissions officers] will say, wow I heard something really cool today that I’ll be thinking about for the rest of the week. That’s really the challenge.”

Kelly Wang (‘15) agreed with Walsh and advised students to think about essay ideas for the common application over the summer.

“I think the common app comes out over the summer, so you should look at that when it starts, when it is up,” she said. “You might want to think of some essay ideas and brainstorm the common app essay ideas. Just brainstorm your common app essay and start outlining it and writing it”

Sohil Patel (11) thought that the meeting was useful, as it kept him on track with the college application process.

“I think they are really helpful, especially for all the rising seniors, because we have never experienced applications,” he said. “So it really gets us going, it really motivates us to put in the effort beforehand and get organized early on, and starting early is what they emphasize and it is really going to pay back in the long run since procrastination does not end well.”

As the college counselors will be working on drafting recommendation letters, they will not be available for counseling meetings over the summer. Counselor Kevin Lum-Lung will not be available as of Wednesday, May 27, because of paternity leave.