Last month, in an effort to take the bite out of the arduous college application process, Rye Neck High School held a College Planning Night for juniors. The Counseling and Guidance Center, headed by Co-Directors Corinne Ryan and Valerie Feit, assembled a panel of admission deans and directors from a wide range of universities to shed light on admissions’ practices.

By Janice Llanes Fabry

Last month, in an effort to take the bite out of the arduous college application process, Rye Neck High School held a College Planning Night for juniors. The Counseling and Guidance Center, headed by Co-Directors Corinne Ryan and Valerie Feit, assembled a panel of admission deans and directors from a wide range of universities to shed light on admissions’ practices.

“The purpose of this night is transparency,” noted Feit. “We want students to feel better about the process and to understand that there are real people on the other side of the college application.”

The College Planning Night is part of an eleventh-grade College and Career Preparation class, which meets every other day for an entire marking period. The curriculum offers students the opportunity to work on their applications, refine lists of potential colleges, schedule SAT/ACTS, write preliminary essays, and work one-on-one with their guidance counselors. In preparation for the evening event, Rye Neck juniors compiled a list of questions that were addressed by the panel of educators.

At this juncture, juniors are preoccupied with how colleges review applications and prioritize criteria, as well as how students can distinguish themselves among so many candidates. Not an exact science by any means, universities utilize perspective analytics and algorithms that may change from year to year. Feit quipped, “At times, it’s like the Harry Potter sorting hat.”

Generally, however, a student’s GPA is the top admissions criteria, followed by SAT or ACT scores. Although some universities are opting out of using the standardized tests, most admissions departments still rely on them. Once a potential student has met these benchmarks, admissions departments turn to the more discriminating data generated by student essays and letters of recommendations.

The process actually has its roots in middle school when students start acquiring the tools they need through a Project Based Learning program in seventh and eighth grades.

Project Based Learning is unique to Rye Neck, noted Feit. “Students get to know themselves by identifying their strengths and interests. They need to know how they learn, what their abilities are, and what kinds of things they have an affinity toward.”

Rye Neck also uses Naviance’s “Do What You Are” in eighth grade and again in tenth. This personality assessment gives students a greater self-awareness and, ultimately, the insight needed to make realistic decisions about higher education. A series of workshops through high school cover all the bases. While a freshman seminar encourages them to make the most out of high school, a sophomore career exploration course addresses education pathways to various careers.

“It’s important for students to ascertain what they’re bringing to the table in a potential learning community,” remarked Feit. “More than anything, we want them to be excited and we want them to value the process and the experience that comes after, a college education.”