Decision Letters from High Schools

On March 18th, Catholic and Independent high schools in the Bay Area will send decision letters to all applicants. Boarding schools send decision letters March 10th. Decision letters may be mailed or emailed, and you may also be able to check your status online. Please be in touch about your decisions and questions so I know how to help.

Instructions for Hillbrook families before and after letters are received:

Before notifications are mailed, discuss with your child how you will respond to all possible scenarios. In doing so, you can act confidently and swiftly on Monday morning, 3/21. Swiftness will help the entire process, especially waitlists, move along expediently.

Please allow your child to open high school decision letters at your house. Adults must work together to be sensitive to the feelings of every 8th grader, and keeping letters at home is an essential part of this.

Honor your child's wishes about opening his or her decision letters. Most 8th graders want to be the "opener," and some wish to do this in private. Discuss beforehand what your child prefers.

Admit:If your child is accepted to a first choice high school, contact that school first thing Monday morning to tell them you will enroll. Next, contact all other schools that accepted or waitlisted you to tell them you have enrolled at another school. Your swiftness with these phone calls is critical because it allows schools to move to waitlists as quickly as possible.

Wait-list:If you are waitlisted at a school you would like to attend, first contact that school to tell them you would like to remain on their waitlist. Next, contact the high school that accepted you and you will attend if you do not get admitted off a waitlist. If you are not admitted off the waitlist of your school of choice by the end of the enrollment period, you must enroll at another high school.

Decline:If you were declined admission from your first choice school, you should not feel badly. Schools turn away very qualified applicants on a regular basis for the simple fact that the schools are not large enough to accept every qualified applicant. Nonetheless, it still doesn’t feel good to be turned away from your first choice school. If you were offered a space at another school, then you clearly need to accept another offer, even if your heart is set on school #1. The good news about the schools in this area is that they are all excellent, so even your second and third choice schools provide excellent programs. So, hopefully the plan allowed for a second or third choice school and you did receive an acceptance at one of those schools. If not, then registration at your local public school is even more important. What is most important is not to be too down on yourself if you were turned away from a school- again, these schools turn away qualified candidates specifically because of numbers. They wish they could take all of their qualified applicants, and that would include you.

January Update

The High School Decisions course wraps up this week and transition into 8th Grade Spring Project. More information on the spring project is forthcoming.

Please note the following:

January 22 and 23: Last No-Homework Weekend

January 22: HSPT (Catholic Entrance Exam) and ISEE

January 26: LGHS 8th Grade Student-Parent Orientation 7pm in LGHS Large Gym

January 28: LGHS Parent Visitation Day 8am at LGHS Main Bldg

January 26 and 28: Notre Dame and Presentation applications are due

January 27 and 31: Saint Francis Interviews 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
February 2: Saint Francis Interviews 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

February 3: LGHS information question and answer session for students and parents from private schools and Lakeside District 3:30pm in LGHS library

February 4: Teacher recommendations and transcripts due to Catholic schools. Within a week after the deadline, you should see a check mark on your online application indicating that all required forms have been received.

March 18: Decision letters mailed!

Making Your List and Checking It Twice

I am here to answer any questions you or the students might have regarding applications. For some of you, there have been some last minute changes to your child's list of schools. Others may have trouble with entering information in the online forms. Many have asked, "How do you fit all the information in these little boxes and under 250 characters?!" Just know you are not alone. If you have a question, most likely someone else does too.

Please note the following:

Mitty, Bellarmine, and St. Francis applications are due Friday, December 17th. Transcripts and teacher recommendations will be mailed separately and are not due to those schools until February 4th.

Official transcripts will be mailed home for you to review over Winter Break. After your review, a copy will be sent to any schools to which your child is applying.

With the exception of Sacred Heart School in Atherton, the independent school applications are due January 13th. Sacred Heart is due January 6th. Students can finish essays and factual information for independent school applications and submit them over the break or the first week back to school in January.

The final No-Homework Weekend is January 22 and 23. Many students choose to take the HSPT or ISEE that weekend.

Notre Dame and Presentation applications are due January 26 and 28, respectively. I am happy to review essay drafts for these schools at any time. They can be emailed to me or students can drop them off in my office.

November-December Task List

Thanksgiving is next week, Winter Break is quickly approaching, and that means there is a lot of work to be done on high school applications!

1) Students living within the Los Gatos High School boundaries will bring home LGHS registration materials today. Even if your child is not considering LGHS as one of his/her schools, please read the enclosed letter and return the required materials by Nov. 29. Let me know if you have any questions.

2) Mitty, Bellarmine, and St. Francis applications are due December 17. Students applying to these schools should be editing their essay drafts and inputing information into the online applications. We are also using class time to do this.

Important Dates:
By Nov. 23:
• Students speak with teachers about writing their recommendations.

By Nov. 29:
• Return LGHS registration materials
• Submit revised essay drafts for Mitty, Bellarmine, St. Francis to Ms. Maisel in High School Decisions class. Continue working on essays for other schools.

Dec. 4-6:
• No-HW weekend
• ISEE test at Hillbrook
• Complete and submit Mitty, Bell, St. Francis applications. Revise essay drafts for other schools.

Test registration

ISEE/SSAT Test Dates and Registration Deadlines
Students applying to independent schools must take either the ISEE or the SSAT. Several test dates and locations are available.

The deadline to register for the December 4th ISEE test at Hillbrook is November 13. The ISEE is also offered on other dates at Hillbrook and other schools. To view the list of test dates, locations, and registration deadlines, go to www.erbtest.org and click on Parents > Admission > ISEE.

The deadline to register for the December 11th SSAT test is November 19. Visit www.ssat.org for more information.

Students applying to Catholic schools must take the HSPT.
The HSPT is offered at the Catholic schools on three Saturdays in January: 8th, 15th, and 22nd. Register for the HSPT via the Admissions page on the school's website. Make sure to register before Winter Break.

Forms, Brag Sheet, Essays, and No-Homework Weekend

Forms:
Students received a folder today for all transcript release, teacher recommendation, and other principal/counselor forms. For every school your child is applying to, please complete the student information section of the forms, sign if necessary, and return with stamped addressed envelopes. Page 45 in the HSD booklet explains the required forms and how to turn them in. In addition to the Catholic school forms passed out today, independent school forms can be printed off school websites and added to the folder with envelopes.

Forms are due November 15 (Monday after the no-HW weekend) in the High School Decisions class.

Brag Sheet:
Many students have already completed a significant portion of their brag sheet in High School Decisions. The remainder needs to be completed at home in a Word document, emailed to Ms. Maisel (or printed out and turned in). Please refer to pp. 48-49 in the HSD booklet for more information. Brag sheets are due November 15 as well.

Essays:
Mr. Bonoma will introduce some key concepts for personal essay writing on Wednesday in English class. On Thursday, students will have the opportunity in English class to share examples of their work and continue working on their essays. A draft will be due for English class and Mr. Bonoma and Ms. Maisel will review them and provide feedback. Refer to the HW assignments section on the portal for the essay draft due date.


No-Homework Weekend:
Students should use the No-Homework Weekend November 13-14 to complete high school paperwork, brag sheets, and an essay draft. Paperwork and brag sheets are due November 15.

Upcoming paperwork to turn in

Please note the revised dates for turning in paperwork for transcript release, teacher recommendations, and brag sheet. Paperwork will be due November 15 (Monday after the no-HW weekend) in the High School Decisions class.

Students applying to Catholic schools do NOT need to print the transcript release and teacher recommendation forms. We will print the forms for the students and send them home next week. Forms should be signed and returned with envelopes to Ms. Maisel by November 15.

Students applying to independent schools will need to print the teacher recommendation and transcript release forms and give them to Ms. Maisel with envelopes by November 15.

Please see p.45 in the HSD booklet for details regarding the required forms and how/when to turn them in.

Information regarding transcript release, recommendations, and brag sheets will be explained to students during the HSD class next week.

We will also be working on essays in the next two weeks.