College Advising Update

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year. The college advising office is busy supporting our seniors as they embark on their post-Trinity planning and college application process. The class of 2025 is finalizing their college lists, ensuring they have a wide/balanced range of options, fine-tuning essays, and thinking about how they want to spend their time after graduation. This rite of passage is student-led with the college advising office serving as each child’s “guide on the side”, and it is a fun and inspiring vantage point. We will share news throughout the year as their progress and decision-making unfold.

Last week, two seniors received their first college acceptances and rang the bell, a Trinity tradition. Congratulations to Lily McHale and Devin Jeffcoat pictured above.

Parents often ask what underclassmen should be doing to prepare for their senior year. Below is a grade-by-grade overview of what you and your children can be thinking about.

The grade point average for college admission starts now, and the freshman year in Upper School matters. During this foundational year, students should be doing their best and getting involved in the life of Trinity and the external community. When colleges look at our senior class, they are looking at the entirety of Upper School performance, plus how students have spent their time outside the classroom. 

For some students, this may be the first time they struggle in one or more subjects. It is important that our students use T-Block (8-8:45 a.m., Monday through Friday) to seek extra help. There are also online resources to help with study skills and academic support like Khan Academy. 

Students should begin keeping track of community service hours, extracurricular activities and awards. The “clock” for Upper School began in June 2024, so anything your child did this past summer can also become part of their college resume. 

This spring, our freshmen will begin course planning for sophomore year. It is important to think about Upper School as the building blocks for a bigger picture, so students should continue to challenge themselves appropriately. 

Sophomores will build upon their freshman year, continuing to do their best academically and staying involved inside and outside school with activities that align with their values, interests and abilities. Like freshman year, students should keep track of activities, awards and honors and seek extra help when they need it. 

The PSAT is going to be administered Wednesday, October 9. Students will have access to free practice exams and resources when they download Bluebook, an application designed by College Board. Stay tuned for more information. 

Our Expeditionary Learning trip in March will help set the tone for our conversations about post-Trinity planning. Students will tour multiple colleges, learning about a variety of school types while gaining experience about how to visit schools. We will share more information about this trip this winter. Keep in mind that we are showing student school types (public, private, small, large, etc.), so the actual selection of schools we visit is less important than the context students acquire about what might fit career goals and personality best.

Sophomore year can be a good time for families to start visiting colleges, too. If you are on a vacation or in a town that has a school of interest to your child, you could attend an Information Session and Tour. On any college website, you can click on “Admissions” and learn about how to visit. The majority of colleges require you to make a reservation in advance, but if you are not seeking something quite so formal, you can often find downloadable walking tours as well.  

 

Junior year is important. First, the three trimesters will be some of the most important when colleges begin evaluating their applicants. It will be important for students to enroll in courses that fit them and potentially what they want to study. One such option going into junior year will be to take dual credit coursework at Midland College. The majority of students will enroll in U.S. History this way, depending on their PSAT score and Texas Success Initiative exemption.  

The PSAT this year is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) and held on Wednesday, October 9. We will coach our juniors and point them to all the resources that can help them prepare, including College Board’s Bluebook and Khan Academy.

Later in October, the college advising office begins a series of monthly junior workshops. Students will learn how to use Cialfo, our college application platform; take a series of assessments (personality, learning/productivity style, and intelligences) to start thinking about college majors/choice; learn about college admission testing (ACT/SAT); craft their college resume; seek teacher recommendations; write a rough draft of a personal statement/essay; and complete most of the Common Application, a universal application accepted by 1,000+ colleges across the U.S. and abroad.

Parent education during this time is also key, as we will be partnering in the months ahead to support our students. There will be a Junior Parent Night on Thursday, December 5 to provide an overview of what you can expect. Beginning in January, we will also offer two weeks of junior family conferences so that we can have individualized conversations about post-Trinity planning.

This is an exciting and important journey for our students, and the college advising office is happy to answer all your questions along the way. As parents of seniors know, our office is focused on seniors now through the end of December. However, the door is always open and students in grades 9-11 can ask their questions, too. It is an honor to work with Trinity Midland students and families. Next month, Mr. Jones and I will share more about the PSAT in grades 9-11.