CompuHigh Online High School Guidance Staff Trained on Common Application
(PRWEB) December 26, 2013 -- CompuHigh online high school recently had its guidance counselors complete training related to the Common Application process. The Common Application is a standard college admission application form that public and private colleges and universities all over the nation and internationally can voluntarily opt into using. As an accredited private online high school, CompuHigh regularly assists students in applying to colleges across the nation.
Common Application’s new fourth generation online system has completely replaced the paper application beginning this year. CompuHigh’s training of guidance counselors focused both on a general orientation to the new system and on writing the most effective recommendations for students.
The Common Application is intended to be used in a holistic admissions process. In other words, the Common Application requires contextualizing information, recommendations, and for many schools, a writing supplement. These give a more complete picture of the student than grades and test scores alone can give.
This form has the potential to streamline the college application process significantly, ameliorating what can be a very stressful time in the life of a high school senior and a very busy time for guidance counselors. Students can apply to multiple schools using a single application essay rather than writing a new essay for each application. Teachers and guidance counselors can also submit one recommendation per student that can go to multiple schools rather than having to send out several.
This year’s technical overhaul of the Common Application online system in conjunction with the retirement of the paper application presented many stumbling blocks to students and colleges alike. The online system was plagued with technical glitches in which submitted information from high schools did not always go through to be viewable by the colleges. With gaps in information and no paper option, most colleges delayed their early decision deadlines by a week. Common Application worked diligently to get technical issues resolved and updated guidance counselors daily on the fixes that were made. The system seems to be working relatively smoothly at this point as regular admissions deadlines approach.
CompuHigh guidance counselor and transcript coordinator, Kassie Stire, has been the main staff member to be working closely with the Common Application. Stire states, “There are aspects I liked better about the old system, but I’m getting used to this new layout. At first I ran into glitches. For example, after I submitted a step, the website wouldn’t show that the step was checked off. But those issue were resolved fairly quickly. I have not had any students miss application deadlines because of the Common Application.”
Guidance counselor, Cindy Proudfoot, underwent training on writing effective letters of recommendation, a very important part of the Common Application and many other college applications. Proudfoot does a regular review of the work of students in CompuHigh’s diploma PLUS program, giving her a prime vantage point to see the bigger picture of each student’s capability in a variety of academic subjects. Proudfoot states, “I found the training helpful in writing a recommendation for our students that will help them stand out from the crowd as individuals who have a contribution to make to the college they hope to attend. I particularly liked one of the speaker’s opening comments, which was that colleges are ‘looking for a person not a transcript’. This resonated with me because, even though we are an online school, we definitely treat each student as a person, and they get individual one-on-one attention from every teacher as well as their guidance counselor.”
CompuHigh is an private online high school providing diploma programs and individual courses since 1994. CompuHigh is accredited by AdvancED and is also an approved NCAA core course provider. CompuHigh’s private diploma program high school is called Whitmore School. For more information about CompuHigh, visit http://www.CompuHigh.com or call 1-866-859-0777 to speak with Melissa, the Admissions Specialist.
Jeannette Geib, CompuHigh, http://www.compuhigh.com, +1 (866) 859-0777, [email protected]
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