Two very important phases in the college application process occurs between now and the end of the school ear. The most obvious is that juniors are completing their junior year. When juniors apply for college beginning in mid-summer the grades that will set the stage on applications is the transcript of their junior year. So----parents--- instead of slacking off and coasting to the end your junior needs to press hard and achieve the best grades possible. Another valuable task for juniors is to take at least one SAT examination. It is good practice for the student and also provides excellent feedback to parents.

The second important event that is occurring involves eighth graders. Yikes! You are saying EIGHTH GRADERS??? Yes eighth graders. Beginning in the ninth grade everything counts. So parents and their eighth grader need to have a serious talk and develop a plan to recognize that student’s grade point averages (GPA) begin in the ninth grade. Many students that arrive at Hargrave have a very poor GPA in the ninth and tenth grade. Parents often remark that they did not realize those grades influenced college applications. It is difficult to make up several years of poor grades. I recommend considering summer school to replace those Fs and Ds.

For sports minded families the NCAA requires students applying to D-1 colleges to complete high school in eight consecutive semesters. Repeating a year will disqualify your student for D-1 sports. Again summer school is a good consideration to prevent repeating a year

Where college is concerned parents should think well past your student’s current year.