The two articles that I read and took notes on were both from "More Than A Test Score", and they were called 5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep and What I Learned When I Applied Early Action and Early Decision. I think that these articles were super beneficial and interesting, and I definitely learned a lot and recommend them both! :)
5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep was really helpful, although it was mostly information that I think most high schoolers already know! As can be inferred from the title, it was a list of five ways that the counselor at your high school can make applying and choosing a college easier (which I think will definitely help with the college stress!) Without completely paraphrasing the whole article, the five ways were: planning high school classes accordingly, recommending colleges based on a student's interests and field of study, helping with volunteering/community service opportunities, provide scholarship applications (this one is definitely going to help), and writing recommendation letters. The author's purpose in writing this article was to help students be aware of and utilize an amazing resource that they have while they're in high school, and perhaps get them more focused on preparing for college. I think the key points are the listed ways that a high school guidance counselor can help, as those provide the basic information and comprise the article. The author's argument is that students should cultivate an active and focused relationship with their guidance counselor, which will benefit them greatly in the early college preparation stages. I liked one of the facts/evidence that she included, which was that the average student to guidance counselor at a high school is 470 to 1, and I think it exemplifies the importance of forming a relationship with them and getting help, even when there's so many other students. While our ratio at Bigfork is a little smaller, it's still really good advice! The author, Suzanne Shaffer, has a lot of background with this kind of information and advice, as she works as a counselor on the importance of early college preparation. She also has a blog, Parents Countdown to College Coach, that has lots of advice and tips for high school students trying to figure out what to do about the looming pressure of college :)
The second article I read, What I Learned When I Applied Early Action and Early Decision, was actually incredibly informative and helpful, as I didn't really know anything about early decision/action before, and they're both important! Basically, it was a summary of what you need to know about the two and how to choose the right school (both of which are incredibly daunting and frightening to think about). The author's purpose in writing the article was to educate those heading to college (particularly high school seniors) about the importance of the EA and ED decisions, and how to make the right ones. The key points that the author makes are pretty easy to understand, and they are "Pick the Right Schools, Love Them, and Face the Music". I think these are really important points, as it's easy enough to apply for EA or ED, but the consequence of those decisions could be easily overlooked. For example, I'd heard of Early Action before, but I had no idea that it's completely binding, meaning that if you're accepted, you have to go there. The author's argument is to think about these decisions before they're made, and consider all facets of the college before Early Decision/Action. She uses some information from her own experience with EA and ED as evidence and support in her argument, and I think it really helped back up everything she was saying, though it would have been interesting to have statistics or research included in the information! The author, Emily Liu, is a proper source of information because she experienced the Early Action and Early Decision processes (and consequences) first hand, and it's an experience that many students are going to face as well. I really liked this article and her advice, and I think it is so so so important for students to know about before they get in too deep.
The two articles that I read are both aimed at students doing early college preparation, and are both important in the success of that preparation. The target audience and general concept of begin prepared and informed before you apply to college were consistent throughout both articles, and they both offered a lot of information that a high school student might not know (and miss/mess up an opportunity because of this). Both writers bring up a lot of ideas and methods to be prepared (such as utilizing a guidance counselor and being informed about EA and ED) and both authors are clearly trying to educate students to aid in their college future. Stylistically, I think that the Suzanne Shaffer, author of 5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep was definitely more focused on what students should be doing to make college preparation easier, while Emily Ziu, author of What I Learned When I Applied Early Action and Early Decision put her emphasis on students making informed decisions about their future (opposed to preparation) and focused on how practical college choices really are. This article also seemed less optimistic and more practical, and it put a lot of concentration on how someone could totally mess up and how to avoid that (which was super helpful!)
My MLA citations:
1. Shaffer, Suzanne. "5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep." More Than A Test Score. Zinch, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
2. Liu, Emily. "What I Learned When I Applied Early Action AND Early Decision." More Than A Test Score. Zinch, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep was really helpful, although it was mostly information that I think most high schoolers already know! As can be inferred from the title, it was a list of five ways that the counselor at your high school can make applying and choosing a college easier (which I think will definitely help with the college stress!) Without completely paraphrasing the whole article, the five ways were: planning high school classes accordingly, recommending colleges based on a student's interests and field of study, helping with volunteering/community service opportunities, provide scholarship applications (this one is definitely going to help), and writing recommendation letters. The author's purpose in writing this article was to help students be aware of and utilize an amazing resource that they have while they're in high school, and perhaps get them more focused on preparing for college. I think the key points are the listed ways that a high school guidance counselor can help, as those provide the basic information and comprise the article. The author's argument is that students should cultivate an active and focused relationship with their guidance counselor, which will benefit them greatly in the early college preparation stages. I liked one of the facts/evidence that she included, which was that the average student to guidance counselor at a high school is 470 to 1, and I think it exemplifies the importance of forming a relationship with them and getting help, even when there's so many other students. While our ratio at Bigfork is a little smaller, it's still really good advice! The author, Suzanne Shaffer, has a lot of background with this kind of information and advice, as she works as a counselor on the importance of early college preparation. She also has a blog, Parents Countdown to College Coach, that has lots of advice and tips for high school students trying to figure out what to do about the looming pressure of college :)
The second article I read, What I Learned When I Applied Early Action and Early Decision, was actually incredibly informative and helpful, as I didn't really know anything about early decision/action before, and they're both important! Basically, it was a summary of what you need to know about the two and how to choose the right school (both of which are incredibly daunting and frightening to think about). The author's purpose in writing the article was to educate those heading to college (particularly high school seniors) about the importance of the EA and ED decisions, and how to make the right ones. The key points that the author makes are pretty easy to understand, and they are "Pick the Right Schools, Love Them, and Face the Music". I think these are really important points, as it's easy enough to apply for EA or ED, but the consequence of those decisions could be easily overlooked. For example, I'd heard of Early Action before, but I had no idea that it's completely binding, meaning that if you're accepted, you have to go there. The author's argument is to think about these decisions before they're made, and consider all facets of the college before Early Decision/Action. She uses some information from her own experience with EA and ED as evidence and support in her argument, and I think it really helped back up everything she was saying, though it would have been interesting to have statistics or research included in the information! The author, Emily Liu, is a proper source of information because she experienced the Early Action and Early Decision processes (and consequences) first hand, and it's an experience that many students are going to face as well. I really liked this article and her advice, and I think it is so so so important for students to know about before they get in too deep.
The two articles that I read are both aimed at students doing early college preparation, and are both important in the success of that preparation. The target audience and general concept of begin prepared and informed before you apply to college were consistent throughout both articles, and they both offered a lot of information that a high school student might not know (and miss/mess up an opportunity because of this). Both writers bring up a lot of ideas and methods to be prepared (such as utilizing a guidance counselor and being informed about EA and ED) and both authors are clearly trying to educate students to aid in their college future. Stylistically, I think that the Suzanne Shaffer, author of 5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep was definitely more focused on what students should be doing to make college preparation easier, while Emily Ziu, author of What I Learned When I Applied Early Action and Early Decision put her emphasis on students making informed decisions about their future (opposed to preparation) and focused on how practical college choices really are. This article also seemed less optimistic and more practical, and it put a lot of concentration on how someone could totally mess up and how to avoid that (which was super helpful!)
My MLA citations:
1. Shaffer, Suzanne. "5 Ways Your High School Counselor Can Help With College Prep." More Than A Test Score. Zinch, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
2. Liu, Emily. "What I Learned When I Applied Early Action AND Early Decision." More Than A Test Score. Zinch, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.