Secondary School Advising

List of 10 items.

• February of Fifth Form Year

  You will receive a packet of information from the Eaglebrook School Secondary School Advising Office. This packet includes an introductory letter, a list of secondary schools with pertinent information, suggestions regarding the interview, and two forms (a questionnaire and transcript release form) for the parents to complete and return to Liz Fitz by April 1.

• March of Fifth Form Year

  You should begin discussions with your child about the letter and your child's needs, strengths, and interests with respect to the areas of academic, athletic, and extra-curricular and social involvement. You should look into the pros and cons of size (large vs. medium vs. small), location and environment (rural vs. urban), enrollment (coed or single-sex); you should look into the desirability of specific programs or areas of instruction.

• Spring of Fifth Form Year

  It is important to begin researching appropriate secondary schools, including local day school or public school options. Send away for catalogs and other information. If it appears that your child needs motivation and/or you and your child has had little or no exposure to secondary schools, it might be a good idea to schedule visits to a few schools during April and May. Please notify the Director of Secondary School Advising of any such plans. During the spring term, the Director of Secondary School Advising will be meeting with each member of the Fifth Form individually to discuss possible options.

• Summer Before Sixth Form Year

  With your child at home, you should continue to research appropriate secondary schools by means of reading catalogs and curriculum guides. You should solidify plans to visit schools in the fall, keeping in mind the visiting days that Eaglebrook School gives to the Sixth Formers: this year, the days are Monday through Wednesday, following Country Fair Weekend. Another good time to visit is at the beginning of our Thanksgiving vacation: Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday are possible days. In any case, we wish to keep to a minimum the number of missed class days. Please remember to keep the Director of Secondary School Advising informed of all interview appointments. It is important that families make the necessary appointments and travel arrangements.

• Fall of Sixth Form Year

  Following the school visits, you should submit the preliminary and/or final applications to those schools that seem most appropriate for your child. Complete all forms that are required of the parents, be certain all fees are paid, and all forms that require a signature are signed. Read carefully all application information, for the procedures vary from school to school. When teacher recommendation forms and transcript request forms arrive, mail them to the Secondary School Advising Office after checking for the need of a parental signature or other family information. Within a week of the interview, the student should write a brief thank you note to the interviewer.

• November/December of Sixth Form Year

  During the Thanksgiving and Winter Breaks, parents should oversee the completion of the essays, letters, and questionnaires that your child might have to write. While your child's English teacher, advisor and the Director of Secondary School Advising will be happy to provide assistance and advice, it must be the responsibility of the parents to see that the important documents are completed in a quality manner. You should keep in mind that high standards for spelling, punctuation, neatness, and clarity must be attained. The student must be willing to rewrite his essays in order to produce the very best final product.

• January of Sixth Form Year

  When your child returns to Eaglebrook after Winter Break, all of the essays and other paperwork must be completed. Also, the Secondary School Advising Office will need close to two weeks to process applications to meet the deadline for mailing to secondary schools. This will allow a student to concentrate on a successful completion of the secondary quarter. As both first and second quarter teacher comments are included in the material that is sent from Eaglebrook School, it is important that the student not return to school with any application work hanging over his head. All student and parent forms should be given to the Director of Secondary School Advising.

• January 15 to February 1 of Sixth Form Year

  Sometime during this period is the application deadline for most secondary schools. The transcripts, teacher and/or personal recommendations, and parent and student portions of the applications will be sent out from Eaglebrook School after the grades have been entered on the transcripts and after the teacher comments have been written.

• March 10 of Sixth Form Year

  This is the date on which secondary schools begin to mail out letters of acceptance, rejection, or waiting list decisions.

• April 10 of Sixth Form Year

  This is the deadline for applicants who have been accepted at a school to notify the school(s) of their decision. The earlier your decision has been made, the earlier you can notify all of the schools involved. If at all possible, you should avoid waiting until the last minute. If your child has been placed on the waiting list, you should hear of a clear-cut decision any time after April 1 but sometimes as late as April 20.