College Counseling Center offers breakout sessions

College Counseling Center at LSMSA offers breakout sessions to juniors
To help students become competitive applicants in the rapidly changing admission landscape, the College Counseling Center at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts has identified the various factors in today’s college admissions process needed to support college-bound families on their journey to college.
Following a positive response from both seniors and juniors after the “Words from the Wise” presentation in February, students reported wanting more.
“Recognizing the positive influence of peers helping peers, counselors conducted a needs assessment with juniors in College Planning Seminar,” said Laurie Richard, college counselor. “After meeting with counselors, seniors matched their skill sets to best meet the juniors’ needs.”
During small group break-out sessions, seniors shared their strategies, problem solving skills and how they navigated their college application journey.
“Skills developed during CPS resulted in a successful application process,” said Richard. “This success allowed seniors to lead training sessions with juniors.”
Throughout this process, seniors discovered their own strengths and abilities and passed that awareness and confidence onto the juniors. The college counselors at LSMSA enjoyed seeing the growth of the seniors over the last two years and identify the value of peer-led group experiences in CPS.
College counselors continue to align the College Counseling Center with the National Association for College Admissions Counselors principles of good practice, the cornerstones of ethical college admissions.
Seniors presented 19 break-out sessions covering several topics over two days. Juniors selected two sessions of their choice and attended those sessions April 4-5. The sessions included the application process at highly selective and highly competitive schools; binding application plans: what early decision, restrictive early action and QuestBridge programs have to offer; applying to military academies, enlisting directly and the benefits of an ROTC program; application types, scholarships and tips to maximize your fall; demonstrated interest: college visits and interviews; and the international application process.