As the school year transitions into full swing, members of the senior class are turning their attention to college applications.  The entire college process is the cause of much stress for many students, and in recognition of that, the counseling department of Hingham High School held a College Applications Night this past Tuesday, September 20th.

With both parents and students in attendance, the counseling department gave a presentation entitled “The Application Process:  Keeping It In Perspective”.  The counselors who gave the presentation were Mrs. Rodriguez, Mrs. Krall, Mrs. McPeck, Ms. Gawel, and Mrs. Rapoza.  They began by emphasizing that they are available to help students throughout the entirety of the process.

To start the actual presentation, Mrs. McPeck urged students to find schools that are a good fit for them personally.  Some of her helpful tips included visiting the campus and searching the school’s website as students should then be able to get a sense of the school and whether or not it is a good fit.  Mrs. McPeck also recommended Naviance as a good tool to get a realistic view of where a student falls as an applicant.  

Senior Angela White agrees with Mrs. McPeck’s portion of the presentation as she visited several schools this past summer and felt that she “got a strong sense of the environment on campus”.

Ms. Gawel and Mrs. Krall then reminded students of all the necessary paperwork that has to be completed in order to submit an application.  Next, Mrs. Rodriguez addressed transcripts and the ability to now display a second GPA based on the Massachusetts scale.  Lastly, Mrs. Rapoza went through all the important information regarding both testing and financial aid.

Overall, the presentation was extremely thorough and covered all aspects of the stressful process.  Many students appreciated that the counseling department recognized their anxiety and held the meeting.  According to senior Rose McDonald, “the meeting helped to ease my stress and made me excited to begin applying!”