In January of your junior year, your college search process will start in earnest when you begin to work with your assigned college guidance couselor.  To guide you throughout the process, we create a College Guidance Handbook which students and their parents can download through Naviance's Family Connection. The first section of the Handbook includes the Timetable for Students Applying to College for each class. Go to Information for Juniors and Information for Seniors to view these timetables.  

For each student, the college guidance process includes these steps and services:

• a small-group meeting with the college guidance staff. These meetings, which begin in mid-January, provide general advice and information. 
• an assembly/panel discussion on Parents Day in early February, for juniors and their parents. 
• two required individual meetings between the counselor and the student in the winter and spring of the junior year, starting after Parents Day. The goal of the first meeting is for the counselor to get to know the student and help him or her undertake some self-assessment. The goal of the second is to draw up a plan of action and a suggested list of colleges for the student to research based on his or her preferences, academic profile, activities and interests, and standardized testing. 
• at least one required meeting between counselor and student early in senior year. 
• unlimited follow-up meetings at the student’s request. These often include meetings to go over drafts of the student’s college essays or complete applications. 
• information about when and how to register for SAT tests, and, for non-native English speakers, help in registering for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). 
• access to the College Guidance resource room, which contains guidebooks, files of information from individual colleges, files on scholarships as well as summer and alternative programs, and a computer workstation. 
• meetings between interested seniors and the nearly one hundred college representatives who arrange to visit George School each fall. 
• a comprehensive letter of recommendation written by the student’s college counselor, to be sent out in support of each of the student’s applications. In writing this letter the counselor draws upon knowledge gained from meeting with the student, on student and parent questionnaires, and on teachers’ narrative reports. The letter presents the student to the college as a distinct individual, highlighting his or her strengths and achievements, and explaining the student’s academic program. 
• consultations/conversations as needed between the counselor and parents. 
• distribution of financial aid information and forms to all families. 
• processing and mailing of supporting materials for the student’s applications (i.e., transcript, George School profile, Secondary School Report form, and counselor’s recommendation letter) at the student’s request.  
• follow-up conversations, when appropriate, between the counselor and college admissions personnel regarding George School applicants.