Month: May 2019

Posted in College Admissions, Uncategorized

Debunking The Myths About the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD)

Posted on by Trevor Creeden

There has been much discussion and angst expressed after College Board announced in the middle of May that it has been piloting a new tool with colleges called the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD) and is going to make it available to more colleges in the future. After reading about the ECD over the last couple weeks and talking to fellow college counselors about it, below are some questions I wanted to answer to help debunk the myths about the ECD and hopefully provide you with more accurate and helpful information that gives you a correct perspective of the ECD.

How can this score measure the “adversity” my child goes through?

The College Board never labeled this tool an “adversity score”. The correct name for this tool is the Environmental Context Dashboard and that is what College Board has been calling it from the beginning. The “adversity score” label came from a Washington Post article. If you would like to know what factors are considered when formulating a score please click here.

Will this ECD score impact my child’s SAT score?

No, the ECD score is totally separate from a students SAT score. A student will earn a score on the SAT using the same scoring method that College Board has been using for years. The ECD will give colleges an idea of how a students score may compare to other student’s at their school but their SAT score itself is separate from the ECD score.

How will college admissions officers view this ECD score?

This is going to vary by college. I have heard some college admission officers say they won’t look at it at all due to the volume of applications they have. Other college admissions officers have said that this tool can be helpful to them if they do not know anything about the high school because it is in a very rural area where they have not received any or many applications from in the past. Other college admission officers are saying that they will take a close look at it along with the other factors they consider. Just to reiterate, this ECD score is not new. Colleges have been pulling information from a student’s application for years that helps them understand the student’s “Environmental Context”. Many questions on any college application is going to provide a college admission officer with the same information that the ECD score provides. The College Board is now just trying to package this information in an easier way for colleges to understand. I will be asking many college admission counselors this coming fall how they will be using the ECD score.

How will I know what my ECD score is?

You will not know. This score is not made available to students and parents. It is only provided to the college that the student applies to once they send their SAT scores to that school. If you do not want the colleges to receive your ECD score, you can take the ACT and only send your ACT scores to the colleges you apply to.

What can I do to help my score?

Nothing. This score should not be “gamed” or “manipulated”. If a college admission officer finds out that people are doing things to try and “control” what their ECD score is, it will most likely have a negative impact on their admission to that school.

To conclude, this ECD score is not something any senior needs to worry about when applying to colleges. There are going to be questions and I’m sure some confusion over this new ECD score by college admission counselors, parents and students, but ultimately, it’s out of students control so they need to complete everything when applying to a college that is in their control (application, essays, requesting letters of recommendation, resume and taking the SAT or ACT) to the best of their ability and give God control of the result when it comes to whether they will be accepted or not.

Posted in College Admissions, Financial Aid/Scholarships, Uncategorized

The Value of a High School Internship

Posted on by Trevor Creeden

High school students who have an opportunity to complete an internship will have a greater perspective on what they would like to, should and should not major in when they apply to college. That’s if the internship is completed before the end of the summer before their senior year. There’s nothing wrong however, with doing an internship after senior year. You just won’t have the benefit of that experience occurring before you complete college applications. I am excited to begin Career Week at DCCS next spring. This will be a week long internship that is mandatory for every junior at DCCS to complete. It will take place at the end of their junior year which I think is a perfect time for a high school student to do an internship. Below are a few very important reasons why I think internships are very important for high school juniors to complete.

  1. It gets them out of their comfort zone. More today than in the past, high school students do not learn the value of hard work and how to respond in situations that are difficult or unpredictable. I would encourage every parent to read this article by Alex Chediak. In the article Alex says, “Our wealth, technology, and digital economy have radically changed this pattern. We now emphasize the protection of our children rather than their productivity. While our kids may be safer, they’re also softer — more hooked on comforts like AC, their own bedroom, an Xbox, etc. They are unfamiliar with manual labor at a time when lifelong learning and flexibility are more important than ever in our disrupted economy.” I couldn’t say it any better. This isn’t true of every high school student but it is more common today than every before. This is why encouraging our teens to drive when they are able and encouraging but also making them get a job is critical for their overall emotional, mental and spiritual growth from a teen to an adult. In today’s society, because they live in more “comfort” than previous generations, they may not want to do these things, but it’s on the parent to push them. After working with 16-18 years olds for over 18 years now, I definitely see more maturity in the kids who drive when they are able and have a job.
  2. They will understand more what they want to major in and also what they do not want to major in. When I coordinated Career Week with juniors at the previous school I worked at, it was great to see the perspective that they had once the internship was over. Some students were encouraged to keep pursuing the career field their internship was in, others didn’t want to rule out continuing to pursue that career field, but were exposed to some things that surprised them or were more difficult than they thought. Then there were some students that completed their internship and realized that they didn’t want to pursue that career field anymore. To get these perspectives while in high school before you apply to college is invaluable. This will allow seniors to get more specific when entering a major to pursue in their college applications and also write with more confidence about why they want to pursue that major in essays they will write when completing their applications.
  3. They are beginning to establish connections and network. This is a very important aspect to career growth and having more future opportunities. If a high school student can begin networking then they are able to build on those connections earlier and have more connections when they are in college and beyond. I hope this internship may lead to working more with their supervisor in the summer. This is also helpful when they apply to college because now they can have their supervisor/boss write them a letter of recommendation to include with their application. We all know the phrase, “it’s not what you know but who you know”. While the “what” is still important, the “who” can be just as or more important depending on what major a student pursues and what opportunities they take advantage of to work for that “who” or who else that person knows while still in college. In Jeff Selingo’s book, There is Life After College, he calls these individuals “sprinters”. These people begin working while even still in college or get a job quickly right after college and their career earnings far exceed the two other individuals he talks about, the “stragglers” and the “wanderers”. I would encourage you to read his book.

I am looking forward to working with next year’s juniors as we prepare for the first Career Week at DCCS. I would encourage any high school student, however, to take advantage of an opportunity to intern, work, job shadow or any opportunity that get’s you to serve others and takes you outside your comfort zone. I understand we are more busy today than ever before but these are invaluable experiences that will give you new perspective, understanding and wisdom that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. God will use these experiences to grow you more and more into the person He wants you to be. I am providing links to two articles written by Alex Chediak that refer to vocation plans and choosing a major. I read through these articles with the juniors in my Career Stewardship class every year and they provide a great perspective on both of these topics.