Juniors say they are optimistic after attending a college application introductory workshop and meeting the counseling team Sept. 19.

“Transcripts are the most important part of an application,” college counselor Thomas Esponnette said. “In addition, colleges want to know how you are civically engaged within the San Francisco community.”

Sacred Heart Goal 3 educates to “a social awareness that impels to action,” and 4 promotes “the building of community as a Christian value.” Both encourage civic involvement.

“I think that it will become more and more overwhelming as the work piles up in spring and then fall next year, but for now I feel at least peaceful about the whole thing,” junior Vincent Behnke said about the college admissions process.

Behnke is currently in the International Baccalaureate Programme and participates in extracurricular activities such as Model UN, for which he is the co-captain, and volunteering weekly at the California Pacific Medical Center hospital.

Behnke toured East Coast schools such as Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Columbia, New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during his sophomore year.

“I haven’t done too much besides attending school information events thus far,”  junior Bryan Maruyama said, “however, I have done my best to stay engaged in the community and my school work and am generally optimistic about the whole process.”

Juniors who are looking to start learning about college admissions may schedule visits by attending college information sessions on available on both campuses and talking to school representatives, according to Esponnette.

“These visits can help students get an idea of the types of schools they can be looking at in the coming years,”
Esponnette said. “Starting in the spring we will have individual student meetings with the counselors.”

Juniors will also be working on rough drafts of their personal statements during the spring semester to better prepare them for senior year.

“I’ve never actually been all that stressed about the admissions process,” Behnke said. “At the end of the day, if a school doesn’t take me, that means they didn’t want me and I wouldn’t have been happy there anyways.”