With college deadlines quickly approaching, Pinewood seniors are navigating their applications with the help of newly introduced tools and support systems. Programs like Snacks and Apps, College Kickstart, and structured checkpoints help keep seniors organized, while new college counselor Alyson Tom expands the department’s resources.

   Snacks and Apps is a new aspect of the college counseling program at Pinewood, where students can work in the Student Achievement Center (SAC) while having the opportunity to ask counselors questions and get individualized support.

   “It helps build community because [when] students [are] working together in the same space, there is a sense of ‘we are in this together’ and it is not a competition,” Tom said.

   According to seniors, the program fosters an environment where seniors feel comfortable seeing advice and helping each other, as well as reducing the pressure of the competitive college process. 

   “It definitely had encouraged people to work together on their applications instead of viewing each other as competitors for the same spots,” senior Jonathan Detkin said.

   During Snacks and Apps, Tom and associate director of college counseling and academic advisor Carolyn Siegel provide personalized guidance while meeting with students.

   “They offer as much assistance as people want, for example, essay revision,” Detkin said. “One thing that has been really helpful for me is that [Tom and Siegel have] help[ed] me brainstorm about what to write about.”

   According to senior Leo Shang, Snacks and Apps has been extremely beneficial in moving forward with the college process.

   “It has helped me stop procrastinating and take my first steps forward in a long time,” Shang said. “I was able to get advice on how to write an essay, which helped a lot since I [have] always struggled with that.”

   College Kickstart, another new implementation to the college process, is a website that helps students build more balanced college lists. Students can add their college list, ACT score, SAT score and grade point averages. Based on this, an algorithm gives their list a grade and categorizes the colleges as “likely,” “target,” “reaches” and “unlikely.” College Kickstart also provides students with decision plans and college-specific data, including data about colleges Pinewood students have been accepted to in the past. This helps students and counselors streamline their college search and focus on realistic choices.

   “College Kickstart cuts a lot of time out for students and the counselors,” Tom said. “It allows [counselors] to focus more on things students want to work on.”

   According to senior Arjun Ari, College Kickstart has allowed him to discover new colleges for his athletic recruitment process, as well as additional options for his standard college applications.

   “College Kickstart is great because I can see what schools I fit into [which] helps me with reaching out to coaches,” Ari said. “If there is a school I want to play [football] at, I can check if I already meet admissions criteria.” 

   This year’s college application process has also introduced structured checkpoints to keep seniors on track. These include deadlines for tasks like finalizing college lists. In October, seniors are required to submit their initial college list, as well as their early decision (ED) agreement. The ED agreement is for students and their parents to sign when they apply to a college early decision, meaning that it is a binding commitment. Later, in November, students have to submit their final college list, ultimately solidifying their college list.

   “Previously, [these checkpoints] were a bit more informal,” Siegel said. “On the assignments on Schoology, you can click in and see our responsibilities as the counselor, and students’ responsibilities, since it is really serious when you apply [to college].”

   In addition to these new aspects of the college process, Tom has joined Pinewood’s college counseling team, bringing her experience in college admissions to Pinewood. In the past, she worked as a college counselor at Castilleja School and as an admissions officer at Rice University.

   “I have felt so welcomed from the beginning [of working at Pinewood],” Tom said. “The first year is always more work because of all the things that I’m having to learn that are not directly related to my job, so just the people [and] the culture has been really helpful.”