Freshmen & Sophomores
These first two years of high school are very important because this will impact which academic track you take at Rancho Christian. All freshmen will begin on what is called the accelerated track. During your sophomore year, we will begin to narrow down which track you will take based on performance combined with the students and parents individual choice. Keep in mind that colleges can now see and access your grades, so do your personal best! You will also have the opportunity to take some practice standardized tests during your first two years; this will help prepare you for the real thing. You will also take some assessment tests to aid you in choosing some potential future careers.
This is also a good time to further develop your own personal interests such as sports, drama, ASB or other healthy– extracurricular activities. We want our students to explore all aspects that Rancho Christian has to offer and explore their varied interests.
Juniors
This year is the time when you will begin to make some major decisions regarding your path after high school. Your junior year is when the college process gets into full swing. If you have made the decision to forego college and pursue other avenues such as the military, vocational career, missionary work or any of the various other choices, we will support you and provide individual guidance to help you accomplish your personal goals.
This is the year you’ll take a number of standardized tests, start researching colleges, and start thinking realistically about going off to college. A vital part of the college application process is the taking of tests. Please see the Internet Resources page to obtain information on the SAT and ACT testing dates.
During the senior year some students may repeat some of these tests to improve their scores. During the second half of your junior year your class will have individual meetings with the college counselor. The College Counselor will guide you in your research and decision making. You are encouraged to use the many resources online and available in the College Counseling Office.
Seniors
Senior year brings more specialized counseling during the first semester of the year. Students will meet with a counselor and cover specific aspects of the application process.
Applications to selective universities and colleges usually are due by January 1 or 15. Many Early Decision and Early Action programs have November 1 deadlines. Our goal is to be done with applications certainly by Christmas break and ideally sometime before then. All requests for transcripts and the filing of secondary school recommendation forms should be done through the College Counseling Office at least two weeks in advance of the college deadline. By April of your senior year you should have heard from all your schools, and you’ll have until May 1 to commit to a specific institution.
RCHS INAGURAL COLLEGE TOUR
Senior Parents,
Saturday November 5th, we will embark on our first official college tour for RCHS! We will be touring USD, Point Loma and UCSD. There will be more tours to come, so stay tuned. Mr Wikert and Mrs Gorham will be meeting in the RCHS parking lot at 9:30 to begin our tour. The tour should take all day, so we probably won’t be back in Temecula until the late evening. Please RSVP and let us know if your child would like to take this tour with us. We need a count by November 1st so that we can work out the transportation. The goal is to take only 1 vehicle, so if any of you have a passenger van that we can use, please let us know by calling the office at 951.303.1408.
Researching
Colleges spend a great deal of time and money in putting together Web pages and brochures that convey life on their campuses. When you start receiving materials from colleges you’ll read them in great detail, but after awhile you’ll probably starting glancing at the name and little more. The key is to strike a balance between reading everything and reading nothing. Consider setting up three boxes to file your materials: Definitely Interested, Maybe Interested and Probably Not Interested. Once a week go through the materials that arrived and glance/read through them, filing each as you go. Or do it every day; just don’t let them all pile up until it’s too large a pile to manage!
Use other resources in addition to the materials the colleges produce. College counselors, teachers, and Rancho Christian alumni currently attending schools are all great sources. Read guidebooks, both purely factual and subjective, and if ever possible visit during summer trips.
