Financial Aid Events at Burlington High School

Burlington High School will be hosting two upcoming financial aid events. We highly recommend Burlington High School senior parents attend. Since both events are in January we felt it was important to remind parents before the December vacation. Please be sure to check out the side bar on the Guidance Blog for links to more specific information in regard to financial aid and scholarship information. Below are descriptions of each event:

Event: M.E.F.A. (Massachusetts Educational Financial Authority) Financial Aid Seminar
Date: Thursday January 9, 2014
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This seminar covers the financial aid process in detail. A Financial Aid Advisor will be the presenter beginning at 7:00 P.M. in the BHS auditorium.
We recommend Senior AND Junior parents attend this event. 

Event: FAFSA DAY 2014- http://www.fafsaday.org/
Date: Sunday January 26, 2014 1 :00 P.M.
Location: Burlington High School
Description: This is a non-profit volunteer driven effort across the state. Parents and students will receive:

• Free assistance completing the FASA

• Access to experienced financial aid administrators, and FAFSA experts, available to answer FAFSA questions.

• Guidance on the financial aid process and next steps after filing the FASA.

Parents MUST register at http://www.fafsaday.org/. Although computer labs are available, it is highly recommend that parents bring a laptop that day. Also if any parents are interested in volunteering as a Support Volunteer (registration tables, setup, cleanup, etc)  please feel free to register at http://www.fafsaday.org/volunteer.php

College Snapshots

In an effort to provide the Burlington High School students and their families with relevant and up-to-date college information, the Guidance Staff will be visiting various colleges and universities and providing you with information. We plan to post numerous colleges or universities throughout the school year.The colleges visited do not represent a preference on the part of the BHS Guidance Department towards any particular school.

In the college search process many things are taken into consideration. Things that are considered, but not limited to are: Campus size, location, student population, majors, tuition prices, distance from home, athletic programs, clubs and activities. When considering a college students must also make realistic decisions based on personal interest, grades, test scores, etc.

The department feels that the college visit is an integral part of the process. The information we provide is only a small snapshot into each respective college. We hope to add information about other schools in the future and as always we appreciate any feedback that you have that would help us provide our students and their family’s useful information in the sometimes overwhelming college search process.

Furthermore, we ask that you also research colleges by using your Naviance account and scheduling to meet with your counselor on a consistent basis. Please feel free to contact your son or daughters respective counselor if you have any further questions.

Please click here for the Blog called " College Snapshots"

PSAT Results to be mailed home

PSAT score reports will be mailed home to parents on Monday December 9, 2013 to Sophomores and Juniors that participated in the exam on October 16, 2013. The PSAT/NMSQT exam is a measure of three key areas: critical reading, mathematics problem solving and writing skills. The exam prepares students for the same types of questions on the SAT exam. In addition, juniors who achieve high PSAT/NMSQT scores may qualify for National Merit competition and corporate scholarships.

The PSAT score report is very parent/student friendly. Parents/students should take notice of the section at the bottom of the score report called "Improve your skills”. This section gives specific data based on the student’s individual PSAT exam. All Sophomores and Juniors will have an assembly on January 13^th in which the BHS Guidance Department will give an overview on interpreting and using these results. Also the BHS Guidance Department will host a "PSAT Results" breakfast on January 29th at 8:30AM

For the past ten years roughly 90 % of BHS seniors take the SAT exam. The Guidance Department strongly recommends that juniors take the exam in either March, May or June. SAT registration information can be accessed through collegeboard.org

The KAPLAN program offers SAT/ACT test prep courses at Burlington High School. Burlington juniors receive a subsidized rate of $249.00. Please click here to see the KAPLAN schedule and enrollment instructions. We recommend that BHS Juniors take advantage of either the free SAT practice teston Saturday January 25, 2014 at 9 AM or the free ACT Practice Test on SaturdayFebruary 8, 2014, both practice tests are offered at BHS. Please register by calling 1-800-KAP-TEST.

* In addition, Kaplan offers Free on-line PSAT, SAT and ACT test prep using the below access codes effective January 1. Go to http://www.kaptest.com/College/SAT/sat-prep-courses.html and select On Demand (regularly $699). The codes beginning January 1, 2014 will be:

KAS2014SAT (This is for practice SAT)

KAS2014ACT (This is for practice ACT)

Sophomore Parent Breakfast

The Guidance Department at Burlington High School will be hosting a Sophomore Parent Breakfast on Wednesday November 13, 2013, from 8:30-9:30 AM in the BHS Guidance College and Career Center. The purpose of this breakfast is to give parents of sophomore students the opportunity to have an open dialogue with all members of the guidance staff. The BHS Guidance Department has a variety of resources available for parents and students, and many topics will be covered that are relevant to sophomores, such as the MCAS, PSATs, career and college exploration, utilizing the Naviance program, and academic planning. Please join us for this informative event. We look forward to seeing you! Please RSVP at by calling 781-270-1780.

Day 8 for Class of 2016

Members of Class of 2016:

The Guidance Department would like to make sure your Naviance account is activated and you are able to access it. You can access your Naviance account by clicking here. 

Guidance will stop by your homeroom for any assistance you may need during period 8.

Dual Enrollment Info. Session on 10/30/13 at 6:30

Please join representatives from Middlesex Community College and Burlington High School on Wednesday, October 30, at 6:30 pm in the Burlington High School cafeteria to learn more about the BHS dual enrollment program.  Burlington High School currently offers 2 dual enrollment courses, Honors Calculus and Honors Portfolio/Advanced Art. This session will give a brief overview of the program and allow parents and/or students the chance to ask any specific questions.

We highly recommend that any student that is currently enrolled OR plans to enroll in Honors Calculus or Honors Portfolio/Advanced to attend this session. 

College Fair Reminder On Tuesday October 22nd, 2013 from 6:30 -8:30 p.m

On Tuesday October 22nd, 2013 from 6:30 -8:30 p.m., a college fair will be held at the Shriner's Auditorium in Wilmington, MA. The Burlington High School Guidance Department co-sponsors the event with many other Middlesex League High Schools. Usually over 150 colleges attend. A college fair can be a very overwhelming experience for parents and students. The National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) has developed a very helpful list of tips.  We also recommend bringing a pre-determined list of schools. Make it a priority to visit the schools on your list, then time permitting check out some other schools. Please click here to view a list of college and universities attending.

Senior Parent Breakfast

On Wednesday October 23rd  at 8 30 A.M. in the Burlington High School College and Career Center the Guidance Department will host a breakfast for senior parents. The purpose of this breakfast is so the counseling staff can give a very brief overview of the college application process, but our hope is to spend most of the time answering any questions or concerns from parents about the college process. Please join us for this informative event. We look forward to seeing you on October 23rd at 8:30 AM. Please RSVP at 781-270-1780.

New Frontier for the BHS Guidance Department

As in years past the BHS Guidance staff puts a tremendous amount of focus on incoming freshman. As an incoming 9^th  grader many challenges in the transition to high school can occur. Freshman deal with new challenges such as: new school, new teachers, more freedom and responsibility, etc. The Guidance staff makes every effort to be in tune with this process and to serve as a resource.

Each year Guidance Counselors meet with freshman students in small groups within the first month of school. We call students to the Guidance Office and introduce ourselves and make them aware of the many resources available to them. Although we have found this process useful, we also feel it is not enough. In fact, what we have learned from our freshman over the past two years is that they prefer to hear about graduation requirements, academic expectations, how to go about making a level change, etc.

Last year Guidance staff members met with the Burlington High School Health teachers. Our purpose was to discuss how the Guidance Department can integrate Guidance Curriculum in the classroom. After much discussion and planning, we developed guidance related topics that we felt was most applicable to freshman students. That theme was around understanding graduation requirements and knowing how to take steps when academic intervention is required.

With this topic two Guidance staff members, Ms. Diozzi and Ms. Minty, worked over the summer to develop a lesson plan. During summer professional development the Guidance Department reviewed and finalized the lesson. We are happy to say we saw all this planning come to life in freshman health classes last week. We crossed the line as Guidance Counselor to classroom teacher. As a department we are very happy to be seen in the classroom setting and hope that the freshman class found our lesson useful. Moving forward our hope is to improve and expand the classroom model and teach a lesson at each grade level.

Senior College Planning Night on BCAT

For senior parents that missed College Planning Night hosted by the BHS Guidance Department please tune it to BCAT. College Planning Night will be televised Wednesday (10/9) through Friday (10/11) at 4:00PM and this Saturday ( 10/12 ) and Sunday (10/13) at 11:30 AM. If you would prefer to view this event at another time feel free to watch the streaming video recording at http://www.bcattv.org/programming/video-on-demand/. Once on this page you can click on "Education", then "College Planning Night".