Santa Clara University

For counselors

The undergraduate Admission Office thanks you for all that you do in guiding bright, young students to colleges and universities that fit their interests and abilities. As true leaders and mentors in the college selection process, you are an invaluable resource to your students and to our process. As such, we would like to provide you with all the tools you need to best counsel students who are interested in Santa Clara University.

Secondary School Report

Every applicant is an individual in our process. At Santa Clara, we select our admitted class from a group of many qualified candidates, which is why your insight is so important.

Whether your school has a profile or not, we require the Secondary School Report form of the Common Application in order to help us understand the context of each applicant.

In the “evaluation” section of the Secondary School Report, you should mention any special circumstances of a student that may not appear in the application.

Try to address the following questions in your evaluation:

• What is the context of your relationship with the applicant? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to write a brief summary, please acknowledge this.
• Has the student demonstrated a willingness to go beyond the normal classroom experience?
• Does the applicant have any unusual competence, talent, or leadership abilities?
• What motivates this person? What excites him/her?
• What will you remember most about this person?
  

If you personally know the student well and have the time to provide more information, feel free to attach a letter of recommendation to the Secondary School Report form. A well-written letter for an outstanding applicant can highlight impressive characteristics beyond his/her own self-advocacy. An additional statement of support should provide us with the information and impressions we cannot glean from the rest of the application. Try to give a complete sketch of the student and the context of his/her accomplishments. Support your conclusions with facts and anecdotes whenever possible.

The School Profile

Over the years, we have refined the essentials for what Santa Clara admission officers would like to see covered in a high school profile. Following are the basic elements we look for. It is important to note, that if you do not have a school profile, this will have no bearing on being able to evaluate a student’s application.

Basic Facts
School name, address, and CEEB code.
Counselor(s) name, address, phone number, e-mail, and FAX .

Demographics
Size of school
Ethnic/racial breakdown
Number of students who attend 4-year vs. 2-year colleges

Academics  
List minimum requirements for graduation
List names of honors and Advanced Placement courses offered

Extracurricular Activities
List of  co-curricular activities that your school offers
State any specific high school extra requirements, e.g., "All seniors are required to take a fine arts course." "All juniors and seniors are required to do 100 hours of community service each year."

Coaching your students with their personal essay

Because we want to have a sense of the applicant as a person, we look closely at the essay and personal statements the students write. Following are a few tips you can share with your students as they prepare for the college essay.

• Make sure the story/essay connects back to the student’s life.
• Why is the story important?
• How has this shaped or impacted the student’s life?
• Tells us what makes you tick, what are you passionate about?
• Dont just tell us, show us.
• Make us care about you.

For Community College Advisors

Santa Clara University has a Transfer Admission Agreement (TAA) program with community colleges local to SCU. This program is designed to assist and facilitate the transfer process to SCU.

In mid November a SCU Counselor will email you the latest TAA document. As a transfer counselor, you will work with your students to complete the contract before sending it to SCU.

SCU will partner with each transfer counselor and keep you abreast of our decisions. Regardless of the TAA decision we make, we encourage students to apply.