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Roles and Responsibilities
Choosing a course or university is a team effort. This section details the main roles and responsibilities of deans, students and their families in their journey towards higher education.
Deans
Inform, Advocate, Consult and Advise
- Meet with students and families.
- Offer counsel and advice throughout the university application decision-making process, regardless of major, university or country/system being considered.
- Submit letters of recommendation, school profile, and transcript to colleges and universities.
- Advocate on behalf of the student to the universities he/she is applying to.
- Coordinate university visits and engage with university representatives.
- Provide information for students to decide what is the most appropriate course selection for their future goals.
- Stay up-to-date with changes in entry to higher education around the world wherever possible.
- Help students develop a balanced and realistic list of universities.
- Inform students about appropriate tests, visits by university representatives, and important deadlines using MaiaLearning, grade level emails (parents and students) and school announcements.
- Write letters of recommendation (when required).
- Provide assistance to faculty and staff with writing letters of recommendation.
- Advise students on how best to approach the personal statement/essay.
- Share scholarship and financial aid information where applicable.
- Offer a variety of workshops and/or information sessions for students and parents.
Students
Work Hard, Take Responsibility, Meet Deadlines, Inform and Decide
- Stay in contact with their dean throughout the college application process.
- Meet with university representatives during their visits to the school.
- Contact universities seeking information, interviews, and applications.
- Thoroughly research their higher education options.
- Do their very best work in class right up until graduation.
- Check their academic record regularly e.g. know their grades, know which courses they are enrolled in, and review their transcript before it is sent to universities.
- Engage in a thoughtful and honest reflection of their goals, aspirations, strengths, and weaknesses and apply this information to their university decision-making process.
- Read through this handbook carefully and check it regularly to answer questions.
- Make and keep appointments to see deans regularly in grades 11 & 12.
- Check their school email regularly, attend meetings, read announcements, log onto Maia at least once per week and meet with their dean if they have questions.
- Contact previous high schools to organize for transcripts to be sent directly to all universities to which they are applying. Contact the dean if they have difficulty with this step
- Update their profile on MaiaLearning, their résumé, and the teacher information page, so teachers and deans can write informed and complete letters of recommendation.
- Request letters of recommendation from teachers using the form created and shared with them by their dean.
- Update MaiaLearning with the list of universities
Parents
Support, Advocate and Advise
- Meet with your child's Dean to discuss their child’s plans and to confirm the final college/university list.
- Be active partners in exploring university options and possibilities.
- Read all emails from the Secondary Division and Deans.
- Are open – they discuss plans and any financial restrictions openly and honestly with their child early in the process and share these with their dean.
- Visit university campuses with their child.
- Encourage their child to find the most appropriate universities, it is OK to apply to universities that are difficult to get into, but it is also important to have good possible and likely schools.
- Help their child to look beyond the same ten universities everyone else is applying to, helping them discover places where the child will best fit.
- Make sure they know the school’s internal deadlines for the application process.
- Plan family holidays in a way that is supportive of this process.
- Make sure their child has fully completed applications but encourages their child to work through the entire process as independently as possible.
- Check their child’s application but do not write the application for them.
- Help their child send official external test scores to the universities. The deans cannot do this.
- Check with their son or daughter regularly about their progress of the application process. A weekly check-in between parents and students is a good way to stay on top of the process while encouraging students to take responsibility for the process.