Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
The Vestavia Hills school system offers many resources to students to prepare them for college, including Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses, ACT/SAT preparation, visits from college representatives and campus visits.
As the class of 2025 prepares for the first day of school, many are already thinking about the big decisions they’ll be making before graduation.
From college or trade school to joining the workforce or military, seniors have a variety of paths from which to choose. Counselors at Vestavia Hills High School are prepared to help students and their families talk through their options.
Vestavia Hills City Schools offer many services to help prepare students for their futures. Their curriculum also requires career prep courses and offers multiple technical classes that provide students with career skills, but the main focus is on college preparation.
About 85% of Vestavia Hills High School students go to a four-year university, while 10% typically choose the two-year route, and 5% go straight into the workforce or the military or take a gap year, said Oliver Aaron, one of two college counselors at Vestavia Hills High School.
Other resources available to Vestavia Hills students include Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses, ACT/SAT preparation, visits from college representatives and campus visits.
Teachers and counselors also offer recommendation letters, but a four-week notice is required.
“One of the things I really always recommend students do … is get to know potential recommenders on both an educational background and then professional background, too,” said Andrew Colson, the director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “Truly having that person be able to talk about the student as a person, ... that’s typically the type of references that really shine.”
The school’s counseling web page also includes a year-by-year guide to preparing for college which can be found at sites.google.com/a/vestavia.k12.al.us/guidance.
Freshman and sophomores are encouraged to pay attention to their grades and consider how their selected courses may impact their academic progress. It is also suggested that they begin to participate in extracurricular activities.
Juniors and seniors are encouraged to focus on standardized test scores, set up meetings with their counselors to discuss future plans, visit schools, identify possible career paths and narrow down their college options.
All students and parents are also able to attend a College Information Night in September and a selective Out-of-State College Information Night in October.
“College visits are incredibly important. It’s one of the biggest deciding factors for any student,” Colson said. “Until you do a tour, you don’t actually really see the real-life campus. … That’s kind of what the whole point of a college tour is, to really help the student see if this place is going to be the right fit for them not only academically, but just socially.”
Aaron seconds that advice and suggests the visits should be a family affair, because “with the cost of college now, it’s a family decision,” he said.
Colson also recommends students gain leadership experience to help make their application stand out. This can be anything from sports or leadership in a school organization to work experience in a managerial role or community service.
His final piece of advice to students: get organized and stay on top of deadlines. Several colleges in the state open their applications on Aug. 15, so Colson advises seniors to apply early.
Colson has a message for parents watching their kids step into adulthood this year, too.
“This is the time when our students will really start to need to be a little bit more independent,” he said. “This is a really good time for students to get prepped for taking care of affairs, keeping up with deadlines themselves, of course with help from the parents. But, we want to talk to the students just because we want to make sure they are making the right choice for themselves.”
High school senior to-do list
- Get organized: Stay on top of application deadlines and make sure you have all necessary documents.
- Talk to your school counselors: They offer resources to help apply to schools and are there to talk you through your options.
- Make campus visits: Seeing a college in person can be a deciding factor in choosing your future school.
- Get to know potential references: Having a list of people that can provide good, meaningful recommendations is helpful when applying to colleges or jobs.