CCO Parent Info Weekend Hosts Exeter Families

This weekend, more than 400 parents and guardians travelled to campus to attend upper college weekend. Exeter’s College Counseling Office (CCO) invited the parents of the Class of 2019 to a full weekend of programming aimed to educate parents on national college trends and Exeter’s college process. Among other activities, parents attended a presentation on financial aid, participated in a mock admissions exercise and met with their child’s college counselor.

“It helped me realize how my mom [and I have very separate roles], but at the same time we both have a big part to play in the college process.”

The highlight of the weekend was the keynote address, delivered on Friday night. According to Director of College Counselling Elizabeth Dolan, “The keynote speaker is selected based on what is happening in college admissions or what is needed developmentally for a particular class.” This year’s address was led by Eric Hoover, who has been covering admissions issues since 2001. His work has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among several other notable publications.

For Stephen Theberge, father of upper Claire Theberge, the biggest takeaway from the weekend was the depth of resources the CCO has to offer. “Their experience [will] really guide our child’s decision about where she wants to go. She’s going to have an informed picture based on their discussions with her over where she should apply,” he said. “The best place for her may be different than her current view of where she should go.” Theberge noted that the CCO would be helpful in determining which colleges would be fairly selective, which places had a high chance of admission and which universities would be considered “safety schools.”

Melissa Theberge, Claire’s mother, agreed that this weekend provided valuable insights into the college application process, citing the College Admissions Deans’ Panel Discussion as especially helpful. “[We] had a panel with 15 or so Admissions Directors from 15 different schools. It was enlightening—it was something we would not have access to in any other setting other than being a parent of a kid at Exeter,” Theberge said. “There is no magic to the process, but it was helpful to hear from them and how they look at a whole child—it’s not just about grades, not just about numbers. Those matter, but they aren’t everything.”

Anii Garidipuri, mother of upper Pavan Garidipuri, thought that the summer program fair was invaluable. “We learned that [students] can go abroad to volunteer or to explore and to learn new things. They can go to Italy, France and many other countries. We didn’t know there were so many opportunities,” Garidipuri said.

While the weekend’s programs were oriented towards introducing parents to the college counseling process, students also learned about the college admissions process. Upper Dylan Yin thought that an important part of the weekend was to establish the role of the CCO as a medium for effective student-parent communication. “Sometimes students have difficulty talking to parents directly, and you need a source that has more experience and information to be the middleman,” Yin said. “Having another person there like the college counselors who are willing to comfort the parents and also make sure that both the students and the parents’ priorities are on a similar front is pretty important.”

Upper Katie Yang had a different experience, but similarly appreciated the program. “My parents didn’t really share a lot of what they learned with me, but they seemed to have openly discussed what they [were] thinking with other parents too,” she said. “Before they had their own notions and rumors, but after discussing face-to-face with other parents they seem to have a broader idea of what other parents think, what other kids think and what the college counseling board at Exeter thinks in general.”

Upper Lulu Ezekwenna’s mother had already attended Upper College Weekend last year with Ezekwenna’s older brother, senior Oge Ezekwenna. But more than anything, this weekend was a chance for Ezekwenna to learn more specifically about the respective roles that both students and parents play. “It helped me realize how my mom [and I have very separate roles], but at the same time we both have a big part to play in the college process,” Ezekwenna said.

However, one sentiment that most students shared was their joy in being able to see their parents again. During the weekend, Yang had dinner with her and her friends’ parents, which provided a brief respite from the monotony of the Exeter campus. Ezekwenna was able to see her mother for the first time since Winter Break.

Yin, an international student from Shanghai, thought that seeing parents was just one positive aspect of the weekend, especially since it’s often very hard for him to find a time to meet up with them. “Getting to talk to them, feeling like we both have an equal part in discussion and getting to a part where we’re finally semi-prepared for the next step of our lives is pretty exciting,” Yin said.