Blame it on the Blizzard Wednesday Blog

OKAAAY! After digging my car out of 36 inches of snow, I can only see warm beaches and white sand! Aargh...anyway, this promises to be the last blog of the year, so Happy 2011 when it comes...celebrate it with glee and seriousness as the New Year brings in always a mixed bag of good and sometimes bad news...so everything in moderation, folks! That's the teachable moment for 2011-moderation..

The good news keeps rolling in, over 15 students from the December exam brought in scores over 2000! They gave the exam quite a shellacking...it's not just the Tea Party Movement. I am proud that some came from the Saturday group, we thought they were just skylarking, but the majority were from the Sunday group-go Coleman and Karenga!

Versan's teachers and staff had a wonderful staff retreat. We will be back next year with a bang...a loud one at that, with several new items...

From the Post Office, here are my Most Wanted:

Keino, for leaving off the Duke University zip code;

To those living in Kingston 6 and Allerdyce Drive who forgot to use the Versan US address, thanks for having me write those out...

To overweight packages that cost more than bargained for....

REALITY CHECKS

With one exam left to go, should one be reviewing one's list of schools? Absolutely! Know where you realistically stand and reinforce your list with other schools. Of course, with schools that have deadlines beyond January 1. Visit me in the New Year after the January exam. The New Year is for reflection time. Get into your zones and try to channel those high scores in...

MAILBAG

The mailbag continues...

Lower VI'ers

For those in Lower Vith, those going off to college in 2012, January is the start of your consultations for Summer Programs. Your paperwork now truly begins. Bring in those December scores so we can weigh one's efforts.

BOOSTER SESSION

This course starts first week of January, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, with daily sessions the last week of January. Call Ms. Pate or your office's manager for further details, Ms. Russell in Montego Bay and Ms. Brown in Mandeville.

My 2011 Predictions (smile):

This is a year of excellent SAT results, with over 25 students in the winner's circle. Balance those schools out, the race is on!

Watch those deadlines....

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The Ho-Ho-Ho! Wednesday Blog

I did not think we would have made it for the final bag to be off. I was in the office until midnight last night with one student who was still in the throes of putting all her materials together? Will we all ever be organized?

I applaud those students who walked right through the door and had their packets ready. But there were many who brought everything here to package! Why?????? Next year, we hope we get the fully organized who swing in and are prepared!

What a load of mail! They are in good hands and are off for the final leg. Do we sit idle when they are gone? Absolutely not! Now we weigh our scores with the consultants, review our choices of schools and see where we stand a good shot. Remember the mailing service continues and my pals at the US Postal Service love their white rum and Christmas cake. They sort, they stamp and they give me a two day delivery and can trace every last one of our packages! We know there are still a few deadlines to go, so the mailbag service continues until March 31, 2011.

We said last year we were opened on Sundays, but that is because I was a lone wolf. Now we have such able-bodied souls as consultants in each office, my work has suddenly gotten lighter! So thanks to Mrs. Brown in Mandeville, Ms. Russell in Mobay and Ms. Pate in Kingston. We got through much of the crowd effortlessly...well, I cheated! I snuck inside the inner office and left the crowd to Ms. Pate. Though flustered, she experienced her baptism of fire with the Christmas crowd and did an admirable job! I still need to clone a few more acolytes (grab those dictionaries for that SAT word-the January exam is on the horizon!) So for those who ventured here on Sundays to get mail off...call first!

CONGRATULATIONS

Well, our top SAT score is 2310. Our top SSAT score is 98%. Our top LSAT score is 166. Our top GMAT is 780. Our top GRE is 720. What a way to end the year! Go achievers! For those resitting, have courage, focus on the Christ in Christmas, get into your zones, find that inner peace to recharge and show Jamaica what Versan students are made of...Come on guys!

Special commendations to Andrei Riley who in one fell swoop got 2010 on his first try. To Jelitza who on her 3rd try made 2130. To stick men and Pryce, commendable job, also to Panton, Young, Welds, and all those who made the winner's circle. To Bailey, Williams of the SSAT group, good show! And to those who keep on trying and are increasing their scores at each pop, we commend you and pray for that inner courage.

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
On December 22, 2010, we close half-day. Please call 8763835845 during the interim until the office reopens on December 28th and 29th. We will equally close half-day on the 30th.

WHAT TO DO NOW?

External scholarships are now on the forefront of activities. It is time to start investigating and applying. Our US students and permanent residents have to begin their Financial Aid forms online with the office consultants. See us after the holidays!

Please send a card to each school in the 2nd week of January to see if all is well with everything.

Those taking a January exam. This is down-time, so STUDYYYYYY!

BOOSTER SESSION

The Booster Session are for the late-comers, those who have decided at the bend in the river to hop on board and apply overseas. We will have a booster SAT Cram session commencing January 4th. It is short and intense, taught by myself and Mr. Karenga. I have not taught all of this past semester, so it will be good to be back in the classroom. We are going for the kill. These students will be applying to schools with later deadlines.

DEADLINES

SAT January exam- Deadline is December 23rd - tomorrow.

February 14 is LSAT and the deadline is January 14.

February 11 is ACT, register early January or now!)

SSAT is January 8. The deadline has passed but students can still register, but just pay late fees.

Have a holy, safe Christmas and ring that bell for 2011 for all that promises to be good, true and wonderful for you. Stay positive and my favorite "To thine own selves, be true."

Love you all, See you in 2011! That's January 7th for me, January 3rd in 2011 for the rest of the office staff.

Signing off for the year!

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D-Day Wednesday Blog

So the day is finally here. The mail bags are ready and the students are rolling in. It is important that we get as much off as this mailbag leaves at 6 a.m. in the morning.

Because of desperate pleas, we are going to institute a bag that will go off on Friday and next Tuesday. After those dates, the staff will Fedex the mail to the New York office once a week until March 31.

For the procrastinators, it would behoove you to get it in on the 17th and the 21st, so let's move it guys!

Yes, the office is experiencing the Prancer moments and closing at 10:30 p.m. Don't abuse it as the caretaker of the Plaza will certainly lock us in for the night.

Remember, fee waivers are JMD$300 and packets are JMD$700. There are students submitting packets without pay. Well, the packets will remain in the office and you the student can come and mail it at your own convenience.

Equally, please do not forget the address 7979 NW 21st Street, KIN 9280, Doral, FL 33122 for all envelopes as your return address. For those who have no concept about addressing a 8 by 11 envelope, this address along with your name goes in the upper left hand corner. All packets are to be addressed to the Admissions Office,

Write out the zip codes clearly and if your handwriting is of the illegible type, please type labels. Check the addresses of the schools online. It is painstakingly difficult to be rewriting addresses on envelopes when I should be mailing them quickly in the US.

ORDER OF THE PACKETS
Each office will get a list of how the items are to be laid out. Each manager will tell you how the package is to look upon receipt at the university. Check with Mrs. Brown (Mandeville), Ms. Russell (Montego Bay) and Ms. Pate (Kingston).

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

The office will be closed half day on the 22nd. It will be closed from Dec 23rd to Dec 29th. On the 30th, we will operate half day for any major last minute desperado. And the office will reopen on the 2nd of January! The office will have a skeleton staff on Monday the 20th of December. There will be no counselors around to assist anyone. So please use the occasion to drop packets, not linger for the correcting of essays or finaid forms. The staff has an Annual Staff Retreat at the Mandeville office so Tuesday would be a better bet for questions.

I will be giving one last Wednesday blog before 2011 on December 29th, so look out for that!

And, I hate to say I told you so, but those who were organized from the "get-go" are nicely done and packets in place for mailing from early Monday/Tuesday. The rest of you are stressing out your poor parents for lack of organization and pre-planning. Try to avoid doing this in college. Last-minute cramming works for CSEC, not CAPE and certainly not college and 4.0 GPA's! Got that?

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The Pre-Christmas Wednesday cum Thursday Blog

Happy Days are here again!

The staff is gearing up for the busy week next week. We expect a lot of packets for mailing. The mailbags are ready for loading, the US stamp machine ready for its loads...Get your 8 by 11 envelopes ready. Remember that Versan's US address is used as the return address on envelopes so we can track all packages when mailed. Get that address for each office...

And so the 15th remains for all packets....

Mock exams for SAT's showed a wide range of results. Gratefully only 2 failed. Hallelujah! On the morning of the exam, many were calm, thank God! I heard the reviews and most said the Maths was manageable, but that the Verbal section "sucked" (your words, not mine)...All I have to say is, read, read, read, if you are taking the exam in January, do not forget the deadline is December 23rd...But my smile says, I told you so!!!!!!!

SSAT

Congrats to Wathone who earned a whopping 95% on her exam from November 2010 SSAT exam...She rocks!!!! And need I mention one very elite boarding school mentioned that they do not give funding to international students, but for her, they would certainly present her case to the Board for special favor! Go Wathone!!! Our Versan champions....

To those sitting their exam this weekend, good luck! No. 2 pencils, no calculators, your exam ticket and your personal ID.

We commend the mock exams that got into the 90%..so to Erin, Aaron-let's shoot for the 99 or 100th percentile!

LSAT

My group of prospective lawyers take their exam on Saturday. Some at UWI, others in Florida and New York. I am confident about their mastery of Games and Reading...Reasoning, guys, put in more work tomorrow...I am sorry I missed your Fix-It class today but will try to get the copies of the truth formula for reasoning!


Hooray for Glenmuir's Guidance Counselor!

I was happy to hear a Guidance Counselor call about the transcript and how the GPA is calculated. When our Versan experts informed, she was grateful and proceeded to facilitate her students and clarify that mysterious coding and working out of that infernal 4.0!

Our Creative Arts Applicants

For those send in tapes of their vocals, pieces with instruments, CD's on Dance or Art portfolios, even my Architecture graduate students_may I scream from the mountaintop-get those ten pieces in order....some keep on give me the sideways shuffle...Wake up! Nut I must say when I heard Jason's CD whilst driving to Portland last Sunday, I was blown away by his voice...Kudos to Jason Murray of St. Jago fame!

See you next Wednesday and not Thursday..oops! I know guys...it was the Knutsford Express bus that got me in so late and the busyness of the Montego Bay office!!!! I forgot...my humblest apologies...

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The SAT IDES OF MARCH Wednseday Blog

SAT

So Saturday is the day for all to come to terms with how they have prepared for an exam over 12 weeks! Please remember to rest the night before and not eat any of those decadent foods that makes one soporific.

Do not forget your ID's, your No. 2 pencils, calculators and all. Those on standby get there early, by 7:30 a.m. Ms. Bramwell will be at Priory. Anyone with issues at their respective centers, please call her at 383-5845.

We herald you all, be calm and go with God's grace.

Remember, our highest score to date and to beat stands at 2310. Let's go champions!


COLGATE'S VISIT

A representative from Colgate University will be at Versan's office tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Do not be late.

VERSAN'S ALUMNI

Our gallant students at Hampden-Sydney College and Macalester are asking you to contact them for additional information on these schools. They work in Admissions and have signalled that many Jamaicans are graduating this year and they need to replenish the Jamaican stock. Please call the office for further details!

MYTHS

There are a few students lurking at home with grades they have deemed too low and are awaiting resits in January or Saturday before they send out applications. Well, that needs to be debunked! You are to send out your applications regardless of the grade. You do not wallow in misery...and of course, you are waiting on the office to call you in for appointments...where did you get this defeatist attitude from? This is not Versan behavior! Get your bums in here and attend to the business of your applications...that get up and go attitude will bode you well in ensuing preparations! Come on!!!!!

LAW SCHOOL

Congrats to Leanne Welds who has already received an early acceptance to University of Toronto LAW School!!! The Versan champions roll on.......Go Versan mascots.....

Love you all!

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