SA MOD SCHEDULE
finding your college
Students will continue to receive significant support in college counseling; in fact, in the new mod system students will have even more time devoted to both small group college counseling instruction as well as time for individual meetings and support during the most demanding times of their college application process.
Juniors will be required to take two mods of college counseling (scheduled during mods 4-7), and seniors will take three mods of college counseling (scheduled during mods 1-3 to align with college application admission deadlines).
Juniors learn about how the college admissions process works and work individually with their college counselor to build a balanced list of colleges that reflect their unique criteria and needs. They will have time daily, either in a class setting or individually, with their college counselors to discuss goals and what they are looking for in a college and to work individually on different elements of the admissions process.
Seniors get class time as well as ample individual meeting time and personalized support from our college counselors with writing essays, completing applications, understanding financial aid, and meeting deadlines.
Though the academic year looks different, our approach to college counseling remains the same: to guide students through a healthy college search, with a focus on finding a good fit.
Mod Schedule Impact on College Admissions
College admission officers look at end results: courses taken and grades on the transcript to assess a student’s performance, not at the school's schedule structure. Colleges look at how students maximize their learning opportunities—both through the challenges they undertake and the success they achieve—within the curricular options available. By expanding those options, our students can differentiate themselves and go further than ever before as they pursue course pathways related to their academic interests and future goals. If anything, this switch to the Mod System will only enhance our student’s capacities to demonstrate rigor, depth, challenge, and their individualized and unique pathways of learning.
Transcripts will continue to reflect each student’s academic course load and every transcript is sent with a Sonoma Academy school profile that gives an overview of the academic and co-curricular programs at SA. In many ways, the new Mod system will allow students to demonstrate greater challenge and rigor, as well as to differentiate themselves in their pathways of learning from other students.
Other schools using the mod calendar have matriculation lists that are very similar to ours, with a mix of well-known colleges and universities large and small, public and private, all over the country.