Graduating Seniors

FAQs for Graduating Seniors

Congratulations on your achievement!  Please see some Frequently asked questions that will be helpful as you depart from The Hotchkiss School.

1. Question: Can I keep my MacBook Air?

      Answer: Yes, if you graduate from Hotchkiss, you may retain your device for future use beyond graduation.

2. Question: When will my Hotchkiss account be closed?

Answer: Please note that your Hotchkiss accounts will be deactivated on June 30th following graduation. There will be no access to email or data in your Hotchkiss google account following that date.

3. Question: Can I transfer my information after my account is deactivated?

Answer: No.  The option to transfer data to another Google account is not available and files that are shared with other accounts will no longer be available after accounts are closed. 

4. Question: What can I use to transfer all of my data so that I can keep it?

Answer:  If you wish to download a copy of all of the data in your google account please use the Google Takeout service which is available at https://takeout.google.com/. This service will enable you to select the data you would like to download and copy it to your computer as an archive file. Be sure you have enough room on your hard drive or external drive to hold all the data.

*Note: Email is archived as an MBOX file which can be opened by email client software such as Apple Mail.

5. Question: How long will the process take to complete?

Answer: It can take several days for Google to prepare your data for download.  You must complete the download before the end of the day on June 30th and this can take a long time depending on the amount of data you have.  Please, do not wait until June 30th to start the process as it might take several days to complete.

This Google Help article contains helpful information: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en

6. Question: Will I still be able to use my Hotchkiss email address after June?
    

Answer: No, your email address will be unavailable after June.  If you used your Hotchkiss email address for communication with colleges or other post-graduate activities, be sure to update those places with a personal address before June 30.

7. Question: How can I reset my laptop and remove Hotchkiss related software from my device?

      Answer: Follow these steps below.  BEFORE you reset remember to back up ALL of your data!

Step 1: Reboot your Mac into recovery mode

Shut down your Mac and then turn it back on and hold Option, Command, and R. You'll boot into recovery mode. From here, select Disk Utility from the macOS Recovery menu. Hit the Continue button.

Step 2:  Erase the drive

Select Macintosh HD and select the Erase button. Leave the format type as its default setting unless you know what you're doing. Follow additional prompts to confirm the erasure.

Step 3: Factory Reset

 Once you've followed those steps to erase drive, close the disk utility window. your Mac will now be at the macOS Recovery screen, select Reinstall macOS and follow the prompted instructions.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at help@hotchkiss.org or stop by the Service Desk in the Library.