Clik here to view.
Admitted Students Day: A Different Kind of College Visit
By mid-March, your high school senior has probably already received responses from some prospective colleges. Certainly in a few weeks, all the returns will be in. You will soon have three pieces of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waiting for the “Fat Envelope”
“The waiting is the hardest part.” – Tom Petty. Unless your high school student was accepted to his or her first choice college through Early Decision or Early Action, your family is probably still in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten Ways for Teens to Spend the Summer
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James. My college admissions consulting clients often ask how their high...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Approach the Common Application Personal Statement Essay Prompts
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou. We have been informed that the Common Application essay prompts for 2016-17 will be the same as they were in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Coalition versus the Common Application
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” –Alan Watts. In April, 2016, the first phase of a new online college preparation and application...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Next Six Months of College Visits
You read my post, Why Juniors Should Visit Colleges on Winter and Spring Break. But despite parents’ best intentions, life being what it is, the campus visits didn’t happen. Or you only were able to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Off to College: How to Choose Your Freshman Dorm–and Roommate
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anaïs Nin. Soon after families of high school seniors...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Day of May
“First day of May, things are beginning…our side is winning…hip, hip, hooray!” James Taylor’s exuberant love song celebrates the universal rite of spring, the joy of new life and hope that accompanies...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Four-Year High School Curriculum: Focus on What Matters
“Always plan at least two steps ahead.” – A.J. Darkholme. As middle school is ending and guidance counselors help students plan 9th Grade courses, it will be valuable to take the long view, considering...
View ArticleClik here to view.
College Dorm Checklist: A Sneak Peek!
“There is no standing still because time is moving forward.” –Greg Lake. COLLEGE MOVE-IN is on the horizon. Where to start? As a college admissions consultant, I not only like to see my young clients...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Summer Between High School and College
“We need the sweet pain of anticipation to tell us we are really alive.” – Albert Camus. Your high school student has just completed those last (excruciatingly long) weeks of senior year. It has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What a Rising High School Senior Can Do This Summer to Get a Jump on College...
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” -Plato. As a college admissions consultant, I often hear parents and their students ask at the end of junior year of high school, “What can we be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The College Transition “Bible”
“Planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower. How to get ready for the Big Move? Your teen is about to, or has just graduated from, high school, but he or she is not ready to think about becoming a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Move to College as “Group Therapy”
“It always is harder to be left behind than to be the one to go…” -Brock Thoene. Years ago, I sat in a graduate psychology class on family systems therapy. The first day, our professor asked us to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Important Is the College Essay, Really?
“Say what you need to say.” – John Mayer. For the budding J.K. Rowlings among us, the best part of the college application process is writing the essay. However, for many high school students, it looms...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Getting into College: Then What?
“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Sir Winston Churchill. As a college admissions consultant, I am well acquainted with the stress that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Does a High School Student Need a Resume?
“Am I My Resume?” -Edward Kleban, A Chorus Line. Why does an 11th or 12th Grader need to create a RESUME? After all, the high school guidance department already asks for a “brag sheet,” that usually...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Acing the College Admission Interview
“We convince by our presence.” -Walt Whitman. In the adult career world, the interview is pivotal to landing a job. It is natural that parents would expect interviews to play a key role in the college...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Questions Applicants Should Ask in a College Admissions Interview
“The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going.” -David Starr Jordan. Interviewing does not play as pivotal a role in college admissions as it does in employment, but, depending...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When to Start the College Application Process
“Learn to cultivate your own garden.” – Voltaire. Your high school guidance department probably does not officially start the college application process until January of junior year. That timing is...
View Article