Figuring Out Freshman Year

Here are some tips. Please share with your kids!

• Start to document activities, academic and extracurricular accomplishments, summer and work experiences.

• Focus on time management skills: When will you do homework? How much time does it take you to complete homework thoroughly? What are you doing with your free time?

• Discuss summer opportunities (e.g., a job or a summer course) with your school counselor and parents and research them on your own.

Strategies for Sophomore Year

Has your child taken the PSAT yet? Pre-ACT? Does your school offer either one or both?

https://parents.collegeboard.org/college-board-programs/psat-10

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Whatever you call the school counselor at your child’s high school -- guidance counselor, college counselor, etc -- please know that they are an integral part of the college application process. A few elements of their job are: 

• to offer college advice to you and your child
• weigh in on the selection of courses for each year
• write a school counselor recommendation on behalf of your child
• send the transcript
• communicate with colleges about your child’s application and interest

Some school counselors do this better than others, and usually it depends on their caseload of students. 

As a parent, you should attend any college preparation presentations that your school offers,...

With most early admission programs, you can expect three possible decision outcomes: admitted, deferred or denied. In this post, we will focus on what to do if you find yourself in the second group.

First, let’s define what it means to be “deferred.” With an admissions deferral, the college has decided to postpone your admission decision to a later date and will reconsider or review your application with the Regular Decision applicant pool. Because one of the benefits of applying early is knowing whether you have been accepted to your top school or not, it is understandably frustrating when you are neither accepted or denied. However, that is also the bright side - you receive a...

If their children applied Early Decision or Early Action, many senior families are DONE with the college application process. They have survived what many call the most brutal 12-18 months of their children’s lives. Why? Because we are a society predicated on success, and nothing screams success more than elite college acceptance.

No matter how you slice it, where your kid goes to college is important. I am not saying he or she must go to a school that is at the top of the rankings, but I will suggest that your child belongs at the right school with the right academic and social resources available to them. That’s why where they go is important.

And now, junior parents, you...