As a parent of a high school senior, the college application process can feel overwhelming. Between standardized tests, extracurricular activities, and essays, it's easy to lose sight of something critical: the importance of first-quarter grades.

Here's the truth: Colleges do care about senior-year performance, especially early in the year. While consistency throughout high school is paramount, a strong first quarter (or trimester) sets the tone for the rest of the year and sends a powerful message to admissions officers.

Why First Quarter Grades Hold Weight

Think of college applications like a story – a narrative showcasing your teen's academic growth and potential. Colleges want an upward...

Welcome, concerned parents of the Class of 2024! It's a pleasure to have your attention once again. I'm Shereem Herndon-Brown, the founder and president of Strategic Admission Advice. 

Today, I want to emphasize a crucial aspect of the college application process – meeting deadlines.

In this fast-paced world of college applications, there's one universal truth: deadlines are everything. They can make or break your teen's chances of getting into their dream school. So, let's dive into why deadlines are crucial and how you, as parents, can help your teen succeed in meeting them.

The Significance of Deadlines:

Let's start by acknowledging the elephant in the room – college application...

There's a lot to consider when building your teen's college list. As a company, we help our clients think about the four pillars:

• Cost
• Location
• Possible Major
• Possible Career

Today we'll talk about cost because it's America, where money matters, and college is expensive.

Click below to watch my video discussing cost when it's time to build your teen's college list.  

So I want to ask you a few questions.

Do you know which colleges you should start researching? 

Do you know how much that college costs?

Do you understand financial aid terms such as "scholarships," "grants," "loans," "merit aid," and "FAFSA forms"?"

Have you visited each college's website and looked at their...

PARENTS!!!! READ THIS WITH YOUR RISING SENIOR!!!!

Use the rules below and you’re on your way!!!!

Be specific.  Keep your focus narrow and personal by figuring out how the question relates to your personal qualities and then taking a specific angle. Make sure everything you write supports that viewpoint. But don’t adopt a preachy tone. College admission officers don’t want to be lectured on rainforest destruction. Instead, tell them how you became interested in environmentalism.

Use the active voice. This is a challenge for all writers. As a matter of style, writing in an active voice energizes an essay. Avoid the passive voice. Word processing programs often provide assistance...

I know November 1st has passed and I know many of you are thinking, "Okay, I blew it. I didn't complete my applications.” This is not true. November 15th is another big deadline for early decision and early action applications, along with December 1st. Also, you have two additional early decision dates which can take place on January 1st or January 15th.

If you have a first-choice school, see if they offer early action or early decision, so you can submit your application early and hopefully get notified with an answer that you want. We strongly suggest that you take advantage of any school that has an early action or rolling admission deadline because the earlier you submit, the sooner you...

If they have not heard already, within the next three weeks, seniors across the country will all know where they have been accepted. Colleges use April 1 as a target date to notify all their applicants and most schools will actually release before then. Why? So they can capture the enthusiasm of their prospective student and hopefully yield them. In other words, market their school, make an offer, and hope that the student (and parents) “buys”. Every school wants to win and be the student's number one. And although students can only accept one offer - and hopefully, it's their true number one - senior spring can be a hard time to stay focused and finish strong.

But it...