The School Search Part 1:
When’s the “Right” Time to Start Looking at Colleges?

Parents generally ask this question during our first college counseling meeting. Followed quickly by these two:

“Should we begin touring now?”

“Are we LATE?”

First, a moment of reassurance: You’re not late.

Second, there’s a practical and an emotional answer to all three questions which depend on your student’s reaction to the idea of applying to college.

Is your Junior:

Excited?
Terrified?
Confused?
None of the above?
All of the above?

I’ve had students ...

As with most questions pertaining to essay drafting, the answer to this one straddles the YES versus NO divide so it’s obviously an important one for college applicants to ponder. If the narrative’s compelling and useful, then students should repurpose content. Why reinvent the wheel? No red flags have ever been raised from using the same essay for multiple applications. At least not that my students — or admissions officers – have shared with me!

Wearing my marketing/PR hat, here’re some ...

T’is the season!

It goes without saying that your college applicant has shifted into high-gear right about now: homework, year-end assignments, championship games, recitals, performances and, drumroll please, college application deadlines.

Mid-November, December 1, December 8, the list goes on and on. The dates for various application decisions, honors programs and financial aid forms come in waves making it difficult for students to discern the shore let alone the horizon.

Here are three words — or phrases — of encouragement I’m offering ...

#collegeessaytransitions

Moving Fluidly From Paragraph to Paragraph

The beginning of the college application process marks the beginning of transitioning, from home and high school to college and beyond. This journey of moving from one place and state-of-mind to another can be practiced, and nearly perfected, in application essay writing. I call it the Art of the Seamless Transition. A reader might not even know when a writer has nailed this “move” because of its magic: Thought A has morphed into Thought B ...

How to Turn Down the Temperature of An Overheating Senior
It may seem like an oxymoron, but there is a way to ease into the hectic college application season after a relaxing summer vacation.

During my first counseling session with families, I stress the importance of mitigating any stress until after September. In October, November and  December, parents won’t have to “pump up the volume” on anxiety because in-school college counselors and ex-missions directors, the College Board and the ...

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The Common Application Essay Prompt 1 is my favorite within this year’s Essay section. I call it the “four-in-one” because students have multiple options within a focused topic. It’s a brilliant choice for most writers who need structure, but crave freedom.

I reveal this preference for Prompt 1 to “my ...

College Application Essay Boot Camps:

In this five-week, or five-day, virtual one-on-one summer Boot Camp, I work with rising seniors on identifying a Common Application Essay prompt that sparks self-inquiry, a desire to write and, most importantly, contributes to the student’s narrative without repeating the obvious.

The purpose of the Boot Camp is to apply heat to the student, to create a call-to-action concerning the application process. By responding to the various college essay prompts and exercising a few essay openers, the ...

A Case for Not Recycling Essays on New Common Application
Why reinvent the wheel if, according to prompt 7, an “already written” wheel is acceptable?

Because fresh is better when it comes to self-expression. An essay written by a high school junior at the beginning, middle or end of the academic year will be dated by summer. I would even argue that an essay written in the summer might need noodling in the fall to remain current. And by ...

Next Step Advice on Your High School Senior’s Next Step

Notifications: On the one hand, it’s what students have been waiting for since they pressed SEND on their college applications and on the other hand, it’s also what they’ve been dreading since they hit SEND on their applications. There’s always a tiny love-hate struggle when presented with choice; we want to have options and then, when we have too many, we want fewer or for someone else to make a decision ...

I get asked this quite often. And I always think of this quote:

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

Even though a student’s high school may have an arsenal of on-site counselors or advisors, many juniors benefit from an off-site strategist and coach to help navigate the often not-so-straightforward path to college.

Just as a hiker can be equipped with a ...