18 Aug
college admission, college applications, college counseling, College decisions, college essay, college essays, college organization, college using holistic review, collegeadmission, collegeadmissions, collegeapplications, collegecounseling, corona, coronavirus, COVID-19, covid19, getting into college, holistic review, virus,
Gena L. College Applications, College Search, Planning For College No Comments

How Many Colleges Should Seniors Apply To?

People tend to like answers with hard-and-fast numbers, but there really isn’t one to answer this application question. To satisfy that craving, though, I’ll say that it’s generally advised that seniors have 5-8 applications to submit to colleges.

BUT…

Remember that the number of colleges your teen applies to isn’t the important thing – it’s making sure that the colleges are a good fit that really matters, and that the list is very well-balanced overall.

Let’s start there

The College List – Finding the Right Balance

The goal is to be sure that your teen is applying to a mix of colleges across three main categories:

“Safety” schools

These are colleges that your teen will have no problem getting into based on academic standings. Your teen is above average as compared to other students who are admitted. Consider applying to 1-2 safety schools.“Range” schools

These are colleges that are in the same range academically and typically admit students with similar standings. Think of your teen as being average academically as compared to other freshmen at the school. Consider applying to 2-4 range schools.

“Reach” schools

These are colleges that will be more of a challenge to get into with your teen’s qualifications, but they’re not entirely out of reach. Your student’s academic profile is in the bottom 25% of those who are admitted. Consider applying to 1-2 reach schools.

Know Where You Stand

Your teen needs to take a look at their own academic profile, which includes GPA, class rank, and ACT or SAT scores.

Once you have that, head over to a site like College Board’s BigFuture to check out what specific colleges post about what they’re looking for statistics-wise within these markers. This will help determine whether the college is a safety, range or reach school by how they measure up to the average admitted student.Remember that it’s not too late for your teen to upgrade their standings in comparison to others at these colleges! Things like getting tutoring, enrolling in a test prep program, and getting deeper into extracurriculars can help make them more marketable for the schools she’s considering.

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

04 Aug
Gena L. Academics No Comments

3 Science-Based Study Tips You’ve Never Heard Of

The funny thing about school is that students are expected to study but, amazingly, there’s no class that actually teaches them how to do it.

Go figure.

Everyone knows the common study habits that have been encouraged over time: highlighting text, summarizing reading passages, reading and re-reading material. It turns out that these routines can be very inefficient, and in some cases counterproductive.

There are scientifically proven ways of retaining information much more effectively. And couldn’t we all use advice like that?

I’m a “tell me why that works” junkie, so I’ve put together some science-based methods proven to help retain information. Finals are coming up, so share this with your high schooler. (And use this for yourself the next time you need to learn something new.)

1. Self-test rather than cram.

Testing yourself on material you need to learn activates entirely different areas of the brain than repetition does – it forces you to retrieve information that’s already stored in there. This helps you retain information for the long term (to access a week or a month later). Cramming by reading the same material over and over is only good for short term retention, according to the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, by Brown, Roediger and McDaniel.

2. Teach, or prepare to teach, what you learn to others.

When students expected that they’d teach information rather than be tested on it, they had a better-organized and more complete recall of a passage they’d read, according to a study published in the journal Memory & Cognition. It’s all about the difference in how the information is organized in the brain – those who expect to teach have to find key points to arrange information into a logical structure, which is different than how students typically organize things when taking tests.

3. Move study areas frequently.

According to a New York Times article that rethinks conventional study habits, studying the same material in a different place every day makes us less likely to forget that information.

The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.

“What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched, and this slows down forgetting.” said Dr. Bjork, the senior author of the two-room experiment.

 

So I don’t know about you, but these new, more effective ways of learning give me comfort about my decision to get out of the office more often (and about kicking the kids out of the house and trusting that they’re studying well and retaining important info at the coffee shop or on the nearest park bench).

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

21 Jul
college admission, college applications, college counseling, College decisions, college essay, college essays, college organization, collegeadmission, collegeadmissions, collegeapplications, collegecounseling, corona, coronavirus, COVID-19, covid19, getting into college, virus, holistic review, college using holistic review, what is holistic review
Gena L. Academics, College Applications, College Search, Planning For College No Comments

What Colleges Actually Mean By “Holistic Review”

Let’s talk about holistic review.

My guess is that you’ve already seen these words on a few college applications or websites. And while you might get the gist of what it means, you’re not alone if you’ve been wondering what “holistic review” is and how it relates to your student.Basically, holistic review is when a school makes a decision about a student based on their application as a whole, rather than solely on their academic background.

While grades and test scores still matter (a lot), the applicant pool is increasingly competitive each year. Because of this competition, it’s no longer enough for colleges to base their admissions process solely on a student’s academic achievements.

Although this might seem overwhelming at first, this is really great news for students! In addition to their grades, students can really focus on highlighting their interests/extracurriculars/volunteer work/jobs/special circumstances/etc and it will all factor into the admissions decision!Translation: You can stand out to admissions offices by telling them what makes you, you!

Sounds way easier than stressing about whether your academic background will be enough to get you through, right?

So what’s considered in this holistic review process? Here’s a general list of things that can be considered, but really just about anything can factor in!

  • Class Rank
  • Academic Background/GPA
  • Test Scores (SAT/ACT)
  • Achievements, Awards, Honors Orgs
  • Special Accomplishments, Work, and Service (Both in and outside of your high school!)
  • Essays (This is where you can REALLY show them your personality. Letting them get to know you and hear your voice in your essays is huge!)
  • Special Circumstances (This is really helpful if you’ve experienced anything that might have affected your academic performance, including socioeconomic status, a single parent home, family responsibilities, overcoming adversity, cultural background, race and ethnicity, language spoken in the your home, health-related issues for you or your family, learning differences, and the list goes on!)
  • Recommendations (These typically aren’t required, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few from your teachers, organization leaders, or other reputable leaders who can vouch for you as a person/student/worker/etc.)
  • Competitiveness of Your Major (Don’t forget to take into account the popularity of your major at each school you’re applying for as this can seriously impact the competition between applicants.)

That’s A LOT of information that goes into an admissions decision.

I know it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or even discouraged by everything on this list, but it’s important to remember that holistic review can only benefit your student!

The purpose is to cover as much ground as possible within a short application – kind of like a first date.

And, very much like a first date, it’s just as important to relax and be yourself as it is to put your best foot forward.

Let’s continue the discussion! What are your thoughts on holistic review? Please leave a comment below!

02 Jul
Gena L. College Search, Planning For College No Comments

What Is Summer Melt?

It’s summer!!

It’s finally heating up in most places and you might feel like you’re figuratively melting. But did you know that ”summer melt” means something very different for colleges?Each year, colleges require students to submit an enrollment deposit to enroll as freshmen in the fall (usually by May 1, but this year June 1 for some colleges). After that deposit deadline passes, colleges count up the number of deposits they have and decide whether they need more students to fill their freshman class. If so, this may lead them to admit students who are on their waitlist!

Although those newly admitted students probably have already sent deposits to other colleges, they’ll now tell the other colleges that they’re no longer going to attend. Which leaves that college with an empty seat, and so on and so forth. That’s summer melt for colleges – students, who had originally sent their deposit, deciding later to withdraw their enrollment and causing the college to fall short of their freshman class goals.This is especially important to keep in mind right now as the pandemic has created anxiety of all kinds, including for enrollment managers. Predictions of students deferring college enrollment or staying closer to home has admission directors eyeing their waitlists. Counselors are anticipating students may hear from more colleges about waitlists and other offers even late into the summer. 

What does summer melt mean for you?

Well, it means that if you were on the waitlist at a school, you might get admitted. And although unlikely, it’s possible that you could get a revised financial aid package from a school that admitted you.

This may prompt you to rethink your enrollment choice. However, unless it’s an admission offer from your dream college or a truly unbeatable scholarship award, you are probably better off sticking with your original deposit. Remember that you spent a lot of time weighing your options when you made that initial decision.Don’t second guess yourself unless there is a very compelling reason! Stick with what your gut tells you and look forward to freshman year with excitement.

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

09 Jun
admin Academics No Comments

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet on Encouraging Better Grades from Your Teen

So often, teen’s grades start slipping due to procrastination, not handing in homework, not finishing projects on time, poor test scores – you know the drill. It makes for a tough home environment when two incredulous parents are struggling to figure out how to get through to a teen who just doesn’t care what they think, and doesn’t think there’s really a problem in the first place. As much as you try to keep a stress and drama-free home…well, I’m sure you know how grades can really put a damper on that plan.College admissions folks put a lot of emphasis on GPA (grade point average) and on academic rigor (expert-speak for “challenging courses”). In fact, it’s right up there at the top of the list for items they look at first when considering applications. So, it’s natural to feel a little pressure here.

And I’m sure that, after employing an arsenal of tactics to encourage your teen to lift those grades without any success at all (persuasion, reverse psychology, bribes – none of these are recommended), you’re probably ready for some new ideas. Well, that’s where this blog comes in!

A Self-Development Junkie’s Epiphany

If you’re not familiar with Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, you should be. There is so much to learn and take action on within this book. With chapters entitled “Believe in Yourself,” “Unleash the Power of Goal Setting,” and “Success Leaves Clues,” you’ll find successes in your own life with these actionable principles.

The reason I bring up his book is because he also happened to create the same book in a simpler format for teens: The Success Principles for Teens: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. This book will seriously help your teen identify and focus on their goals for the future.

Sunday Afternoon Book Club

Try instituting a Sunday Afternoon Book Club with just you and your high schooler. Make it a goal to read a chapter a week and discuss how you can each use the principles you’ve learned in your own lives. Starting with the first chapter, “Take 100% Responsibility for your Life,” implement new initiatives to hold each other accountable for not blaming others or things outside of yourselves for things that go wrong in life. A friend of mine did this with her daughter and was able to eliminate her perceived lack of time as an excuse to get things done for her business and started getting up earlier in the morning to complete things. Her daughter used it to stop blaming a tough teacher for her low test scores and asked for a tutor to support her in math. They took serious responsibility together right away for everything and found their own solutions – no excuses.

After a few book club meetings, my friend’s daughter was showing significant improvements. Not only in the academic sphere, but she also started setting bigger goals for her future.

With this method, you and your high schooler will have two accountability partners: the book and each other. And, over time, you’ll find that your home life is much less stressful and your teen is doing better academically – both major wins!

Tips for Overcoming the Battle over Grades

  • Provide guidance, not force.  The surest way to get your teen to put up a wall is for you to tell them exactly how things should be done. You’ve probably noticed that power struggles are typically won by your teen in the homework/school arena – it’s one area they’ve got more control over than you do. Take more of a mentoring role here instead of one of authority; I promise it’ll produce better results. You can ask passive questions, like:
    • Are you satisfied with the way things are going?
    • If not, what do you want to do about it? How can you make it better?
    • How can I be helpful to you in this?

 

  • Model successful behavior. Demonstrate to your teen that you’re developing and working toward goals you’ve set for yourself. Take the available time you have in the car or at dinner to discuss your goals (to run a marathon, complete a project, earn more money at work, start a business). Talk about what’s working for you, where your challenges are, how you plan to overcome them.
  • Hire a tutor. Outsourcing the job of accountability and study support for your teen is one of the best ways I’ve found to ensure there’s less stress at home when it comes to school work. There are great tutoring companies out there, or you can check with your high schooler’s counselor to find out if there are free options for support at the school. Several of my students receive amazing tutoring at home via Skype and a shared whiteboard from people all around the country with PrepNow Tutoring.

A Little Solace: Success in Life Can Happen without Stellar Grades

Knowing that it takes some time for a GPA to increase over time, I did a little of what I call comfort research: It helped me to learn that Steve Jobs and Colin Powell are examples of very successful people who graduated with very low GPAs in high school (2.65 and 2.0, respectively). Maybe that’ll bring you some solace, too.

Heck – Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t even graduate college! Just…maybe don’t lead with that. 😉

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

26 May
Gena L. Planning For College No Comments

3 Ways to Help your Teen with College Planning

You’ve spent years volunteering in the classroom, cheering from the sidelines at baseball games, and moving between ballet lessons and doctor visits. So it’s tough to know just how much (or how little) you should be helping your high schooler plan for college. This is the first real adult decision your kid will ever make…and it’s kind of a big deal.

No wonder you’ve got that eye twitch.

There’s an optimal balance for your role in the process. Here’s how you can help support your teen in the most impactful ways possible, without being an overbearing helicopter parent:

  1. Assist with the overall process.

The college admissions process is definitely not intuitive. Your teen doesn’t know what they don’t know, but you can help with the structure needed for effective planning. And you know what? You don’t know what you don’t know, either. Make sure you sign up for my email list and check out the College Planning Timeline checklist for help with that.

  1. Help with calendars and deadline tracking.

Unless your teen is crazy-organized and manages time uncommonly well, it’ll be helpful for you to aid in keeping track of the myriad of dates, schedules and deadlines needed for admissions testing, application submission and all of the little things in between. Here are a few things you should help keep track of:

  • The standardized testing plan (SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, AP exams) and any preparation needed
  • Meetings with the guidance counselor
  • Dates for college visits and campus tours
  • College application deadlines

Check out my 4 Tips for Staying Organized with College Planning post for more support with tracking all of this!

  1. Act as a coach, not a player.

While you’re going to be quite involved in this process, remember that you’re not applying to college – your child is. You should offer guidance, direction and encouragement, but you definitely shouldn’t be directly playing the game. This is, ultimately, your teenager’s admissions process and school choice, no matter how much your legacy at UC Davis might appeal to the admissions officers.Remember to listen to your teen. Hear what they want from the college experience and offer support to help them get to those goals. Keep their excitement up for what’s to come.

And most importantly – don’t panic! The college admissions process is a stressful time for your teen and adding more pressure on top of that would be detrimental. Know that, as long as your teen has a well-balanced list of colleges to apply to, they will get into a college that will be a good fit for them.

The real world is filled with deadlines, complicated forms, scary choices. Know where to draw the line with admissions, and let this be your teen’s first big win!

Not so easy balancing this, is it? How are you involved in college planning with your high schooler? Leave a comment below!

28 Apr
Gena L. Testing No Comments

What to Do the Week Before the SAT

We’re in the thick of exam season and juniors everywhere are feeling anxious about taking it. It doesn’t matter how well-prepared students are for the test – there’s no mercy when it comes to feelings of apprehension and cases of the jitters.

If your teen is gearing up to take it, by now they should have at least an idea of what’s on the test and have taken a practice exam or two to become a little more familiar with the format of it.

Knowing how to prepare and and what to expect will help greatly on test day, too. Here are some tips to keep in mind for the upcoming exam:

The Week Before

  • Have your teen take a practice SAT exam early the week prior. You can find 4 official SAT practice exams, along with information about how to prepare and strategize for the test, in the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide. You can also find these practice exams free online via the College Board website.
  • Know where the testing center is and take a practice drive there. Many times it’s not at the high school your teen’s familiar with, and I’ve had more than one mom let me know on Monday that they got lost on the way to the testing facility. That’ll make your kid an anxious wreck for sure, and it could also make them lose their seat! Consider driving with your teen to the facility now to ease any tension they might feel the morning of the test.

 

The Day Before

  • Let your teen take it easy today by doing something fun and relaxing.

 

  • It may seem like a good idea to have your kid crack open the book for one more go at studying, but think twice about that! Cramming right before the exam can increase anxiety, and sleep can often be interrupted the night before the test by dreams of filling in bubbles and proctors yelling “time’s up!”

Make sure all of the documents and materials needed are lined up and ready to go for the exam in a backpack. And be sure you’re following the rules here. Exam proctors are ruthless when it comes to not admitting students or confiscating things!

The things to put together include:

Admission Ticket – Your child should log in to their College Board Account to print this out.

Photo ID – There are rules about this. A few of my students have been turned away for not having an appropriate ID.

Calculator – There are also rules about which calculators students can use. Make sure it’s the right kind, or they’ll lose it at the door.

No. 2 Pencils – Have at least two, with erasers.

Watch – Make sure there’s no alarm on it or it’ll be taken. Sometimes students are placed in the room where they can’t see the clock, so this is very important.

Snacks and a Drink – Students can consume these during breaks and they’re important for maintaining energy.

  • An early bedtime is best. A tired exam-taker absolutely won’t perform in peak condition.

Check out the College Board website for a full list of do’s and dont’s for what to bring on test day.

Test Day

  • Eating a healthy breakfast is so important today because your teenager needs to maintain energy throughout this 3 1/2-hour exam. Drinking water (not juice – sugar crash!) for hydration is important.

 

  • I know a lot of teens like coffee – I do too. And it’s definitely fine to have that. But I also like to offer a warning: it doesn’t help with test performance to be squirming in the seat before the next bathroom break. Just be reasonable with the amount, is all.

 

The Day After

  • BREEEATHE. It can be an overwhelming experience getting ready for these big tests and trying to keep your teen in a low-stress state leading up to them.
  • Tell your teen to set a reminder on their calendar about score release day. You can check out the College Board’s Score Release Schedule for the exact information on when your teen can expect their scores.
  • Decide whether or not your teen will be taking the SAT exam again. I almost always recommend taking at least two exams. May 8 is the deadline for registering for the last SAT of the school year, held on June 6. The next exam won’t happen again until October.

Wishing your student the best on the test!

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

14 Apr
Gena L. Testing No Comments

Why Your Teen Should Take The SAT Or ACT More Than Once

Test day. Dreaded by most, but essential for almost all who are college-bound. Taking college entrance exams isn’t really fun for most teens, so my recommendation for students to take the official ACT and/or SAT more than once can seem like some pretty unfair punishment.

There are a few instances in which sitting for the test just once is perfectly fine, and I’ll explain those here, too, but it’s an absolute advantage for most students to take one or both exams at least twice. 

Why Most Teens Should Take The Same Test Twice:

1. Many colleges use superscoring for admissions decisions.

Superscoring is an informal way of saying that admissions offices will take the highest scores from each section across all of the ACT or SAT tests that a student sits for in order to average out to the highest total score possible.

You can easily see that this is a total advantage! Section scores vary on tests almost inevitably for each sitting. For example, students may have an “off” testing day or encounter more difficult reading prompts on some test days. Having more than one test to borrow a section score from takes some of that pressure off.

The Superscore Formula:

  • ACT – Average together the highest scored sections (Math, English, Reading, Science) across all ACT exams taken
  • SAT – Add the highest scored sections (Reading/Writing and Math) across all SAT exams taken

Remember that not all colleges superscore the ACT and SAT exams. To find out for sure if a school superscores for admissions, contact the admissions offices directly. Some consider only the highest total test scores, for example. You can do some initial research with the College Board’s SAT Score-Use Practices by Participating Institution document, too, but best connect with the colleges individually to be sure.While superscoring is a pretty stellar policy for college-bound students, it wasn’t conceived as a benevolent gift to students from schools. Many colleges are actually moving toward the superscoring model because it makes them look good in rankings when they can show students admitted with higher test scores.

Ok. Whatever. We’ll take what we can get.

2. Higher test scores tend to happen the second time around.

Test day jitters are real. In addition to the pressure of doing well on the exam, your teen will be a little apprehensive about not really knowing exactly what to expect. Things like where the building is, what the testing room is like, who the proctor will be, who the other students are, what the test will be like in that structured environment – it all compounds on the anxiety of an already-stressful day.

When teens are able to get that first test under their belts, the second test day just flows easier.

  • They know what to expect
  • Confidence tends to build
  • A little pressure is relieved

And, they have an advantage over the students in that same testing room who haven’t taken the test yet. A beautiful reminder for your teen!

3. Flukes can happen on test day.

Two years ago, 4 of the students I worked with came down with the flu just in time for the May SAT exam. They all took it anyway. And they all bombed it. Luckily they had other opportunities to take the test in June and October that year, and they all increased scores like champs.

Here’s a short list of what can screw teens up:

  • Feeling hungry or tired (Remember to have a good night’s sleep and breakfast, for the love of Pete!)
  • Distractions within the testing room (Some kid popping gum, the proctor typing loudly on a laptop, a weird smell)
  • Distractions outside the testing room (One year there was a construction crew with jackhammers on site. Can you imagine?!)

Whether it’s one of these or another variable, if it can affect a student’s test performance, it probably will. Planning for additional test days is really a no-brainer.

That Being Said…A Disclaimer:

There are a couple of instances in which your teen doesn’t have to, or shouldn’t, take the exam twice. Or, in some cases, not even once.

  1. Some colleges have test-optional admissions policies.

According to FairTest.org, there are over 850 schools in the U.S. that do not require SAT or ACT scores for admissions. Check out the site for an updated test-optional schools list.

If your teen’s list is comprised of all test-optional schools, then taking the test isn’t necessary. If there’s a mix of colleges on the list with different requirements for testing, however, it’s important to have at least one set (preferably at least two sets!) of scores.

  1. Some students are VERY anxious and are easily overwhelmed.

There are some teens who put so much pressure on themselves and get so anxious about exams that they really shouldn’t take more than one.

Anxiety plays such a huge role in how a student performs overall on entrance exams that an extremely nervous teen will sabotage any chance of success and will potentially do more harm than good to his or her own health. And chances are high that a student in that state of mind will not live up to potential on the exam, anyway.

Let’s continue the discussion! Thoughts on this post? Please leave a comment below!

31 Mar
Gena L. Testing No Comments

SAT or ACT – Which is Best for Your Teen?

I have a confession to make: I’m definitely not a fan of these entrance exams for college admissions.

I know I help prep students to take the ACT and SAT exams, so that might sound strange. I’m happy that I can do my little part in helping kids figure out how to “beat the test,” though – to jump through those hoops so they can get that major stressor over with and move on to other, more important admissions stuff.

Regardless of my feelings about these tests, they’re required to get into college. So let’s be productive about this and discuss how to figure out which test your teen should focus on.

To start out, let’s take a short quiz:

  1. True or False: Most colleges in the U.S. require the SAT for admissions.
  2. True or False: Students in the Northeast should take the SAT, and those in the Midwest should take the ACT.

The answer to both of these questions is…False. But these are the two misconceptions I hear most frequently from parents. They hear it from friends or even their teen’s school, the latter of which I find more than a little alarming. The truth is: both the SAT and ACT are used by every college in the U.S. for admissions, so your teen can take one or both of them.

So, which test is best?

Let’s pretend you’re entering a competition to win $100,000. You have the choice of competing against others to either a) ride a unicycle 100 feet or b) ride a hoverboard 100 feet, but you’ve never done either of these things before. Which one would you choose? You might be pretty uncertain. A good way to go about deciding would be to try each of them, see which one “feels” better or comes easier to you, and then train your butt off on that one thing to win that sweet, sweet cash.

Same goes for the SAT and ACT. Since your teen can “win” at college admissions with either one, it makes sense to try each exam to see which is a more comfortable fit and which he or she performs better with, and then focus on preparing for that specific test. Ok, you’re paying – not winning – the $100,000 with this one, but the prize is admissions. You get the point.

There are a couple of ways to try ’em out.

1. The ACT and the College Board (the folks who create the SAT) each release practice exams for students. Your teen should definitely, definitely download those exams to print out and take. The key here is to make sure the testing area is distraction-free, that the test is taken all in one sitting and that your student accurately times him or herself. Even better, you administer the exam. The closer you can make this to what will be experienced on testing day, the more accurate results your teen will get. The tests are each about 3.5 hours long, so you’ll need a nice chunk of time for this.

2. The ACT and SAT are given multiple times throughout the school year. I recommend to parents that they register their high schooler for an official exam early on for each test (typically in the winter of their junior year). All, or almost all, of the content that is needed for the exams is learned by then, and that first crack at them in the testing center itself is the best “dress rehearsal” ever. Your teen will then have the experience of taking the test in the anxiety-ridden testing environment with an official proctor, knowing he or she will have more opportunities to take the test later on. This gives a particular advantage over other students who are sitting for the exams for the first time in the spring and have more anxiety going into it, not knowing what to expect.

Then, compare scores.

Whichever test your student comes out strongest on in the end is the one I recommend that he or she continues to prep for. That focus will really allow for great gains on a future official test date.

Remember…YOU choose which test scores to send colleges.

Your teen should take the exam more than once for this reason – there’s absolutely no harm in taking an exam, because it won’t automatically reflect on the college application unless you say you want it to. Your teen should definitely have more than one exam score to choose from.

Hot Tip: NEVER enter college names on forms when registering for the SAT and ACT! They’ll ask which colleges you want to send the scores to. Since you don’t know how your kid will do on the test that day, you need to be able to see those scores before deciding which schools to send them to. That’ll come later on when your teen’s applying to specific schools.

Has your student already taken one or both tests? Which one did they prefer? What other common misconceptions have you heard about the tests? Leave a comment below!

17 Mar
Gena L. Planning For College No Comments

3 Ways to Get Attention from the High School Guidance Counselor

If I’ve learned anything in the past from the families I’ve worked with for college planning, it’s that high school guidance counselors are busy. REALLY busy – and it’s no wonder: according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the national ratio of students to school counselors is 470:1.

Say WHAT?!!

Considering they also serve as psychological counselors, administrative support, arrange for student testing, and write hundreds of recommendation letters for students per year (a requirement for admissions to many colleges), it makes sense that students really have to work hard to get actual one-on-one college counseling at many schools.

Guidance counselors can really be a valuable resource for making the right decisions about college. So, how can you be sure your teen gets the help he or she needs?

Be the squeaky wheel.

Most students don’t take the initiative to set up an appointment with their counselor. Your teen should initiate a meeting, and then a follow up meeting, and another follow up meeting, and another – they should continue to pursue the relationship throughout their high school career. So many students fall through the cracks, especially at larger public schools; don’t let that happen! Once your teen shows this initiative, the counselor will take notice and will form a solid relationship from the start.

.

Arrange for a college counseling meeting EARLY.

Freshman year is not too soon for your teen to set up a meeting with the counselor! Planning for the next four years and getting some perspective on which courses to take, scholarship opportunities, careers and majors to consider, etc. will help your student to get headed in the right direction from day one.

Get involved, Mom – Arrange for yearly meetings with the counselor yourself.

When the counselor knows the parent is involved, it’s serious business! This allows your teen to receive even more advice and support. Go to meetings armed with questions.

Guidance counselors are not the only resource for students, of course. Your teenager should be doing research about colleges, internships, courses, scholarships, etc. on their own as well. College life is coming soon – best to prepare and practice now for the independence that will be there later!

Has your teen met with the guidance counselor at school yet? How has the counselor helped? Leave a comment below!

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