The College Explorer

Time to DIG IN With College Search For Juniors! 

As seniors begin to receive their college decisions, it’s time for juniors to really get started in earnest with their college search.  Now is the time to reach outside your comfort zone and go beyond the names you already know.  Why?  Because the acceptance rate at those names is probably pretty low – so no matter what grades you get (of course you should be striving for As!) and no matter what test score you get, those “name” schools are going to be “reach” for everyone.

If you are one of those people who think that your life will only be fabulous if you attend one of those schools, we have some suggestions for you:

a) Ask all of your friends where they went to college – ALL of them.  You’ll find that you probably have many friends who went to schools you’ve never heard of, or started at a community college, or went to a school that you thought wasn’t that great.  And they have jobs, support their families, and enjoy all-around good lives!

b) Watch this short video of Frank Bruni being interviewed by a Boston TV station a few years ago (right around the 2016 presidential election, as you’ll discover) when he wrote the book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be.”

c) Help your child understand that there are 2,200 four-year colleges out there, and you will continue to love them and think they’re fabulous even if they don’t end up going to one of those “fancy name” schools.

Articles We’ve Been Reading Lately 

• Tulane Admissions Director Jeff Schiffman’s blog
• Georgia Tech Admissions blog
• The Troubling Student-to-Counselor Ratio That Doesn’t Add Up (Education Week)
• Revolution Prep has some upcoming webinars for parents and students

Questions People Ask Us Regularly 

• What’s my GPA for College Admissions?  Weighted or Unweighted?
• College Visits:  What Do We Need to Know?
• Why Do Colleges Care About Extra Curricular Activities?
• How Many Colleges Should I Apply To?
• Lots more on our blog – check it out!

Parent Corner

• Is Financial Aid a top concern for you?  Learn more about the two types of college financial aid in our financial aid webinar – it’s free, already recorded and posted here.
  
• Join our free text messaging service, with messages specifically tailored to your student’s year of high school graduation.  Parents of current juniors, text 2020parent to 555888 to join our list for parents of your child’s class.  We also have 2021parent and 2022parent lists!
• Some people think only top students work with private college counselors.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  Here’s a post to help you understand how we can make the process less stressful for your entire family!
• Our team is currently booking clients in the Class of 2020 (only a handful of spaces left) and we are now signing contracts with the Class of 2021 (current sophomores).  Please get in touch if you are interested in learning more about our services.