Our College Counseling Services
Academic Planning
When evaluating an applicant’s academic profile, most colleges do not limit their analysis to reviewing grades and test scores alone. They also look at each student’s high school profile and curriculum; they review the courses students complete; and they evaluate the level of academic rigor of those courses. Typically, the more selective the college, the more rigorous a student’s academic schedule must be (with a majority of courses being honors and Advanced Placement).
To those families seeks college counseling services early in the process, we will evaluate the student’s “make up”, abilities, goals, academic interests, and academic deficiencies in order to help the family determine the best and most realistic curriculum to follow as we create a path toward applying to the right colleges. For students who come to us later, we work with them to craft applications that highlight the personal qualities, areas of study and achievements that will stand out to those who make admissions decisions.
The Application Process
Given the competition for admission to many institutions, students are essentially being asked to "package" and "market" themselves. The students are the product and they are trying to convince the colleges to buy. As unpalatable as it may seem, this is the present reality, which is why our process focuses on maximizing your attractiveness as a candidate for admission (whether you apply with the Common Application, the Coalition Application or an institutional application).
The college counseling process will include initially coming up with approximately 25-30 schools of interest (after we have completed our initial evaluation process) and then engaging in a research and further evaluation plan to reduce that list to a manageable number. The process will be strategic and will include evaluating a student's potential chances for admission at his or her selected schools, as well of his or her chances of obtaining need based or merit based financial aid.
Many students are familiar with Naviance, which is offered by many high schools and provides good information on how other students of that high school fared when applying to certain colleges.
However, students from your high school are not the only people applying to the same colleges. To offer more precision, we use a program that is more encompassing and, among other things, offers information regarding GPA, SAT/ACT scores, etc., for students throughout the country who also applied the your colleges and universities of interest.
SAT/ACT Guidance
Standardized tests and the scores that students achieve on them have long been a primary focus of the college preparation and application process. In recent years, there has been a growing list of institutions moving away from relying on standardized test scores as a primary consideration in making admission decisions. However, most colleges and universities still regard the SAT and ACT as good predictors of college success, and they are of particular importance to many institutions in doling out merit based financial aid (i.e., scholarships).
As committed college counselors, we work with students to ease the stress related to preparing for and taking these tests while also honoring their importance for admission to most college and universities. We will guide you through this process, which includes first determining whether the SAT or ACT is a better fit for the student; determining when the student should sit for his or her first test (most students take the SAT or SAT two or three times because of “superscoring”); and making recommendations to test prep sources and professionals who can help students achieve their maximum score at a reasonable cost and with the level of stress that each student can handle.
Additional instruction and guidance is available to students who intend to take SAT subject tests in order to strengthen their applications to the select institutions that recommend or require taking one or more of those tests.
Financial Decision-Making and Financial Aid
It is no secret that the cost to attend college has exploded over the past 20 years and there appears to be no end in sight. Many students work extremely hard to gain admission to their "dream" colleges only to be faced with disappointment upon learning that attendance will be cost prohibitive. Others make the dangerous decision of taking on crushing debt in order to show off that REAR WINDOW STICKER without any regard for their financial future.
As a result, our college counseling services includes placing specific focus on the financial aspect of college attendance, which goes beyond merely filling out the financial aid forms. Note: we have a separate program for completing financial aid forms.
If money is no object, then your decisions will be easier and choices more plentiful. For most everyone else, our approach to exploring and selecting colleges always includes cost as a major component of the analysis. Our outside-the-box approach likely will lead you to seriously consider schools that previously were nowhere on your radar, but which will fit your other primary criteria and will likely provide more financially feasible options than simply considering the same 25 or 30 institutions that are on everyone else's wish list.
College Essay
Unbeknownst to most college applicants and their families, for a large number of colleges and universities, grades and test scores generally account for only 60% of an admission committee's analysis when making decisions on whom to admit. It is well documented that the strength of an applicant's essays can be the difference between landing on the admitted pile and being sent a letter of denial. The importance of the essay has taken on even more importance now that many colleges and universities have gone “test optional.”
Particularly for highly selective colleges, it is of vital importance for each applicant to “stand out.” You are essentially selling yourself to the colleges and asking them to pick you over 1,000 other applicants who have the same grades, academic rigor and standardized test scores.
Our process will include intense focus on crafting substantive and memorable essays with specific attention paid to the topics selected each year by the folks who design the Common Application and the Coalition Application. A stand-out essay can push a student over the finish line when the applications of "like" candidates are being considered.
Letters of Recommendation
Letters of recommendation from teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, and others are also a facet of the application that can move a borderline candidate into the admit column. Our college counseling services therefore include guiding students through the process of requesting letters of recommendation, including instructing them on whom to target as letter writers, the best time to communicate the requests, the language to use when making the requests, and the information that should be provided to letter writers as a means to subtly influence the content of their letters. As part of the preparation, we educate students about the things that admissions officers want to see in a recommendation and about how getting ahead of the process will assist in their ability to obtain the strong, meaningful letters that can make a difference.