Making TEA
Calendar Check! It’s December!
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Where is you senior in the application process?
• awaiting a response-because she applied early decision, early admission, or rolling admissions? Congratulations to your teen!
• finishing up the application process-using one of the online application services and completing additional essays, required testing-SAT2’s-and handing out recommendation forms and stamped envelopes to teachers?
That’s great! Those last pieces can feel so daunting.
Or,
Is he still trying to figure out which schools are the right matches, or crafting the essay for the applications, or just making the requests for recommendation letters now?
If your senior is still in the middle of the process, while there is no need to panic, there is a need to get focused. Finding the best matches and writing, revising, and rewriting the essays can be accomplished in several days of concentrated work... but that can’t be said of visiting colleges, preparing for and completing great interviews, and getting those recommendation letters to teachers in plenty of time for them to meet the looming deadlines.
It’s time to get out the tools-college viewbooks, notes, suggestions from the guidance counselor... or perhaps a well-placed phone call to a college coach... and the pens, paper, spreadsheets... whatever works best to
• collect
• organize
• chart the critical information/requirements of each college, such as the SATs/ACT, GPA (grade point average), your teen’s class rank and the colleges’ information about rank, possible need for interview, costs, deadlines for applications and financial info
Once this information is compiled it is easier to determine which colleges are the likelies, the possibles, and the reaches.
There is little time left to put the pieces of this puzzle in place. It’s time to get moving!
If, on the other hand, you are the parent of a junior, then this time of year is most likely a little more relaxed, with just the beginnings of conversations about colleges. Fall of junior year is a great time to start looking at colleges though early spring works well too. It’s important to start early enough so that you are not visiting campuses in summertime... because as I have mentioned before, the students there in summer are not representative of the student body during the year.
If your teen wants to jumpstart the college search process, visit my Facebook Fan Page For just a few more days my eworkbook, The 4 Questions You Must Answer Before you Begin Your College Search, is free on the Bonus Page. And you can listen to even more information during my show, College Bound & Determined
Major in You
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Friend Jill
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• awaiting a response-because she applied early decision, early admission, or rolling admissions? Congratulations to your teen!
• finishing up the application process-using one of the online application services and completing additional essays, required testing-SAT2’s-and handing out recommendation forms and stamped envelopes to teachers?
That’s great! Those last pieces can feel so daunting.
Or,
Is he still trying to figure out which schools are the right matches, or crafting the essay for the applications, or just making the requests for recommendation letters now?
If your senior is still in the middle of the process, while there is no need to panic, there is a need to get focused. Finding the best matches and writing, revising, and rewriting the essays can be accomplished in several days of concentrated work... but that can’t be said of visiting colleges, preparing for and completing great interviews, and getting those recommendation letters to teachers in plenty of time for them to meet the looming deadlines.
It’s time to get out the tools-college viewbooks, notes, suggestions from the guidance counselor... or perhaps a well-placed phone call to a college coach... and the pens, paper, spreadsheets... whatever works best to
• collect
• organize
• chart the critical information/requirements of each college, such as the SATs/ACT, GPA (grade point average), your teen’s class rank and the colleges’ information about rank, possible need for interview, costs, deadlines for applications and financial info
Once this information is compiled it is easier to determine which colleges are the likelies, the possibles, and the reaches.
There is little time left to put the pieces of this puzzle in place. It’s time to get moving!
If, on the other hand, you are the parent of a junior, then this time of year is most likely a little more relaxed, with just the beginnings of conversations about colleges. Fall of junior year is a great time to start looking at colleges though early spring works well too. It’s important to start early enough so that you are not visiting campuses in summertime... because as I have mentioned before, the students there in summer are not representative of the student body during the year.
If your teen wants to jumpstart the college search process, visit my Facebook Fan Page For just a few more days my eworkbook, The 4 Questions You Must Answer Before you Begin Your College Search, is free on the Bonus Page. And you can listen to even more information during my show, College Bound & Determined
Major in You
blog her
Friend Jill
Tweet with Jill
