Personal College Counseling
In our personal college counseling programs, students from 8th to 12th grade work one-on-one with a professional counselor to create a strategic high school action plan and complete their college applications. Students work on ten different areas of focus with their counselor (please click on the bars to learn more about each focus area). Personal college counseling workshops are also available to students who want to complete their action plans or college applications in 30-days. To learn more, please sign up for a free consultation.
8-11th graders
Create a High School Action Plan
Description:
Students learn how to create a personalized, goal-oriented high school action plan to follow from now until high school graduation. The plan has key deadlines and checklists so that students don’t miss a beat. The earlier you start preparing for college admissions, the better.
Online Class Material:
“Your High School Action Plan” Video, High School Deadlines Sheet, Sample High School Action Plan
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their action plans for review by a professional college counselor.
Select High School Classes
Description:
Students learn how to choose the most relevant and challenging classes in high school in line with their goals. This includes consideration of AP and honors classes at the high school, community college classes, and accelerated summer classes at universities.
Online Class Material:
“Selecting High School Classes” Video, Sample High School Action Plan
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their list of high school classes for review by a professional college counselor.
Explore Careers
Description:
Students learn how to explore careers through research, job shadowing, internships, clubs and summer camps, books, documentaries, multiple intelligence assessments, and personality type assessments.
Online Class Material:
“Exploring Careers” Video, 2 Podcasts with College Admissions Experts, Career Exploration Tip Sheet
Personal College Counseling:
Students work with a professional college counselor to complete a structured career exploration program, including reflection exercises and activities.
Find Your Academic Focus
Description:
Students learn to focus on an academic area during high school. Such focus can demonstrate in-depth mastery of a subject, which college admissions officers appreciate. It is especially important when applying to a specialty school or program (engineering schools, accelerated medicine programs, dual-degree programs, music schools, etc).
Online Class Material:
“Find Your Academic Focus” Video, 1 Podcast with a College Admissions Expert, Sample High School Action Plan
Personal College Counseling:
Students receive one-on-one guidance from a professional college counselor on how to develop mastery in their chosen area of focus.
Develop Leadership Skills
Description:
Students learn how to engage in personal reflection and outline their values, vision, and goals in life. They learn time-honored secrets of success and leadership. They learn effective communication and community building skills, how to implement these principles in their daily lives, reflect on their experiences, and continue to grow as leaders in their communities.
Online Class Material:
“Develop Your Leadership Skills” Video, 5 Podcasts with College Admissions Experts
Personal College Counseling:
Students work one-on-one with a professional college counselor to develop their leadership skills.
Plan Your Summer
Description:
Students learn how to find rewarding summer activities, jobs, internships, and community service experiences that are looked upon favorably by colleges. Summer activities that help strengthen a student's application will be different for each student. For one student, an 8-week community service trip in a rural area will be an important life-transforming event. For another student, working at a local business will demonstrate a strong work ethic. Students learn how to apply to various programs, as well as create a week-by-week plan for the summer to utilize this important time.
Online Class Material:
“Planning Your Summer” Video, 1 Podcast with a College Admissions Expert, Sample Summer Plan, Summer Plan Template, Reading List
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their summer program application essays, as well as their weekly summer plan, for review by a professional college counselor.
Learn Study Skills
Description:
“Work smarter, not harder!” Students learn key study skills to save time and effort: memorization techniques, mind-mapping, the Cornell note-taking method, speed reading, time management, shorthand, and many other techniques!
Online Class Material:
“Study Skills” Video, 2 Podcasts with College Admissions Experts, Study Skills Tip Sheet
Personal College Counseling:
Students receive one-on-one guidance from a professional college counselor on how to save time and improve their academic performance with study skills.
Choose Extracurricular Activities
Description:
Students learn how to select challenging and rewarding extracurricular activities to participate in. Students are encouraged to take leadership roles and participate in meaningful activities. We use a model based on multiple intelligences to understand a student’s strengths, help them discover their genius, and do what they love.
Online Class Material:
“Extracurricular Activities” Video, 1 Podcast with a College Admissions Expert, Extracurricular Activities Tip Sheet, Sample High School Action Plan
Personal College Counseling:
Students work with a professional college counselor to make sure they are participating in the right number and kind of extracurricular activities.
Develop a Test Prep Plan
Description:
Students learn how to create a standardized test prep plan. They also learn about the details of test score reporting. They learn which tests to take, test taking strategies, and how to use superscoring and score choice in their favor. We provide guidance on SAT, ACT, AP, and IB tests. Students who wish to take advantage of our one-on-one tutoring for standardized tests will learn about tutors who can work with them to help boost their scores.
Online Class Material:
“Acing Standardized Tests” Video, 1 Podcast with a College Admissions Expert, Test Prep Tip Sheet
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their standardized test plans and scores for review by a professional college counselor.
Ignite Your Creativity
Description:
Students learn to how to develop their creativity from world-renowned experts. They study the lives of great geniuses such as Leonardo DaVinci and develop all nine types of intelligence: naturalist, musical, logical-mathematical, existential, interpersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, intrapersonal, and visual-spatial. College admissions officers appreciate students who are creative, make connections between different disciplines, and think outside the box.
Online Class Material:
“Ignite Your Creativity” Video, 1 Podcast with an Expert on Creativity
Personal College Counseling:
Students work one-on-one with a professional college counselor to ignite their creativity and keep it alive.
12th graders
Application Evaluation
Description:
Students learn how to proofread common app and individual college applications, including short answers (a piece of writing less than 100 words). They learn to look for inconsistencies, weaknesses, “red flags”, and omissions. A seemingly insignificant answer on an application can make the difference between acceptance and denial.
Online Class Material:
“Proofreading College Applications” Video
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their applications for review by a professional college counselor.
College Profiling
Description:
Students learn how to identify their personal strengths and learning styles, as well as the most important features that they want in a college. Based on the preliminary review and specific factors that the student is searching for in a college (selectivity, size, location, setting, strength of program, extracurricular activities, etc.), students learn to conduct research on each college and compile a list of 10-15 appropriate colleges. The final college list includes a balance of safety, likely, and reach schools. We also guide students in the process of targeting a school for early action or early decision to maximize the student’s chances of admission to their top choice colleges.
Online Class Material:
“Creating a College List” Video, College Profiling Tip Sheet, 1 Podcast with a College Admissions Expert
Personal College Counseling:
Students create a final college list after discussions with a professional college counselor who is familiar with their goals and admissions strategy.
Demonstrated Interest
Description:
Students learn how to plan college visits and show their seriousness about attending a particular college. Due to advances in technology, students are applying online to many colleges with ease and speed. Admissions officers do not know which students truly want to attend their college. Demonstrated interest is a sign that the student is sincerely interested in the college and will accept an offer of admission. Successfully showing “demonstrated interest” in a college increases the student’s chances of admission.
Online Class Material:
Demonstrated Interest” Video, Demonstrated Interest Tip Sheet
Personal College Counseling:
Students work with a professional college counselor and develop a plan to demonstrate interest in their top choice colleges.
Essays
Description:
College admissions officers review application essays carefully in an effort to know if the student will be a good fit at their college. Top colleges often require multiple supplemental essays with various word limits. Since many high achieving students apply to a dozen or more universities, writing and recycling so many essays is a daunting task.
Students learn how to brainstorm essay topics based on significant personal experiences and overcome writer’s block. They also learn how to find successful college essays for inspiration so their creative juices flow easily.
Integrity in essay writing is key to the college admissions process. Students work hard, develop original ideas, and revise their essays up to three times before a final proofreading is done. The more time students spend on writing thoughtful college essays, the more they will stand out from the crowd.
In addition to learning a new writing style required for college essays, students learn the art of recycling essays. If students don’t feel comfortable recycling essays on their own, we can provide proofreading services to review their recycled essays.
Note: An essay is defined as any piece of writing with 100 or more words.
Online Class Material:
“How to Write Winning College Essays” Video, 3 Supplemental Videos, 3 Podcasts with College Admissions Experts, Essay Strategy Form
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their essay drafts for feedback from a professional college counselor and revise each essay multiple times, making sure the essays do not seem too “polished”.
Interview Preparation
Description:
Students learn how to prepare for college interviews and answer specific questions, without sounding too shy or too bold. They also learn what questions to ask the interviewers to demonstrate their interest in the college and how to make a lasting impression on the interviewer. College interviews generally last between 20-60 minutes, but some colleges are known for extensive 2-hour interviews. Applicants to BS/MD programs may need to prepare for multiple rounds of individual and group interviews at medical schools.
Online Class Material:
“How to Prepare for College Admission Interviews” Video
Personal College Counseling:
Students participate in a one-hour practice interview with a professional college counselor and receive feedback.
Recommendation Letters
Description:
Most top colleges require a letter of recommendation from the student’s guidance counselor, as well as two academic teachers from junior or senior year. There is a growing trend at high schools where students are asked to fill out questionnaires in order to obtain recommendation letters. Even if this is not the case at a certain school, students can influence letters of recommendation by asking teachers to focus on specific areas they want to highlight in their application. Parents learn how to obtain a stronger letter of recommendation from the guidance counselor. Students also learn how to obtain an additional letter of recommendation from a mentor, coach, or advisor who can discuss the student’s strengths outside of school.
Online Class Material:
“How to Get Stellar Recommendation Letters” Video, Sample Letter to Request a Recommendation Letter from a Guidance Counselor, Sample Answers to a Teacher Questionnaire, Sample Letter to Request a Letter from a Teacher
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their requests for recommendation letters for feedback from a professional college counselor.
Resume
Description:
Students learn how to create a resume in a special format that includes a description of activities, years of involvement, hours per week, weeks per year, position held and honors earned. We assist the student in creating a strong resume that shows commitment and perseverance in their activities, as well as special talents and achievements. Students learn how to write in the active tense and use appropriate words to describe their extracurricular activities, summer experiences, work experiences, honors, and awards.
Online Class Material:
“How to Create Your Resume” Video, Sample Resume, Resume Template
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit a draft resume for review by a professional college counselor.
Supplemental Material
Description:
Students with special talents (researchers, musicians, athletes, dancers, actors, writers, artists, and photographers) learn how to compile a detailed activity sheet listing their specific participation in these areas. Some students may need to put together a CD, DVD, or a portfolio. Students also learn how to write letters to faculty members and coaches who can review and recommend them to the college admissions committee.
Online Class Material:
“Supplemental Material” Video, Sample Supplemental Activity Sheet
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their supplemental material for review by a professional college counselor.
Social Media Profiles
Description:
Students learn how to get honest feedback on their social media profiles from adults before submitting their applications. These days, admissions officers are increasingly conducting online research to verify that a student won a certain award or to verify information that has been hinted at in recommendation letters. In the process of reviewing social media profiles, they may find unexpected photographs or information about students that may raise red flags. It's important to be vigilant about your social media privacy settings, as well as content posted on any public profiles.
Online Class Material:
“Your Social Media Profile” Video
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their social media profiles for review by a professional college counselor.
Evaluating Acceptance Letters
Description:
Students learn how to how to evaluate their choices once they receive acceptance letters, including maximizing and “negotiating” financial aid. They also learn how to write a letter of interest to the admissions committee if they were deferred or waitlisted.
Online Class Material:
“Evaluating Acceptance Letters” Video
Personal College Counseling:
Students submit their letters of interest and financial aid letters for review by a professional college counselor.