Let’s face it – teenagers make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Our best hope is that the mistakes they make won’t be life-changing ones. Sometimes, the mistake they make will result in disciplinary action from their high school. And usually, that means that it will wind up on their transcript, which will be sent…
It’s time to talk about something that many families don’t discover or understand until it’s college application time. Sometimes, families don’t even realize it then. But application time is often when you discover that your student’s high school GPA (Grade Point Average) is not necessarily the same GPA that colleges will look at for admission. …
The question in the title is one that many students don’t even know they should ask. And the answer is often, “No.” Sadly, students frequently don’t realize until late in high school that simply fulfilling the basic high school graduation requirements is often not going to be enough to get into the college of their…
When it’s time to apply to college, students generally understand the importance of their grade point average (GPA) and college admissions test scores in the process. But does their class rank in high school also matter? What is Class Rank? Before talking about how colleges may or may not use high school class rank as…
If you’re reading this, you likely already know that colleges care about more than test scores and GPAs when it’s application time. The admissions team wants to get a full picture of who the student really is before making an admissions decision. One way they try to get an idea of what a student is…
Do you know what a college admissions yield is? It is the thing that keeps admissions officers up at night, especially in the month leading to national decision day, on May 1st. While March drags for students as they await admissions decisions, April is the month that feels endless for admissions officers. That’s because the…
Senior year – the culmination of all the hard work your student has been doing to prepare for college. Application time is when all that they have been doing to prepare comes together. Ideally, you and your student have followed all of the advice about starting the college admissions process early. But if you haven’t,…
Are you looking for more resources to guide you as you undertake the college admissions process with your child? Here are some of my favorite books about college admissions to get you started. Initially, I had only four favorites listed here because I just couldn’t come up with a fifth favorite to recommend. But recently,…
As the college application cycle for this year’s seniors is in full swing, I decided to survey a few parents of college-bound high school seniors to see if they had any admissions tips or just thoughts on the admissions process that they would like to share. And they sure did! You will see that a…
By now, teens and their parents have all gotten the message that colleges like to see community service on students’ college applications. In fact, in some cases, not having any high school community service on their resumé can hurt students’ chances of being admitted. So, knowing that community service in high school can make a…