- 9th grade parent night programs
- Plan carefully the international language choice; make sure it's one you will carry for 4-years; two years of one language and 2-years of another don't mean the same as spending 4-years diving deep into one language
- Experiment with perform art options, even if you change instruments across years, or go across the arts discipline, yet the learnings from arts are foundational and looked upon favorably by colleges
- Join multiple clubs, get a feel of what they do, find your niche, over the years drop more clubs then add to your repertoire, take on more positions of responsibility not always focused on becoming a designated officer. Learn soft skills, diplomacy, ways to work with groups, collaboration, and with growth mindsets.
- Stress the importance of learning history and philosophy and the impact on the core American colleges curriculum.
- Focus on the quality of the courses, building on one another, and balance that with a variety. I'd bring case studies that show the impact correlating music and math.
- The importance of extracurricular activities and external community volunteer efforts
- I would emphasize the value of Calculus to be done by 12th grade and the impact on admissions and the correlation to a successful college career based on the same.
- It's OK to get a bad grade while experimenting and that's possible only in the earlier high school grades, and to get more serious about showing an upward grades progression over the following years.
How can I help my child apply for college?
Parent Tips: DO's and DON'Ts of Helping Your Child Apply for...
Whether or not self-studying is the right approach for you will depend on five key factors.
Should You Self-Study for an AP Exam? 5 Key Factors
Factor 1: Which AP Exam You Want to Self-Study For
Factor 2: How Much Time You Have for Studying
Factor 3: Your Studying Motivation Level
Factor 4: Your Ability to Stay on Track
Factor 5: Access to Study Material
5 Essential Tips for Effective AP Self-Studying
#1: Stay on Track
#2: Make a Schedule
#3: Find the Best Material
#4: Take Practice Tests
#5: Register for the AP Exam
If you have worked with em, you know I'm a stickler for my students self studying AP classes. Here's a list of free classes on edX that will get you jump started.
The merit scholarship criteria are part of your college's list planning and should be documented as such part of your final priorities for the admissions. Finding colleges that give good merit scholarships, the criteria, and the amounts is an art. Invest the time to learn the process. The details below will help. Reach out to the Success Koach team if you have questions.
Is it Worth it to Apply for Scholarships?
Absolutely, but only if a student is willing to put in the work it takes to apply correctly using winning strategies and doing a bit of research before submitting any application. Scholarships are FREE money that does not have to be paid back, so learning how to strategically apply is crucial to a student’s scholarship success rate. Students who quickly write an essay without much thought will have basically no chance of winning unless there is only one applicant, which is very rare.
We students are way too focused on a STEM education. While the benefits of STEM are awesome and tangible, don't disregard the humanities subjects. those make you whole. Shreya, my older daughter is getting a very complete education at Wellesley college where she is majoring in CS yet 50% of her classes are in Humanities; that's a requirement when you graduate from a liberal arts college. Read on for more..
Your application should clearly communicate your “spike.” A spike, hook, etc. is a set of activities and accomplishments that show admissions officers what you are truly passionate about and what you bring to the table.
Find out exactly how much college can cost and what you can do now as a freshman to prepare for those expenses. Refocus your study habits to build the credentials necessary for grant and scholarship applications.
It's not what you say, but more importantly how you say that is more important. Remember, the AO has 8-mins in total to read your application, You can't predict when in the day the AO reads it either. the dude could be in a crappy mood. So always tell a story in the format he/she is most comfortable knowing... ie the Hero's journey.
Throughout history, various people have studied the hero’s journey narrative, but it is most commonly associated with Joseph Campbell’s work. There is a common arc to most journey:
Few tips :-)
So how can you graduate early?
The math is pretty simple. A typical college load is four classes a semester, so in a year you're likely to take eight classes. To graduate a year early, you need to acquire eight classes worth of credit. You can do this a few ways:
AOs look closely at a student’s course load and its level of difficulty, along with grades, to gauge academic ability and commitment. The more selective the college, the more nitpicky they’re going to be about the classes you take. So take the most rigorous curriculum you can,. “Strong senior-year classes and grades are like a foolproof vaccination plan for college admission.
Get in their shoes. when you visit a school fair make friends with them. The more you know how they are incentivized and what they want, the more cohesive and tailored will be your application.
An AO reads ~100 applications a day.
They first review a Summary of the academics, they review the progression performance over the years. They look specifically if the student challenged themselves to select harder subjects from what was offered at the school? They then look for personal qualities. If you come across as flat or just offensive, they are thrown off. They are building a community at the school so the selection is careful and meticulous.
What are the UCs majors-best know for:
Admissions officers often value intellectual curiosity above all other traits. Intellectual curiosity is the desire to learn because of genuine interest or passion. An intellectually curious person constantly learns new things in their free time simply because it fascinates them.
What is Intellectual Curiosity?
• Intellectual Curiosity highlights a person's interest in learning and knowledge acquisition. ...
• This characteristic trait has been practiced by some of the greatest minds. ...
• Other personalities like Richard Feynman, Benjamin Franklin, Charlie Munger, and Warren Buffett are some good examples.
5 Benefits of Taking AP Classes in High School
I see this essay question often with the harder to get in type schools. Be careful here as they expect a solid response. Make summers count! They are a great opportunity to take classes at your local community college, volunteer at a personally meaningful nonprofit, or attend a summer program at your target school. Or do something less common like spending 3 months as a full-time volunteer with a state congressperson’s re-election campaign.
We are a family on a mission to help high schoolers make prudent choices in college admissions.