College Counseling
SPECIFIC and Guided EXPERT ADVICE FOR 2023 and beyond
We offer Mini Consultations To help You Navigate the world of Test Optional College Applications.
Consultations are 45 minutes, tailored to your personal circumstances and goals, and cover both testing and application options.
Undergraduate, Grad school, and Internship Applications
work on applications and essays consists of coaching in four phases
Phase One usually begins in the Spring of Junior year shortly before or after the student’s first college trip. In an initial session, we discuss and delineate the student’s extracurricular activities, internships, and volunteer work in order to determine how best to maximize and highlight her “portfolio”, narrow down and widen interest in schools, and fill in any gaps that may be revealed when filling out the Common App. We then work through both the Fiske Guide and any list that has been formulated with parents/college counselors. I place quite a bit of emphasis on reaching for dream schools as well as having a balanced number of 50/50s and safeties.
Phase Two usually begins in early-mid July. If the student is involved in an intensive/internship, or is otherwise going to be out of town for most of the summer, we meet a few times closer to the end of the school year, and attempt to work virtually (please see below) until we can meet regularly. We brainstorm multiple ideas for two essays, and the student writes a draft of each. We discard ideas if the draft (s) is unsuccessful, and heighten the language and tone of the draft (s) that is successful. By mid-August, most students have at least one essay they feel happy with, and another "back up" essay.
Phase Three depends somewhat on the student and how much help he or she needs with organization. I have helped the majority of my students refine their final application lists, adding an additional safety school and/or a (realistic dream) reach(es) to which they otherwise might not apply. I encourage the student to think more about and fine tuning her portfolio as a flexible and representative document. I then organize the applications by chronological due date, by which are on the common app and which are not, and provide anticipatory deadlines that far precede the actual deadline (s) (no matter whether early decision, early action, or actual ). The student then has a realistic idea of when the final polishes should be put on the primary essay, how many supplements need to be completed, and how many additional essays or writing samples might be required. The "back-up" essay becomes especially helpful here, as it can be mined for ideas for supplements and is already written. We then organize, brainstorm and begin to work on those additional documents.
Phase Four is ongoing, and dependent on how many applications the student needs to complete, and how far apart or close the deadlines are in time. Many students, no matter how organized, tend to have a period during first semester senior year when they need a break for a few weeks to focus on academics, so part of phase three is assuring them that is do-able and that they are on track--essentially stress management ( !). I maintain contact and make sure the student is scheduled with me so that we can easily get back on track.
Graduate school/internship application(essay and INTERVIEW only) students:
If the student is unable to meet for a prolonged period of time or is feeling particularly overwhelmed by schoolwork, we commit to “virtual reads” which are essentially the same in person editing process done via email (preferably google drive), with a set deadline. Virtual reads are at the same rate as an in person session, but tallied by minutes used, and ease the stress of arranging a mutual meeting time considerably. They are also incredibly convenient for students who like the freedom of writing and working at any hour of the day knowing that they will get feedback quickly (usually in an agreed upon 24 hour turn around or weekly deadline). Because virtual reads take place after an essay has already been brainstormed and outlined in-lesson, most students are able to complete quite a bit of work in this manner, and simply need to meet again to make decisions about tailoring their essays to specific applications.
Commitment Wholly dependent on student availability. I usually meet for an hour and a half or two hours at a time with students during the summer, once a week or every other week, until there is at least one polished essay and all of the applications are organized. Deadlines determine how often we meet once school begins;we usually take a few weeks off to focus on the first deadlines and completion of the common app as early as possible, taking a few breaks in between deadline periods if they are spread out, or working several times a week for a shorter period if deadlines are close together.