As former financial aid administrators, my colleagues and I experienced firsthand how unprepared some college students were when it came to financial matters. Whether it was managing their paycheck from on-campus work, understanding the impact of future borrowing, or balancing a checkbook, many of our students were overwhelmed and unfamiliar with basic financial concepts. As a parent of a college student and a recent college graduate, I also understand how challenging it is to teach financial skills in the midst of our busy lives.

The topic could be covered in a book (and there are many available), but here are five tips that might help you focus on what we at College Coach think really matters.

Which SAT Colleges Accept, SAT Superscores, and the SAT Writing Test

Quadratic equations…polynomial factors…identifying sentence errors…unrecognizable vocabulary words. If you’re preparing to take the current SAT this fall or winter, you are no doubt consumed with mastering all of these concepts and more, simultaneously asking yourself if the score you hope to earn will be strong enough to help you stand out in an overwhelmingly competitive applicant pool. But if your plan is to take the upcoming October, November, December, or January SAT, before the College Board ceremoniously switches over to the “redesigned” SAT in March 2016, you need to be asking yourself three very important questions.

1. Will colleges accept results from the “current” SAT when I apply for admission next fall?

Where to Begin with STEM Education

When NASA’s New Horizons makes its Pluto flyby this month, it’s not hard to imagine a new generation of students romanticizing the idea of a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).  Some might be taken by scientific discoveries. Others might be blown away with the project’s daring in engineering.  And still others will be amazed simply by the mathematics and physics involved.  The project’s incredible scale is sure to impress upon students the boundless possibilities awaiting those who pursue a career in STEM:  from opportunities to shed scientific light upon the dark unknown, to the prospect of simply thinking mathematically, to the real-world feats of engineering that can take humanity’s gaze into the far reaches of our solar system.

These are exciting times, without a doubt.

Part Three of a Three Part Series

Over the last few weeks I’ve shared a few tips on mastering the UC Application (be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2). To close out this series, today I’m sharing two of the most common essay mistakes I see UC applicants make.

Common Essay Mistakes

I’ve never counted, but I’ll estimate that I read over 100 different essays for the UC application each year. If that seems like a huge number, imagine being an admissions officer at UCLA, where over 112,000 students applied for fall admission last year.

We’re bringing back our popular series, Meet an Admissions Counselor, where we introduce students and families to a different member of the College Coach admissions team. Drop in to see what we’re reading, where we went to school, and our strategies for beginning the college essay. As you work with us to find an educational consultant who best fits your needs or the needs of your child, we will help you consider the personality and working styles that will bring out the best in you or your student. Today we introduce Julia Jones, who works with students both remotely and in our Newton, MA office.

Where are you from?
Julia: I was born in NYC, but grew up in Westchester/Rockland Counties (suburbs of NYC). Went to high school in Nashville, TN, and then college in Boston. I currently live in Southern New Hampshire.

Part Two of a Three Part Series

Last week I shared six of the most common questions I receive about developing credentials for the University of California application process. Today, I continue this series with six more FAQs.

Understanding the Application

1. My grades and test scores are [higher/lower] than the published average for my favorite UC. Does this mean I [will/won’t] get in?

The UCs proudly practice holistic review, which means numbers – your GPA and test scores – are only a part of the process. Your academic record will allow you to be considered competitively for admission, but the final decision will be based on your perceived impact on the campus community, both in and out of the classroom.

This is the fifth in a series of posts that college finance expert, Laurie Peltier, is writing about her own experience going through the college application and enrollment processes with her kids. Her previous posts focused on how to stay organized during the college search and final decision-making processes, getting to know your school and the Federal Work Study program. Here, she discusses the application process and benefits of the Army ROTC program.

There are many decisions teenagers make that can cause a parent’s heart to stop. Getting a tattoo, driving a motor cycle, and proposing marriage are good examples. When my daughter announced she was applying for an Army ROTC scholarship, my heart stopped. On the one hand, out of my three children I thought she was the most suited for it, but on the other it was not something I was knowledgeable about. While I can now say it was a good decision, it took a while to get to this point.

Part One of a Three Part Series

I never hear from juniors in May – they’re way too busy with finals and tests. But after they settle into summer, many of these rising seniors start thinking about their college applications. And since most of my students here in California will be applying to at least a handful of UC campuses, I get a lot of the same questions from all of them. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the University of California application process, from seniors and underclassmen alike.

Developing Credentials

1. Do 9^th and 12^th grades matter?

Yes and no. When evaluating your academic performance, the UCs recalculate your GPA using only your grades from sophomore and junior year.

Update: Read the latest tips for the 2017-18 Common App.

Earlier this month the Common Application introduced the first in a series of webinars focused on best practices and tips for completing the Common Application. Like all presentations in the series, the first webinar, titled “What to Expect in the 2015-2016 Common Application,” was geared specifically for guidance counselors.  But why should guidance counselors have all the fun? We’d like prospective applicants and their parents to get in on the Common App action, too! Unless you’re desperate to sit through a recorded webinar on the ins and outs of the revised 2015 Common App, allow the experts at College Coach to happily summarize the details for you.

1. Students must add their high school name (and CEEB code) before they can invite their guidance counselor and teachers to submit letters of recommendation. It’s crucial that students select the correct high school in this process, especially if they attend a high school that uses Naviance eDocs to manage the paperless submission process.

Your Guide for High School Tips and Preparing for College

When I was in high school, we used to argue about when you become a senior. Does it happen the second you walk off campus on the last day of your junior year? Or do you have to wait in summer limbo, becoming a senior only when you return for classes the fall? Now that I’m an admissions counselor, I can say definitively that your senior year starts in the summer. And why? Because you have so much you need to do to prepare yourself for the coming fall: coaxing nascent essay drafts into riveting final copies; shaving your college list down from twenty to the final seven to twelve to which you’ll apply;  organizing yourself for your final year of high school and the transition to college.