Many of us are unexpectedly finding ourselves at home all day… and with a teenager. At College Coach, we regularly work remotely with high school students on their college application processes, so wanted to share some thoughts about how to make sure the weeks ahead are productive ones. While distance learning may or may not be an option for your student, here are some ideas that we’re sharing with our remote students to help advance their college processes and make the most of this unexpected down time.

In a previous blog post, Using Naviance: How to Get Organized, we discussed how to get started with Naviance. This installment focuses on how to best utilize the program.

The college admissions process has a lot of moving pieces, and for student-athletes hoping to continue their sport in college, there are even more deadlines and logistics to consider. High school athletes who are interested in playing college sports should begin their research with the NCAA Eligibility Center and initiate open conversations with their high school coaches for support and guidance along the way.

To better understand the logistics of athletic recruiting from the admissions perspective, we checked in with two of our admissions experts. Kennon Dick was a Division 1 admissions liaison to the athletic department for Drexel University, where he later got to peek behind the recruiting curtain as an assistant lacrosse coach. At Tufts University, which supports a Division 3 athletic program, Becky Leichtling served as the admissions liaison to the softball, women’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse coaches, and assistant coach for women’s Ultimate Frisbee. 

I’ve often been asked how US colleges go about admitting international students. The questions are usually centered upon quotas—limits to how many students can be admitted from a particular region of the world. Because certain countries often send such “incredible” students to U.S. colleges, and only a few of them are admitted year to year to a given school, there must be a predetermined number of admission slots per country goes the thinking. Right? Wrong.

If you’re paying attention to the news, you may be aware that the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) recently voted to eliminate portions of its ethics code regarding student recruitment. The result is that colleges can now offer special incentives to students applying under binding Early Decision policies, continue to recruit students who have already committed elsewhere, and recruit students who were admitted but enrolled elsewhere.

A College Counselor’s (& Parent’s) Perspective on Exploration vs. Specialization

Back in May, I shared this article with my colleagues, along with my own quick response: “Fun article valuing exploration rather than early specialization. References data that pre-meds and similarly focused students earn more out of the gate, but the explorers outpace them long term.” The author is a new parent, like myself, and his parenting values aligned with my own: nurture your kid’s curiosity, encourage them to explore and play and try new things, and don’t get wrapped up in any particular talent or accomplishment. It’s a good read, a reassuring read, for parents who aren’t raising a Perfect Golden Child. (And for all regular people, really.)

Ever wonder if what your high school doesn’t do, like offer many (or any) AP or IB courses or rank students, might actually hurt you or your student in the college admissions process? We’ll share our thoughts on how this works. We’re also answering your college finance and admissions questions in our Office Hours segment.

Now that the dust has settled on the 2018-2019 admissions season, we’re looking at the changes we’re seeing in college admissions that will likely impact the upcoming year. We’ll also explore the differences between federal work study and student employment, and discuss what subject tests are, how to decide which ones to take, and who actually needs to take them.

Taking a mindful approach to the college application process can help students have a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling high school experience. Rachel Simmons, author of Enough As She Is, which focuses on helping girls move beyond impossible standards of success, joins the show this week to help us take just this approach. In another in our Kindness Matters series, we’ll look at ways in which kindness can have financial benefits to students in the form of merit awards.

Owning your own business can impact the financial aid process. Tune in to learn more about how that works. We’ll also help rising seniors evaluate where they are in the testing process and determine whether or not they need to take any more of those tests at this point. Finally, we’re taking a closer look at how institutional priorities can impact admissions decisions.