For some students, one of the biggest challenges of transitioning from high school to college is adjusting to the expectations of college level writing. Cassie Hemstrom of the UC Davis University Writing Program joins the show with tips. In our second and third segments, we’re answer listener questions related to college finance and admissions.

Guest post by Jackie Hebert, Executive Function Coach and Director of Marketing and Communications at Beyond BookSmart

As Executive Function coaches, we speak with worried parents of high school kids every day. The conversations usually go something like this: “My kid is smart. I see a world of possibilities awaiting them, if only they could be more organized (or stop getting distracted by their phones or be more disciplined about how they work or remember to hand in their homework…). How can I make sure they will be ready for the demands of college?”

Guest Post by Julie Wolf, freelancer writer and parent

In late August, my daughter started her first year at a large urban university not far from home, and, since then, I’ve heard from her a handful of times. A couple of weeks ago, though—Thursday, September 12, 2019, not that I’m keeping track—she actually texted! But she didn’t text to say “I love you.” She wanted information. She had walked to CVS with some friends (new friends! Yay! She’s making friends!) so that they could get flu shots, and while she’d brought her insurance card, she wanted the first five digits of her Social Security Number. (She knew the last four.) “Just in case they need more information.”

Michelle Jones, founder of Wayfinding Academy, joins this week’s show to offer her thoughts on how Wayfinding is approaching college from a different perspective. We’ll also discuss this year’s changes to the Common App and talk about how you can prepare your college bound student for the financial challenges ahead.

In the second in our Kindness Matters series, we’ll tackle the question of service work: what qualifies, why students might want to do it, and whether or not it’s truly important in the admissions process. We’ll also devote most of today’s show to helping students make a successful transition to college.

As we make our way through the admission decision season, there is so much happy news to celebrate. Dreams are fulfilled, goals are achieved, all the hard work has finally paid off! But with this happy news there may also come some tough conversations about costs, debt, and compromise.

Many College Coach admissions advisors are also parents who have made it through the college selection process with their own teens. How did they survive? Through open communication and transparency with their children, not just in senior year, but early on. We hope their advice and insight is helpful to you, whether you’re currently debating financial aid offers for the fall, or just beginning the college conversation with your younger children.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton discusses successfully transitioning from high school to a university campus and what it means to get a refund from a college. She also announces to listeners an exciting new partnership for College Coach.

Guest Post By Steven Tolman, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Higher Education Administration, Georgia Southern University

As a college professor, I have had the privilege of teaching undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. Through these experiences, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I would like to tell you that I was an exemplary freshman in college. To the contrary, I was on academic probation and my advisor encouraged me to consider career paths that did not require a college degree. Like many freshmen, my failures were not due to a lack of academic ability, but rather to my inability to navigate the transition from high school to college. Based on my own experiences and those of my students, here are my suggestions for how to avoid the common mistakes of freshmen.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton is back to cover everything you need to know about bargain hunting for dorm supplies, looking for universities in the UK, and welcoming your students back home after having been away at college.

On this week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, guest host Sally Ganga talks about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) programs, beginning post-secondary education at two-year institutions, and how to teach your soon-to-be-college-student to set up a budget.