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.

On this week’s episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Elizabeth Heaton explores the idea of a “distinguishing excellence” in highly selective college admission (especially relevant for ninth and tenth graders), and then, targeting high school seniors and their parents, spends two full segments discussing the intricacies of this summer’s transition from high school to college.

If your child is headed off to college in the fall, you are probably worrying about a lot of things: What if he has a medical emergency while at school? What if he runs out of money? How will I know he is passing if I don’t see any of his school work?

There are documents pertaining to health, money, and college records that your child can sign to give you some peace of mind. Not all of these are required, but you may want to consider if you need them or not.

Final Preparations for Sending Your Child to College

The past year has been chock full of college visits, college applications, waiting for admissions decisions, and finally, picking the college that my son would attend. His high school graduation and all the related celebrations are behind us now, and summer is coming to a close. All of a sudden, reality sets in, as does the panic of preparing for this next major milestone in our lives—sending him off to college. I wanted to share some practical points to think about as you prepare your child for their next step.

International students face a special challenge as they pack their bags to study in the states: How do you move your life across the globe without racking up exorbitant airline fees or shipping costs? There will be some hard decisions about what to leave and what to take, but here’s some advice to get you started.