These days, more and more families are becoming more comfortable with the idea of considering a college in the west coast as they build their college list. Whether this is influenced by the seemingly better weather or the idea of better economic opportunities post-graduation, it is important that your family carefully consider additional factors before making the decision to apply and attend a west coast institution. Below you will find a list of four things to consider when thinking outside the “east coast box.”

4 Things to Consider:

1. Distance from home. If you are located in the east coast, attending college in California/Washington/Oregon will not be a quick drive away. Instead, approximatel...

With most early admission programs, you can expect three possible decision outcomes: admitted, deferred and denied. In this post, we will focus on what to do if you find yourself in the last group.

Receiving the dreadful rejection letter from a college admissions office is never easy. The stinging disappointment could have you relentlessly wondering what else you could’ve done to strengthen your application or even worse, make you lose confidence in your candidacy for admission at any other college altogether. After spending several years working as an Admissions Officer, I can confidently say that the college admissions process is an incredibly “human” process and that there could be many factors (man...

It’s November and by now, one or more (applicable to non-binding programs) early admission applications have been submitted, right?. As you may be aware, many of the universities and colleges your children are considering have inflexible November deadlines. Of course, there are some exceptions and we encourage you to carefully check the admissions websites of the institutions you are considering for the most updated Early Action, Restricted or Single Choice Early Action and Early Decision application deadlines and their respective decision release dates.

If you have already submitted an early application, you may be wondering what should you be doing now? Well, we have you covered! You will find a ...

If you have a senior right now, your life is crazy. The year has just started, there may be another round of SATs or ACTs to take and there’s a good chance that your senior has not completed all of their essays.

Am I correct?

Trust me, your senior needs you. Don’t panic, instead…...

Make yourself a resource.

Help your kid to review the essay questions and brainstorm with them. Encourage them to ask  for your opinion. Your memory of their accomplishments is invaluable. You have the kinds of details that they need for colorful anecdotes. Offer your mind and you will be helping them tremendously.

Understand that this is a process.

Essay writing cannot be done overnight. Choosing a strategy shoul...

High school years are just as stressful for the parent as it is for the teen! Making sure your teen is on the right path to not only excel in their current classes but also be prepared for the long road to college admissions is certainly challenging. But before you or your student get overwhelmed, consider getting organized and setting realistic and tangible goals. You don’t have to grow the mustard tree today, just plant the seed!

It is all about baby steps. Even the smallest tasks can help your child tremendously. The last thing you want to do is wait until their junior or senior year and start scrambling and coming up with a plan. If you procrastinate you lose. Your child loses. Here are 8 goals im...

If you think it's too early to talk about the college process with your 9th grader, you're wrong. So much of what they will do in the next few years, inside and outside the classroom, will have a direct impact on where they will be admitted. Now is the time to prepare. I am getting more and more inquiry calls from parents of 8th and 9th graders wanting to know how we work with students and when we can start. Why? Because they know that the college admissions process is getting increasingly complex and they want to be ahead of the game. And rightfully so.

Applying to college is not easy. The more information a family has, the better decisions they will make. I recently had a family of a 9th grader visi...

Colleges love to be loved. They crave attention from the RIGHT students at the RIGHT time. Demonstrating interest in one of your top choices can be critical for college acceptances. They, the college, want to know that if they admit a student, that there is a strong likelihood that the student will attend. As high school students start to engage colleges, here are 7 simple and effective ways to do it. Trust me, it works.

1. “Like” their social media pages

Not as silly and trivial as you think. Colleges “track” their social media just like most people. If a student does not take the time to pop up on a list, how can they really want to go there? “Like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Mak...