As a parent of a high school student, my son and I both bombarded with email and mail from colleges. Where does this all come from? It comes from colleges and agencies buying our information from college testing agencies such as the SAT and ACT. It can be overwhelming but since I’ve been in this profession for over 20 years, I can at least steer my son (and my wife) to the resources that I think offer good perspective and information.

Here are five of my favorites: 

www.collegescorecard.ed.gov/

www.collegeconfidential.com

www.collegexpress.com

www.collegedata.com

www.youvisit.com

Hopefully these help you to get started. If you want more information, let’s connect for a 60-minute...

Senior year is here! (or almost here ….) Now is the time to applaud your kid’s junior year efforts and really start to engage them on their college list, essays and application strategies.

Ok, but how? 

By now, they should have started their Common Application, right?!!!  No? Please have them start now. https://www.commonapp.org/ It’s nice to get a jump on this and not wait until the Fall when life can get hectic.

What else? 

Below are the top 3 things rising seniors must do this Summer. 

1) Visit colleges 

Whether you can go in person or have to visit virtually, now is the time for your kid to get more familiar with colleges they may apply to. For...

Whatever you call the school counselor at your child’s high school -- guidance counselor, college counselor, etc -- please know that they are an integral part of the college application process. A few elements of their job are: 

• to offer college advice to you and your child
• weigh in on the selection of courses for each year
• write a school counselor recommendation on behalf of your child
• send the transcript
• communicate with colleges about your child’s application and interest

Some school counselors do this better than others, and usually it depends on their caseload of students. 

As a parent, you should attend any college preparation presentations that your school offers,...

Today I'm talking to juniors, the class of 2021. Believe it or not, you're going to be applying to college in 12 short months. Right now, you need to consider visiting colleges and learning more about them. Whether it's Columbus Day or Veterans Day, several three-day weekends are coming up this fall that you can take advantage of. They're expecting you to attend their open houses, so please go to the websites of the schools that you're interested in and see when they have prospective students' days, particularly for juniors they are called Open Houses.

I would start with something local to you. There's no need to get on a plane or a train right now. Check out something that you can see within driving...