Navigating the road to college isn’t easy.
These days, families are inundated with fear-inducing application statistics, from dwindling acceptance rates, to seemingly unreachable extracurricular requirements, to dire predictions that label every school year as “The most difficult time to get into college ever.” It’s enough to incite panic.
That was certainly the case for Lisa Oppenheimer. Lisa had long been following newspaper stories about the latest in college admissions, and by the time her daughter, Alexis, was ready to apply, Lisa was convinced the only kids who got accepted had 4.0 GPAs, perfect SATs, and a high-school resume that included the founding of an international, non-profit organization and an Olympic gold medal.
College Coach’s Elizabeth Murphy brought the process into focus. Hired to work with Alexis, Beth was immediately reassuring. While it’s true, she said, that college admissions are difficult, and that applicants do have lots of competition, college is not exclusive to ivy-league students. Beth, a knowledgeable former admissions officer at University of Pennsylvania, was confident that Alexis’ academic accomplishments would offer her many wonderful choices. “Right out of the gate,” says Lisa, “that lessened the stress.”
A high-school junior at the time she met Beth, Alexis had the benefit of a year before applications to think about where she wanted to go and how to get there. She hadn’t yet decided on a list of schools, but her grades during her first three years of high school helped clarify at least the types of institutions she’d be looking at, and helped Beth provide direction about ideal course selections for senior year. Beth was also able to offer valuable guidance regarding SAT timing, explaining that by taking it in January of junior year (instead of May, as her high school recommended), Alexis would have time to repeat the exam and still have it out of the way before senior year.
When the time came to begin looking at schools, Beth offered perhaps her most important piece of advice: be adventurous. Like lots of kids, Alexis started her search focused on schools she knew from college sports tournaments, national rankings, or because they were historically popular choices at her high school. Beth opened the door to new schools. She encouraged Alexis to forget the names, and decide based on majors, location, and size as well as intangibles like personality and vibe. On Beth’s advice, college visits included lunch in the cafeteria, hanging out on the quad, and a little time spent chatting up people in the main office of the department Alexis was interested in.
Instead of just a few famous schools, Alexis’ list became diverse and lengthy, from urban to rural, big to small, with enough choices to accommodate her continually evolving interests. Schools were carefully chosen to allow Alexis to stretch for “reaches,” and feel confident with others that seemed “just right.” As Beth predicted, Alexis got into many great schools—Syracuse and American among them. The school she fell in love with--Northeastern—had everything she wanted, a campus in the middle of a great city and an environmental sciences program. It proved not only to be her perfect school, but was also a place she likely would never have even considered without Beth’s counsel.
Alexis’ experience paved the way for her younger sister to work with Beth two years later. Melissa was a completely different student, coming into the process with very specific desires—a small environmental sciences program in a mountainous location that would serve her love of outdoor exploration. Though she’d fallen in love with Skidmore, she zeroed in on another, much larger school because it seemed a more realistic choice.
Much to Melissa’s surprise, Beth deemed Skidmore a perfectly within-reach choice and discussed the possibility of going early decision. With Beth’s guidance, knowledge, and assistance, Melissa indeed applied and was accepted to Skidmore early decision. It was an accomplishment made all the more remarkable by the fact that, without Beth’s advice and encouragement, Melissa might have given up on the school before trying.
Throughout both experiences, Beth was invaluable. Her organized application schedule allowed Alexis and Melissa to meet all of their deadlines without any last-minute marathons, and kept stress between parent and child to a minimum. She advised on which things to worry about—and maybe more important, which things not to worry about. She was a vast repository of school knowledge, and if she didn’t have the answer, she had an in-house network of college consultants to ask. Well-thought-out plans plus expert advice from someone who had spent part of her living making admissions decisions made the process feel more like a science, and less like a shot in the dark. “I knew there were no guarantees,” says Lisa, “but I felt like there was a real method behind the plan.”
Perhaps best of all, Beth was always there via phone or email when stress got the better of anybody—most likely Lisa.
Four out of five College Coach students get into their top choice college. The path to receiving the acceptance letter of your dreams is rarely simple and often unpredictable. The college admissions process is a personal journey and even a rite of passage, an experience that presents unique challenges and goals for each student and each family. College Coach’s counselors have the experience, both within and beyond the admissions office, to help minimize stress and maximize each student’s potential. Let the admissions experts at College Coach provide guidance, peace of mind, and most importantly, the results that your children deserve.
