Have any of you used, or are using, any college prep services? By that I mean services that help your child come up with their list of schools, research merit, scholarships and aid, help with applications, resumes etc.
I have a few friends that have done this, some spending small amounts and other insane ones (ok insane to me lol) where they’ve worked with the child starting in 9th grade, through all ACT and SAT tests etc. $500 to $30k. Most in the 5k range.
This was not something I’d planned to do for S17. He’s a solid B+ kid with options but nothing that seems extraordinary to require that kind of help. He has worked with a local test prep company for the ACT (and still is, for his June test) as well as a small AP test study group. Lots of 1:1 time. We know the owners so get a pretty good deal and some free “extra’s” but it’s a well established local firm and we’ve been quite happy so far. The wife of the owner is getting certified on the prep end of things and needs a guinea pig for her practicum class. She’s asked if S17 would want to do it with her, and it of course would be free.
I can see a number of pro’s here, not the least of which is removing me from official nag position. He has a ton of respect for her and they would likely work well together. It may get him to open up some of his restrictions and consider other options that he won’t coming from us or finding money opportunities I am not seeing on my own.
On the con side, it feels as if I am giving up control. And, while it’s ultimately not my thing “to” control, it will be his choice, it is my wallet and I do have opinions and am not sure how I feel about being cut out. Or really, how cut out I would be.
I am the college prep service. There’s nothing they could do for my D that I couldn’t. They could be good for parents who either are not knowledgeable about the process or don’t have the considerable time to devote to it (and have the financial resources).
I tend to be a “I can do that” type of person, so I’ve been the girls’ college prep service. Hey, whaddaya want for free ;).
I don’t think there’s any magic to it, from what I’ve seen. Just a lot of hard work (like most jobs).
Plus neither kid fits neatly into a “here’s who I am” package with a bow, so I don’t know if using a college prep service and having them try to polish over the rough edges is what we’re looking for. Plus, I can proofread like a superhero.
My DD is taking SAT prep classes that her HS PTSA is sponsoring. It’s happening only four Saturday mornings. That’s the only thing she is doing specifically for college admission.
@hades321 exactly what @WhereIsMyKindle said…on the common app there is a section for your family/parents.
@eandesmom my sister in law was an admissions counselor at a selective college. She recently left her job to work full time as a college counselor for hs kids and she charges around 5-10k. Personally I think that’s nuts but she is quite busy. There are definitely things that she knows the ins and outs of and there are many positives of using a counselor. My D16 was able to use her to read her essays but she only read a few as I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries. She was definitely helpful esp. In knowing what the colleges are looking for.
As far as ACT prep, my D17 just does it on her own. I bought the red book and she just takes practice tests and the goes over any incorrect answers. She does pretty well so I don’t think her going to a place will bump up her score any more than her doing it on her own. My D16 went to a place for one on one and all she did was take a practice SAT at home and the next week she would go over it with the teacher. But again, she had high scores on her practices so there wasn’t much to work to improve.
And I am the one to take charge. I find out all the things I think my kids need to know. I live for doing research about anything. Ask me a question and I will spend as long as it takes to find the answer. I just love the Internet! And I love cc even more
Like many of you, I am my DD’s work-for-free counselor and CC is my education. Well, I also learned plenty from helping DS14. I wouldn’t mind hiring one but am not sure how to go about to find a quality one without spending $10k+.
We paid for a 1.5 hr session with a private admissions counselor in Ds sophomore year. It was $$ well spent. All of us were very naive and D’s ECs were not overly well focused. He tuned in to this and made some great suggestions and spoke directly with D to get her engaged and started on the process. We live in another city and never went back to him.
Locally, we went to a seminar at the high school by a guy who has a college prep franchise.
I actually went for a “free session” with one who claims to do it all…the test prep, packaging the kid, finances, etc. I came in with Ds resume and our spreadsheet (reach, match, safety for both her stats and our financials) and our college payment plan, etc. and he flat out told me there was nothing he could do there. He did offer me a package where we would pay $2500.00 for him to tell us something magical apparently that we could do differently with our money to not have to cash fund so much as we are planning to do. We passed. I’ve since then learned that all of the test prep he offers is on line.
I am thankful I have had some extra time on my hands and thankful that I enjoy research and digging around. My career makes me nosey by nature and not afraid to ask questions.
For test prep, D went to one that was a few hours a week from summer through the PSAT. She did well on the PSAT but admits she was not “engaged” in the process. She does better on her own and has been working her way through the ACT Red book. She has twice requested a private tutor for a “tune up” and we obliged. April will be interesting to see how she does.
We haven’t used any counselors to design ECs or advice on test prep. Like most parents here, I am the counselor for my S. I am thinking of hiring someone to help with essays esp given that he is thinking of applying for BS/MD programs, Ivys and UCs. I have contacted couple of them and they are expensive. Any suggestions/recommendations will be appreciated.
My DD says her SAT prep classes just go over what’s already in the provided SAT book. Maybe for that reason, about 10 kids didn’t show up for the second class.
I don’t think my DD would ever self-study. She is too busy following whoever on instagram and/or twitter. Boo.
@HiToWaMom … My D did not really engage in the prep class and push herself. I think the large group style just did not work for her. Plus… She hates the SAT test itself. She came out of the ACT class actually enthused about the rest and future prep. We will see in a few weeks of the self prep has been effective for her.
We looked around the UC Santa Cruz campus today. What a beautiful place! DS commented that he really liked the smell of the campus–redwood trees.
Since it was Sunday and Easter we didn’t have a tour or see many people. We walked around the physical sciences area and peeked through windows at flyer walls, etc. The Center for Adaptive Optics caught his eye; astrophysics is one of the subfields where UCSC is particularly well regarded. In the engineering section, we found some unlocked doors and spent some time looking at the posters in the hallways for senior capstone projects. It was enough to convince DS that it’s a “real” university, and not “just a safety” as he’d thought. It probably won’t be super high on his list, but it sure is a lovely campus and I think he’ll check the box on his UC application.
People aren’t kidding when they say UCSC is spread out! DS said he’d keep in shape just biking to classes. We went for a hike near the arts section of the campus. Beautiful views of the ocean and green fields with wildflowers! I suppose the presence of redwood trees means it rains here a lot more than we are accustomed to. We saw a raccoon and a banana slug (the school’s mascot).
DC21 seemed to really like the place, and we also poked around the arts section and digital media, which currently interests DC. The word is that UCSC is very LGBTQ friendly, so that appeals to DC. It is good to have DC21 see a college that could be a good fit as a motivator to improve several sagging grades in fairly easy jr high classes.
Oh, and we went to the Beach Boardwalk and rode the log ride and played laser tag. Trying to add some fun here and there. Not sure what fun we can find for DC21 tomorrow at Stanford. Perhaps the art museum. I think DC would prefer to skateboard around campus alone. I don’t think it’s that type of campus, though.
The ACT prep class has been good for S17, while he might self study, it would be a token effort at best and wouldn’t push himself. That said, while we will do it again for this next test, if the results don’t improve I may just throw in the towel and we live with the scores we have. He is a miserable test taker. The idea of doing it again in September sounds like no fun at all. I may however have him do the SAT in Sept, just so we have a baseline on that one. I think that might be easier to do (and self study over the summer) than a 4th ACT.
I will say though, he hated the large group prep class. Almost all of his was 1:1 and that really helped. The group one was not good.
As for the counselor…I had definitely planned on filling that role, for free. I am not at all sure she can find things I haven’t or that I wouldn’t. That said, S is being so restrictive in his requirements that I do wonder if another voice would be a good thing. I don’t think it could hurt. I need to get a good feel for what her role would be in this aspect. But for free, another voice doesn’t seem like a bad idea especially if it can get him to expand his thinking. He is really focused on a school that we feel is not the best fit for him and we need to be careful how we handle it (or it will really backfire on us lol). It would be nice if it self sorted itself out or to the very very bottom of the list.
Right now I am dealing with a kid who just got back from a 2 week band trip, who didn’t take his ADHD meds while on said trip and wants to reduce his dosage as he “liked” himself better while not on the meds. This scares me. I was not a fan of him taking then in the first place, it’s only been a year, but it helped tremendously on the school front.
@Ynotgo – Re: skateboarding around Stanford. Don’t rule it out…I drove my son over there the evening before our tour/info session day so that he could meet up with a HS classmate to chat. We both commented on the # of students skateboarding & biking home in the evening. I don’t know if the skateboards are only used for the ‘commute’; I didn’t pay attention to see if they were used between classes. That campus is vast and open, so it may be an option to entertain the younger one.
Re: SAT prep. Older son had semi-private tutoring. Approximately same price as prep course but I could design timing of instruction to work around summer plans. Tutoring was helpful for older son to show him the ropes, teach him the ‘tricks’, identify patterns. After taking the exam the first time, he just plowed through practice exams at home by himself. There is really only so much a tutor can do. Repetition is the key, assuming one knows the content.
Younger son refuses tutoring but has been very successful using books I order off Amazon. Younger son’s approach is not for everyone, and would not have worked for older son.
@Ynotgo, Thank you for the UCSC report. I went there for UG back in the day when they did not give grades and before they had an engineering school. I loved it. It was very liberal then also. I would love for S to be able to consider it, but as we are out of state, the OOS cost with no possibility of merit aid put any UC out of the picture.
Here is the final Arizona school report for Univ. of AZ. I will start with no matter how much I try to like Tucson, I just don’t. I always think that I will like Tucson better than Phoenix, and Phoenix keeps winning. The UA campus itself is like an oasis in a dusty area. They campus is green and lush, with an old southwest charm in the Old Main section of buildings. The admin session was relatively brief and to the point. It was pretty much in line with other State schools we have visited. One thing that was a little different was that they actually mentioned many items that were extra cost vs. part of the tuition and fees. A pass to the sports events (football) was additional and if you wanted to go to basketball that was more because the team is GOOD. There were other additional fees, but I didn’t write them all down. The tour was a long one - 90 minutes - and very good. We went through buildings to peek into some classrooms and computer centers and we walked through the library. It was nice to go into the buildings. The meal plan is interesting. At some point the students and admin decided that they didn’t want traditional dining halls, so most of the options that you use your dining dollars on seem to be fast-food like. I did see one all-you-can-eat cafe. I didn’t like the “bad food choice” dining so much. We also toured the honors college. After the awesome ASU honors college, the UA honors college was less impressive. The stats of the students was the highest of any school in AZ, but the honors housing was only OK and small. They guarantee freshmen honors housing, and then it sounds like you’re on your own. The honors dorms are 80% freshmen, so you would be a little out of place as an upperclassman. S would prefer to live on campus for at least two years, and UA doesn’t really support that. All and all, I think that UA is an option, but not at the top of the list. ASU, with their better NMF scholarship and totally awesome housing for the honors college is currently the front runner.
@Ynotgo -Sorry for the delay on the block schedule question; holidays, relatives and all that.
Back when S07 was in HS the school had a block schedule like Gator88NE described. I am not completely sure why the HS moved away from that scheduling, but they are now a more traditional 7 period schedule. Each period is 50 minutes except on Wednesdays when the are only 42 minutes in a period.
The AP Calc “double block” is a carry over from when students could take Calc AB in Fall (5 90 minute classes a week) then Calc BC in Spring. The school created a “double block” for the 7 period day by scheduling Calc AB in two consecutive periods (two 50 minute periods with a six minute break in between) for the fall semester and then the same for Calc BC in the spring. It is my D’s understanding the they begin Calc BC before the Fall semester is complete so they are ready for the AP exam in May.
The strange part is my D has two AP Calc AB classes on her fall schedule and will receive two grades - both the same of course - and the same for Calc BC in the spring. So if she stumbles in the fall semester it will be a double whammy for the GPA.
I mean to comment earlier on the number of classes available/blocks. We do not have the double block option but we do have the option for 7 classes. A normal schedule is 6. A day (Monday) has all 6 classes @ 50 min each. B and C days alternate 3 classes @ 1 hour 40 min each. The 7th period is zero period, it is before school and only available for a few classes. Specialized music and PE. My kids do zero period for Jazz Band. Zero period is all 5 days @ 45 min each.
We are in central Florida where the D-I athletes are a little thicker. For the class of 2016 my D’s school has one going to Maryland (turned down the Naval Academy), one to Notre Dame (rescinded verbal to UF) and one to Vandy (turned down UF). Besides those, there are a number going out of state to D-II, mainly for football. It seems the lure of an OOS scholarship is just too much to keep the home.
However, we do have a football stud for 2017 that is high on UF. He was invited to a Gator game where he got to meet Tebow, looks like that closed the deal for him.
@CaucAsianDad Grades for double block classes, in our school district, are handled the same way, it’s treated as two classes. It makes sense as they need to have the same “weight” for GPA, as two normal classes. Each period even has a different “name”, such as “AICE Physics” and “AP or Honor Physics”, even though it’s the same class.
It’s likely due to limitations in the grade portal.
@HiToWaMom - My S took ACT in September and took PSAT in OCT. He prepared on his own for ACT and didn’t do any prep for PSAT (except one practice test). He said ACT prep helped for PSAT. He scored well in both.
There’s nothing they could do for my D that I couldn’t. They could be good for parents who either are not knowledgeable about the process or don’t have the considerable time to devote to it (and have the financial resources).