Hi Neena,

I just saw and responded to your email.  My services are less expensive through ECN, however they do limit us on time.  If you'd prefer to just continue our discussion via email that might be more convenient.  Otherwise, we can set a call up on ECN and you can share your questions and information with me as we meet.

Hi Tara,Those are many good questions! 

1- The time to start working with a consultant is as soon as your daughter is ready. While I have some students start as early as 9th grade, to help understand their interests and how to work on activities during the school year and summer, the ideal time for college work is now before junior year. This summer is a key time to begin exploring colleges (lots of ways to explore virtually), narrowing down her interests and majors, and diving deeper into key interests. Then, we can also discuss her testing options and work out her timeline between now and senior year with her college journey tasks. 

2- Yes, there are consultants who just work with financing, but many of us are well equipped to help you find colleges that help you with merit aid to reduce the cost, as well as assistance to help you understand college financing and the process. 

3- I am happy to discuss my services and fees, I have several different options, depending on how much guidance your daughter needs  - please feel free to email me a good time for us to talk: Audrey@Aroadmapforcollege.com. I'd be  happy to speak with you this week! 

Warmly,

Audrey Slaughter - A Roadmap for College

I do believe that the coronavirus will affect the students enrolling for the fall of 2020 as well as for those applying this fall for 2021.

Many colleges have pushed back their decision deadlines from the universal May 1 Candidate Reply Date to June 1 (or later). I think this will mean the colleges aren't going to have as good of a handle on their fall numbers as they typically have and summer "melt" (number of students who cancel enrollment) might be bigger than expected. Students who typically visit colleges in the spring will have to get by using virtual visits in order to make their decision. There have been some recent surveys that report more students are planning to stay closer to home in the fall. I see more uncertainty in decision-making from my students than in previous years in terms of where they will enroll.

The impact of students staying closer to home and taking longer to make their decisions will also impact the use of waitlists by the colleges. I think some colleges will go deeper into their waitlist than they have in previous years, which means students will have more options that come later in the spring and may affect initial decisions.

Financial aid offices are also going to receive more requests to review financial aid packages in light of families' changing financial situations due to the pandemic. I think finances will be an even bigger factor in where students end up enrolling this fall because of the economic crisis unfolding in our nation and the world.

As for current juniors who will apply to enroll in the fall of 2021, we are already seeing colleges making changes to their admission requirements for fall 2021. There are almost daily postings of colleges going test-optional for those applying for fall 2021 and in some cases, beyond. I think colleges that consider things like demonstrated interest will also need to make changes to how they assess interest in the admission process.

There are many more changes that could be unfolding in the upcoming months as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are so many unknowns at this time that both colleges and students will need to remain as flexible as possible.

Feel free to contact me for further information.

Thanks,

Cathy McMeekan

Hi there!  Great question.  Some colleges have already decided to push the enrollment deadline (which had traditionally been May 1) to a later date, and many are now considering that change.  Colleges share your concern about forcing you and your child to make a decision without ever visiting campus.

I've seen some colleges push back that May 1 date to June 1, and I've seen others considering dates even later into the summer.  I would anticipate that you'll see widespread announcements coming.  At this point, because we are where we are in the timing cycle (decisions still coming over the next 2 weeks), your child may receive this information with his/her admission decision.

I would also start to use college online virtual tours to learn more about the campuses to which your child has been admitted.  Many colleges have them!  You can also research colleges' YouTube accounts, to see videos of the students who attend, the physical grounds, etc.  And finally, our team has visited hundreds of colleges, and we've posted writeups and photo galleries of our visits.  California colleges here; colleges outside California here.  We'd love for you to use our website as one of your resources!

Hope this info helps!

Best of luck.

Evelyn

There are many things you can do during your second semester of your junior year, including:

-.Determine what you are looking for in a college.

-.Research colleges to find ones that meet the criteria you have determined.

-.Visit the colleges, while the college is in session.

-.Set up your Common App and fill in what you can for the "common" portion. The application will roll over on August 1.

-.Brainstorm ideas for your college application essays.

- Once the Common App essay prompt comes out (typically in January), you can begin work on that essay.

- Select challenging classes for your senior year of high school.

- Make plans to do something meaningful (e.g., get a job, volunteer, learn something new, etc.) over the summer between your junior and senior year of high school.

- Prepare for and take the SAT or ACT.

- Keep up your grades and extra-curricular activities.

If you need guidance on any of these tasks, feel free to reach out to me.

Hi junior!

The most important thing you can be doing right now is keeping those grades up!  Keep in mind that your second semester of this year will be the last semester of grades that colleges will see when you apply.  So if you've had any dips, work hard now to make it an upward trend.

The next thing you should do is research colleges - and NOT just "reach" schools - research colleges whose average test scores are a bit below yours.  I promise you they aren't "dumber" just because their scores are lower than yours!  These are the schools that will REALLY WANT you and are most likely to give you a scholarship.

Here's more info on researching and building a balanced college list:

https://magellancounseling.com/what-is-a-balanced-college-list/

https://magellancounseling.com/how-many-colleges/

Best of luck!

Evelyn

Spring of your junior year is an excellent time to start researching your interests (i.e. for college majors/interest areas) and to reflect on what you want out of your college experience. Once you know sort-of what you'd like to study and some other particulars that you want in your college (beyond location and size), then you can start researching colleges. A great website to start this process is www.bigfuture.org, which is the College Board website. If you can go into the summer before your senior year with an evolving list of colleges you are considering applying to, then you can get a jump start working on college applications before the hectic senior year begins.

Also, spring is a great time to take an ACT or SAT test, and you can use the free resources provided by both those companies to do practice tests and test prep.

There are obviously more things you can do during the spring of the junior year to prep for the college process, but these are the bigger items to concentrate on first.

I'm happy to answer other questions either through email or you can schedule a call if you want to discuss further.

Good luck with the spring semester!

Cathy

Hi there - thanks for your message.  

I can help but I'm probably not the best person to help.  I would get in touch with someone who specializes in placing students after a break in their education.  I'm assuming you mean he didn't complete his sophomore year in high school, not college - correct?

You can e-mail me directly at evelyn@magellancounseling.com.

I would actually recommend, though, that you get in touch with Loren Grossman.  You can reach her at lrg@ix.netcom.com.

Best of luck!

Evelyn