The most important thing to me is that students are able to customize our time together based on their specific interests and goals. When I begin working with a student, we start by establishing a strong foundation in all the core aspects of college prep: standardized testing, activity planning, etc. After that, it’s completely up to the student how we spend our time together.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this approach should be very familiar to you. Students at Hogwarts take classes in seven core subjects: astronomy, charms, defense against the dark arts, herbology, history of magic, potions, and transfiguration. This gives students the foundation they need in order to succeed in whatever career they end up pursuing. However, once students pass their O.W.L. exams in year five, they begin concentrating on one or more subjects, depending on their specific interests and goals.
I think of college counseling as having a very similar structure to the Hogwarts curriculum. We start with our foundation:
Career research (and college major research)
College research
Resume building
Summer planning (including summer programs)
Standardized testing
GPA maintenance
With this foundation in place, we can begin customizing things based on the student’s interests and goals. Here are a few examples:
Resume building: If a student really wants to go above and beyond with their activities, we’ll embark on some kind of unique project. I’ve helped students publish poetry, start nonprofits, create businesses, organize charity events, conduct independent research, create iPhone apps, teach their own classes, and much more.
Career and college major research: If a student isn’t sure what they want to do in the future, I’ll have them take a personality and aptitude assessment so that they can learn more about themselves and the types of careers that they might be the best suited for. Each month, we’ll research a few different careers and keep track of everything on a spreadsheet with notes detailing what they liked and didn’t like about each option.
GPA maintenance: While I’m not a tutor for specific subjects, I absolutely help students with study skills, time management, scheduling, learning how to effectively use a calendar, how to set up a reminder system, etc. I also help students find and register for extra courses (e.g., at a local community college) if they need to boost their GPA.
College research: Some students come to me with a pretty good idea of where they want to apply. Other students have no idea, in which case we’ll explore a vast array of options - everything from big research universities (NYU, UT Austin, Carnegie Mellon) to smaller liberal arts colleges (Harvey Mudd College, Swarthmore College) to international universities (Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics).
What’s important to me is that everything we do fits within the framework of the student’s interests, goals, and passions. Rather than handing students a list of volunteer organizations or a list of colleges and careers to research, everything we do starts with the student themselves. Passionate about punk rock music and anime? That can be our starting point for thinking about a unique project. Interested in gerrymandering in politics or the measurement problem in quantum theory? Those can be our starting points when crafting a summer plan. Not sure what type of college environment is best for you? We’ll do some brainstorming exercises that will get you thinking about which parts of the college experience are the most important to you.
At the end of the day, regardless of what we’re working on together, I’m an ally and supporter above all else, someone whose job is to make the students’ lives easier. My hope is that students not only build killer resumes and figure out their dream careers, but that they develop a powerful sense of confidence that will guarantee success both in the college application process and beyond.
If you’re a 9th, 10th, or 11th grade student looking to get started on your own customized college prep journey, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a free consultation.