It’s exam time, and you’re feeling the pressure. Your heart is racing, your palms are sweating, and your mind is racing through all the possible outcomes – good and bad. You know you need to calm down, but it feels like everything is working against you.
Don’t worry; everyone has been there. The good news is that there are ways to calm yourself before an exam, so you can go in feeling prepared and confident by destressing.
Continue reading Destressing Before Tests
The teenage years are all about the battles. The nature of the relationship between teens and their parents lends itself to conflict. The wise parent uses these conflicts as teaching lessons. The wiser parent learns when to recognize their teen’s desire for independence and let go and when to stand firm.
The college process often brings conflict between parent and student college choices. The following is a list of do’s and don’ts for parents when the conflict arises:
Continue reading When Parent and Student College Choices DifferNeed for help with summer college prep? Learn everything you need to know about applying for college by using my Parent Crash Course.
Summer has begun and your student is enjoying some down time from their academic studies. Down time is good, but if you have a college-bound student, summers are also a great time to do a little bit of college preparation.
As parents, it’s our responsibility to make sure our teenagers make the most of their time in the summer and help them get ready for the upcoming school year. That’s why I have broken down the summer for each year your student will be in school in the fall by providing 10 tips for moms to follow. Just follow the links below each year to help your student make the most of their summer.
Continue reading 10 Tips for Moms This SummerGet a head start on college prep this summer. Learn everything you need to know about applying for college by getting my Parent Crash Course.
When my kids were teenagers, “I’m bored” came flowing out of their mouths almost every single day during the summer. They missed their friends. They missed the constant activity. They missed participating in all the school-related extracurricular activities. If you have kids, it’s inevitable that those words will be spoken in your household during the summer.
When you hear those words (and even if you don’t) here’s a list of summer activities that will keep your college-bound teen busy AND help their college admissions process in the future.
Continue reading Will Your Student Be Bored This Summer?
I will never forget the moment we received our Student Aid Report and I saw the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) on the right-hand corner. I was in shock as most parents are. How could the powers that be believe we could afford to pay that amount for college? It was a mystery to me how they came up with that number, as it is to most of you.
The EFC determines how much financial aid the colleges will award to your student. You can’t receive any federal or institutional aid without getting an EFC when you complete the FAFSA. We are stuck with it and will probably never truly understand how they use to determine how much money your family can afford to pay.
If you are going to need financial aid for college (and who doesn’t?), you will need to understand the EFC.
Continue reading Do You Understand the EFC?Today’s guest post is from Brad Schiller, an MIT graduate, as well as the CEO and Co-Founder of Prompt, the world’s most respected and fastest-growing college essay coaching and feedback company.
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There is a secret to successfully helping your student with their college essays.
Before we get to it, we have 4 questions you should consider to help alert you to pitfalls that often plague parents who “just want to help” during college application season.
But before we even get to those questions, let’s begin with the bottom line: the best thing a parent can do for their college-bound student is to be loving, supportive, and simply there for them. And that’s not easy.
Applying to colleges is stressful and often emotionally draining. As college essay coaches, we see this all the time. Make it your top priority not to correct grammar, improve writing, or get your kid into a “better” school, but to make this year as good as it can be for you and your teen.
Continue reading Supporting Your College-Bound Student Without Going Crazy
As your child gets older, they will have to learn how to take on more responsibility. They will have to learn how to get their homework done and they will also need to be able to rely on other students for support. How can you motivate your student to study?
As a parent, it is vital that you have an active role to play when it comes to your child’s studying, but at the same time, you should be trying to avoid forcing them to do it. If you do force them, then you may find that you end up demotivating them and this is the last thing you want.
Continue reading How to Motivate Your Student to Study
Most of us have experienced summer camp at one point in our life. We sang Kumbayah around the campfire, went on nature hikes, and played pranks on other campers. At the end of camp we went home with plenty of dirty laundry, arts and craft projects, and some new friends. Back in those days, the thought of going to summer camp to prepare for college was the last thing on our minds, or our parents’ minds for that matter. They shipped us off to camp to keep us occupied and enjoy some well-deserved time to themselves.
Times have certainly changed. Parents have recognized the need for college preparation; and they are now able to combine that preparation with a camp. That’s right–summer camp can now be more than dirty laundry and arts and crafts.
Continue reading Prepare for College at Summer Camp
When parents and students enter the college-bound process, issues arise. It’s the inevitable clash of what parents think is best for their kids, and what the kids want. Over the past 18 years the clashes have been over such things as food, friends and entertainment choices. As college approaches, the parent-student conflict intensifies.
Following are five areas that typically cause parent – student conflict along with some advice on how to handle it and work toward a compromise.
Continue reading Resolving Parent – Student Conflict During the College Process
For seniors who applied regular decision, March brings those long-awaited college decisions: deferred, accepted, rejected, and waitlisted. One knowledgeable college counselor once told me, “I don’t like to call these letters of acceptance. I use the term—offers of admission.” As a parent, I like that distinction. This alternative wording makes it easier to stomach those not-so-pleasant responses and help your college-bound teen work through the gamut of emotions that come when decisions arrive.
Your student may be the one receiving these communications from the colleges, but you feel every emotion they do from failure to excitement and everything in between. But unless you understand what each term means, it’s hard to know how to help your student (and yourself) with appropriate responses and proper action.
Continue reading You Heard from the Colleges – Now What?