College Counseling Advice

“My daughter attends [high ranking Connecticut public school].  How much do colleges consider the strength of a high school?” Unfortunately, probably not as much as you think.  Plentiful exceptions abound so I realize that some admissions officials and some colleges account more heavily than others for the strength of an applicant’s high school.  But many […]

In providing college counseling to Connecticut parents over the years, I noticed early on that the experience of being in college versus the post-college career outcome was far and away the dominant consideration in the early part of the 2000s. This, of course, was pre-Great Recession. Having grown up in a New York city suburb, […]

2016 will be a huge year for Connecticut juniors heading to college. Here are a few resolutions that you should keep. 1.) I will start the college process early. This would mean NOW. In counseling college bound students for the last 15 years, I have never head a parent or student complain about starting too […]

Good video from Big Think: http://bigthink.com/videos/dan-ariely-on-how-to-be-more-rational Most of College Counseling Connecticut’s parent-clients are very bright.  They live their lives rationally, except when it comes to the college process. Anxiety takes over. The elephant in the room is that the child is leaving home. Parents don’t discuss their feelings with the child: “I worry that I didn’t […]

“I figure Eric has a 6% chance of getting into Harvard.” Mr. Hennigan said in relation to his high school junior son at Guilford High School. Mr. Hennigan pointed to Harvard’s 5.9% admission rate as evidence. Most people hate math.  Statistics is a particularly arcane area of math but college admission strategy must be analyzed […]

While I have been fielding my fair share of calls from anxious Connecticut parents about their child’s deferrals from Early Action or Early Decision programs, I have also heard from several delighted parents whose children were accepted. Here are some of the traits that seem to be common among clients of College Counseling Connecticut who […]

Aristotle described the “golden mean” to convey the middle between two extremes. Through the years, I have counseled our clients to use this model when applying to college.  Those being too cautious are likely not to attain an optimal outcome and those being too risky face the dangers of recklessness. Of late, I have noticed […]

Miller was one of my all time favorite students.  I learned from his mother that he just accepted a job at Microsoft.  Miller stands out in part because he said one of my all time favorite lines when I met him as 16 year old at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT.  “I want […]

2016 will be a transformative year. You will be taking the SATs or the ACTs and some of you will be taking the SAT II subject tests. Some of you will also take AP exams and, of course, that means you have been taking AP classes. Due to your challenging classes, you will work harder […]

Most every parent of a high school junior in Connecticut is likely sick of hearing: “junior year is so hard.” Indeed, due to the combination of starting the college search, taking SATs/ACTs, AP classes, and knowing that 11th grade matters the most for college, junior year of high school is the hardest year of K-12 […]