My name is Trish Portnoy and I am here to help you apply to college. Luckily, I am an expert. I have helped over 1,000 high school students go through this process, and you, too, will be totally prepared to pick the right college for you…with a little help from your friends…you parents and guidance counselor! Continue Reading
My name is Trish Portnoy and I am here to help you apply to college. Luckily, I am an expert. I have helped over 1,000 high school students go through this process, and you, too, will be totally prepared to pick the right college for you…with a little help from your friends…you parents and guidance counselor! Continue Reading
Congratulations, Arne Duncan, on your upcoming resignation as US Secretary of Education! We’re happy to hear that you plan to continue your professional journey as a change-agent for education in your hometown of Chicago. But please pardon my persistence, Arne, you still haven’t responded to my question and suggestions about programs to help high school seniors mindfully navigate the college research, application and selection processes. #AskArne Continue Reading
Last week President Obama introduced the College Scorecard, an online tool for students and parents researching and selecting colleges. Reviews of the site and its data have been mixed, as discussed in Jordan Weissmann’s post “The Government Just Made it Much Easier to Tell Which Colleges Are a Waste of Money” where he appreciates the information on the earning power of schools’ graduates. His view directly contrasts with J. Randall O’Brien’s Huffington Post article “President Obama’s New College Scorecard Receives an “F” where the university president criticizes salary information as an indicator of a college’s worth as it may discourage liberal arts or service majors by focusing on the lower earning power of these graduates. Continue Reading
Naviance is a multi-faceted education planning, application management, web-based platform used by guidance counselors, teachers, students and parents. To log in you must follow the link from your school district’s website and register with the code provided by your counselor. Continue Reading
Ideally, this guidance, as well as all other college planning advice, must be given to students before they step foot into high school. Currently, most of these teaching moments occur during junior year, right before students take SAT or ACT tests, or during the fall of twelfth grade. Slight problem… by then, some requirements of college applications cannot be changed, except with the wave of a magic wand. Continue Reading
You should be jumping with joy for this opportunity to differentiate yourself, articulate your own personal style, and bring life to a college application full of grades, scores and facts. Instead, most students deliberately procrastinate and resent that they have to write a personal essay which, in reality, is less than three pages typed, double-spaced! Continue Reading
Kacie Candela chooses the “Right Fit” college instead of being awestruck by name-brand college recognition and publicized rankings. Selecting the right college should be a methodical approach where you consider factual data, independent sources, self-imposed student loan limits, and personal preferences. Continue Reading
College Navigator is one of my favorite websites (as you already know) for accessing college-related data. The information is collected directly from the colleges by the National Center for Education Statistics at www.collegenavigator.gov (note the .gov URL extension which we mentioned in last week’s article!) and there are no advertisements or frilly distractions. Continue Reading
It’s mid-August and many teens are experiencing anxiety from the mere thought of returning to school, but none more than those who are about to begin their final year of high school. They know the pressure is on…applying to college, playing Varsity sports, going to Prom, navigating the social scene, dealing with peer pressure and finally, and most importantly, maintaining those good grades. Continue Reading