Parents of 11th Grade Students - High School

[Anonymous]

DCUM is not a fan, but I've learned a lot from the Your College Bound Kid podcast. Be ready to skip stuff you're not interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of 11th-grade students preparing "in advance" for college, do you know any private admissions counselor/consultant who supports talented kids from middle-income homes? How much are their services? Do you have any recommendations for private consultants who cost no more than $3,000?

I am sorry to tell you this but starting midway through jr year is not preparing in advance.

We did- started mid-Jr year, even later. No hired help. Kid is at an Ivy RD and accepted to multiple T10/20 RD. Did not plan out ECs, just did what he liked, summer job, etc

Granted he had all As and was always very strong (no prep) test taker.

But so sick of the fear-mongering. He also submitted/finished 90% of applications in the week between Cmas and New Years.

When people write posts like this, I assume they are either (1) talking about a hooked kid, or (2) exaggerating. The beauty of an anonymous forum.

Zero hooks. White male.

If it is not engineering, being a male is a hook. There just aren’t as many males applying to college and schools want something close to gender balanced cohorts if possible.

Depends on the school. More males apply to Princeton, just as one example.

Of course there are outliers, but 58% of college students are female.

From the website Ivy Coach:

“However, not every Ivy League school has a higher acceptance rate for male applicants. Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Yale certainly do, but Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania do not. In fact, Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania have a higher acceptance rate for female applicants. Harvard is the only school that is evenly split down the middle. However, it’s still likely that each of these schools are still tipping the scales in favor of men. Without any gender consideration, these female acceptance rates would be much higher.“

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've found the free advice on this counselor's blog to be very helpful:

https://www.koppelmangroup.com/

Beware. I considered hiring her.
Yikes.
Make sure you meet with her to confirm fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of 11th-grade students preparing "in advance" for college, do you know any private admissions counselor/consultant who supports talented kids from middle-income homes? How much are their services? Do you have any recommendations for private consultants who cost no more than $3,000?

I am sorry to tell you this but starting midway through jr year is not preparing in advance.

We did- started mid-Jr year, even later. No hired help. Kid is at an Ivy RD and accepted to multiple T10/20 RD. Did not plan out ECs, just did what he liked, summer job, etc

Granted he had all As and was always very strong (no prep) test taker.

But so sick of the fear-mongering. He also submitted/finished 90% of applications in the week between Cmas and New Years.

When people write posts like this, I assume they are either (1) talking about a hooked kid, or (2) exaggerating. The beauty of an anonymous forum.

Zero hooks. White male.

If it is not engineering, being a male is a hook. There just aren’t as many males applying to college and schools want something close to gender balanced cohorts if possible.

Depends on the school. More males apply to Princeton, just as one example.

Of course there are outliers, but 58% of college students are female.

From the website Ivy Coach:

“However, not every Ivy League school has a higher acceptance rate for male applicants. Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Yale certainly do, but Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania do not. In fact, Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania have a higher acceptance rate for female applicants. Harvard is the only school that is evenly split down the middle. However, it’s still likely that each of these schools are still tipping the scales in favor of men. Without any gender consideration, these female acceptance rates would be much higher.“

Cornell and Penn - more males bc of undergrad business schools and/or engineering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started during that time period (junior year) for my current college student and it was late….

My 2 cents below:

It takes 6+ months to get up to speed with the books; podcasts; FB groups; this board; examining your school’s data.

Your kid should start their “inventory” (20+ idea paragraphs with interesting hooks and topic sentences) of essays this May or June at latest and continue to refine after that.

Work on personal essay with essay coach or through a workshop (how much guidance does kid need)?

Personal essay and activities for common app finalized in August - continue to apply for scholarships or awards to list in the meanwhile.

Supp essays will take the most time from Sept- forward. Good essay coach is key and most important if you’ve already gotten a balanced list.

Finding “good” supp essay examples has been harder than you might think?

FB groups:
I belong to a bunch- Application Nation (imo worth it); college Admissions Experts by Ingenius Prep; college admissions experts by great college advice; and college planning for parents of high school students (run by a former MI AO).

Older kid at an Ivy and got in RD. That app was the last app that kid submitted and the essays were the strongest.

Current senior: we did not hire a private college counselor this time, but used various essay editing services and found them to be generally very helpful. After being deferred ED, kid applied to more schools RD. 20 total. Apps going in today have quite possibly the strongest supplements I’ve ever read anywhere. Actually have an emotional hook…one made me sit back.

It takes a LOT of time to learn to write this way. And for the people say that a lot of it is copy and repeat that will not work for selective top 20 schools. For one of my kids essays everything written that will be submitted today was brand new. It needs to go sooo deep. Hard to copy and repeat and make it more than ehhh.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

+1. This is great, honest advice! Particularly the comment about not copying/repeating essays for top schools. Definitely go deep. Need to show fit for the school, show you are familiar with school's specific resources, how you will take advantage of them and why that school/programs are important for your academic goals. Be specific, not generic. The essay writing takes a lot of time - more than we expected to craft great essays- the research, developing the ideas and the editing. Many highly selective private schools have 3-5 supplemental essays! The larger state schools have 0-2 supplements, plus honors college essays, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of 11th-grade students preparing "in advance" for college, do you know any private admissions counselor/consultant who supports talented kids from middle-income homes? How much are their services? Do you have any recommendations for private consultants who cost no more than $3,000?

No one is doing charity work for “middle income” kids, op. A full package locally usually costs around $8000 and up. If there is certain things you want help with, you can probably get that on an hourly basis.

Regardless, I'd like to see the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of 11th-grade students preparing "in advance" for college, do you know any private admissions counselor/consultant who supports talented kids from middle-income homes? How much are their services? Do you have any recommendations for private consultants who cost no more than $3,000?

No one is doing charity work for “middle income” kids, op. A full package locally usually costs around $8000 and up. If there is certain things you want help with, you can probably get that on an hourly basis.

Regardless, I'd like to see the list.

List of what???
Search on here.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know anything about Thomas Caleel? The Admitedly podcast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started during that time period (junior year) for my current college student and it was late….

My 2 cents below:

It takes 6+ months to get up to speed with the books; podcasts; FB groups; this board; examining your school’s data.

Your kid should start their “inventory” (20+ idea paragraphs with interesting hooks and topic sentences) of essays this May or June at latest and continue to refine after that.

Work on personal essay with essay coach or through a workshop (how much guidance does kid need)?

Personal essay and activities for common app finalized in August - continue to apply for scholarships or awards to list in the meanwhile.

Supp essays will take the most time from Sept- forward. Good essay coach is key and most important if you’ve already gotten a balanced list.

Finding “good” supp essay examples has been harder than you might think?

FB groups:
I belong to a bunch- Application Nation (imo worth it); college Admissions Experts by Ingenius Prep; college admissions experts by great college advice; and college planning for parents of high school students (run by a former MI AO).

Older kid at an Ivy and got in RD. That app was the last app that kid submitted and the essays were the strongest.

Current senior: we did not hire a private college counselor this time, but used various essay editing services and found them to be generally very helpful. After being deferred ED, kid applied to more schools RD. 20 total. Apps going in today have quite possibly the strongest supplements I’ve ever read anywhere. Actually have an emotional hook…one made me sit back.

It takes a LOT of time to learn to write this way. And for the people say that a lot of it is copy and repeat that will not work for selective top 20 schools. For one of my kids essays everything written that will be submitted today was brand new. It needs to go sooo deep. Hard to copy and repeat and make it more than ehhh.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Totally agree. Will add that the “story” of major is important. Like not just engineering or business or public health. Get specific and find a way to tie into activities section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've found the free advice on this counselor's blog to be very helpful:

https://www.koppelmangroup.com/

Beware. I considered hiring her.
Yikes.
Make sure you meet with her to confirm fit.

Say more, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know anything about Thomas Caleel? The Admitedly podcast?

What about it? Honesty the field is bursting with “experts” and podcasts and books and counselors and subtle sales pitches. Everyone has an opinion and is pushing something even if they don’t overtly make it known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is not a fan, but I've learned a lot from the Your College Bound Kid podcast. Be ready to skip stuff you're not interested in.

I agree. Great podcast. He believes in fit, which is real. Not just some crazy hunt for the T10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is not a fan, but I've learned a lot from the Your College Bound Kid podcast. Be ready to skip stuff you're not interested in.

I agree. Great podcast. He believes in fit, which is real. Not just some crazy hunt for the T10.

+1.

The host is very knowledgeable about the admissions process and gets great guests. He goes out on the road and visits schools and talks with the admissions staff and current students. I have used him on an hourly basis (pretty reasonable rate) to pick his brain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started during that time period (junior year) for my current college student and it was late….

My 2 cents below:

It takes 6+ months to get up to speed with the books; podcasts; FB groups; this board; examining your school’s data.

Your kid should start their “inventory” (20+ idea paragraphs with interesting hooks and topic sentences) of essays this May or June at latest and continue to refine after that.

Work on personal essay with essay coach or through a workshop (how much guidance does kid need)?

Personal essay and activities for common app finalized in August - continue to apply for scholarships or awards to list in the meanwhile.

Supp essays will take the most time from Sept- forward. Good essay coach is key and most important if you’ve already gotten a balanced list.

Finding “good” supp essay examples has been harder than you might think?

FB groups:
I belong to a bunch- Application Nation (imo worth it); college Admissions Experts by Ingenius Prep; college admissions experts by great college advice; and college planning for parents of high school students (run by a former MI AO).

Older kid at an Ivy and got in RD. That app was the last app that kid submitted and the essays were the strongest.

Current senior: we did not hire a private college counselor this time, but used various essay editing services and found them to be generally very helpful. After being deferred ED, kid applied to more schools RD. 20 total. Apps going in today have quite possibly the strongest supplements I’ve ever read anywhere. Actually have an emotional hook…one made me sit back.

It takes a LOT of time to learn to write this way. And for the people say that a lot of it is copy and repeat that will not work for selective top 20 schools. For one of my kids essays everything written that will be submitted today was brand new. It needs to go sooo deep. Hard to copy and repeat and make it more than ehhh.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Would you mind posting the links or actual ones you thought were good? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Resurrecting this to get more “experienced” parents to post advice or resources.