admissions

Are You Helping or Hurting Your Kids’ Chances? Common Myths About How to Get into Selective Colleges in 2022 and Beyond!

 tagged admission / admissions / admissions process / COllege / selective by

The mythological “intel” below may SOUND reasonable enough, but applicants who heed such advice often find themselves disconsolate when admission decision postings and letters come out… Academic  Standardized Tests Activities Application Writing Miscellaneous Learn about these MYTHS in today’s admissions game and find out who advice DOES work in our Monthly College Admissions Zoom Talks for Parents & Teens…with Dr. Yo We’re here to help! 🤓

College Admissions Secrets for Parents and Teens: Listen to Mom’s Advice

 tagged ACT / admissions / applications / extracurriculars / junior year / parents / SAT / standardized tests / test anxiety by

By Kate Cryan, mom If you’re looking for an entertaining, informative, and inexpensive evening for you and your college-bound teens, head to Hall High School at 7pm on Wednesday March 12th, where Dr. Michael J. Youmans (aka Dr. “Yo”) of CollegePrepExpress will present a 90-minute “soup to nuts” overview of the college admissions process. College admission is a daunting process for both student and parents, and it makes no difference to the parents’ stress levels whether it’s the first or fifth child going to college.  (As a parent with one child nearly finished at college, I can vouch that starting […]

College Admissions 101 for Mom & Dad

 tagged admissions / applications / CommonApp / parents / SAT / standardized tests / strategies / test anxiety by

Online Education Radio at Blog Talk Radio with CollegePrepExpress on BlogTalkRadio Recorded LIVE, 6:30-7:00PM ET on 2/27/14 …or listen to this or any other PrepTalk with CPE show on… Do you you really want to help your kid but you’re just not sure how?Parents! Is your high schooler going to college? Is this the first time since your own college days that you’ve dealt with the admissions process? Do you have so many questions you don’t know where to start? Then this show is for YOU! Join Dr. Yo, J.D. Rothman (aka, the Neurotic Parent’s Guide to College Admissions), and a panel […]

Why the ACT is just as important as the SAT

 tagged ACT / admissions / junior year / SAT / test prep by

By Kate Cryan “There are several compelling reasons why students SHOULD TAKE BOTH tests.”  So said Dr. Yo in this 2008 post. You could say he was a good five years ahead of the curve: last year, the number of students taking the ACT was, for the first time, slightly higher than the number taking SAT, and 50% higher than the number taking ACT ten years ago. Why the sudden preference for ACT? It’s not sudden, and it’s not a preference, because SAT popularity hasn’t waned. The number of ACT takers has steadily increased each year until it finally surpassed […]

Winning the Battle of CommonApp ’13

 tagged admissions / CommonApp by

If you’re a high school senior, the last few weeks might have been more fraught than you’d anticipated, even taking into account that college application season is never a relaxed time. Halloween party planning or watching the Red Sox’ march to victory in the World Series could have taken a back seat while, instead, you spent your evenings in front of the computer, watching the Spinning Beach Ball of Death on the screen and hoping that – this time, please, please, please – the CommonApp would cooperate and accept your college application before the deadline. Or before you hurled your […]

Seniors, Don’t Make This Classic Time-Management Mistake!

 tagged admissions / applications / senior year by

Time is a fall-term senior’s most precious commodity. Nevertheless, year after year we see seniors making the same time management mistake as they play the college admissions game: they put application work ahead of schoolwork and test prep. Oops! It’s a mistake that has two negative consequences: first, it prevents seniors from doing their best work and getting the best grades they can (remember: colleges care more about your grades than ANYTHING else), and second, it inevitably leads to greater stress for them and their families. And their #1 accomplice in this crime? Their well-intentioned parents who simply want them […]

9th and 10th Graders: DON’T WAIT TO GET INVOLVED IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

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Attention 9th and 10th graders! One of the best parts about being an “underclassman” is that you have more time than juniors and seniors to try new things. By the time you get to 11th and 12th grades, you’ll have harder classes and more demanding teachers; more standardized tests with higher stakes; and college visits and applications to contend with. So enjoy your relative freedom while you can and take advantage of opportunities to try new things. What new things, you ask? Good question, glad you’re paying attention. Start with your hobbies and interests—what we in the college admissions industry […]

Pep Talk for Standardized Test-Taking JUNIORS

 tagged ACT / admissions / applications / junior year / SAT / standardized tests by

“The truth can hurt you it’s just like the dark it’ll scare you witless but in time you see things clear and stark.” – Elvis Costello Everybody knows junior year is the hardest working year of high school. And, alas, the stark reality is the hardest part of it is the final stretch. Cumulative tests, big papers, final projects, and (gulp) final exams all conspire to make the last two to three months challenging to sleep, serenity, even sanity. Oh yeah, and then throw standardized testing—SATs ACTs, Subject Tests, and, in some cases, AP exams—into the already unmanageable mix. Thanks, adult world, […]

Parent Tip #23: Take Notes During Info Sessions

 tagged admissions / applications / college visits / parents by

(with thanks to Kim Brunstad, Yale Law) Parents I work with would love nothing more than to help their kids get into top colleges, but they often feel helpless to do anything useful beyond helping their teens organize their time (read: nag; see CPE’s blog post, 3 Dont’s and Do’s for Parents in the College Admissions Game). So if you’re a parent of a 10th-12th grader and planning to spend some or all of your Spring Break visiting schools, here’s a great, practical tip you can use: Take great notes during the info sessions for your child’s later use during […]