College Chat with Christine Chapman

Back to School Thoughts for Students Applying to College and/or Independent School

We've been blessed with a great summer, with incredibly sunny, hot days that could be spent by the pool or at the beach! Still, there were times for me, throughout the summer, when, despite the craziness that I felt as someone attempting to make the most of summer (over-scheduling, over-socializing, and just trying to get the most time with friends and family) I also managed to do a great deal of planning and work. If you are a rising senior, or his/her parent, or if your family is considering the independent school application process for your child, you've probably been doing a lot of planning, too.

The summer is always a super-chaotic time in my office, with workshops scheduled throughout the summer, and weekly meetings with my private clients, not to mention all the work that goes into individualized scholarship searches. This particular summer was one where a great deal of planning needed to get done, pronto, due to my own personal situation: I gave birth to a baby boy just 13 days ago!

With the arrival of a new, little one in my life and what it means to be paying attention to his older sibling who has been the center of our world for 4.5 years, alongside the sleep deprivation that is a reality in the life of a once again, new mom, I knew that making the most of the "back to school" movement that happens at the end of each summer would have to be centered in some seriously careful planning. So I set out to plan as much as I could: when my meetings were going to happen, when workshops could happen, rescheduling skype meetings with clients from abroad to evenings, and sometimes late nights. And I started scheduling time for rest, for feedings, and for uninterrupted time with my 4 and a half year old and for things that are important like quiet moments with my husband and the importance of having dinner as a family. I knew that this was what I needed to do in order to keep my family intact, and to make sure that the business I run by myself, out of my home, could continue to thrive, even in the midst of a significant family transition.

Careful planning is the very thing that I think families and students facing the college application process and the independent school application process can do as they ready themselves to go back to school. Senior year doesn't give you a lesser workload because you're also juggling the application process to colleges and the same is true for whatever is going on at your current elementary, middle or high school program. Plan your time well. Make sure you're aware of application requirements and deadlines. If there's an opportunity for you to work either independently or in a class setting on your application essays, then take advantage of it!  Make the time to start on actual form-filling of the application. Write down all of your awards and achievements, hobbies, jobs and other pastimes. Make sure you're getting your visits scheduled, and if possible, out of the way before your school year begins.

My best advice to you, as you begin your application process is to liken this process itself, to life with a newborn--it needs a lot of care and attention early on. It needs to be fed and nurtured and this can be done in coming up with a good, balanced list of schools and a clear understanding of requirements and the process time line. There is a need to prioritize what life with a new "baby" is going to mean in your life and plan accordingly so that your daily routine isn't too overwhelmed by the extra work that this process will push on you at a critical time in your high school career. Most of all, there's a need to take care of yourself, and make sure that you can be healthy and well-adjusted so that you can emotionally handle all that comes with juggling this application process, like the stresses and anxiety that come with it.

This is a significant rite of passage, an opportunity to mature, develop and take ownership of your future and to build on it in a positive manner. Take the time to do it right, and be gentle with yourself. Be kind to those who want to help you along the way and don't be afraid to reach out for help and make use of the many resources in your community. And believe me when I tell you that it's all going to work out just fine! There is indeed a right school and college match out there for everyone.

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The Workshop Advantage

One of the problems I have always had with the work that many educational consultants including me do, is that my services were not affordable for everyone. The more time that elapsed with me wearing the hat of an educational consultant, the more I thought about how many students need the help of someone who has a smaller case load, who has visited the schools or colleges they are recommending and who have the time and the collegial networks to help students and their families better understand and navigate the college or private school search and application process.

There are huge populations of students whom I feel don't get the support that they want or need, whether they are in public, private or homeschooled settings. In my opinion, there are too many families who come to me during senior year, unaware of what their students need to be doing or what the college process timeline even looks like. Then as our global economic recession became a reality, there were fewer families who could even look seriously at educational consulting services in the traditional one-price, full-service package model. All of this has come to be at a time when private school and college tuitions are so cost-prohibitive that families want and need, more than ever before, to be making sound decisions and seeking out the right match for their students.

As my business started to grow and change, what I wanted was to work with more diverse populations of students. I wanted to work with the families I had traditionally worked with--families who were aware of what the process looked like and who felt that my services were valuable in helping their students define and work towards their own goals and find the right educational matches on a one-on-one basis, but I also wanted to reach out to those populations of students who might not know about how I could be helpful and might need a little extra knowledge, not only about what I do, but could benefit from the kind of advice and guidance about what it means to find the right match and struggle through the many questions that come with looking at private schools and colleges for the first time--from research to enrollment. I started off by offering an hourly service, where families didn't need to pay what might feel like a daunting full-service package price, and instead focus on individual student and family needs as they approached the process but there were times when I felt that even the hourly charge could be cost-prohibitive to many during our economic downturn, and that really bothered me.        

In pondering the issue, the first conclusion I came to was this: there are so many aspects of the search and application process that can be managed in a small group setting. So, I started the workshop program we now offer at Starr & Chapman Educational Consulting to be able to work closely with students and to make my knowledge-base, guidance and consulting work affordable for the majority of families. Starr & Chapman Educational Consulting now offers numerous group workshops and presentation opportunities that are single-session workshops providing roadmaps of what needs to be done, when, for parents and students, so that "do-it-yourselfers" are supported and can obtain the knowledge-base they need to go forth into the world of admissions to a private school or college. We also offer small group-based workshops that take students through the process of thinking about and writing the college essay, or the process of researching and applying for merit scholarships, not to mention the numerous other topics and tasks that pertain to what it means to be applying to a private school or college.

As someone who works with students every day, and who believes that there is an ideal school or college setting out there for each student, the workshop advantage is about making educational consulting services accessible to anyone and everyone in some way, shape or form. It's also about meeting and helping more people. For students and parents, I believe the workshop advantage provides a way in which to access the knowledge of what the application process is, what it entails and to receive pointers about timetables and advice regarding any specific questions they might have without having to feel overburdened by a costly ticket-price. For students who attend my orientations and workshops, my office becomes a place where they get to meet other students going through the same process, who benefit from knowing that they aren't alone, and can get some serious work done and out of the way in a guided setting, with a professional they know they can remain in contact with later on for advice and guidance. I become that someone who doesn't happen to be a parent hovering over them, asking questions, which, for many students as they approach the college process, feels like nagging and annoying micro-management.

The most wonderful aspect of what I consider to be the workshop advantage is that in a short period of time, my students gain a great deal of value in the work they do during a workshop. I may see students for a single orientation workshop session or for a 4-session essay writing workshop. There are others who choose to sign up for and attend almost every single workshop and presentation session I offer. The bottom line is this: I feel so connected to these students, and feel grateful to have been able to help students and their families in some small way.  The connections we make, even during a single 2-hour workshop are significant. At the end of the day, the workshop advantage for me is that I was able to make an impact, at a lower cost, and I know that each and every student I have ever worked with knows that if they need to, they can comfortably reach out because I'll remember who they are and be ready to help or share in the great news they often contact me with at the end of the application process.

The workshop advantage for my students and their families is that there is a place they can seek out, where they have a resource that doesn't feel cost-prohibitive, where they can feel comfortable their students' needs will be a priority, and where they can access the kinds of educational advising and services that have traditionally only been delivered as pricey, one-on-one services to families.

We have ongoing workshops throughout the remainder of the summer and into the fall, so please consider taking advantage of our many workshop offerings! Give us a call or take a look at our website. We're here to help during what often seems like a very overwhelming and complicated process.

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For Rising Seniors: How To Make The Most of Your Summer

I hate to sound like a task master as summer approaches because what I want most of all is to have all my students enjoy their summers. I grew up in a family where there was always more work to be done, and where it was desirable to be doing something productive—even in the summer months—whether it was solving math problems, doing test prep or working hard at a part-time job that felt full-time. This is not necessarily what I believe summer should be for students.

However, as someone who works with students focused on the college process, and in particular with students looking to apply, in short order, to colleges, I have to put my college counselor hat on and say that if you’ve just finished your junior year, you’ve got a lot that needs to get done this summer.

Why is summer that all-important season to get as much accomplished as possible? Well, firstly, senior year is a stressful time. As senior year begins, students are faced with last opportunities to master standardized tests, they are applying to rolling and early application programs and they are supposed to be proving themselves as students who are challenging themselves to the best of their ability, and achieving what they can to make their senior year grades shine! There isn’t much time for thoughtful preparation or a process-oriented approach to the college process once the senior year starts up—the months of September through January are about last chances, and finalizing applications and doing touch-ups here and there. And there really isn’t much time to even begin the work of searching for scholarships by the time senior year begins. So for most students, all of the preparation and process-oriented work has to get done during the summer before senior year.

Here are some suggestions regarding how you can make the most of your summer as someone looking to be in good shape as you begin senior year in just a few short months:

1. Visit as many colleges as you can and finalize your list. If you know you are going to apply early decision or early action, make your decisions about these schools.
2. The common application goes live online on August 1, 2010. Download a copy of the application and complete it by hand and file it away until August 1. Then, you’ll be ready to get that piece of the application process out of the way as soon as the common application goes live.
3. Get to work on your personal statement—the long essay that most colleges ask you to write. Start looking at school-specific supplemental essays and start sketching out drafts.
4. Get started on your search for scholarships if you haven’t done so already. There are many scholarships geared towards high school seniors but you need to seek them out now as deadlines will start coming up in the fall.
5. Do any last minute test-prep you can if you plan to retake the standardized tests.
6. Do something meaningful. Inspiring. Fun. Don’t forget that summer is a time when, despite all that you have to get done before senior year, there will be opportunities to pursue a passion, travel, and connect with friends. No one expects you to have a miserable summer.

And if you need a little help and advice along the way...know that our office is open all summer and that we are offering everything from private sessions, small group workshops and guided scholarship search programs and tutoring. Don’t be shy—we’re here to help!

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Endings and Beginnings: The College Process

It’s May, and if you’re a senior, you have made your deposit to the college you will attend this fall and are hopefully nailing down summer job opportunities and planning a relatively stress-free, meaningful and yet productive summer. And after all of the hard work of searching for and applying to colleges and the anxiety-ridden act of having to sit and wait for answers, you deserve it! Congratulations! You’re close to the end of your high school career, and you deserve a pat on the back!

For all of you juniors about to become seniors, this next year is going to be a whirlwind. There is a lot you have to accomplish in the next 6-8 months and it’s going to be coming upon you quickly! So I wanted to give you some tips to make your summer months as productive and as stress-free as possible. If you stay organized and focused on the tasks you can complete this summer, you will sail confidently into senior year.

Here’s what you should focus on completing during the summer months to accomplish as much as you can before your senior year begins:

1. Decide on which teachers you will be asking for college recommendations and ask them before your junior year ends. Try to stay in touch with them, even if it’s by way of email once or twice during the summer.
2. Take inventory of your awards, honors, accomplishments and activities between 9th grade and the present and get started right away on your resume of activities.
3. Whether it’s through college visits online or in-person campus visits, or a combination of the two, get as many visits under your belt and start narrowing down your college list. If you know you are going to apply early decision or early action, make those decisions before the end of the summer.
4. Do everything you can to get the common application done and out of the way as soon as possible. Usually the common application is available online by mid-July. Filling that form out online really only takes an hour.
5. Get to work on your personal statement—the long essay that most colleges ask you to write. Look over the topics and do a little soul-searching. Focus on getting at least a rough draft done before the end of the summer.
6. With everything online these days, accessing school-specific essay topics, starting online application accounts, and understanding admissions criteria and deadlines are all manageable tasks that can be done from the comfort of your own home. Compile your data. Know your deadlines. Understand what your competition looks like by reviewing acceptance profiles from previous years.
7. Do not assume that scholarships are inaccessible to you. If you haven’t already begun a scholarship search, don’t delay. There are so many scholarships out there and it’s too late to wait until after your acceptances have come in. Start now.
8. Don’t forget to work on your standardized testing skills. As much as I hate the fact that high school students spend so much of their time taking tests, I also want to stress the fact that standardized tests are necessary evils in the college admissions landscape. Make sure you are taking the tests you need to take to focus on the schools of your choice and to remain competitive in their applicant pools.
9. Try to spend some time doing something that you have always wanted to do before going off to college: whether it’s an internship that might test your commitment to a particular profession later on, or a volunteer experience that has always been compelling, or signing up to help with a research project with a professor at a local college. Not only is this an opportunity to build up your profile and resume, but it’s an opportunity for you to have an incredible experience that can be life-changing as you prepare for your final year in high school.
10. Believe in yourself and know that at the end of the next 8 months, you will finally be able to breathe, with all tasks complete, as you await decisions from the colleges to which you applied, and that senior year is such a whirlwind that it’s gone in a flash. Savor the time you have left and find time to enjoy and appreciate your friendships and your last year in high school. Finally, know that at the end of this process, there will be a place for you at a great college!

As summer approaches, it’s busy in my office as I meet with families looking for advice about the college process, about making sure that the schools their students are considering are appropriate and in their range. I’m excited about rolling out our scholarship search program and grateful to be working with such great families and students who are focused on finding the right match and working hard to build their own successes!

This year, we were so fortunate to have so many of our college-bound students and our students considering private schools find acceptances to so many of the colleges and private schools to which they applied.

Our students received offers of admissions from the following schools: Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, Emory University, Boston College, Boston University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, Smith College, The College of William and Mary, George Washington University, Cornell University, St. Michael’s, University of Vermont, Fordham University, Babson College, Mount Holyoke, The University of Rochester, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown, The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Texas at Austin, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgia Tech, University of Virginia, Syracuse University, Purdue University, Penn State University, Vanderbilt, and numerous other institutions. As we end this placement year and begin the next, we’re so proud of the accomplishments of our students and of how hard they have worked!

But most of all, we look forward to working with our next group of students, who we know will also embrace the college process with enthusiasm and vigor! 

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The Value of Merit Scholarship Awards and Initiating The Scholarship Search

It’s March. All of my college-bound seniors have had their college applications submitted for many weeks now. Some have received great news in the early decision and early action rounds: acceptances to New York University, The University of Rochester, The University of Chicago, The University of Pennsylvania, Fordham, Cornell, Babson, St. Michael’s, Franklin Pierce University, Curry College, Lesley University, Boston University, The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, The University of Wisconsin at Madison, Purdue University, and the University of Massachusetts, just to name a few. Others have received acceptances to fine arts schools like The School of the Visual Arts in New York, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m proud of my students.  Each and every one of them worked hard this year and they’ve already started to see the fruits of their labor. I know that we have a lot of great news to look forward to as the April 1st regular decision notification date approaches.

Along with acceptances, came scholarship news as well, for many, these scholarships were welcome surprises coming directly from the colleges to which they applied—and the big surprise is this: many of my students never submitted formal applications for these scholarships at all! Certainly these scholarship offers will help bear the brunt of what is now a very daunting tuition reality, even at the state level.  With the economy still in rough shape, many families grapple with how they will be able to fund their children’s educational bills. For many middle class families, there will be no need-based financial aid available. So merit scholarship awards provide a really great college funding alternative. Unfortunately few families really consider this alternative seriously enough to strongly encourage their students to apply for the 3 billion dollars or so out there in scholarship money that is awarded anually to students of all ages.

I think this hesitation to really seek out and apply for merit scholarship money comes from a lack of knowledge, first and foremost. Then there’s the really daunting process of identifying appropriate scholarships and then sifting through all the requirements and components of the application prior to getting started on the actual application work. Yes, it can be time-consuming and yes, it’s a lot of work, but the reality is that at the end of the process of searching and applying for merit scholarship money, there’s great potential for families to save thousands of dollars in college tuition. And even the small awards add up!

What is shocking to so many families with whom I work, is that they can initiate a scholarship search very early on in a student’s academic career. There are poster contests and science contests and other project-based scholarship opportunities out there for students who are enrolled in elementary and middle school programs. By the time a student has become a junior and senior in high school, there have been so many scholarship opportunities that have already been missed! To maximize scholarship potential, it is wise for families to start looking early to get their students involved in such competitions at a younger age. On many levels, getting your student involved in such projects at an early age is an empowering experience, and sends the message of how worthwhile it is to spend the time and effort outside of school working on projects that can boost a student's self-confidence and save your family a whole lot of money in the long run.

What are the other advantages to starting a scholarship search early, or applying for scholarships at all? Firstly, it’s an opportunity for a student to feel empowered, validated, and celebrated by people/organizations and groups outside of his or her comfort zone and family. There’s nothing better for a student, as he or she begins the work of understanding who he/she is in the greater community and world, than finding that validation from outside of his/her immediate world. Secondly, it’s an opportunity to grow intellectually and to start considering deeper questions about the self, future goals and to do some introspective work. For most students, this doesn’t happen until the end of the high school years or early into the college experience. The value that comes with such self-reflection is so important and worthwhile. Finally, it’s an opportunity for the family to come together and to engage in a really interesting project that is potentially going to help the student grow, mature and celebrate him/herself with a sense of purpose and meaning. These reasons in and of themselves are more important than the incredible monetary savings that can come from such a process.

With the scholarship application deadlines occurring in 2 periods of time: between January and early May and then again between September and mid-December, the late spring and the whole summer provide students and families with a wonderful opportunity to do the hard work of identifying scholarships and beginning the application process during a not-so-busy time academically. In my office, we’re getting ready to roll out this year's scholarship search and application program to families interested in getting started--and we're offering programs that suit different age levels and goals. Whether it’s working with a family one-on-one, or whether it’s in a much larger group setting, our mission is to make sure that the information and the step-by-step process is accessible and easy to follow. The key to a successful scholarship search seems to be in understanding that it’s hard work, but it’s certainly not an impossible task to identify, apply for and win scholarship money.

If I have students with whom I am working, who are receiving scholarships as seniors, to colleges to which they have applied, without even going through the formal process of applying for merit scholarship money, how much more might these students have earned and applied towards their college funds if they had worked towards applying for scholarships even as early as freshman year in high school? I think you’ll agree that if anything, it’s worth investigating and thinking seriously about. And if you need some help and advice along the way, come visit us at Starr & Chapman, Inc. We’d be happy to send you a schedule of our workshops or to send you some information about our scholarship search program.

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