Take control of your future

I employ a student-centered philosophy and approach. Working one-on-one with students, virtually, functions best with open and honest communication, accommodating my students’ various learning and working styles, and building a strong rapport that facilitates a productive pace and working relationship. For example, when working with my students who tend to procrastinate, I create a meeting and email calendar to ensure more frequent check-ins with both the student and their parent(s) and break larger projects into smaller tasks that feel less daunting. When working with my students whose memory and retention relies on visual rather than auditory instructions, I follow up our sessions with a summary of what we covered together, the tasks I assigned with deadlines, and offer tools to keep notes and work clearly organized.

I explain my style and expectations to every new student and family in our initial meeting. I often tell the student directly that they are the captain of their ship and my job is to support, guide, and assist them through their own decision making and work processes. I will not write applications or essays on their behalf; rather, I will do everything in my power to empower them to set, pursue and achieve their goals based on our research, my experience and editing, and their informed decisions.

The students that earn the best results (working with me and in the college admissions process in general) are self-motivated, responsible, communicative, positive and exhibit integrity. I have been working with children and teenagers for my entire career and I understand there are good days and bad days, and a slew of personal and academic challenges for them to navigate. I don’t expect my students to be able to give their best effort in every session or full focus on our projects every day or week; that said, however, I do create a safe space for my students to share more about their lives with me so I can understand where I fit in and how to best accommodate their evolving situation. Students who assume I will do their work for them, or that they are simply going through the motions and completing tasks I assign them for my benefit instead of theirs will find themselves very stressed and unable to produce their best work.

I dedicate the first handful of sessions with my students to understanding who they are as unique individuals: their likes and dislikes, strengths and areas of growth, preferences, dealbreakers, and learning/working styles. I do this not only to get to know them better and build rapport but also to begin identifying a throughline of their narrative that connects their past, present, and future. I have several activities for students to complete both with me and on their own to help identify some of these areas.

Working with students in 9th and 10th grades allows more time to plan how their coursework and extracurricular activities will show rather than tell who they are. 11th graders still have time to make adjustments to their school year and summer activities in this regard.

Generally, students feel increased stress and pressure when the timeline, process, and expectations are unclear or unknown. Again, the sooner we begin working together the better. For my students who are more independent and responsible with managing their time and work, I allow a looser schedule of our sessions and check-ins. For my students who require more support in these areas, I create a set calendar of our sessions together to emphasize consistency, and maintain contact between these sessions via email with students and their parents. If it’s helpful for the student, I often reserve the first minutes of sessions to address their lives and mental health more holistically, so they can share what’s on their mind and I can adjust our session to mitigate those distractions and worries.