College Planning and College Readiness Coaching
It’s no secret that college admissions are highly competitive, particularly at the most selective schools. Acceptance rates can be as low as 4% to 10% at the most prestigious ranked schools, such as Stanford, Columbia, and Harvard. Even if your student has his or her sights set on a more accessible school, acceptance is never a guarantee and paying for school is a challenge.
Your Guidance Office is here to help your student gain admittance into his or her top choice colleges. In fact, we offer a full spectrum of services designed to facilitate the entire college planning and application process—from identifying a career field to financing your child’s education.
When Should You Start Planning for College?
The sooner your family begins the college planning process, the better. We’ve worked with countless families over the years, and each one is a little bit different. The one consistent theme is that the families who begin the process sooner tend to have better outcomes. If you delay the planning process, you could lose out on tens of thousands of dollars in financial aid for your child’s education.
We recommend working with a college readiness coach when your child enters eighth or ninth grade. This provides plenty of time for long-range planning and it ensures your student will be able to complete the necessary coursework for his or her chosen career field. Although it’s best to begin the process in eighth or ninth grade, we do also work with families who start later. Your Guidance Office will customize our services to meet your family’s needs. If you’re starting later, we’ll do everything possible to ensure your student and your financial aid offers are ready in time.
Our College Planning and College Coaching Services
Explore the following core services from YGO. We recommend that most students complete all three steps in order to optimize their college admissions and financial aid outcomes. Additional services may be offered when appropriate.
College Coaching: Step 1
-
Career Exploration Tools
Once your student is enrolled with the YGO college readiness coaching program, we’ll create an online account for him or her. Through this online portal, your student will complete a personality and personal interests profile. Based on your student’s responses, we’ll provide customized recommendations of career paths that might fit his or her interests and academic strengths.
Your student will then explore our extensive database of career guidance tools. These include thousands of engaging videos and career explanations to spark your child’s interest. He or she will also learn about the salary ranges and educational requirements of each career path.
-
Online College Organizer
Many college preparatory schools across the country use this online college organizer because it’s a highly effective way to keep track of all of your family’s college planning resources and documentation. In short, it’s a one-stop shop for everything related to the college planning process. Your student’s college coach will train him or her in its use. Parents also have access to this tool. You’ll be able to follow along with your student as he or she works through the process.
-
Pre-FAFSA / CSS Profile Review & Financial Plan
Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a must for every family with a college-bound student, regardless of income level. Whether your student is a “need-based” qualified student or whether the family income exceeds the maximum thresholds for federal aid, the FAFSA must be filed on time.
In some cases, we recommend that families consult a licensed financial services professional. We provide referrals to trusted partners who can analyze your financial data and advise you as to your anticipated family contribution.
Your Guidance Office is not a party to any services provided by external financial services professionals, and accepts no liability in the event such services are utilized.
College Coaching: Step 2
-
College Profile Matching
The second step of the college coaching process is to identify a list of potential schools for your child. He or she will fill out a career questionnaire and have an interview with the dedicated college coach at YGO. We strongly recommend that students have in mind a general career path or field of interest. Then, one of our skilled researchers will match your student’s career profile to appropriate colleges.
-
Admissions Information Requests
Once the researcher identifies an appropriate list of colleges, we’ll help coordinate with those schools. The colleges will send admissions information and any other relevant data directly to your student for review.
College Coaching: Step 3
-
Admissions and Application Coaching
Every student can benefit from insider’s knowledge to give them a boost in the college admissions process. Your child’s YGO coach will teach him or her little-known techniques that will not only increase the chances of getting accepted to college, but also improve the likelihood of significant, free funding offers from their colleges of choice.
-
Document Review
Your student will put together a complete package of college application materials, including the student resume, personal statement essay, and online application information. Upon request, your student’s YGO coach will give each document a thorough review to ensure that it positions your child for success.
-
Award Letter Negotiation Coaching
After the application packages are submitted, your student will begin to receive acceptance letters and financial award notifications. It can be tempting to take the award notices at face value, yet in order to maximize financial aid, funding appeals are often necessary. In essence, we will teach your child to entice colleges to compete for his or her attendance.
-
Financial Aid Consultation
Even for individuals who are savvy with personal finances, it can be confusing to review and interpret financial aid notices. When appropriate and available, we offer a free consultation with an outside financial services professional, who will assist your family in understanding your financial aid offers.
Your Guidance Office is not a party to any services provided by external financial services professionals, and accepts no liability in the event such services are utilized. We cannot give financial or tax advice.
-
Your Compass to Future Success
As you can see, the college readiness process is an in-depth, lengthy endeavor that can be difficult for a family to navigate on its own. With the college readiness coaching services from Your Guidance Office, your student can become better positioned for a successful outcome. Contact us today to request a no-obligation Student Enrollment interview.