I do offer support for parents who have questions about local programs, private and magnet schools, and anything else that might impact your child’s future College Strategy.

Some students come to me in middle school to prep for the SAT for certain programs like John’s Hopkins CTY that require an early SAT score. Some students also start training with me for math competitions, including AMC tests.

In 8th grade, my students talk to me about their interests and I help them find free or inexpensive resources online to start to pursue those interests. Students might want to study some advanced math or biology on a whim, or they might be looking for history podcasts or creative writing lessons.

We’ll also find and apply for a few summer programs that can help jumpstart your curiosities and college strategy. These might be summer camps, courses, or even online opportunities. 8th grade is all about finding things you enjoy that you might stick with for the next four years of high school.

Does consistency matter?

Yes and no. Colleges do look to see what activities you’ve been engaged in, and they might be curious if you played in the band for 6 years and then suddenly quit. But, you also have to make the best decisions for you, your passions, and your limited schedule. I’ve had students quit activities and still get into top colleges, so don’t worry. Just bring me the details and we’ll discuss it!

You’ll complete any summer programs you enrolled in. I’ll also help you create a summer reading list curated to your interests. Because I’m a small roster tutor, I’m generally able to read these books along with students. This makes me a continuously better advisor to your child at no charge to you! I’m just a nerd who likes learning about anything and everything.

We’ll also start on writing techniques. I like to start students with creative writing first. In later years, students worry about writing the actual essays, so they’re more reticent to take the time for writing technique and style. This summer is the perfect time to start building up writing ability and vocabulary. And all the work we do will positively impact school essays and APs as well!

In 9th grade, we’ll continue pursuing passions and writing skills through regular deadlines. We’ll also start to lean more heavily into pathways for service. Many colleges will ask you how you serve your community. In a nutshell, they’re looking for Impact. How do you impact the world around you, and how effective are you at creating the change you hope to see?

Elite colleges want students who can change the world. So, show them that you not only can but have changed the world! If we can start a strong service project in 9th grade, you’ll be far ahead of many of your competitive peers. And remember, college admissions is always a competition at its core. So, the farther ahead you get, the better.

We’ll also continue to compile reading lists to further your passions and personal research for later.

In the spring, we’ll look into and apply for slightly more competitive summer programs. There are still many programs that won’t allow you in due to age restrictions. But, we’ll find things that work for your age and interests and we’ll write the strong essays needed to get into those programs. This writing practice will directly translate into the eventual college essays you write.

In this summer, you’ll attend the summer programs we applied for and make professor friends anywhere you can. We’ll be looking for possible research opportunities soon, so knowing people and having their emails is a great benefit.

We’ll work on academic and research writing skills, and start looking into competitions, scholarships, and grant money that you could win to further your service goals and add to your college resume. Getting job shadowing opportunities this summer can also be useful, but it can wait until next summer.

And then we may start prepping for any AP classes you have next year! 10th grade is often substantially harder than 9th grade. APs come with extra studies and a big test at the end of the year. Some schools are good at preparing students for the AP test. Other schools don’t teach for the test as well. AP studies are priced separately from the college plans, but you should put the studies into your plans for this summer!

During 10th grade, we’ll focus on leadership. You’ll continue your service project and your passion project, and you might even turn those into leadership positions. Outside of that, you’ll be looking to run for president of a club or two, and maybe even start your own club. (Clubs usually have to be started within the first few weeks of a school year, so be intentional about this timeline.)

If you play sports, you’ll hopefully be moving into a leadership position on your JV team, or even moving onto the Varsity team. In any of your other activities, you can start to ask teachers for additional responsibilities. We’ll start to build up a few leadership positions and lay the foundations for additional positions next year.

We’ll start laying the foundations for great teacher and counselor recommendation letters. The process for this is fairly simple, but it is a year-long endeavor. If you want, we can also pursue AP support and even independent study for additional AP tests.

And of course, we’ll spend the spring applying to the next tier up for summer programs in your area(s) of interest!

In this summer, you’ll attend those summer programs and keep networking. This is a big networking summer because you’ll get most of your research opportunities either next summer or during your upcoming Junior year (or both).

You may also want to get a job or volunteer position this summer. Jobs can look great on the college resume.

You’ll continue with any leadership, service, and passion projects and roles. This summer we’ll build up more heavily towards independent research. We’ll do some research together and start cold emailing professors (or we’ll contact the ones you’ve met in past summers). We may also look into other research opportunities like online research programs for high schoolers. These can generally happen in the summer or during the school year, so we have time.

You’ll want to spend a good chunk of time this summer prepping for the SAT. I like to have my students study for the SAT and PSAT together, so you get double the benefit. The Junior year PSAT is the one that matters, and you only get to take it once. So, you’ll study for the SAT, take it in August and October of your Junior year, and then turn around and take the PSAT (which you are now so well prepared for). SAT is priced separately from college plans, and you can do your training elsewhere, but I do recommend completing it in this summer.

Your 11th grade year is usually your hardest, academically. I can support you in most academic subjects and with general AP study plans throughout the year.

If we’ve been working together for years, then this year you really get to just maintain the course. It’s still work, but you’ve put in a lot of the initial effort, so you know what you’re doing now.

If we’re just starting to work together, then you’ll need to catch up by finding solid leadership positions, service projects, and passion projects to pursue. These are critical for your eventual college essays.

You’ll keep working on getting great recommendation letters, and we’ll work on more advanced writing techniques and real essays. My goal for students is to finish 1-3 colleges worth of essays during Junior year plus a solid draft of the common app essay.

You also need to make sure you put the correct answers on your Naviance questionnaire (or any other questionnaire sent out by your high school’s college counseling department). This is a critical part of good college strategy, and we’ll address it when it arises. Bring it to me as early as possible once you get it. There’s usually a student portion and a parent portion.

This year will be really big for summer programs. If you’ve done things right, you have the kind of resume that can get you into the most prestigious and impactful summer programs in your field. We’ll spend December through March or April writing essays, completing problem sets, creating video submissions, and whatever else might be required. This is kind of a mini-run of what college applications will look like!

In this summer, you will hopefully be attending some of the coolest and most strategically impactful summer programs. You might be conducting research or attending a math camp. Whatever it is, this summer should be fun…and a lot of work. We’ll also spend a lot of the summer writing as many essays as we can, ideally 80-90% of your college list. You don’t want to be writing essays at the last minute, and as soon as school starts…somehow November 1st is tomorrow.

Many schools will ask you to request recommendation letters before you leave for the summer, so you may already have that task checked off. Schools will often have students write a draft of a common app essay in early Senior year, so we’ll get that task checked off too! You’ll be finishing up research, maybe getting it published. And you’ll have your passion project, service, and leadership to continue to pursue.

This will be a fast paced summer and a critical one. Don’t forget to take a bit of time for vacation!

We’ll finish up last minute things, submit essays, and then you can enjoy your final year of high school!

I can help with your final round of APs, whether with school or through independent study.

You’ll get a pile of acceptance letters and email me the good news!