We Are Now - Emerson Educational Consulting

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

We’re excited! Beginning today College Planning Services, Inc. will begin doing business as Emerson Educational Consulting.  Only our name has changed.  The staff, locations and ownership remain the same. 

We are changing our name to better reflect what we do. In the last few years, the term college planning services is often understood to mean financial planning and is no longer appropriate. Our new name better reflects our primary objective helping students to find colleges and universities where they will be educationally successful and socially happy.  In addition to changing our name, we’ve changed logo and our website.  And, we’ve added an additional service.

Our new service, Ask an Educational Consultant, is designed to provide an easy to use, affordable and effective way for college bound students and their parents, as well as graduate school candidates to connect directly with me.  Now, parents and students will have an opportunity, using the telephone or Skype, to speak to me, an experienced IEC who is a member of both the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and a Certified Educational Planner (CEP).

 I want to emphasize that while we have modernized our look; our commitment to providing the students and families we work with excellent service has not and will not change.  We will continue to provide the same comprehensive college and graduate school admission guidance our clients have come to expect. 

The College Admissions Scoop: Tough Breaks and Silver Linings

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

For some high school students and their parents the perceived risk of failing to get into the schools of their choice can be very stressful.  For new or soon to be college graduates, the risk of rejection by a graduate school or a potential employer can be similarly stressful.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  Take a deep breath, and then tell yourself that failing to get into the school you want to attend or landing the job you thought perfect, can become a good thing -  especially when you use “failing” as the spark to ignite your strength and resilience.  "Failure is not the opposite of success, it is the stone to success," Arianna Huffington told the Sarah Lawrence class of ’11 in her graduation speech. And, Conan O’Brien told the Dartmouth Class of “11 that “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It's not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.”

Watch Conan O'Brien's speech here :

Watch Arianna Huffington's speech here:

Rising Seniors: Letters of Recommendation - Choose Teachers Wisely

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Rising seniors, it’s time to think about who you will ask to write your letters of recommendation for college.  Choose your teachers wisely.

The Common Application requires two letters of recommendation from teachers.  Other applications ask for one teacher recommendation and some require none.  Sometimes, colleges prefer that you choose teachers from core academic subjects. It is important that you read the application instructions for each college you are applying to and follow the directions carefully.

Here are four things to think about when choosing teachers to write letters of recommendation: 

1. Will each teacher add something new about you – a new dimension? If both teachers say the same thing, you are giving up an opportunity to add more depth to your application
2. Can each teacher you chose speak about your intellectual curiosity? How you learn?  What you do when things become difficult? Can they talk about you as an individual? You want the person or the committee reading your application to know about you, separately from the other students who are applying from your high school.
3.  It is not always best to choose the teacher for the class where you received a good grade or even your best grade. Sometimes the teacher who can talk about your perseverance, your ability to work hard and your individuality will be able to write a more effective letter.
4. After the teacher agrees to write your recommendation, you may want to consider giving the teacher a one page resume that not only details your activities (in school and outside of school), your leadership abilities and your hobbies, but includes what you liked best about the class.  Doing so may provide the teacher with information that can be used to write a stronger letter; it may also indicate to the teacher that you take this seriously, and appreciate the time and effort that he will devote to writing a letter on your behalf.

The College Admissions Scoop: Seniors Focus on Your Acceptances

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP and Jana Jett Loeb

A college admission decision is not a vote on who you are as a person, what you have or have not accomplished, or what you would or would not bring to that school. It is the nature of admissions that when there are more qualified applicants than there are spaces, some very talented individuals will not be accepted. As such, a denial shouldn’t be taken personally or too seriously. It doesn’t change your talent and promise one bit.

If you have made a thoughtful and dynamic list of schools, you will have some excellent choices. April is a month when schools work hard to woo their admitted students, and you should take advantage of opportunities to visit these campuses, meet other admitted students, and speak to current students at these schools. Now the tables are turned, and the decision is up to you. Use this opportunity wisely. You might have to recalibrate some of your initial priorities, but you will have plenty of chances to get to know the schools well and make the right decision for yourself. You have the ability to make your choice the “perfect fit.”

The College Admissions Scoop: Acceptance is Unpredictable

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP and Jana Jett Loeb

As March gets under way, colleges will come out of hibernation and begin to send out decisions.

If you are admitted, congratulations! You have proved that you have worked incredibly hard, you have shown that you can clearly do the work and that you would be an amazing addition to the school.

If you are not admitted, you have proved that you have worked incredibly hard, you have shown that you can clearly do the work and that you would be an amazing addition to the school.

So wait, why didn’t you get in?

The college admissions process is not random, but it is highly unpredictable. Admissions committees are thoughtful, thorough, and deeply invested in appreciating who you are as an applicant. But from the position of the applicant, it is indeed unpredictable because you can only see what you present to the school. You cannot see the vast pool of applications from which they are choosing, and you cannot know how your unique set of strengths and contributions will fit with their priorities for shaping a class. In 2007, Richard H. Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Stanford University wrote, “ I wish there were a formula to explain who is accepted and who isn't, but the decision-making is as much art as it is science. Each class is a symphony with its own distinct composition and sound; the final roster is an effort to create harmony, and that means that some extraordinary bass players don't get a chair. What's more, even among my staff there are legitimate differences about applicants.”

So, don’t spend time and energy on why you weren’t accepted. Focus instead on all the wonderful choices you have.

Traps to Avoid When Visiting Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

Assuming that one student represents the entire student body - When your son or daughter goes on a college tour, generally their tour guide will be a student. At some schools, the tour guides are employees of the admissions office. While tour guides can be a great resource for information about the academics and social life on campus, it is a good idea to get the opinions of other students on campus too. Hearing others’ opinions and gathering information from different sources will allow your son or daughter to better decide whether or not the environment on campus is right for them.

Rushing to judgment - Give your child time to internalize what he or she has seen and heard. Give your child time to think about the school before asking for their opinion. Remember that each school is a new experience and they will need time and space to put what they have seen and heard into perspective. Teenagers might not be able to express their thoughts as clearly as you might like.

Voicing your opinion first - As a parent, you want what you think is best for your child. This may be in conflict with what your child thinks is best for him or her. Do not, either with words or body language, tell your child your thoughts before he voices his opinion.

Not listening to your child - It is very important to respect what your child tells you, even if it sounds ridiculous. Often teenagers have a hard time articulating their feelings and they may draw seemingly peculiar conclusions. Do not get annoyed. Think about what your child is trying to say. One young woman told her parents that she didn’t like a particular campus because the students weren’t wearing shoes. What she really meant was that the campus felt a bit “alternative” and the students were not the type of students she wanted to go to school with.

Not allowing your child to change his or her mind. Do not be so quick to agree or disagree. This is the time for you to listen. As students continue to visit colleges, learn about colleges and mature, their thoughts and opinions might change. They need to feel secure enough to say so.

What High School Students Should Consider When Visiting Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP and Jana Jett Loeb

A high school student’s view of whether a college campus is the right place for them can be influenced by many factors:

Academic Offerings – Does the college or university offer the types of courses and programs the student is interested in? While it is not necessary for students to know specifically what they want to study, it is important that the school offer courses and programs the student feels are intriguing and want to learn more about. Students also need to think about how they learn best. Is it in small or large classes? Students can get a sense of academic offerings and size of classes by sitting in on a class. Sometimes, admission offices post a list of approved classes students may visit. If this list is not available students need to contact the admissions office directly to determine which classes allow visitors and how to be approved to visit a class. Students should be sure to observe the students in the class as carefully as they do the professor; how the students interact with one another in a seminar or ask questions in a lecture can reveal a good deal about the intellectual motivations of the student body.

Extracurricular Activities – As students tour campuses, they will likely pass bulletin boards and posts with flyers and notices about upcoming events. Students should be sure to examine these. It is one thing to hear in an information session that a school has 400 clubs, but seeing these boards is a glimpse of how student life actually takes shape on campus.

Distance from Home – Whether they drive or fly to visit a college campus can make a difference in a student’s view of being far away from home. Traveling from the East Coast to the Midwest can be a two hour flight or an 8 -10 hour drive. It is important for students to understand the differences between flying and driving as they formulate their thoughts about what it will mean to be living away from home.

Campus Living Arrangements – For some students, where they will live will heavily influence whether they choose to attend a particular college. Students need to think about which living conditions are important to them and ask direct questions about residential life. A few questions that they might want to consider asking are:

• · Are all students required to live on campus for four years?
• · What housing options are available?
• · How are roommates assigned?
• · Are there any restrictions in the dorms?

The Area’s Culture – Specific customs, weather patterns, the pace of life, and even language and speech patterns contribute to the culture in different parts of the country. Students should consider their personal comfort level – are they open to differences or do they prefer the familiar?

Tips for Parents Planning College Visits

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S. W., CEP

Marilyn’s tips for parents who are planning college visits:

• Ask your son or daughter if they are comfortable having you ask questions during the visit. If they are not comfortable, respect their feelings and don’t ask questions. You do not want your offspring focusing on his embarrassing parents instead of the colleges you are taking the time to visit.

• Set up appointments for the schools that require them. Some schools allow you to do this online while others require a telephone call. Most tours are 45 minutes to an hour and most information sessions run an hour. Colleges usually schedule tours and information sessions back-to-back.

• Always check to make sure the times listed in the guidebooks or on the websites are correct. You don’t want to arrive on campus and find that they are not offering tours and information sessions because it is a special day on campus.

• The timing of your visit can influence how comfortable your child is on a particular campus. Although it is ideal to visit colleges during the academic year, going in the summer is still valuable. Think about when would be best for your child and your family.

• Arrange your schedule so that you are not rushing from campus to campus. Do not visit more than two schools in one day.

• In addition to the tour and information session, set aside time to have a meal in the dining hall. In addition to checking out the food this will allow your child to eavesdrop on conversations, and if they are comfortable doing so, to talk to other students. If your child is concerned about being seen in the dining hall with his parents, gently remind him that you will not be the only adults there as faculty and staff use the dining hall as well.

• If you will be staying overnight near the campus, check to see if there is a sporting event, a theater production or an a cappella concert taking place on campus. If necessary, get tickets. You might need to, once again, gently remind your child that faculty and staff attend these events as well as parents of the students involved so you will not be the only adults there.

Juniors: Plan Visits Wisely

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

It can seem overwhelming to plan visits to colleges when there are so many types of schools to see. There are only so many days of vacation or long weekends, and overloading them with college visits may do more harm than good. If you visit too many schools, especially in too short of a time, they will often run together and it will be difficult to get much out of the visits. So, at the beginning, it is important to choose schools that are different in significant ways in order to maximize the value of visiting.

Some important factors to consider are size, location, academic offerings, and selectivity. If students are unsure whether they would be happy at a large university with a bustling environment, or a small liberal arts college in a rural area, then it is important to visit both of these types of schools as well as schools that fall in-between. Be sure that each school has something a bit different to add to the mix.

Students should not get too caught up in what they assume they want before they have an opportunity to experience different types of environments. It is much better to be able to say that you don’t like something than to say that you wish you had known this type of school existed. Even if a student is convinced he only wants to attend College X, it isn’t advisable to only visit College X and schools exactly like College X. It is crucial to push the boundaries of one’s expectations, and visiting can help students narrow their interests and options. Even if students return from visits just as committed to attending College X or schools like it, that commitment is now more informed by the experience of seeing what such schools—and others—are actually like.

Once you have determined which schools to visit, there are a number of things that students and parents can do to make the most of the visiting experience. Our next post will provide tips for how to make visiting colleges exciting, fun and informative.

Juniors: It's Important to Visit Colleges

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

Visiting colleges in an important element of the college search process. In the beginning, a search means casting a wide net. After students use guidebooks and the Internet to find schools that seem appealing, they should begin to think about visiting schools. Experiencing different college environments will confirm if what they have read and think they want meshes with their campus experiences.

Visiting is important because it allows students to get a realistic sense of the culture of a campus. Visiting gives students the opportunity to sit in on classes, speak with current college students, witness daily life, and get a feel for what a school has to offer. It is also the way students learn how a college wants itself to be seen, a useful indication of what college leadership think is important.

But, perhaps the most important reason to visit campuses is the instinctive way students respond to the experience of visiting. The ‘gut feeling’ is a hugely important factor in directing students’ college preferences; it usually doesn’t lie. A junior touring a campus will often know instinctively whether a campus is a good ‘fit.’ While not every visit will elicit a strong response, some probably will, and those will speak volumes. Stay tuned for our next post about choosing the right range of schools to visit.

The College Admissions Scoop: It's FAFSA Time!

It is time to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA, is available online at www.fafsa.ed.gov or via hard copy by request only. Filing online is highly recommended for both speed of transmission and accuracy of information.

There is no automatic income cut-off level for financial eligibility, so I recommend that you apply even if you think you will not qualify. The only sure way to determine your eligibility for need-based financial aid is to file the FAFSA. The likelihood of being eligible for some form of financial aid may be better than you think.

Some common financial aid myths include:

• Only students with high GPA's get all the aid
• If your older son or daughter did not qualify for aid, then neither will your other children
• Only extremely needy students can receive financial aid, so if your family income is high, then don't bother to apply

The primary responsibility for paying for a student's education rests with the student and his family. Financial aid programs are only intended to assist students and families with their college costs.

The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred Dos and Don'ts

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to parents: If your child has been deferred, there are steps he or she should take to remain a viable applicant.

Seniors, if you have been deferred from an early school, being proactive may help when your application is considered within the larger regular pool of applicants. Here are some important dos and don’ts.

Do:

• KEEP UP YOUR GRADES. Committees will look carefully at this when making their final decisions.
• Restate your interest in the school in a brief letter that you send in January or February. The purpose of this letter is not to re-frame your entire application or to build your resume; the Committee already has the information they believe that they need to make a final decision in April. However, this letter can be helpful to confirm that this school would be your first choice if you were admitted. The letter tells them that you remain interested despite having been deferred.
• Update the Committee on any additional accomplishments or developments in your application. It is helpful to do this, but only if you have something that will add substantively to your application. Tell them about a significant award you have received or if particular circumstance has changed.
• Ask your guidance counselor to call the school to see if there is a specific reason for the deferral, but note that for the majority of applicants it isn't any one thing. If you are not comfortable having your guidance counselor call on your behalf, then call the school yourself.

Do Not:

• HAVE A DIP IN GRADES. An admissions committee will look unfavorably on students who have let their grades fall in their senior year. This applies to all the schools you have applied to.

• Have Mom or Dad call the school - admissions representatives want to hear from students!
• Re-craft yourself by sending new letters of recommendation, new resumes, or new essays.
• Send the Committee a copy of every article you have published for the school newspaper since your deferral.
• Tell the Committee about every extracurricular activity in which you have ever participated.

While a deferral is disappointing, be sure to keep things in perspective. After the first semester at college, most students report that they are very happy and doing well at the school that they chose and that chose them. Remember, all the schools on your list are there because you know that they are places where you can be successful academically and happy socially. It is more about what you will do with the four years at college than the particular school.

In our experience, things tend to work out for the best and they will for you too!

The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred - What Does It Mean ?

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., C.E.P. and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to Parents: If your son or daughter has been deferred from an early program, s/he is probably experiencing a combination of relief and confusion, and you might be too. What does it mean, exactly, and what is the best way to proceed? Hopefully these next two posts will help your child make sense of a deferral decision as well as understand the appropriate next steps.

If you have been deferred from an early program, you are probably feeling a combination of disappointment and confusion. While you would have wished for a definitive acceptance and might find it hard to imagine waiting throughout the next coming months for another decision from the same school, you probably also feel a sense of hope that when your application is reconsidered, you may yet be admitted in April.

An important thing to know is that a deferral is not a disguised “no.” Colleges have every intention of reconsidering your application in the context of the wider applicant pool during regular decision. In fact, they have chosen to hold off on making a final decision until they can see the full context in which your application is situated in their pool. That said, it is also important to be realistic about your chances of admission at this point. While you will certainly receive another review by the committee, your chances of admission are now lower. It is fair to continue to hope for a positive response from the school, and indeed, students can be admitted after being deferred. However, it is also important not to focus primarily on your early school.

The best way to proceed after a deferral is to move forward with the rest of your applications. Be sure to compile all of your materials for the other colleges to which you are applying, and to submit your applications as soon as possible. Doing so will help you to avoid any last-minute problems. It will also help you feel more secure about your college plans while you are in somewhat of a limbo phase with your early choice school.

While a deferral is a disappointing middle ground, be sure to keep things in perspective. You should put your best foot forward, both with the school from which you received your decision and also with your other applications. Most importantly, you must continue to maintain impressive accomplishments as the year continues!

Note: Our next blog will contain information on how to be proactive with your ED school after a deferral.

The College Admissions Scoop: An Interview with Kevin Preis, Founder, Go See Campus

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., C.E.P.

Marilyn: Why do you recommend students visit college campuses before deciding whether to apply?

Kevin: “High school students can use trips to campus to get better ideas about the culture and type of environment they prefer for their college experience. They might find they like large suburban campuses, small liberal arts colleges, or universities with religious affiliations. Plus, visiting different parts of the country can prepare students for changes in weather and climate. Whether you are a Texas gal who wants to live in the snowy north or a Wisconsin guy who wants to try a school in the desert, getting a taste beforehand can help ensure a more comfortable university stay.”

Marilyn: Do you recommend that students visit with their parents, if possible?

Kevin: “This depends on the student and his or her stage of the admissions process. Ultimately, students should be the ones researching, applying for, and deciding on colleges. Parents should encourage this independence and responsibility by providing the amount of guidance they think is necessary.

Generally to start out, visiting colleges together is a good idea. Parents can have a dialogue with their children by seeing college campuses for themselves, participating in admissions activities, and meeting college students, faculty, and staff. This can make a big difference when facing final decisions on schools. Plus, it's an opportunity to make lifelong memories!

In some cases, a student has a good handle on the college search, can manage the trip, and wants to visit alone. Participating in a university-sponsored event, like an Open House or an overnight visit program, allows this experience under the supervision of the school's admissions office. If you have questions about these programs, colleges are usually open to receiving them.”

Marilyn: How can visiting a college help a student with his/her application to that college?

Kevin: “Personal experiences with college students and professors can help students describe why they want to attend a particular university, why they are a fit for the school, and what they can contribute academically and socially if admitted.”

Marilyn: What does the Go See Campus website provide for students and parents?

Kevin: “Go See Campus is a free website that helps students and parents plan campus visits and make the most of the college search. The site’s College Trip Planner connects users to campus tours, information sessions, and other admissions activities. They can download maps and make travel arrangements all in one place. For more information, visit http://goseecampus.com, and get exclusive content and updates through Facebook and Twitter.”

This interview should not be construed as an endorsement. The intent is to provide information, and represents the views of the Kevin Preis only, and does not necessarily represent views of College Planning Services, Inc. or Marilyn G.S. Emerson

The College Admissions Scoop: Don't Procrastinate - Finish Your College Applications Now!

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

A Note to Parents: As you encourage your student in completing their applications, feeling confident that they are making the best use of their time is likely a concern. Though you probably remind them frequently to keep up to date on their work, it might help for them to hear an outside perspective. Hopefully the following post will give your student a good sense of how to avoid the pitfalls of procrastination.

As you probably know, procrastination is not a great strategy for completing your college applications—or anything else, for that matter. While it makes sense that you need time to think about how to best present yourself within the application, and that sometimes you need to take a break from the work, it does not follow that waiting until the mood strikes you (inevitably, 11:30pm on December 31st) is a productive approach.

The first thing to know regarding procrastination is that even if you are impressed with what you can pull off at the last moment, admission officers will sense that your application is lacking in foresight and substantive effort. Because the deadlines for applications are months after materials first become available, readers will wonder why you weren’t able to take advantage of the considerable time allotted to you in putting together your application. If you do not use that time, your ability to present yourself as genuinely and comprehensively as possible will suffer. This means that admission officers will not have as solid of a grasp on who you are and what you have to offer to their community. It also suggests that you are not a responsible student, and you can probably imagine why that would reflect poorly on your ability to make a positive impact in the university classroom.

But there are some more practical concerns regarding procrastination, as well. If you are submitting at the last minute, you’re unlikely to be the only student doing so. Submitting online at the same time as tens of thousands of other students makes you vulnerable to internet troubles, uploading problems, or system failures. Also, as you finish up your application, you are more likely to make mistakes or miss areas to correct if you are rushing to finish everything on time. Those little details are very important to admission officers, and if you forget to spell check your essay or take the tracked changes off your activity sheet, it will reflect poorly on your application as a whole.

Perhaps the most important reason to be timely with your application, however, is that it gives you the chance to relax about the process. Being timely doesn’t mean that you aren’t still working on finishing touches in late December, but it does mean that you have been responsible enough in compiling your application that you feel confident that you are submitting your finest work. You deserve to be proud of what you have submitted, and you deserve to relax when it is all done. If you make use of all the time you have and avoid procrastination, you will experience the feeling of considerable accomplishment and relaxation when you finally click “submit.”

Denied Admission: It's Their Loss!

Colleges and universities have made their decisions. By this evening, most high school seniors will have heard whether their applications were accepted or denied. Some high school seniors will have big smiles; others will experience rejection, maybe for the first time. For those denied, rejection hurts! There is little that parents, friends, guidance counselors and educational consultants can say that will take away the initial sting.

On March 29, Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University posted the following: "If you receive some rejections, you will tend to dwell on them. It's only natural -- what we can't have suddenly seems far more valuable of interesting than what we can have. You will be tempted to revisit every step of your high school career and your application process, pondering what you might have done differently. But there is one and only one good answer to any rejection letter you receive, dream school or not 'Your loss, baby.' Then move on."

Dean Brenzel's advice is sound. Don't let someone, or a committee of someones, color the way you think about yourself. You can, and you should, hold your head high because you put yourself on the line by applying to schools that are at best unpredictable.

College should be less about where you go and, ultimately is more about what you do with the four years you spend there. Do well, and the world can be yours!

Marilyn G. S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

What Families Need to Know About Financial Aid Award Letters

Question: How and when can I expect to hear if my child has been awarded financial aid?

Answer: Financial aid award letters, as they are called, are typically sent out between mid-March and mid-April each year. Families have until May 1st to evaluate their offered aid packages and commit to a school by sending in a deposit. Don't assume that the school with the lowest tuition or the one offering the most grant money is the most affordable. The real measure of an aid package is how much you end up paying in the end.

Question: How do I determine which college is the most financially viable for my child?

Answer: First determine what the major costs are to attend each school. It is imperative that all directly and indirectly billed expenses (travel, books, meals, etc.) are included whether or not they are reflected in the financial aid award letter. Then group the major aid components together and compare them. Aid comes in three forms, loans which have to be repaid with or without interest, gift aid which consists of grants and merit aid which do not have to be repaid and work-study where a student is paid to work part time either on or off campus. In the latter case, the award letter doesn't typically indicate what the work will be. Comparing components is sometimes easier said than done. There is no standard form of financial aid letter. Schools can have cryptic acronyms to identify components without indicating which are grants and which are loans.

Once you know what your costs are and how much, and in what form of aid your child will be receiving, you can determine what your out-of-pocket costs will be. The difference between the cost of attendance and the amount of grant money and work study that your child is offered is ultimately what the family will owe. Offered loans may defer some the cost initially, but will have to be repaid with or without interest, depending upon the type of loan it is. Interest on some loans have to be repaid during the course of undergraduate studies. Others defer repayment until after graduation. Typically loans carry interest charges and fees which should be included in your calculations.

Question: Is help available to compare financial aid awards?

Answer: There are websites, some of which are more reliable than others, to assist families in comparing award packages. They also require a certain level of understanding the financial aid process. The college's financial aid office is always a resource to be called upon to clarify and explain inconsistencies or ambiguities. Also, be aware that aid packages aren't necessarily automatically renewable from year to year. Educate yourself early about the process so you will be in a position to evaluate financial aid letters in a timely fashion.

Carolyn Cohen, Esq. Educational Consultant at College Planning Services, Inc.

Happy New Year!

For the new year I will be changing the focus of this college admissions blog. Instead of writing a college admission tip of the week, each week an educational consultant from College Planning Services, Inc. will answer a college admission related question . So please, keep sending us your college admission questions.

Question: Can I ask your opinion on whether you think Spencer "shot high enough" with college applications? I sometimes wonder if we went to see enough schools. The guidance counselor at his high school made it sound like Boston College would be a stretch. Should we just be thrilled that it's over? Would he have gotten into some Ivy League schools? Spencer seems confident he wouldn't. I'd love your professional opinion on this. It probably sounds ridiculous, but I guess I'm hoping you tell me to be and he wouldn't have a chance at an Ivy League school.

Answer: Spencer was accepted at a wonderful college, one I am assuming since he applied early action, that he really wants to attend. Admission to college is only the beginning. Spencer, like other students, needs to be in an environment where he will be academically successful and socially happy.

In all likelihood, since both Spencer and his guidance counselor thought his list was a good one, you are probably doing Spencer a disservice by second guessing their judgement. Students, counselors and educational consultants usually have a good sense of colleges that would be a good fit , both academically and socially, whereas parents often don't. Students, counselors and educational consultants usually have accurate knowledge, which is a good basis of comparison, and parents often don't. Students usually know where they stand in their class. In my experience, if I was asked to rank those who accurately predict where students will be accepted, I would rank students, guidance counselors and educational consultants high and parents low.