• By Jacquelyn White
  • Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Virtual College Prep Boot Camp

Our college-prep series is going virtual.
Register to join weekly workshops cover topics such as the Common College Application, How to Write Great Personal Statement, How to Find the Right Colleges for You, and more.
Workshops will be held on Zoom every Tuesday, starting at 6 p.m. The first workshop will be held Tuesday, September 1.
Click on the registration links to sign up for each workshop.


Image Description: Creating a Great Common College Application
Creating a Great Common College Application
Tuesday, Sept. 1 from 6-7 p.m.
Click the image above to register or this link.
Just because the application is common doesn’t mean yours needs to be. We’ve helped thousands of students submit clear and compelling Common Applications that helped them stand out.


Image Description: How to Write a Great Personal Statement
How to Write a Great Personal Statement
Tuesday, Sept. 8 from 6-7 p.m.
Click the image above to register or this link.
A lot of really good kids write really bad college essays; essays about how soccer taught them the importance of teamwork, or how they struggled to adapt to strange cultures during a trip to Paris. It’s not their fault; most kids have just never been taught what college admissions officers actually want to read about, or that great college essays need to be written very differently from the essays assigned in high school English classes.

That’s why we created this seminar—to teach kids how to find and write their best stories for college essays. We’ll explain what admissions officers actually want (and don’t want) to read, reveal the five most overused essay topics on which far too many kids rely, and teach writing techniques that will help any student write more engaging and effective college essays.


Image Description: How to Find the Right Colleges for You
How to Find the Right Colleges for You
Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 6-7 p.m.
Click the image above to register or this link.
There are over 2,000 colleges from which to choose. But how can high school students know exactly what they’re looking for in a college? How can students identify those schools at which you will be happiest and most successful? This seminar will teach you how to be a savvy college shopper. We’ll share ways to recognize what types of colleges might be good fits, discuss how to evaluate the many factors that need to be considered like size, location and majors, and share some of the college insights we’ve learned from our former Collegewise kids who are now flourishing at their chosen colleges.

We’ll even discuss how to visit colleges, a college planning ritual that sounds easy, but can sometimes be as stressful as full contact karate. Students who attend this seminar are usually able to better identify and describe what they’re looking for in colleges, which helps your counselor make the most appropriate college suggestions.


Image Description: How to Write Supplement College Essays
How to Write Supplement College Essays
Tuesday, Sept. 22 from 6-7 p.m.
Click the image above to register or this link.
Many colleges ask shorter essay questions or even questions that just require you to respond with one sentence—like, “What is the last book you read for pleasure?” There is a huge opportunity for students to stand out in their responses to these questions. And this is the area where we felt that guidance given to students could be better. So we created this seminar.

Most of the short answer questions involve the same themes, like why you want to go to a particular college, or how you will contribute on campus once you get there...We created this seminar to teach you exactly what admissions officers are looking for from each of these questions, and how you can use those opportunities to help an admissions officer get to know you better.

The more you can use your application to help an admissions officer get to know you, the more you stand out, the more likeable you are, and the more likely you are to be accepted.


Image Description:  Paying for College: Financial aid and Scholarships
Paying for College: Financial aid and Scholarships
Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6-7 p.m.
Click the image above to register or this link.
There is no shame in admitting that your family would benefit from some financial aid for college; we’re all emerging from a financial crisis, and with the cost of a four-year education at many public schools now exceeding $100,000, economic concerns have moved to the forefront of college planning for many families.

This seminar will teach you how to successfully complete the process of applying for financial aid and scholarships, from determining your eligibility to filling out the right forms, to avoid the mistakes many families make during the process. We’ll answer common questions like, “Can applying for financial aid hurt a student’s chances of admission?” and “Should you apply for aid even if you think you won’t qualify?” And we’ll share some Collegewise advice about how to factor your need for financial aid into your student’s college selections.

We’re not accountants, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to try to give you detailed financial advice about how to invest, save, or rearrange your money. But if you’ll let us defer those questions to your accountant or to a financial aid professional, we promise to give you good advice and, in typical Collegewise style, to send you away with a much better understanding of a formerly confusing process.


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