Rest assured we are never asking you to prioritize college research over school work. We just ask that you give each task or activity we assign your best and honest effort. It’s all working toward something bigger, the building blocks of your application.

To quantify it, you should plan on spending a few hours a month (junior year average) outside of our meetings, sometimes fewer depending on the time of year. That’s up until the summer before senior year. Then it’s time to lock in.

Yes, you still get to go on vacation or whatever else you have planned. We will work around these times, of course. But you want to do as much of your college essay writing in the summer while you have the time and space to be creative. As a result, your fall self will thank your summer self.

When colleges say they want to see that you’ve used your time in high school to discover and further explore the things that interest you, believe them. That’s why we like to do an activity audit early on. Even if you don’t have a resume yet (don’t worry, you will), we want to learn more about the activities, organizations, hobbies, etc. you’ve already put time into and more importantly, why you do them.

Is there anything else you still want to try or take a greater role in? You may not even realize all the opportunities available in just the city or town you live in. Particularly for Austin, we have plenty of suggestions in all sorts of categories and can discuss what that looks like for you, given your schedule and interests.

Remember: Enrichment doesn’t have to look like one specific thing. Why not branch out a bit?

We want you to feel ready and confident to take your best test at the right time for you. So when we discuss creating a plan and timeline just for you, you’ll feel like you’ve had plenty of input based on your own calendar, preferred testing style, previous PSAT results, etc.

Many school districts now offer a SAT School Day administration, free to students in the spring (typically March) of their junior year. But does fall testing (typically November or December, perhaps sooner) also make sense for you? What about a candid conversation about test prep? We’re also happy to talk about test-optional colleges and universities.

We might suggest taking a diagnostic or practice test to assess if the ACT better suits your strengths. For the colleges requiring test scores (plenty don’t), they will take either the SAT or ACT. The higher comparable score. They just want to use the score that will help you the most. 

We don’t take the college essay lightly. We know it’s often the biggest source of student stress. And it’s hardly ever just one essay. Various colleges have different word count or even character count limits in place.

It’s all more complicated than it needs to be, but it’s still one of our favorite parts of the application. Because this is really the one place where your voice, personality, and presence is able to shine.

We talk through each college essay prompt and challenge students to dig deeper or scratch the surface through brainstorming, practice, questioning, and revising. You only get better at writing if you keep writing. Perfection is not the aim here, authenticity is. 

Make no mistake, you’re going to hear a lot of noise out there surrounding college. Most are well-intentioned; some are so clickbaity it makes us cringe. We’re here to help you sort fact from fiction. We’re here to hear your concerns and provide answers, information, and the occasional anecdote.

The concerns are a big part of this process. It’s why we spend so much time dissecting each part of the application. We’re working together to put your best self front and center. We subscribe to the notion: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde, everybody. We discuss and put plans in place, e.g. summer enrichment, testing, recommendation requests, etc., that work for YOU, not everyone else.

If you’re worried about something, let’s talk about it. The longer we work together, the more conversation we can have about what truly excites you and maybe what you want to lean into, given your strengths and interests.