So this newsletter is a bit different.

While everyone with a kid in middle school or high school can benefit, it’s especially for those of you with a teen in Grade 11.

This is because, if they haven’t started their college research process in earnest, now is the time!

And if they have - first off, amazing. Second off, if it’s not a clearly structured process that gives them confidence and peace of mind, then the roadmap below is for them.

These are the exact steps I use with my clients, tested and refined over many years. It gives them more clarity and less stress while strengthening the very skills they need to succeed when they get there.

⬇️ College Research Roadmap ⬇️ 

Getting ready

🧰 Tools. Your teen will need an online platform to document their work. I like Google docs and Notion (both free). Set this up ahead of time. Ask if they would like their work to be private initially as they get their bearings (their eyes only) or if you can be shared on it.

🚁 Roles. Your teen is in the driver’s seat. Absolutely offer to help and make suggestions, but do not do the work for them. This undermines their autonomy and ownership. The implication is that they can’t do it themselves, or that you don’t trust them to. It also deprives them of a crucial opportunity to practice core skills (hi, time management) and stand on their own two feet while finding/fortifying their voice.

🏃 Expectations. This is a marathon, not a sprint. They can’t knock it out in a single Sunday afternoon. If they want to feel clear and confident throughout this process and with the final decision they make, they must understand that it is indeed a process. They need to set time aside each week to work on this.

👀 Observe. Keep an eye for whether and how they struggle in this process. The work involved in researching and applying to universities is a lot like the work they’re going to have do in university. So, for example, if they struggle with taking initiative or managing their time to actually get stuff done on a consistent basis, there’s a good chance they’ll struggle with these things in university too. The good news is that they still have runway to learn these skills. The sooner, the better so they can use the remainder of high school practicing and strengthening these skills.

Phase I: Introspection

What are your teen’s strengths, values and passions (SVPs)?

Thinking about college doesn’t start with thinking about what they want to do.

It starts with getting clear on who they are and mapping that out onto different potential paths and programs.

A lot of students struggle with this - most teens I work with find it hard to even define 'value’ - which is why I do a guided introspection with my students. This involves coaching them through defining what the terms ‘strengths, values and passions’ mean to them, and unpacking each so we can see what they look like in practice.

The beauty of getting this down in writing isn’t just to help them better understand themselves - to help them disentangle what they think they want or think they should want from what they actually want for themselves - it’s also an essential anchor for when they start their applications.

This is because the strongest college applications are authentic.

And authenticity is hard to communicate without introspection. But when they’ve done the introspection, when they can write their statements or scholarship applications from a deep sense of self, they differentiate themselves immediately from other candidates.

This phase helps teens find their voice and gives them the confidence to use it, unapologetically. That is what college admissions committees want to see. An authentic statement can offset lower than ideal grades or weak extracurriculars in the selection process. And it makes writing the statement feel so much easier.

Phase II: Research

Once they’ve written out their SVP’s, the rounds of research can begin.

—> yes, rounds, plural. A lot of students don’t know how to research. They think about it sometimes, Google some stuff, talk to friends or parents or teachers, and then decide where to apply.

This approach means unquestioned assumptions and massive gaps in knowledge. It can sometimes work to land a student in a program they love but it’s a gamble.

A structured approach where they systematically research and evaluate possibilities guarantees they’re making a well-informed decision. This creates confidence instead of anxiety or uncertainty.

Here are the first three rounds of research:

Research Round 1: drawing from the SVP’s, identify 3 initial paths and 3 initial programs for each path. Paths are the broad fields like business, international relations, music, kinesiology while programs refer to a specific degree at a specific institution.

Here’s what a path and its programs can look like:

Path 1: Business

• UPenn, Bachelor of Science in Economics. Concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

• Babson College, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

• Miami University, Bachelor of Science in Commerce.

Top tip: make sure they hyperlink everything!

Research Round 2: now that we have some initial possibilities down, time to get clear on the alphabet soup of degrees. What’s a BA vs a BA(H) vs BSc vs a BBA? What’s a minor vs a concentration? What’s the work or time difference for earning a degree with one major vs a double major vs one major with a double minor?

I am endlessly blown away (ok, horrified) by how many students apply to college without knowing these very basic things.

Research Round 3: classes. For each program, what classes will they be taking? Find the course catalog. Look at what they’d be taking, first and second year especially. Are there syllabi they can look at for those courses, or syllabi for comparable courses? READ THEM!

I can’t overstate how critical this is. The number of students who don’t spend time exploring the courses they’ll be taking, and really thinking about what their day to day will look like in those courses, is astonishing. These same students are then surprised and upset when they realize they’re not learning what they assumed they would be.

Time spent reading through the course catalog is 1000x better than time spent unhappy in a program or figuring out how to change schools.

We then iterate on these rounds of research, meaning that we refine our list of paths and programs based on what we learn about degree types, courses etc.

Phase III: Narrow

We narrow in two main ways:

—> Personal Preference Criteria (PPC). Your teen makes a list of a bunch of factors and then ranks them in order of importance.

Factors like location (USA? Texas only? Canada? UK?), urban vs rural, size (of school and classes), prestige, co-op experiences, study abroad opportunities, scholarships/affordability, extracurriculars, and so on.

—> Candidacy. This is where your teen locates the entrance requirements and maps it onto their own candidate profile. Based on their grades, extracurriculars etc., how competitive are they for each program/school

They’re going to group their schools into one of three categories:

🚀 reach schools have requirements above what your kid has (i.e. ‘successful applicants to this program have a 3.8 GPA on average’ whereas your kid has a 3.5). They’re not disqualified from applying, but acceptance…is a reach 🙂 

🎯 target schools have requirements that match your kid’s profile

🛟 safety schools have requirements below what your kid has (i.e. they require a minimum 3.0 and your kid has a 3.5)

Ideally, they cover their bases and apply to programs that fall under each category.

Note: encourage them to apply to the dream school. So long as their expectations are set and managed, there’s no reason not to. And you really and truly never know unless you do.

And….that’s it!

Phew. If you’re still reading, congratulations are in order. You have the roadmap for helping your teen absolutely crush the process of finding their best fit paths and programs in a structured, efficient and authentic way.

We’ll resume our regular batch of Q+A’s, opportunities, resources etc. in the next newsletter.

In the meantime, hit ‘reply’ with any questions.

If you think your teen would benefit from a third party (i.e. me 😃) walking them through these steps personally, let me know.

Happy Friday💛 

Kelsey