collegepreppodcast's podcast

International experiences are a great way for teenagers to grow socially, emotionally and intellectually.

Based on her personal experience with her daughter as well as experiences with high school clients, Megan lays out several kinds of exchange programs at a variety of different price points that help broaden teens’ horizons.

In her discussion with Gretchen, she shares:

* the benefits of having multiple international experiences as a high school student

* the types of international experiences there are, including organized school trips and a variety of exchange programs,

* the costs of these programs (including how to find low cost alternatives),

* and how to write about these experiences on your college applications so that you don’t sound like every other teen who’s gone overseas

 

Thanks to the recent release of the PSAT scores, we have a number of questions related to how to interpret those scores and deal with the resulting email deluge.

On today’s episode, Megan tackles these three questions:

1. Should My Son Take a PSAT Class to Try to Win a National Merit Scholarship? I am currently receiving your vocabulary lists and just watched the 19 minute video regarding PSAT results. I need to ask you a question about what I should do for my son. He took the PSAT in October as a sophomore and got amazing following results. I am wondering if I should put him in your summer PSAT class. While his results are amazing, especially to his dad and me, neither of us college educated, we are not in a financial situation to pay for the college that he deserves. Would it be worth our money, and his time, to take the PSAT class in order to raise his scores for NM scholarships? Or would an ACT class, this is the test of his preference, be the way to go? ~ Leslie

2. How Can I Convince My 8th Grader to Take College Prep Seriously? Would it help an 8th grader who has not stepped it up academically yet, to talk to a college consultant to hear more about why he should care about grades? ~ Jason

3. Can I Trust Colleges Who are “Email Bombing” My Son? I have a sophomore in a public Florida high school who took the PSAT for the first time. The results were released, and we are being “email bombed” (his words) like crazy from schools all over the U.S. Do these universities really care about my son? Are they just hoping to raise their application rates so they look more selective?After his first AP exam in 9th grade, we received a few pitches from selective schools (Vanderbilt, U Chicago) etc. Vanderbilt has sent me follow up post cards to “not count them out because of cost.” Unless these schools give us substantial gift aid/merit aid, there’s no way we can afford it even if he gets admitted. How can a parent start to narrow down all of these schools early in the process? My son has no idea where he might want to go. He ignores the emails (which may be a good thing). Just not sure what I should be doing with all of these postcards. ~ Anonymous Mom

Does your teen resist school? Maybe (s)he consistently blames the teacher rather than take responsibility for low grades?

Teen Motivation Expert Hayden Lee shares some tips for how to motivate teens to reach their full potential at school and in life.

Join Hayden and Gretchen as they discuss:

* How to keep teens motivated at school

* What to do when a student just doesn’t like a certain subject or teacher

* How to help teens build better relationships with teachers

* What to do with stubborn or resistant teens, and

* How to help teens raise their grades

In addition, Hayden recommended the following resources: the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and Colleges That Change Lives.

Hayden Lee is a Certified Academic Life Coach and Teen Motivation Specialist. He empowers students with the tools to stay positive, motivated, and proactive not only in their academics, but also in their lives. He helps young adults link a sense of purpose to their work in order to find passion and fulfillment in what they do. He does this by helping teens gain a deeper self-awareness who they are and what they want in order to identify meaningful goals and how to achieve them. Find out more about him at www.haydenleealc.com, www.facebook.com/alcbyhaydenlee, and on twitter and Instagram at @alcbyhaydenlee

 

Do you ever stare at the blank page for hours, wishing that essay would write itself?

Many students struggle with writing, and recently Gretchen has coached a couple of desperate students who are tired of agonizing over their writing, but do not know what to do instead.

During this episode, Megan and Gretchen discuss a creative option for getting words onto the page. They cover:

* the myth that there is only one acceptable way to write

* the difference between “writing with your fingers” and “writing with your voice”

* a couple different technologies that work well for dictation, and

* 5 tips to dictating your ideas so that you make the writing process easier, not harder

This episode is especially relevant for students with learning differences that impact their ability to write, as well as for any student who has a massive case of writer’s block.

Scores from the October 2015 PSAT and PSAT 8/9 are now available.

Results have been online at CollegeBoard.com since January 7 and today, January 29, high schools should receive individual printed score reports from College Board.

Today Megan and Gretchen discuss:

* what to look for on your score report

* what information is essential and what you can skip

* how you can use the PSAT information to prepare for future tests

* what we know (and don’t know) about National Merit cutoffs

If you want more information (or just a visual), Megan has a great video explaining PSAT scores on her website: College Prep Results.

 

How should parents roll out the idea of college to students who are reluctant to engage in the conversation or are stressed out by the idea?

Recently, Megan and Gretchen received this question from a parent named Dale:

I started talking to my daughter about college as a freshman, took her on 2 college visits her 10th grade year, and went to 1 college visit this year. Beginning this year, I think I have might have overdone it with talking college with her, as she gives me the cold shoulder. Part of me says I have to let her figure it out, and maybe fail at a deadline. I have told my wife, she will have to do the college talking, as I’m out.”

In Megan’s answer, she walks Dale (and all parents) through the following three stages of talking to reluctant students about college:

* How to start the conversation about college

* How to motivate students who might appear reluctant

* How to guide their actions

 

It’s the start of a new semester for most students!

Here are some straightforward actions to take to make sure that you’re set up to rock the semester, and stay on pace with college applications — no matter what grade you’re in.

Gretchen and Megan take turns offering their favorite tips, which include:

* Update college-bound resume

* Clean out binders

* Review grades and set new goals

* Collect new tools to help you improve the bad habits you got into last semester

* Assess where you are with college planning, and what the necessary next steps are

* Map out your assignments and schedule for the entire semester

* Double check late work policies for all new teachers

* Talk to teachers. If you are in a new class, introduce yourself, and if you are a returning student, get tips about how to improve.

The very skills students need most to succeed in college are the ones that few adults teach them. But what if every parent, teacher and tutor mastered several easy conversations, and engaged teens regularly in these dialogues? Students’ academic success would likely sky rocket. 

In this podcast episode, Gretchen lays out her “wish list” for conversations all adults would have with kids. Specifically, she ask adults to equip themselves with the following information:

* 5 revolutionary processes that happen in the brain that every adult, and student, should understand.

* The reason why learning styles aren’t helpful, and what to say instead to encourage students to be active learners

* Questions to ask kids to help engage their metagcognition (so adults to less thinking for students)

* And more!

For more information about the training Gretchen is offering adults who support kids (with a special emphasis on teachers, tutors, and parents), go to www.gretchenwegner.com or email her direction at gretchen [at] gretchenwegner [dot] com.

Are college tuition waivers really as good a deal as they seem?

Several  months ago on Facebook, Gretchen noticed her friends excitedly reposting an article about Stanford’s new tuition waiver rules.

Here’s an excerpt:

But fewer parents will have to pay tuition, which will be free for those coming from households with annual incomes below $125,000, the university said in the release. That expands on a financial aid program that had previously waived tuition costs to students from households making less than $100,000 a year.

Despite the excitement of her Facebook friends, Gretchen wondered whether this was as good a deal as it seems. During this podcast episode, Megan breaks down how to think about tuition waivers in general, and Stanford’s in particular.

In the episode Megan references this financial aid calculator tool.