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Parents: What if you know your teen needs coaching, but they simply aren’t interested? Gretchen gives you some pointers for how to get them ready to accept the idea of getting academic support.

This podcast episode is from the archives. It originally ran on September 2, 2019.

If parents have follow up questions about how to convince THEIR resistant teen, please come talk to Gretchen about it at her next free live event. Find out more at www.gretchenwegner.com/live.

The post 395: How to “Convince” Your Resistant Teen to Try Coaching appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

How good are your notes? Have you gotten “lazy” as Gretchen has?

Note-taking is arguably the most important skill academic coaches teach students, and we could ALL benefit from an audit of how well we do, students and educators alike.

Here are some questions Gretchen recommends you ask yourself:

• Do you have a dedicated & organized PLACE to take notes?
• Do you write too much or too little?
• Do you write word for word what you hear or see?
• If taking book notes, do you skim to plan your notes beforehand?
• Do you review your notes afterwards?
• Do you have methods to make your notes QUIZZABLE?
• Do you SCHEDULE time for honing your notes on your calendar?

If you’d like Gretchen to do an audit of one page of notes FOR you at her next LIVE! event, please send a picture of one page to her at [email protected]. Make sure you also sign up to attend the event at www.gretchenwegner.com/live.

The post 394: How to Do An Audit of Your Notes appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

Should you be nervous when you go to your first college night, info session or tour? What should you expect, and how can you make the best use of your time when you talk to a college representative.

Megan walks you through three tips for an awesome visit, including:

• The 3 different types of college events, and what to expect from each
• How to prepare beforehand,
• How to follow up afterwards,
• Whether there’s a dress code,
• and more!

The post 393: Expectations for College Night, Info Sessions & Tours appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

Find out what colleges are looking for in a good recommendation letter, what teachers should and shouldn’t say, and what families can do to help ensure that your letters knock it out of the park.

In this episode that originally aired October 6, 2014, Megan and Gretchen discuss all things related to letters of rec.

Students and parents will want to make sure they understand:

• the true purpose of a recommendation letter: how to help colleges get to know students as real people
• how to think strategically about who to ask for recommendations, and what they should say
• how to create a recommendation packet for teachers so that you’re making it easy for them to follow through
• how to ensure that teachers don’t write form letters or use overly flowery language that sounds fake

Teachers will be interested in these tips:

• how to choose which students for whom you can write an effective recommendation
• how to write specific stories about the student without taking a lot of time
• what to do and say if your experiences with a student are mostly negative, but they ask for a recommendation anyway
• how to know your district’s policies about writing positive and negative reviews of students.

Enjoy the episode, including hearing what Megan and Gretchen sounded like back in the early days of the podcast.

The post 392: How to Get (or Write!) an Amazing Letter of Recommendation appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.

Have you ever had a teacher who called you out in class? Did you feel humiliated?

Gretchen and Megan talk out a recent situation Gretchen encountered with a college student, including how to assess what your next actions should be when a classroom environment feels toxic to you.

Together, they brainstorm:

• How to get a reality check about whether other students also experience the environment as toxic
• How to advocate for yourself, both with the teacher and with other school officials
• What options there are for next actions in this type of situation
• How teachers can be more aware of how their attitude of frustration comes across to students
• And more!

Want to discuss this situation, or another one like it, directly with Gretchen? Check out her free monthly event at www.gretchenwegner.com/live.

The post 391: How to Respond When a Teacher Humiliates You in Class appeared first on The College Prep Podcast.