“I wish we started last year….” another parent said as she left our Old Saybrook office after a college counseling session. Year after year, I have heard some parents lament that they should have started college counseling earlier. But this year – obviously due to Covid – this is the most common comment I hear […]
Read MoreTo paraphrase Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, who paraphrased Bill Gates: Twenty years ago, from a purely career-financial perspective, if you had the choice of being a “B” student from Brooklyn or an “A” student from Bombay, you would choose the former because America’s economic domination was so thorough that opportunities were […]
Read More“I figure what’s the worst that can happen. I’ll come back here and live in a big house by the water.” said Liam a completely honest junior from Guilford High School. This was a decade ago. I had pressed Liam about the obvious: did his family situation dull his motivation? Liam’s response was surprising […]
Read MoreSeveral years ago, Denise, a mother from Old Lyme, Connecticut, relayed some troubling news about some of her son’s friends who had graduated from Lyme-Old Lyme High School. Three had dropped out of college and while each might go back she thought they were heading down the wrong path as their dominant way of earning […]
Read More“He’s given more thought to mastering Call of Duty than which colleges interest him.” Terry, a mother of a student from Lyme-Old Lyme High School, in Old Lyme, Connecticut, lamented as she described her son Liam. Since I wrote Motivate Your Son, I am often the last resort for parents (often mothers!) who are their wits […]
Read MoreBlake, a junior from Daniel Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut had one dominant theme in mind during our first college counseling session: “I want to go some place warm!” I’ve heard this demand with increasing frequency from my Connecticut college counseling clientele. Our career advisory services are designed to help students (assuming they […]
Read More“I’m not paying for some frivolous degree.” Tom, a parent of student from East Lyme, Connecticut said about a decade ago. I remember the tension in the room. My work as a college counselor is designed to help parents/students reach their goals. My preferences are not part of the mix or I’ll simply state my […]
Read More“That’s part of my brand.” So said a Harvard student to my daughter as he was trying to woo her with his impressive credentials. He was a clown but he was stating some part of the truth. I’ve grown away from the prestige seeker I once was. The self-esteem that seems attached to name […]
Read MoreI was at a party recently in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Sometimes I avoid gatherings were parents are because they know of my college counseling work! This topic was of particular interest to me: one of the parents was lamenting that her son and “everyone that he knows” isn’t working full time, nearly two years after […]
Read MoreAs reported in US News & World Report “My advice is to assume that the test is preferred,” says Aviva Legatt, an admissions consultant and author of a college admissions book titled “Get Real and Get In.” As always, names and identifying details are changed when I relay college counseling stories: Andrew a student from […]
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