General Education Advice

College Planning and Career Planning Must Become One Process Many families in Connecticut still approach college planning in isolation. They concentrate on grades, standardized testing, extracurricular activities, application essays, and admissions strategy. These things matter. But gaining admission to college is not the ultimate objective. College is an extraordinarily expensive and influential developmental experience. The […]

Preparing High Schoolers for Higher Education in the Age of AI Every admissions cycle at The Learning Consultants, I sit down with Connecticut high school students—and their understandably anxious parents—who are trying to map out a four-year college plan in an educational landscape shifting faster than ever. Generative AI has moved from a novelty into […]

I’ve spent twenty-five years at The Learning Consultants reading applications, coaching essays, and sitting with families the night before a decision drops. In that time, I’ve seen the SAT go test-optional, I’ve watched the Common App reinvent itself more than once, and I’ve navigated Connecticut families through affirmative action rulings and admissions scandals. None of […]

Choosing College on Purpose: Too Many Students Are Simply Drifting Into One of Life’s Biggest Decisions Over more than two decades of college counseling, I have noticed a concerning trend: increasing numbers of students are simply drifting into college. They work through high school, take the required courses, participate in a few activities, and eventually […]

The Quiet Drift: When Choosing a College Stops Feeling Like a Choice Somewhere in the last several years, I’ve noticed a shift in how a lot of seniors approach one of the biggest decisions of their lives so far. It’s not that they’re careless, or that their families don’t care. It’s something quieter than that […]

After Labor Day, everything accelerates. Teachers begin covering substantive material. Tests and papers appear on the calendar. Students must manage multiple deadlines. Fall sports consume afternoons and evenings. Seniors face college applications, while juniors begin the most important academic year of high school. The habits students establish during September can shape their entire school year. […]

Every September I watch the same dynamic play out with families across the shoreline: there’s a strange compression to it. Summer stretches long and unstructured, and then, almost overnight, school starts and the full weight of the academic year — homework, activities, testing timelines, college deadlines for older kids — arrives all at once. Families […]

Junior Year Is When College Counseling Actually Starts to Matter Sophomore year, when I mention college counseling, most families wave it off — plenty of time. By junior year, that changes fast. This is the year the process stops being theoretical and starts requiring actual decisions, and the families who start engaging now, rather than […]

Twenty-five years in, I’ve learned the biggest risk for most seniors isn’t a weak transcript. It’s drift — good students who lose the fall semester to disorganization, missed deadlines, and essays that sound like everyone else’s because nobody pushed them to write something true. Building the List: Fit Before Fame A lot of families walk […]

Every October, I have some version of the same conversation with a junior in our office — recently a student from Madison, sharp kid, solid student — who shrugs when I bring up the PSAT. “It doesn’t count, right? It’s just practice.” Technically, true. Colleges never see a PSAT score. But I’ve spent over two […]