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Maureen Germanski's List
1. Sara Harberson: https://www.saraharberson.com/
Sara is a former Admissions Director at the University of Pennsylvania. She is very helpful in guiding families through the admission process. She runs free monthly Facebook live sessions on various topics (no need to be on facebook to access the sessions). She posts all of her facebook live sessions on a site called Admissions Revolution. You need to supply your email address to get access to the video’s in Admissions Revolution. She then supplies you with notifications of upcoming Facebook Live sessions where you can submit questions for her to address during the session.
She also runs a private Facebook group for families of upperclassmen for a monthly free of ~ $70/month. The private group is called Application Nation and she responds to all questions within 24 hours. It’s a phenomenal group.
2. Ethan Sawyer: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/
I got Ethan’s name by listening to one of Jessica Yeager’s Dream College Summit series. Ethan offers great advice on writing the main college essay and supplementals that all schools ask for. On his web site, check out his “Free Resources”, “podcasts”, and “blogs” off his homepage. He’s a low key, very authentic, and is great at relieving some of the pressures felt going through the college application process. On his podcasts, he interviewing other experts who have talents in other area’s outside of his area of expertise (making a college list, finding the right college, how to fill out the Common App etc).
3. Compass Education Group: https://www.compassprep.com/
This nation-wide company offers tutoring and test prep help for a fee. However, they also provide a free on-line proctored exams in the PSAT, ACT and SAT using previously administered exams so students can experience each test first hand to help them determine which one they prefer. They send you a detailed analysis of each test, where the student needs additional work, how the student did compare to others who took the test, the difficulty of the question, and in the end, make a recommendation.
They also provide this same free service for each Subject matter test, and AP Exams.
They also have a Compass Guide which gives you information about standardized tests, the PSAT, school listings that require Subject Test, etc.
We found this a valuable resource.
4. Jessica Yeager: https://www.impresstheivies.com/
Jessica runs a three-day seminar series about two times a year in which she conducts one-hour interviews with three or four college prep advisors who are experts in a particular field (test prep, the Common App essay, financial aid, scholarships, etc). The seminar series is called “Dream College Summit”. When you sign up for the Summit, you can watch the video’s for free if you view them within 48 hours of the posting. You have the option of viewing them at anytime but that costs a fair amount of money.
The good thing about the Summits is that it gives you access to several experts in a particular field who usually have their own services, blogs, webinars etc for you to tap into.
5. Planning your college visits: https://daytripperuniversity.com/
This site gives you info on where to stay, where to grab a cup of coffee, the best student hang-outs to help you make the most of your college visits. Priceless info.
6. ED and RD Acceptance Rates https://www.roslynschools.org/cms/lib/NY02205423/Centricity/Domain/70/EarlyDecisionandRegularDecisionAcceptanceRatesClassof2022August%202019.pdf
This site is updated yearly and gives valuable info on school’s acceptance rates during Early Decision and Regular Decision. It’s an eye-opener and something to be considered when deciding if ED is a possible path for the student. The information is collated by Jennie Kent and Jeff Levy every year. Look for their pdf on line when your faced with considering ED.
Additional Resources
Top 15 Things to Pack for College – A list of useful items to pack for college compiled by a parent who went through it recently.
There are many myths and much misunderstanding and this US news article gives a good general overview for beginners.
Grown & Flown is a great site in general, but this particular article was helpful for perspective.
Inside Higher Education is a site primarily for College advisors & guidance counselors, but has some interesting facts to follow.
Annie was kind enough to summarize the Governor’s School of NJ program into an easy to read pdf file.
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