Get Ready 2 Get Ready 4 College
The class teaches students to be intentional, taking ownership of your grades, test scores, activities, leadership, passions, relationships, and campus interactions to shape yourselves into strong, desirable college candidates. Emphasizing planning, demonstrating interest, building rapport with teachers and recruiters, visiting colleges, and staying organized so students can position themselves for admission and scholarships with less stress.
All right. Hello peoples! and welcome. Today’s class is the get ready to get ready for reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college class and get ready for reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college. Know what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit colleges want and then do those things. um know what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are looking for in
a prospective student and then do those things. Um do take some notes because
I’m going to talk about a lot of stuff and by writing down notes you will
remember those things. You did that on purpose. Have you ever
seen a child scream that you did that on purpose? Don’t you just want to say yes,
yes, I did do that on purpose. Well, as you move through high school and
eventually reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and life, do things on purpose. Choose the things that you
would do and the activities that you’ll be in be involved with. So, be
intentional. And this is one of the be intentional classes.
Intentional is an adjective. It’s a function word that depends on something
else. So, we have to be intentional about our grades, be intentional about
our test scores, our involvement with clubs, our reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college selection. We need to
be intentional with our reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college applications, and be intentional with our reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college essays.
Don’t just randomly do stuff. Be intentional with those things. Yes, have some fun in school, but be
intentional. Intentional reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college planning involves taking responsibility
for your grades, for your test scores, for your attitude towards school, and your attitude towards teachers.
It requires gaining clarity about what we want with reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college owning
what we say and choosing up how we show up in all situations from how we want
and for how we want to contribute. So being intentional requires
refining skills, learning to choose to respond versus react,
consciously increasing focus on the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college experience we want to intend to
create without defining how it’s going to look and all that. It’s simple, but
rarely easy. Is it worth it? Yes. When you’re admitted to your dream school and
you earn that incredible scholarship package, yes, all of this is worth it.
So goal, have a goal. The object of a person’s ambition or effort, an aim, or
a desired result is goal. So what is your goal?
I love this quote by Mel Panost. The odds of hitting your target go up
dramatically when you aim at it. So, you can’t hit what you don’t aim for. The
odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you aim for it. So, what is your current GPA and your
current test scores? What will your high school GPA be when you graduate? Aim for
that. What SAT score do you want? What ACT score do you want? What will you do to
get there? your PSAT, APs, uh, and all that. So, be intentional with your grades, be intentional with your test
scores, and and be intentional with everything.
So, be intentional. So, let’s get ready. The next time you go to a grocery store,
go down the cereal aisle. So, check out the cereal out
and then walk about halfway down and then stoop so that you’re on your knees
or about 3 feet tall and then look around. What do you see at that eye
level? You see all the shiny sugary cereal boxes aimed directly to children
ages 3 to six. So, as you walk through that grocery
store, what do you see? You see all those shiny cereal boxes?
Why? Why are all the shiny cereal boxes at the level of eye level of a 3 to
Six-year-old? It’s because they are positioning their product to the right consumer.
So, when that that 3 to six-year-old child is walking through the grocery store with a parent or a guardian, they’re going to be at about three feet tall and they’re going to look left and right and they’re going to see right at
their eye level those shiny cereal boxes and they’re going to grab one off of the
off of the shelf and say, “Mom, dad, could you buy this for me?”
So they are so these companies are positioning their product to the
consumer. And did you know that companies pay extra to have their product on a specific shelf?
So companies are intentional with their product placement. So we want to be
intentional about how you place yourself before the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s.
Your job as a student is to make yourself into that shiny cereal box that
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s will want to buy, want to admit. And you can create, craft, and be
intentional by implementing a plan and a goal to become a great reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
candidate. The brass V. I love this story. Maybe
you’ve heard it. I’m going to read it to you. Every year, new reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college freshmen move
into their reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college dorms. The hustle and bustle of moving boxes, unpacking, meeting new friends is common on every
campus. A particular reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college student moved into his freshman dorm, and one of
the first things that he did was he mounted a brass letter V to his door.
Everyone who walked by would inquire about the letter V. What was it for? the
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college freshman wouldn’t say. People would constantly ask him what this letter was for. Was it for this?
Was it for that? And he would smile and simply say, “You’ll see.”
No one knew what the PRA brass V was or what it represented or if it represented anything at all. Not even his closest
friends nor his roommates. The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college years passed. Every year it
was the same thing. The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college student would move into his dorm and mount his brass V to the door. Periodically, it
would need dusting and cleaning. This was done to keep the brass shining. Sophomore year, junior year, senior, the
brass V was mounted on the dorm room door. Dormmates and students would walk by and
ask the same question. Even faculty and professors were curious about the mysterious brass V. The answer
was always the same. The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college student would simply smile and say, “You’ll
see.” Eventually, the senior year of reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college came and the final set of finals was
taken. Yet, no one knew what the brass fee was. There was a buzz in the air
on graduation night. The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college faculty and the deans sat on the stage. The
opening graduation ceremony started off as most graduations do. A guest speaker gave a riveting motivational speech. The
dean walked up to the podium and announced who the new valedictorian would be. The dean looked at the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
student as he made his way up to the stage. The applause was energizing.
The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college student spoke gently into the microphone and said, “For four
years, all of you have asked what this brass V was.” Holding it high above his
head, he proudly smiled and said, “V is for
victory. is for valedictorian. So this is how you can be intentional.
Set your goal, do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. If you want to be
valedictorian, awesome. Set your goal and do that.
Get ready. So how do we be intentional and make ourselves into great reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college candidates?
First, we mold ourselves into a great reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college candidate by asking a very important question. What does the
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value? What do the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that you’re going to apply to? What do that do those
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s value? And then do that. If the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s don’t value it, then of course
don’t do it. So, if you know how, it’s not scary. And I’m going to tell you how.
So understand what a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and university is looking for in a candidate and then do those things.
What does the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value? If they value it, do it. If they don’t value it, then don’t do it.
On the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application, reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s ask specific questions. Go check out a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application. See what types of
questions are on those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college applications and then do the things that you can boast about in that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
application. As an example
on the Air Force Academy’s application, one of the question was,
“Do you have the Billy Mitchell Award?” Well, that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college must value that.
That’s why they’re asking that question. And if that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college wants you to have
the Billy Mitchell award, then go and do it and earn that award.
Five things that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are looking for in a student. We’re going to cover how, why, what, when, where, and all
that. And the first thing is grades. Your grades and your GPA are always
important.
So, be intentional with your great grades. Your job as a high school student is to
get the best grades that you can. Take some challenging classes, AP honors,
dual enrollment, IB, etc., but don’t take so many of these hard classes that
your grades are going to be impacted negatively. Your job is to graduate high
school with the highest grades and highest GPA that you can. Better grades
will increase your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college selection options. and that if you need help, get
help from teachers, counselors, peers, tutoring, whatever it is that you need, do that.
So, your job is to graduate with the highest grades that you can. So, to get good grades, what do you do?
Well, first, turn in your homework. Kind of a no-brainer on that one. Turn in your homework completed on time.
Students that turn in their homework on time have at least a 3.0 0 GPA.
Also, participate in class by asking questions and interacting
positively in the class. Learn to overcome the obstacle of not asking questions in class. Ask questions. The
more you do it, the more comfortable you’re going to be and the easier it will become to participate in class. By
participating in class and joining in with a positive interaction and respecting the teacher, your grades will
go up. And this will also help with the teacher recommendation letters later on.
I know when I was in high school, I was really shy about asking questions in class. I thought I was the only student
that had that same question. But in reality, um, most of the other students
in my class had the same question.
The second thing that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are going to ask about and find out is your test scores. So, be intentional with your
test scores. And those test scores are going to be the PSAT, the SAT, ACC. They
can also be APs, uh, IB, uh, and any other type of test
that you might be taking throughout high school. So tests are important and can help you
if you have a great score. And that JD, what about test optional or test
blind reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s? What about that? I’ve been hearing about that. What is that? Test optional means that a student can
apply to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and give the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college a test score or not give the
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college a test score and get admitted. Test blind means the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college does not
want to see your test scores at all. And there are some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that are test blind.
Um for the class of 2026, many reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are going to remain test
optional or even test blind. However, for class of 2027 and beyond, it’s my
guess that these reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that were test optional or test blind may go back to
the old ways and require one or more of these tests. For example, this last
year, Purdue University uh they required all students to submit
test scores where as the last previous few years because of pandemic they did
not require uh test scores. So there were many uh reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that were test
optional before pandemic and these reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s continue to remain test
optional. If you want to talk about uh testing strategies and all that, then give me a call and we can schedule a
meeting. Remember that question. What does a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value do that? If the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
values or requires test scores, then it is to your advantage to take the SAT or
the ACT as many times as needed to get the best score that you can.
So look at your score and if your score is in the range of what the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
wants and they are test optional then give them that score. If your score
falls below what is uh what it the range is and they are test optional then don’t
give them the score. If your score falls below what is
required and they and they require the test
score, then do not apply to that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . We could talk about which reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s you
should look at, which reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s you should apply to. U for some of my students, we’ve given the test scores to
some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s and to other reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, we have not given the test score. So, it
just depends on what your score is and which reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s it is that you’re going to be applying to.
By practicing prep and study, a great SAT and ACT score can be created and
crafted. If you’re aiming for a target and a
number, a 1460 on your SAT will potentially get you a full ride and
free reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . And the equivalent of that would be a 33 on your ACT score. Can you
do it? Yes, if you put your mind to it and do it. So Ellie
asked the question, what does the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value do that? She reached out
to Pacific Lutheran University up in Seattle and she asked this question.
Write this question down. What is your best scholarship
and what do I have to do to get it? Write this down. What is your best
scholarship and what do I have to do to get it? What’s your biggest scholarship? How do
I qualify for it? She asked that question at PLU. And the recruiter said,
“Our best scholarship was based on a 28 ACT score or a 1300 SAT score, either
one, don’t care which one, and a 3.0 GPA or higher.
So, a 28 or higher ACT score and a 30 or higher will get you our best scholarship
at that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Ellie took the uh both the SAT and the ACT. She decided she was
going to focus on the ACT and she took the ACT three times. The third time she
popped a 28. Had she taken the test one more time and
gotten a 29 or even a perfect 36, she would not have gotten any more
scholarship money at that particular reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So, as you’re progressing through taking
these tests, at some point you will be done. At what point will be determined
as to which reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s it is you will be applying to. So be intentional with your test scores.
The third thing that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college are going to ask about is extracurricular involvement in school
and outside of school. Besides your grades and your test scores, what else do you do in high
school? Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are asking these things to see if you might be involved in one or more activities that the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has.
This is important to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s because students who are involved in the activity in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
are more likely to stay in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and not drop out and eventually graduate.
This is what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s want. They want students who will graduate from their reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So get involved with some
different activities in high school and then consider being involved with those
same or similar activities in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So, if you’re in speech and debate in
high school or you’re in chess club in high school and the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college that you’re
going to be applying to has a speech and debate or a chess club
uh program, then consider being involved in that in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Here’s why. And this
is what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s think. We need to know what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s think so that we can act
intentionally. So when you put on your resume
and you apply to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and you say on your resume, I’m involved in chess
club in my high school and your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
has a chess club program. I want to be involved in that in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is thinking, “Awesome. What’s going to happen is this student’s
going to come to our reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and and join the chess club and meet other
students who are like-minded, who like chess and make friends. And when you have a
friend or two in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , you’re going to feel comfortable at that school and you’re going to stay there and you’re
going to metriculate and graduate.” And that’s what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s want is for you to graduate from their reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college because that
makes the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college look better. One of the categories that is valued and
ranked by the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s is what’s called graduation rates. And the reason why
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s have these different programs and activities and sports in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s so
that students get involved with those things or go to those sporting events,
meet other students and make friends. And when you make a friend or two in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , you’re going to feel comfortable going to stay. You’re going
to enjoy your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college time and you’re going to matriculate and graduate. And one of the really cool serendipities of
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is making lifelong friends. And uh just uh a couple weeks ago I met
uh with one of my uh reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college friends and uh we went out for breakfast and had a
good time and all that stuff. So be intentional
with your extracurricular activities.
Don’t join every club that your school has. This will not impress a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . do get a leadership position within the
club, any leadership position. And what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s like is they like longevity,
you to be in the same club for multiple years. If you can be involved with that
same club all four years, student government, key club, chess club, NHS,
best buddies, high school sports, those are all good things to be involved with.
Never do anything to impress a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college because reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s kind of figure that out
as they’re reading your essays and reading your resume and stuff. Do get involved with these different
activities, these different sports because you want to do that. That impresses a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
So you can be involved with things that are in school and then you can be involved with things that are outside of
school. Outside of school could be having a job, being employed, uh getting
involved uh with Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Um
could also be some form of martial arts. Uh also being involved with your church,
temple or synagogue. Those are some different things that you can do outside of school. Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s like that as well.
But don’t kill yourself by taking on too much by doing too many things.
So I just mentioned a couple. Boy, boys and girls club, boy scouts, girl scouts, karate, martial arts, club sports,
volunteering and charity work, church temple and synagogue involvement, employment and that. Um, and then get a
leadership position in whatever it is, whether you’re in an
activity in school or you’re in an activity outside of school, look for and
get any leadership position. Leadership positions don’t necessarily mean that
you are president or treasurer of your club or your activity. Those are good
things. Another word for leadership is responsibility.
Taking responsibility. Here’s an example is Tori applied um she
got involved in an academic club in her high school and there were two or three people running for president and two or
three people running for vice president for this academic club at her school and
no one had registered to vote uh for secretary.
So, she put her name in as secretary and guess what? She was elected secretary.
On the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application, it asks, “What’s the name of the activity?
Academic club.” And then the next question on the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application, it asks, “What is your title?”
Oh, my title is secretary or treasurer or president or vice president. All of
those things are good. And again, leadership is taking responsibility. So you can state in your resume, I took on
more responsibility and I did this. That also impresses a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
of the five things that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are looking for in a student.
Number five is to show or demonstrate leadership or have a passion about one
or two things. Be intentional with your passion and
your leadership.
Too many times I’ve seen or heard parents and students say that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s
want a well-rounded student. That is not true.
Um what reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s want is they want to see students that are deeply involved in one or two
activities. So don’t go out and join every club and hobby and activity and
all that stuff. get involved in one or two things and then dive deep into whatever that hobby,
whatever that club is, whatever that activity is. Many students are rejected from top reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s because they thought
that grades and test scores were enough to get them in. Grades and test scores are important, yes, but these are not
the factor that separates one from the masses.
So, over the course of your high school years, develop your passion. What do you love? What are you
interested in? What do you spend time? What do you spend time doing or looking
for information on? When students apply to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, they’re
typically minimalists. Here’s me. Make a decision. What we want to be is we want
to be maximists. We want to give the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college a lot of information.
So, here’s an example. I have I was reviewing Connor’s resume
and on his resume he said clerk cl l er k five letters that’s it and I
said g give me some more information on on clerk what is that I have an idea
of what that means I don’t want to guess what it means and we don’t want the callers to guess what you actually do in
your activity, in your employment, uh, in your club, in your hobby. We want to tell them specifically, I do this. So, I
asked Connor, “Tell me some more information.” He says, “Well, I greet customers when they come in.” Like,
okay, put that down. Customer service, customer relations. I stock the shelves.
Okay, put that down. Inventory. What else? Oh, the boss has me lock up the
store twice a week. I’m like, wow, that’s huge. That boss trusts you and
you are trustworthy. That’s leadership. So, another word for leadership
uh is responsibility. And the boss gave Connor responsibility
to lock up the shop twice a week. So, uh Connor put all that stuff down in his
resume. As a result of that, Connor got a leadership scholarship.
Had Connor not told the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college about all the leadership stuff that he did through his job, they would not have
given him that scholarship. I’ve talked to a lot of students and
these are some of the things that they’ve said. I’m interested in so many things I don’t know what to do. Or I’m not interested in anything. What do I
do? How do I how do I develop that passion?
It’s also called a spike. So, here’s a great question. What
makes you steaming mad or what makes you excitedly happy? Those might think be
things to focus on to develop your passion, to develop your spike.
Here’s an example of a student, Matt. Matt plays guitar for his high school. He’s interested in the songs. He’s
interested in the music. He’s interested in the musical composition. And of course, he’s interested in the sound
that his electric guitar makes. Matt used the internet to find new uh effects
pedals for his guitar so that he could create the exact sound that he was looking for. You guys know what an
effects pedal is? When you see the musician standing up on stage and they step on a pedal uh on the floor, it
changes the tone of the guitar or it makes the echo or the reverb sound. Uh that’s an effects pedal. Matt was Matt’s
passion for looking for the perfect sound led him to finding the schematics
of an effects pedal and he went down to the hardware store and he bought all the appropriate parts and soldered them
together and through some trial and error he made his own effects pedal.
Matt is not going to study music as his major, but he is going to study
engineering and math and maybe develop a better effects pedal when he graduates.
So, Matt was intentional about these things. And he wrote about that in his resume and in his essay, and I’ll kind
of paraphrase his essay. His essay said, “I play guitar. I’m in the youth band at
my church. I also play in a in a band in my high school. I’m really interested in music and sound, the musical composition
and all of that. I was looking on YouTube for the perfect effects pedal. I
didn’t find it. So, I what I ended up doing was I went out and I found the
schematics to build an effects pedal. I went to the hardware store and I bought the appropriate pieces and I soldered
them together and through some trial and error, I made my own effects pedal. And your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has an engineering program.
I want to study engineering and maybe work for an effects pedal company when I graduate reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
That was an awesome essay that he wrote. What that showed the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is
initiative and it also showcased leadership. He took responsibility on himself to build
that effect pedal. Here’s another student, Luke. Luke loves
computers and the software that is used to create the programs that people use. He likes to tinker and look at computer
code. He uses the internet to help write better software programs. He started a
company that jailbreaks iPods, iPads, iPhones, and posted that on Craigslist.
So Luke used his passion of writing software to start a business and used that theme in his application
in his essay. one theme in the application extracurricular section that uh comp
this one theme complemented his resume and he wrote it with that in his essay
and yes Luke did study software design and computer science in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college again I’ll kind of paraphrase his essay his
his essay was um I I learned about HTML and writing code for websites I revamped
my high school’s website and I got a iPad for my birthday. I learned how to
jailbreak it, which means uh going into the software and manipulating the
software on the Apple product and I started a small business and posted it
online on Craigslist. I can jailbreak your iPhone, iPad, etc. And your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
has a software major program. I want to study that.
and Luke did and he got admitted to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , studied software design and
ended up working for a software company upon graduation.
One more story about Gabby. Gabby loves to help people. She also likes politics.
She got involved with model UN at her school and she got involved in student government also at her high school and
she also helped plan events. She got involved with various different competitions and she volunteered at
underprivileged camps for young kids. So Gabby has a compassion for helping others which is evident throughout her
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application and in her essay. In the extracurricular section, she told uh
the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s of the volunteer work she did when the uh different storms and
hurricanes ravaged certain areas. She told about the volunteer hours she helped underprivileged kids. She
highlighted in her application the charity walk. she was involved with both as a participant and as a volunteer and
she’s studying humanities and international relation in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So Gabby was intentional
with these clubs, activities and hobbies and interests.
It’s very easy to develop a passion when you know how
to develop a passion. It’s really easy. You simply learn more about it. Whatever
it is, the more you learn about it, the greater your appreciation is for that.
Elijah was interested in Mandarin Chinese. By the end of his junior year,
he had taken all the Mandarin Chinese classes that his high school offered. And he he asked me, “What should I do?
because I want to study Mandarin Chinese in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and maybe be do international
business in China or maybe even be a Chinese interpreter. And I’ve taken all
the Mandarin Chinese classes at my high school. There aren’t anymore. What do I do? And I made the suggestion, forge
your own path. Either take an online Mandarin Chinese class or take a Mandarin Chinese class
from one of the local community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. He took two classes from the community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and he wrote about that in his
resume and in his essay. I I took all the Mandarin Chinese
classes that were that were available to me in my high school. I’m very interested in this subject. So, I
decided to take some community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college classes. And your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college has a Mandarin Chinese program. I want to study that.
That was very powerful. and he got into a prestigious reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college in New York with that essay and his resume and of course
his grades and all that stuff. Get ready to visit some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s.
Be intentional when you visit reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. Make an appointment to go on a tour of a
few reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. Ask yourself this question. what
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are within a 50- mile radius of where I live and then go visit those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s first. So, if you live in
Maricopa County, there are uh uh three reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that are here in Maricopa County. There’s ASU
um uh ASU Arizona State University, there’s Grand Canyon University, and
then there is Arizona Christian University. Those are three reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that are within a 50-mi radius of anyone
who lives in Maricopa County and go visit those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s even if you
don’t want to attend those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s so that you have some information some ammo
when you go and visit some other reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. So sign up by uh go to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s website and look for a tour
first look for virtual tour and then check out the virtual tour and if that piques your interest then sign up for a
physical tour and uh go and visit those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s
and when you sign up you’re going to get on their radar and on their mailing list and then reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s
will be able to track you. We want them to track you. So, you want to get on
their list. So, the example that I used was ASU, GCU, and Arizona Christian
University, ACU. Um, those are three very different types of reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s here in
Maricopa County. ASU is a large public school. Grand Canyon University is a
small or a midsize private reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . And Arizona Christian University is a small
religious reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . When you visit Arizona Christian University, look at it through two lenses. Look at it through
the size of the school, it’s about a thousand students. And then also look at
it through the religious lens because it is religiously affiliated and they do require you to
um do some religious things. So I told you the story about Ellie and
she asked that question at PLU. you know what what’s your best scholarship and how do I get it? What does that’s
another way to to phrase what does the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value do that? So Ellie’s story
is she visited Pacific Lutheran University up in Seattle and then she
visited Wamtt University in Oregon and then she visited University of the
Pacific in California. And each of those reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s has uh a um
individual personality. When you visit the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , you want to get the vibe of the campus and and get uh find out what
that personality is. Personality. The reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college personality could be party school, academic personality, athletic
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , uh charitable school, political personality, and there’s a a lot more
different types of personalities. On the tour, uh when Ellie toured, the
tour guide showed her the cafeteria and the dorms and said, “Here’s our new
green science building. It has solar panels. It’s recycled where it’s built
out of recycled material and all that.” and Ellie was impressed. Then she went
down to um that was at Pacific Lutheran University. Then she she and her family
went down to Wamtt University and went on the tour there and the tour guide showed her around, showed her the
cafeteria, the dorms, and said, “Here’s our new science building. It’s green. It’s made out of recycled material and
all that and solar panels, etc.” And Ellie’s like, “Wait, wait a minute. Time
out. We just heard that at the other reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , at the other campus. And then she went down to University of the
Pacific in Stockton, California. And the tour guide walked around. Here’s the cafeteria. Here’s our dorms. Here’s our
classrooms. And said, “Here’s our new green science building. It’s made out of recycled material and solar panels.” And
she’s like, “Okay, cross that off as being unique and different. I’m not impressed about that anymore.” So, you
want to visit multiple reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s because you’re going to see a lot of similarities a as um as these people are
telling you about these campuses and all that stuff. And um you want to cross off
those similarities and really look for the personality and the vibe of the campus. When you identify the vibe of
the campus and you’re like, “Yeah, this is a really cool vibe. I like it.” Then that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is going to be a good fit
for you. and you want to keep it on your list.
So, when you visit a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college or you talk with a recruiter, if you don’t walk away
with the impression of, “Wow, that school’s awesome. I want to go there. I want to study that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .” If you do
not walk away with that impression, know that the recruiter did a bad job. That
is their job is to impress you and to sell you on their campus.
So go visit some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that are in your local area so that when you do go on vacation to California, Minnesota,
Illinois, Washington, or wherever, you can take out a couple hours and go visit
some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. Go to a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college sporting event or the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college concert or a
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college play. Um, the more information you can collect from a variety of reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, the more informed you’re going
to be when you make your final selection. Also on my website is the um
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college tips PDF. Uh, check that out on the uh,
aolplane.com website. Get ready to get information
from a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . So, be intentional with the information that you receive from reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s.
Go to the colleg’s website and click on the uh search bar and type in request
for information and then fill out this form. It’s going to ask you what your name is,
what your address is, what your phone number, what your email is. Sometimes they ask you what your grade um what
your GPA is, what grade level you are. I’m a freshman, sophomore, junior,
senior in high school. Uh sometimes they ask you what your
intended major is. It’s okay now as a freshman or a sophomore and maybe even
as a junior to say that you’re undeclared with your major, but when you
apply to a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , we might need to be strategic about selecting a major. But initially, right now, you can say
undeclared if you really don’t know. If you do know then and you’re like, “Hey, I think I want to be a nurse,” then in
there specify nursing because then you’ll get on their mailing list and you’ll start getting stuff from the
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college and it’ll be specifically geared towards the major it is that you might want to study in reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
This is an important step. You must do this for all of the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s that you
will apply to. Go to the college’s website, fill out the request for
information form.
So, filling out this request form is very important.
Now that you’re on the college’s mailing list, you’re going to get stuff. You’re going to get brochures and flyers and
viewbooks and emails and all that stuff. Uh, compare these brochures. You’re
going to see a lot of similarities. And don’t let the pictures from the brochures influence your selection that
they have designed these they have designed the brochures. They have designed these viewbooks
specifically to influence you. So, they’re being intentional about
influencing you to choose to apply to and ultimately attend their reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
Every photo that you have seen on the website, brochures, postcards,
everything, all all every one of them has been photoshopped.
The skies are brilliant blue, the greens are sharp and crisp, the landscape is
immaculately crafted, and all the students are always smiling and appear to be happy.
that um Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Madison,
they posted this picture and one of these two pictures is the
original and one of these two has been photoshopped.
I’ll let you take a couple seconds to look at these
photos and see if there’s something different between these two photos.
I’ll give you five seconds to look at it and identify it. Five, four, three, two,
one. They photoshopped this kid in
just so they can have a variety of ethnicities at the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
I think that’s pretty funny that they did that. When that kid found out that he was photoshopped in there because he
was not at that game, he was pretty upset. It’s like, hey,
get ready to look at the information that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is sending you. So, be objective with all the things that you
look at. Also, check out Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Board’s website,
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college board.org. Go to Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college board. You can type in the name of the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . you can review the
stuff that’s on there and look at some of the data that’s on there as well. When you’re looking at reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s,
Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college Board’s a really good website and reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college results.org
is another one of my favorite websites to get statistical information about a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
And you can look on those websites and try to identify
categories that might be under represented that you might be able to fill. And those categories might be
gender, might be ethnicity, it might be an underrepresented major.
Um, it also could be talent, which could be athletic talent, musical talent, artistic talent, theatrical talent. And
sometimes reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s look at geographic diversity. If um not a lot of students
from your state are attending that that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , then that might be a a bonus
and a benefit for you as you’re applying to these reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s. Um we’re going to talk about this in more detail in the
leverage class. So, plan on attending the leverage class
as we talk about how to identify underrepresented categories.
Get ready to look at information. Take the proper reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college track. State
requirements to get a high school degree may be different than the college’s admission
requirements. I had a conversation with a student and at his high school here in
Arizona, his he met with his counselor and his counselor said, “Oh, you’re doing everything. You’re going to
graduate. you don’t need to take any additional classes. Just take the classes that you’re currently taking.
Well, when he went and went to apply to ASU,
he found he was deficient in a math class and he had to scramble his last year and take an extra math class to
meet the requirements for that particular reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Remember that question. What does the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college value do
that? So if the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college wants or values a student that has taken two or three or
more math classes, then of course take those more math classes. Homeschool
students uh start talking to community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college can start taking community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college classes in their junior year.
Find out if there’s any special requirements for homeschool students as each reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college is different. If you’re
looking at a specific major, a major, take classes that will help. So, if
you’re thinking about potentially being a nurse or going into the medical field,
then take some biology, anatomy, and chemistry classes. If you’re thinking about going into engineering, then
consider taking calculus, trigonometry, and things like that for engineering students. If you’re thinking about
science, um if you’re thinking about computer science, then of course take
the computer hardware software classes that your high school offers. If your
high school doesn’t offer those classes, then look for ulterior means of taking
those classes either online or um through community reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, just as the
example I gave you with Elijah. Get ready to develop relationships
and rapport. So be intentional as you develop friendships and relationships with
teachers, counselors, reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters, reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college professor, professors, reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college theater directors,
marching band directors, and anyone else who can help you get into reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
So be intentional with who you meet. Part of the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application is a
recommendation letter from teacher or a counselor and others. A great recommendation letter is designed. It’s
typically going to be your junior teacher that writes your recommendation letter. Start now by interacting in
class. Participate. Ask questions. Seek help if you need it. Ask if you can help
in any way. By participating and seeking help and helping. Your teacher will
recognize you and you will be able to develop better rapport with that teacher
when they know you. And as they know you, they will um
you’ll be able to develop um better rapport with that teacher and they’ll
write you a better recommendation letter.
Okay.
So, get ready to develop relationship with counselors. Meet your counselor at least twice a semester. Develop a game
plan to graduate and take the proper classes for admission to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . And say hello to your counselors and your
teachers when you see them in the cafeteria, in the hallway, or maybe even in the parking lot. Hey, Mrs. Smith, how
are you doing? I hope you’re having a good day. That little bit of courtesy goes a long
way with you getting a better, stronger recommendation letter.
You can also uh develop rapport with other people and those could be employers, pastor, priest or rabbi,
coaches, other leaders and reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters. This is especially important for homeschool students as you will need
one or more of these people to write your recommendation letter for you. So Gabby met with her recruiter at a
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair, followed up with a thank you note, called that recruiter on the phone and asked a whole bunch of
questions, developed rapport and a friendship with that admissions recruiter. And as a result of that, um,
Gabby got admitted to Hobart William Smith Reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college in New York and got an amazing scholarship package along with
that. And that is all by design.
get ready to develop relationships. So we want to talk about why why are we doing these things and
the reason is when you have a positive relationship with someone they may become your advocate and when they
when that person becomes your advocate that’s when the magic happens. Someone who is your advocate will write you a
better recommendation letter. Someone a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college admissions recruiter who’s your advocate will help you get in in
admitted and even get better scholarships. Get ready to develop a relationship by
going to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair. In Maricopa County, there are two reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fairs, one in the fall, one in the spring. go to
those events, meet the recruiter, ask the recruiter questions, get the recruiter’s business card, and then
follow up with a thank you email. Some uh some reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college recruiters will
visit your local high school campus. When that admissions recruiter goes to your high school campus, meet that
recruiter, ask the recruiter questions, get that recruiter’s business card, and follow up with a thank you email. And
the thank you email is very simple. Thank you for taking the time out to come to my high school and talk to me
about the biology program that your reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college offers. Sincerely, JD.
Get on the college’s radar using the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college touch points.
We’re going to talk about that in the influencer class. Uh plan on attending the influencer
class. will talk much more deeply about the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college touch points and how to properly demonstrate interest. Two ways
to demonstrate interest. I call them the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college touch points. Every time you reach out and you touch a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ,
they’re going to track that. And two ways is request information from the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college by going to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s
website and then going to the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college fair and meeting the recruiter. And then a third touch point is follow up with
that thank you email. Getting on a reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college ‘s radar is important. We
want to be tracked. When Caitlyn applied to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s, she
demonstrated a lot of interest at St. Martins’s University up in Seattle.
And at University of Portland in Oregon, she did not demonstrate interest. She
did apply to that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college .
When University of Portland received Caitlyn’s reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college application
in the admissions department, everyone was asking the question, “Has anybody met the student?
Anyone? Does anybody know who Caitlyn is?” And everyone in the office is like, “I don’t
know who that is, but she does meet the uh admissions requirements. So, let’s admit her
and let’s give her a teaser scholarship. And they gave her a $1,000 out of 70,000
at St. Martins’s University because she demonstrated a lot of
interest at that school. That reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college admitted her. She did meet the requirements for admission, but they
also gave her an incredible scholarship package. If you want to increase your chances of being admitted and you want
to increase your chances of getting better scholarships, then demonstrate a lot of interest and attend the
influencer class to learn how to demonstrate interest. Demonstrate interest is one indicator used by
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s to determine how interested applicants are in enrolling in their
reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college . Demonstrated interest can be assessed through various contacts with the admissions office, including
requesting information, campus tours, and contact with admissions representatives.
Get ready your social sites. Many reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college s are checking out students on
social platforms. So, keep your social sites clean. Clean
language and clean photos. No hate speech. Students have been rejected based on the information that reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
recruiters find on social sites. So be intentional about your online presence.
So in conclusion, grades matter from the first day of school.
Your very first day, ninth grade, your grades matter from the very beginning.
You’re going to hear some people say, um, your freshman year grades don’t matter. It’s your 10th and 11th and 12th
grade years that matter. That is not true. The truth is on the reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college
application, it asks, “What did you do from 9th grade moving forward? What are your grades in ninth grade? What are
your grades in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade?” All those things matter. So in
conclusion to recap, grades, GPA, test scores, extracurricular involvement, uh
class rank, all those things are important. Passion can be developed and carefully created. If you need some help
with developing your passion, please um it’s also called your spike. So if you
need some help with that, give us a call. We’ll be happy to schedule a meeting to specifically talk
about that stuff. Join clubs and activities. Get involved and get a leadership position.
Start on this path early. That will increase your chances of success and
you’ll do it with less stress. Life will happen anyway. So, let’s be intentional with the things that are under our
control. So, what do we do next? The most common
excuse is, “I forgot. I forgot there was a homework assignment. I forgot there
was a term paper. Oh, I forgot there was this big project. I forgot there was a test.” Can you imagine if UPS or FedEx
or Amazon said, “I forgot your package.”
That would never happen. They can track exactly where your package is at any
given moment. It’s so it’s really incredible how they can track these packages. You get a
a email and a text message. Your package was delivered. They uh even show you a
photo of the package at your doorstep. So they track all these
things. So they can track exactly where your package is at any given moment. you already know that there’s going to be
these things, tests, quizzes, term papers, reports, and other big projects. Write it down. Use a sheet of um write
it down uh on a piece of paper or put it in your phone electronically. Type all those things out
and track all that stuff and put dates on there. Oh, this term paper is due in November. I’ve got this big project
that’s due in March. You know, put those dates down in there. When you or any student goes to reach school, safety school and fit school, good fit college , you will be
treated as an adult. On the first day of class, the professor will give you a
syllabus that outlines the semester. The syllabus will tell you which chapters
you need to read each day and every week. The syllabus will tell you when the tests and the finals are scheduled.
It is your job to take self- responsibility and stay on task throughout the semester. There is no
excuse for I didn’t know because it is all tracked on the syllabus.
Uh keep um so write it down in in on a piece of paper or write it down electronically.
So what do we do next? Go to my website aolplan.com. There’s a lot of stuff that’s in the client only section. Check that stuff out. Um, and write down your goals. What GPA do
you currently have? Uh, what GPA will you have when you graduate? What test
score do you want? Write all those things down. When you write it down, something magical
happens. Your brain remembers it more vividly because you saw it with your eyes.
You felt it with your hands as you wrote it. And if you read it out loud, then
you’ve got the auditory. So you hit you hit the three senses of learning. And the three senses are tactile,
uh, Kinesthetic, where you touch it, and and that’s going to be writing it down.
Don’t type it out, but write it down on a piece of paper. That’s the Kinesthetic
tactile. And then the visual is you read it with your eyeballs. So that’s visual learning
and the auditory learning is you read it out loud. I will have a 3.98
GPA, unweighted GPA when I graduate.
So be intentional with all these things.
Got any questions?
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