Planning for Applications & Summer Character Development
April 29, 2019
Dear Friends,
With summer approaching we’ve quickly moved from congratulating this year’s admits—students accepted to Stanford and Yale Law, the London School of Economics, and such selective colleges as UChicago, Cornell, USC, Yale and Stanford—to laying out detailed plans of action for the limited months ahead for 2019 applicants. It is essential to know your deadlines from now, including early submit dates as soon as May 30 for Medical school candidates, September for Business and Law school candidates, and November 1—just six months away—for undergraduate candidates. As always, summer is a valuable time for us to nurture leaps in standardized testing, be it in SAT/ACT, Subject Tests, GMAT, LSAT, GRE, MCAT, SSAT or ISEE. There is no more powerful tool for planning than a customized timeline of detailed responsibilities— contact us to craft one today.
Juniors especially have an important summer ahead: some of you already have great momentum heading into Subject Tests (5/4 and 6/1) and APs, with focused time set aside to excavate brilliant college essays this summer; while others are yet to take their first practice test in SAT or ACT. Our students are aware of the need to begin checking off responsibilities by this point in order to be ready to apply Early Decision or Early Action. The all-important process of excavating one’s college essays needs time—ideally during summer, when school is not competing for a student’s attention. Read below for our nuanced guidance.
We are thrilled to have already received a number of excellent applications to Lakhani Scholars , our $10,000 scholarship of elite coaching services for high achieving low income sophomores. A reminder that the deadline of May 1 is just a few days away. If you know of any deserving sophomores, including undocumented or DACA students, encourage them to apply before 11:59pm EST this Wednesday.
For current sophomores who are working hard to cultivate their fulfilling high school careers , this summer offers important opportunities to further one’s story in testing and character. Many of you already have fruitful plans in place, including brilliant character growth projects and summer intensives for standardized test prep, a pillar to our nurturing for example SAT increases as large as 600 points. See our recommendations below for ways to plan if you haven’t already.
Finally, as a fun addition to our monthly newsletter, we’ve included a standardized testing problem of the month, focusing first on ACT English. Happy solving!
More detailed guidance can be found below, but feel free to contact us if you have unique questions you’d like to discuss.
Hafeez Lakhani
Lakhani Scholars: Deadline Approaching!
A reminder that the deadline for Lakhani Scholars is fast approaching. Lakhani Scholars is a selective scholarship awarding $10,000 of our services to high-achieving, low income sophomores. Students selected for Lakhani Scholars will receive 35 hours of coaching during their sophomore, junior, and senior years including High School Career Coaching, College Admissions Coaching, and elite SAT/ACT Coaching, completely free of charge.
We have already started the process of reviewing the applications and are impressed with the quality of the applicants. If you know any students still working on their applications, please make sure they submit it before the deadline of May 1st, 2019.
Resources:
Juniors: T-minus Six Months
We are in crunch time for planning if a student intends to apply ED or EA—which I support, if the application is ready, for stronger acceptance rates. For November 1 application deadlines, remaining SATs and Subject Test dates include 5/4 (this weekend), 6/1, 8/24, and 10/5, with the October date being less than ideal as it leaves little time to turn to college essays. Remaining ACT dates include 6/8, 7/13, 9/7, and 10/26, with again that last date crowding essay work. International students: note that in most cases you are allowed access to only some of the above dates.
Wrapping up Testing: Subject Tests are the priority right now for juniors interested in the most selective colleges. June 1 testing is a prime target, as a Subject Test in Chemistry, for instance, makes sense as you’re wrapping up your rigorous Chemistry course. Still, these tests are extremely challenging, and focused prep for new or rusty topics is a must. Contact us if you have not yet crafted a plan to reach your goals.
For remaining SAT or ACT work, the key at this point for rising seniors is to mark remaining test dates on your calendar, and set aside concerted time to work on skill growth. Just as one cannot become a great tennis player overnight, one needs diligent practice to grow problem solving skills. All the better if this practice can be guided by an expert coach.
College Essays: Our clients know the analogy for one’s character story: if we imagine that Harvard is a dinner table with a limited number of seats, and there is one place left, we must ask: what makes our student the most interesting contributor to that dinner table conversation? What makes him deserving of that last seat? Rising seniors: you will soon be shaping your character story for your applications, and that story will be told largely through your college essays. This is where it pays off to have testing complete: our “fast track” students are in great position this summer to begin excavating the most intriguing anecdotes from their experiences. Hemingway famously said that every writer should burn his first novel—and as such, our college essay process is designed to give a student pointed prompts to free-write, so a student can confidently set aside “preliminary” threads and turn full attention to anecdotes that speak to one’s contribution to the dinner table conversation. The key to the most poignant essays we’ve coached is simple: time to process. Contact us to reserve time with one of our writing coaches before they become fully booked for summer.
Resources:
New York Times: How to Write a Good College Application Essay
Underclassmen:
Our students know the analogy: we cannot study all night tonight and be a great tennis player tomorrow. But with several weeks of focus—working with one of our coaches to identify evidence strategies in Reading Comp, grammar rules for English sections, and not only formulas for Math, but recurring practice at finding the “ah-ha” moment of the full range of challenging problems—can yield dramatic results, including for example ACT increases as large as 12 points.
Summer Intensive SAT/ACT: There is no better head start for a current sophomore than investing in skills growth in problem solving ability—standardized testing—the summer before junior year. It alleviates a huge amount of pressure from the toughest year of high school, and in best case scenarios allows juniors to cross off SAT/ACT by December, opening up time to focus on coursework, Subject Tests, AP or IB responsibilities, and one’s blossoming character story. As we discuss above, having testing complete junior year also frees up incredible brainspace for finalizing one’s Early school and excavating brilliant college essays summer before senior year. Our students who see the greatest gains are those who are able to devote 50 to 100 hours summer before junior year. Contact us to reserve your SAT or ACT coach if you haven’t already.
Resources:
Redbook: Here's How to Help Your Kid Rock the SAT and ACT
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Graduate School Candidates: T-minus 4 Months
Law School: rolling applications open as early as August. If you are thinking about applying this fall, you should already be working hard on LSAT or GRE, to leave 1-2 months for work on your personal statements. Contact us for guidance on deciding between LSAT and GRE, and to book one of our expert coaches to help you reach your desired scores.
Business School: first round deadlines are in early September, so a plan of action needs to be in place from now to reach GMAT or GRE goals through focused coaching, and to then formulate an appropriate school list and excavate intriguing personal statements for applications. If you plan to apply in Round 1, we recommend having testing—which often entails multiple sittings—complete by July 15, just 2.5 months away.
Medical School: AMCAS applications for following year admissions can be submitted as soon as May 30. Our med school coaches are on call to help students take personal statements from good to great, or to guide students completing the last leg of their MCAT journey.
Other Graduate Study: as with any admissions goal, it’s wise to get testing out of the way before finalizing a program list, making note of deadlines, and working on personal statements and other components such as recommendation requests. In many cases candidates will also dedicate time to elevating a writing sample or portfolio. Contact us to create a customized plan to reach your desired program.
Boarding School and Independent School
A number of families who will apply to change schools in the fall have already booked summer SSAT or ISEE coaching. Independent and boarding school applications can be due anywhere from November 1 to February 15. As with any process, we recommend separating responsibilities—taking care of testing first, followed by coaching for personal statements, applications, and interviews in the fall. Contact us to discuss test preparation, a school list, visits, and a plan of action, beginning with a concerted push for the best possible grades this spring.
Resources:
New York Times: Considering College? Maybe You Should Invest in a Coach
Problem of the Month: ACT English
Choose the alternative you consider best to replace the underlined portion:
I am not a fan of the actors who the academy nominated for the prize this year.
a) NO CHANGE
b) who, the academy,
c) whom the academy
d) whom, the academy,
Click here to see the answer.