Applications to 4 year college continue to increase. This is fueled by:
-population bulge
-Ease of online applications
-Increase in the number of applications each student submits
Approximately 75% of 4 year colleges reported an increase in the number of applications from last year
18% of fall 2006 Freshman had submitted seven or more applications for admission
Colleges received 58% of all applications online
89% of colleges reported an increase in the number of online applications submitted
*Information from the National Association of College Admissions, State of College Admissions 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Do You Know Where You Are Going?
The process of choosing a college should be a positive one, and it can be if students and their parents have a game plan. Students must identify schools that are good fits and then refine their list of schools to a reasonable number. Students and families should discuss some of the basic preferences, such as:
• Location of the college—Does the student want to live far from home or close enough for frequent visits? Does a small town or big city make a difference?
• Size/Type of school---Many students want to investigate both large universities and smaller liberal arts colleges before they narrow their list.
• Majors---Does the student have a special talent in music, art or sports? If so, is this something the student wants to consider as a major or to just enjoy as a recreation in college? It is perfectly fine to be undecided at this time.
• Costs---There is a big difference in costs between public and private universities. Financial aid also varies widely. At this early stage of the process, try not to rule out a college because of the price tag.
Marie Bigham, former associate dean of admissions at Washington University in St. Louis says, “I always encourage my students and families to remember that they are ultimately in control of this process. The students make the most important decisions in this process—where to visit, where to apply and at the end of the day, which college to attend. If we as counselors, parents and students have crafted a well-rounded and appropriate college list, then the students will have plenty of choices.” So, do your research and be true to yourself and before you know it you will know where you are going.
“The Whole World Steps Aside for the Person Who Knows Where He Is Going.”--anonymous
Lynn McClain-College Vision
• Location of the college—Does the student want to live far from home or close enough for frequent visits? Does a small town or big city make a difference?
• Size/Type of school---Many students want to investigate both large universities and smaller liberal arts colleges before they narrow their list.
• Majors---Does the student have a special talent in music, art or sports? If so, is this something the student wants to consider as a major or to just enjoy as a recreation in college? It is perfectly fine to be undecided at this time.
• Costs---There is a big difference in costs between public and private universities. Financial aid also varies widely. At this early stage of the process, try not to rule out a college because of the price tag.
Marie Bigham, former associate dean of admissions at Washington University in St. Louis says, “I always encourage my students and families to remember that they are ultimately in control of this process. The students make the most important decisions in this process—where to visit, where to apply and at the end of the day, which college to attend. If we as counselors, parents and students have crafted a well-rounded and appropriate college list, then the students will have plenty of choices.” So, do your research and be true to yourself and before you know it you will know where you are going.
“The Whole World Steps Aside for the Person Who Knows Where He Is Going.”--anonymous
Lynn McClain-College Vision
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Congratulations to the September 2007 Student Athletes of the Month
Brittany Butler Briar Woods Cross Country
Eric Zimmet Broad Run Football
Todd Lancaster Dominion Football
Natalie Liberty Freedom Cheer
Rebecca Presor Heritage Volleyball
James Sullivan Loudoun County Football
Kevin Rinek Loudoun Valley Golf
Will Ward Park View Football
Andrew Mott Potomac Falls Cross Country
Natalie Driskill Stone Bridge Volleyball
Friday, October 5, 2007
National Association for College Admission Counseling annual Conference
Trends in college admissions were released on Thursday at the National Association for College Admission Counseling's annual conference.
More students are applying to more colleges.
3.2 million students are expected to graduate from American high schools this year. More than ever. The population boom is expected to continue until 2009, when a projected 3.3 million students will earn their high-school diplomas. The number of high-school graduates is expected to stay at that number until 2016.
The report, "The State of College Admission," is based on data collected from 386 colleges and 1,508 high-school counselors.
According to the report, more colleges want to feel wanted by their applicants. The percentage of colleges ranking a student's demonstrated interest in their institution as "considerably important" rose from 7 to 21 % over the past four years.
NACAC's data indicate that students applying to seven or more institutions are still in the minority, at only 18 percent.
Colleges are relying more than before on standardized test scores in making admissions decisions. In 1997, only 50 % of colleges said test scores were "considerably important" in their evaluation of applicants, compared to 60 % in the most recent survey.
Class rank, which was important to about a third of surveyed colleges in 1997, is now considered important by less than a quarter of them (23 percent).
The college-application essay, which has become even more crucial to a growing number of institutions. Only 18% of colleges surveyed considered the essay important in 1997, 28 % do so now.
More students are applying to more colleges.
3.2 million students are expected to graduate from American high schools this year. More than ever. The population boom is expected to continue until 2009, when a projected 3.3 million students will earn their high-school diplomas. The number of high-school graduates is expected to stay at that number until 2016.
The report, "The State of College Admission," is based on data collected from 386 colleges and 1,508 high-school counselors.
According to the report, more colleges want to feel wanted by their applicants. The percentage of colleges ranking a student's demonstrated interest in their institution as "considerably important" rose from 7 to 21 % over the past four years.
NACAC's data indicate that students applying to seven or more institutions are still in the minority, at only 18 percent.
Colleges are relying more than before on standardized test scores in making admissions decisions. In 1997, only 50 % of colleges said test scores were "considerably important" in their evaluation of applicants, compared to 60 % in the most recent survey.
Class rank, which was important to about a third of surveyed colleges in 1997, is now considered important by less than a quarter of them (23 percent).
The college-application essay, which has become even more crucial to a growing number of institutions. Only 18% of colleges surveyed considered the essay important in 1997, 28 % do so now.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
College Vision and Loudoun Prep Sports Partner to Offer the Student Athlete of the Month Program
College Vision of Purcellville and Loudoun Prep Sports have partnered to offer a Student Athlete of the Month program which will start with the release of the January 2007 honorees on the www.loudounprepsports.com website.
College Vision is a new business that helps high school students and their parents through the college admissions and selections process.
"We are excited to offer this new program with College Vision which will highlight those athletes that not only play a varsity sport but also excel in the classroom and community as well," said Loudoun Prep Sports editor Dan Sousa.
Like the popular Velocity Sports Performance Athlete of the Month program which has been running on the Loudoun Prep Sports website since March 2006, the College Vision Student Athlete of the Month program will feature a photo shoot of those athletes selected.
Every month one student athlete will be selected from each of the 10 Loudoun high schools from those nominated by coaches, teachers, parents and teammates.
About College Vision
College Vision was established by Randy Trombly and Mark Stavish, two former successful senior executives in Human Resources at AOL, to help parents successfully get their high school students on-track for getting into college.
"As our own children started going through the college application process we realized, that with our HR backgrounds, we could pull together a highly-qualified team of college admissions "coaches" who could each work individually with area students and their parents, who were in desperate need of an experienced ‘partner’ to assist them in the all-important college planning and admissions process," said Trombly.
Trombly said for most families the college admissions process is complicated, time-consuming, and often confusing. Families may sometimes wait too late in the process to get started.
"We will often hear that people didn't get serious about the college admissions planning process until a child's junior year, and then through sad experience, they learn that study habits, grades, and extracurricular activities weren’t good enough to get him into the college of choice," said Trombly. "The truth is that most parents need to get themselves, and their students, serious about it by the eighth or ninth grade."
College Vision has built a model in which parents and students can have there own personal college admissions coaches to help them over all the hurdles.
"College Vision uses the ‘top-of-the-line’ Sylvan Skills Assessment Tool as a first step in charting the path for your son or daughter’s exceptional Future," said Trombly.
Sylvan Learning has been one of the nation’s ‘premier’ Tutoring Companies for more than 25 years their powerful Academic Assessment Tool allows College Vision to get a detailed profile of a child's individual academic strengths and needs. These specific academic needs are captured through this unique combination of standardized tests, diagnostic tools, personal interviews, and even vision and hearing screening.
"This assessment is required for each of our new freshmen, sophomore, or junior student clients and the entire cost of this initial assessment is covered under a contract with College Vision," said Trombly.
The results serve as a blueprint for College Vision to use to determine where a child needs the most help. From this, College Vision will work with the student to develop the most personalized college planning program possible
Parents will also receive a few "coaching suggestions" to reinforce College Vision's efforts including:
Things Mom can do
Things Dad can do
Improving a student's study habits
How much time should be devoted to homework daily
A list of helpful books, website and other resource for parents
College Vision has also developed a comprehensive program to assist student athletes in pursuing their interest in playing sports at the college or university level.
"Students who want to play competitive sports at the college or university level need to factor this into their college search," said Trombly. "While talented student athletes can certainly benefit from having their college tuition, room and board, and other costs covered by athletic scholarships, the reality is that the process is extremely competitive, complicated by strict rules and regulations, and often ‘over-the-heads’ of most parents and their high school students."
College Vision develops a ‘College Marketing Package’ that’s customized for student athletes as well as developing a special ‘Summer Camp Strategy’ that’s designed to enhance a student's athletic skills while also optimizing their credentials for playing at the college level.
"We will even make recommendations for your student’s individualized training and conditioning needs," said Trombly. "Furthermore we will develop a ‘networking strategy’ that will provide direction in regards to: ‘Who to meet?’ ‘Where to visit?’ ‘Which contacts to nurture?’ and ‘Which contacts to get recommendations from?’"
For more information visit the College Vision website at www.mycollegevision.com or contact College Vision at info@mycollegevision.com or call 703-431-7977.
College Vision of Purcellville and Loudoun Prep Sports have partnered to offer a Student Athlete of the Month program which will start with the release of the January 2007 honorees on the www.loudounprepsports.com website.
College Vision is a new business that helps high school students and their parents through the college admissions and selections process.
"We are excited to offer this new program with College Vision which will highlight those athletes that not only play a varsity sport but also excel in the classroom and community as well," said Loudoun Prep Sports editor Dan Sousa.
Like the popular Velocity Sports Performance Athlete of the Month program which has been running on the Loudoun Prep Sports website since March 2006, the College Vision Student Athlete of the Month program will feature a photo shoot of those athletes selected.
Every month one student athlete will be selected from each of the 10 Loudoun high schools from those nominated by coaches, teachers, parents and teammates.
About College Vision
College Vision was established by Randy Trombly and Mark Stavish, two former successful senior executives in Human Resources at AOL, to help parents successfully get their high school students on-track for getting into college.
"As our own children started going through the college application process we realized, that with our HR backgrounds, we could pull together a highly-qualified team of college admissions "coaches" who could each work individually with area students and their parents, who were in desperate need of an experienced ‘partner’ to assist them in the all-important college planning and admissions process," said Trombly.
Trombly said for most families the college admissions process is complicated, time-consuming, and often confusing. Families may sometimes wait too late in the process to get started.
"We will often hear that people didn't get serious about the college admissions planning process until a child's junior year, and then through sad experience, they learn that study habits, grades, and extracurricular activities weren’t good enough to get him into the college of choice," said Trombly. "The truth is that most parents need to get themselves, and their students, serious about it by the eighth or ninth grade."
College Vision has built a model in which parents and students can have there own personal college admissions coaches to help them over all the hurdles.
"College Vision uses the ‘top-of-the-line’ Sylvan Skills Assessment Tool as a first step in charting the path for your son or daughter’s exceptional Future," said Trombly.
Sylvan Learning has been one of the nation’s ‘premier’ Tutoring Companies for more than 25 years their powerful Academic Assessment Tool allows College Vision to get a detailed profile of a child's individual academic strengths and needs. These specific academic needs are captured through this unique combination of standardized tests, diagnostic tools, personal interviews, and even vision and hearing screening.
"This assessment is required for each of our new freshmen, sophomore, or junior student clients and the entire cost of this initial assessment is covered under a contract with College Vision," said Trombly.
The results serve as a blueprint for College Vision to use to determine where a child needs the most help. From this, College Vision will work with the student to develop the most personalized college planning program possible
Parents will also receive a few "coaching suggestions" to reinforce College Vision's efforts including:
Things Mom can do
Things Dad can do
Improving a student's study habits
How much time should be devoted to homework daily
A list of helpful books, website and other resource for parents
College Vision has also developed a comprehensive program to assist student athletes in pursuing their interest in playing sports at the college or university level.
"Students who want to play competitive sports at the college or university level need to factor this into their college search," said Trombly. "While talented student athletes can certainly benefit from having their college tuition, room and board, and other costs covered by athletic scholarships, the reality is that the process is extremely competitive, complicated by strict rules and regulations, and often ‘over-the-heads’ of most parents and their high school students."
College Vision develops a ‘College Marketing Package’ that’s customized for student athletes as well as developing a special ‘Summer Camp Strategy’ that’s designed to enhance a student's athletic skills while also optimizing their credentials for playing at the college level.
"We will even make recommendations for your student’s individualized training and conditioning needs," said Trombly. "Furthermore we will develop a ‘networking strategy’ that will provide direction in regards to: ‘Who to meet?’ ‘Where to visit?’ ‘Which contacts to nurture?’ and ‘Which contacts to get recommendations from?’"
For more information visit the College Vision website at www.mycollegevision.com or contact College Vision at info@mycollegevision.com or call 703-431-7977.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Testimonials
We're extremely happy with the work College Vision has done in raising awareness of the importance of a good head-start and early planning for college. Our son’s grades have already jumped up, he has a plan to fill in the gaps, and he’s showing a lot of interest in the overall process of qualifying for a quality school.”
Monday, September 10, 2007
Press Release
--For Immediate Release--
New Northern Virginia Firm to provide area families with personal ‘College Admissions Coaches’
(July 2007)
(Purcellville, Virginia) A new company has just opened its doors, to help area parents and their high school-age children get more organized in planning & preparing to get into their targeted colleges & universities.
After a year of fine-tuning their offerings, building an advanced, interactive website, and identifying & training a stable of experienced College Admissions ‘Coaches,’ College Vision, LLC, is ready to start working with local area students and their parents.
Founders Mark Stavish & Randy Trombly--two former AOL executives--have built a model in which parents & students can have their own personal ‘College Admissions Coaches’ to help them successfully get through the ‘maze’ of preparing, applying, and getting accepted into college.
“The truth is,” says Stavish, “that it’s often hard for teenagers to understand that the choices they make now…are going to have a dramatic effect on them when they’re ready to start applying to colleges. Our coaches provide the customized College Planning Assistance that’s often missing.”
Trombly adds: “Most parents really need to get themselves (and their students) serious about college planning by the 8th or 9th grade! Not only will our coaches help to simplify a very complicated, time-consuming, and often confusing process (and even help fill-out the forms…and meet the deadlines!) …but we’ll do so in a way that’s both convenient & fully-individualized for each family!”
Adds Stavish: “In addition to our primary focus on Academic preparation, we also have a special interest in helping those who have special talents, like Student-Athletes or Student-Musicians, to use those talents to develop opportunities with our students target schools. We want those special talents to open doors and not limit options to only those schools who have expressed and interest.”
Some of the College Admissions Coaching services that College Vision provides to its client families include: conducting comprehensive Academic Assessments; working with parents to develop specific strategies to motivate each student toward better Time-Management, improved Study Skills, and greater Academic Performance; assisting with SAT & ACT Test-Preparation; providing personalized family Financial Planning; helping to secure Scholarships & Financial Aid; and we even providing ‘coaching’ suggestions for Parents.
College Vision has Coaching Programs for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. And they also have coaching programs for those with other special talents…such as Music.
More information about College Vision can be found by visiting their website at www.MyCollegeVision.com, or by calling them at 703-431-7977.
====================================================
For more information, contact:
Randy Trombly
COO
College Vision, LLC
125 Hirst Road, Suite 4C
Purcellville, Virginia 20132
703-431-7977
New Northern Virginia Firm to provide area families with personal ‘College Admissions Coaches’
(July 2007)
(Purcellville, Virginia) A new company has just opened its doors, to help area parents and their high school-age children get more organized in planning & preparing to get into their targeted colleges & universities.
After a year of fine-tuning their offerings, building an advanced, interactive website, and identifying & training a stable of experienced College Admissions ‘Coaches,’ College Vision, LLC, is ready to start working with local area students and their parents.
Founders Mark Stavish & Randy Trombly--two former AOL executives--have built a model in which parents & students can have their own personal ‘College Admissions Coaches’ to help them successfully get through the ‘maze’ of preparing, applying, and getting accepted into college.
“The truth is,” says Stavish, “that it’s often hard for teenagers to understand that the choices they make now…are going to have a dramatic effect on them when they’re ready to start applying to colleges. Our coaches provide the customized College Planning Assistance that’s often missing.”
Trombly adds: “Most parents really need to get themselves (and their students) serious about college planning by the 8th or 9th grade! Not only will our coaches help to simplify a very complicated, time-consuming, and often confusing process (and even help fill-out the forms…and meet the deadlines!) …but we’ll do so in a way that’s both convenient & fully-individualized for each family!”
Adds Stavish: “In addition to our primary focus on Academic preparation, we also have a special interest in helping those who have special talents, like Student-Athletes or Student-Musicians, to use those talents to develop opportunities with our students target schools. We want those special talents to open doors and not limit options to only those schools who have expressed and interest.”
Some of the College Admissions Coaching services that College Vision provides to its client families include: conducting comprehensive Academic Assessments; working with parents to develop specific strategies to motivate each student toward better Time-Management, improved Study Skills, and greater Academic Performance; assisting with SAT & ACT Test-Preparation; providing personalized family Financial Planning; helping to secure Scholarships & Financial Aid; and we even providing ‘coaching’ suggestions for Parents.
College Vision has Coaching Programs for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. And they also have coaching programs for those with other special talents…such as Music.
More information about College Vision can be found by visiting their website at www.MyCollegeVision.com, or by calling them at 703-431-7977.
====================================================
For more information, contact:
Randy Trombly
COO
College Vision, LLC
125 Hirst Road, Suite 4C
Purcellville, Virginia 20132
703-431-7977
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Summer Colleges Visits:Duquesne
I visited various colleges this summer. In the upcoming days, I will give you my impressions.
Duquesne is located in Pittsburgh. First, Pittsburgh is a great town. A lot to do and seemed safe. The campus is in downtown and elevated with a river on one side and looking up to Mount Washington on the other.
The campus was very clean and well maintained. The dorm rooms were spacious. Some of the rooms were getting new carpet and paint this summer. It was and easy to walk to all the buildings. This campus reminded me a lot of Loyola in Baltimore.
I think for a student looking for a school in a city environment, I would add this to your list.
Has anyone else visited Duquesne?
Duquesne is located in Pittsburgh. First, Pittsburgh is a great town. A lot to do and seemed safe. The campus is in downtown and elevated with a river on one side and looking up to Mount Washington on the other.
The campus was very clean and well maintained. The dorm rooms were spacious. Some of the rooms were getting new carpet and paint this summer. It was and easy to walk to all the buildings. This campus reminded me a lot of Loyola in Baltimore.
I think for a student looking for a school in a city environment, I would add this to your list.
Has anyone else visited Duquesne?
Thursday, June 7, 2007
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