Listen in as Robin & Shellee talk about when to begin preparing our kids for college, how to pick the best college and what colleges are looking for these days (hint- it's changed since you went!).
Find Shellee: https://collegereadyplan.com/
Find Robin: https://quittingculture.com
About Shellee:
Shellee Howard is the owner and president of College Ready. She is a college graduate and is a Certified Educational Planner. Shellee has a son who graduated from Harvard in the spring of 2016 debt free! Her son is currently a third-year medical student at UC San Diego.
Her daughter completed her freshman year at the University of Alabama and will complete her Nursing degree this year. Shellee has traveled around the world helping students plan for their “perfect match” college. She knows what it takes to compete in the Ivy schools as well as finding the best fit for all students. Shellee believes that no two students are the same and each student must have their own strategy and plan to be successful. Each student has a gift/talent and a passion that will set him or her apart from their competition. Getting to know your student one on one is the key to success. This can be done in person or via Zoom. College Ready has clients all over the world and each one is important. Her focus is to find the best academic, financial and social fit college for each student to thrive at and graduate debt free!
Show Notes
You don’t always need to go to the most expensive college. There are three things to base your college decision on:
Sometimes, It’s not where you graduate from, it’s how well you do in college.
It's important to help your kids make their college choice. It is a huge decision with many implications.
You can begin the college conversation very early by planting the seed about going to college so you can have a bigger conversation with kids when they are in grade school.
The process of preparing should really start when they graduate from eighth grade. These questions will help you and your child determine where they should go and what they may want to study.
What are you passionate about?
What are your core values?
What are you good at?
If you start early, getting college-ready can be gentle and fun….When they’re older, it ends up feeling more like firehouse preparation….
Colleges are not looking at what you’re doing to impress them. Instead, they are looking at your passion that leads to a purpose that allows you to demonstrate your leadership.
Colleges want to know how you will stand out….They want to see and want students to see their uniqueness. They want to see:
Early community service
Early demonstration of a passion
Early demonstration of leadership
College Ready works with students one-on-one and creates a 'Standout Strategy' for each student. They work together to create their college-ready resume based on that strategy. Their clients have someone on their side every step of the way.
Two big questions that Shelle gets asked by parents every day:
How do I know what my student is passionate about?
How do I pick the right college?
Shellee asks them those questions and records them for parents so they can hear their answers.
Have someone ‘safe’ do this with your child….it’s different being asked by someone who is curious and from whom they feel no judgment.