In your lifetime, you are going to spend 150,000 hours of your life at work. This is about 40% of your life. Your chosen profession will define you in many ways, describe who you are, identify you, and dominate much of your life. Through your work, you will be able to express your talents, gifts, and abilities to make a contribution, make a living, and give back to the world in meaningful, positive, and significant ways. It is then important to be able to assess as early as possible, through identifying natural gifts and talents, and passions, what key strengths you have, and how to properly nurture those strengths. These key strengths are the foundation, and building blocks, for which a college major will ultimately be chosen, and for which you will be able to identify a career that is best suited for you.

And the very important decision of choosing a college major, and ultimately a lifelong career is formed, and cultivated during your educational years by the clubs and organizations you join, to the courses you take, to all those activities you take part in during summertime. What excites you, is fulfilling to you, and what you feel passionate about during your educational years help shape who you are, and how you will spend the rest of your life in a chosen profession, and how you will best serve your community. Let’s review three important strategies for how you can identify key strengths and interests, and how to best nurture and cultivate your passions so you can best prepare for your future!

AP tests, SATs, ACTs, GPA, extracurricular activities, awards, leadership—it’s enough to make your head spin—and likely to raise your level of anxiety just thinking about it all. Students these days have a lot to keep track of and many directions to focus their attention. Not only that, in terms of college admissions, each of these areas needs to be a priority, all while going through this thing called adolescence that is rife with social challenges, emotional changes, and identity development. If coping strategies are insufficient, stress can actually be counterproductive to academic success. Therefore, to adequately deal with the stressors that come with adolescent life, teens must develop coping strategies at a young age.

School is officially back in session! With classes starting and extracurricular activities getting underway, there will once again be that group of students who outperforms everyone else. Why is it that some students just seem to be smarter, more talented, and more athletic than all the other students? What is it about this group of students that allows them to consistently perform at such a high level? While genetics can sometimes play a role in these factors, in our experience of working with thousands of students over the years, there are defining characteristics that successful students possess over their lesser-performing counterparts…and in many instances, it has nothing to do with genetics. Let’s break down The Success Traits of the high-performing students.

In our previous summer game plan blog article, we discussed how to have a fun, yet strategic summer. We discussed important areas to pursue including taking an extra class, pursuing enrichment opportunities, volunteering, and finding a part-time job.

In this blog article, we are going to discuss additional opportunities you can pursue in the summer that can help you stand out in the college admissions process. Here they are:

Whether or not you should go to college is often an easy decision to make. College attendance has become the norm for many families and is often seen as the expected extension of K-12 education. However, unlike high school, colleges offer an extensive array of courses, and you get to dictate the classes you take. The major you choose will greatly impact your class selection. Therefore, picking a major is a critical decision.

Some people have known they have wanted to study political science and become a lawyer since they were five years old. They found their inspiration at a young age, and their path has not wavered. But many college freshmen have no idea what they want to do for the rest of their lives. That is completely normal!

Health and fitness is a subject not commonly talked about in the realm of college planning and student success, but it is an important, foundational area in a student’s overall success game plan. Research has shown that there are significant benefits to eating a nutritious diet and incorporating a regular exercise regimen into a student’s life. In fact, not adhering to a healthy diet and leading a sedentary lifestyle has been shown to have many negative success performance outcomes. And it is how students intentionally approach the success roadmap by making health and fitness an essential part of their lives that makes all the difference. In this article, we are going to show you what the hard facts are–what the research has shown about how incorporating a healthy diet and regular exercise is crucial, and a game changer, to the success of a student, and his/her ability to reach his/her full educational potential.

Preparing for college admissions requires a lot of important, strategic steps. While many colleges will want to read essays, letters of recommendation, and also interview prospective candidates, the “numbers” part of your application is still going to be the most important area to focus on.

Many people think the numbers part of your application is just your grades and SAT/ACT score. While these are the key aspects of the quantitative part of your application, AP, Subject test scores, and additional coursework can also play a meaningful role. Let’s review the key areas of the quantitative part of your application to get a better understanding of what admissions officers look at:

In this article, we are going to share with you how to persevere with your college admissions game plan, and what steps you can take to ensure your success. Through your college admissions journey, you are going to experience challenges, obstacles, and setbacks, and it is important for you to understand that this is a normal, and natural, part of achieving your educational goals, including the journey to getting into one of your choice colleges. It’s the students who persevere and stay focused on their goals who are the ones that are ultimately rewarded in the end. To help you stay on track with your goals, here are five strategies to help you succeed:

Goal-setting is an important habit to get into for effective college planning. If you want to have more success with college acceptances and earn a lot of scholarships along the way, then the powerful habit of goal-setting can be really helpful. It’s a proven fact that by setting clear, specific, and time-dependent goals, you greatly increase your chances of accomplishing those goals. Thinking and talking about your goals isn’t enough to set into motion the actions necessary to achieve them. Only by articulating your goals in detail, and setting specific timelines in which to accomplish them, can you create an effective game plan. And once you’re clear about what it will take to achieve your goals, you’ll be much more focused and determined to do so.

But how do you set goals effectively, and successfully? Here are seven steps for successfully setting effective goals and accomplishing them!

We hope you had a great summer. As the school year is now back in session, it's important to develop a strategic game plan that will help you to become as successful as possible. The goal is to develop a plan that will earn you acceptance into the college of your...