The Best U College Admissions Consulting

With the beginning of a new school year on the horizon, we know that this transition can be a stressful time in many households. We are excited to share that we’ve partnered with our colleague, Natalie Borrell, of Life Success For Teens along with many other industry leaders to develop a transformational library of resources that offer practical guidance, thoughtful insight, and simple-to-use tips and tactics that will help teens stay organized, focused, and motivated all year long. Here is just some of what you’ll learn: 4 skills your teenager absolutely needs to have a successful high school experience; A guide to help all students learn the six key habits for college success; And directly from our team at The Best U, tried and true strategies for opening doors to college options with a well-planned college process, from freshman to senior year. These free resources and many more are available beginning August 1st when you sign up using the link below. Best School Year Ever! An onlin...

The most ideal time for students to do college admissions interviews is after they have started writing some of their college essays. This is when students tend to have a better sense of what they want from a college and have more to say in the interviews. Consider starting in July or August of the rising senior year through the fall or winter of the senior year. Check out this video to learn more about booking college interviews and the important pieces to consider Families from the USA and All Over The World –  Sign up for a FREE 20-minute phone call or online video meeting now   so we can learn about your family’s college admissions needs and how we can provide support.

William Cayer  received his B.A. in Philosophy/Music from the University of Connecticut and is currently pursuing his M.S. in Higher Education Leadership. He is a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) and the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). William began his career as a high school teacher with Teach for America in the Mississippi Delta where he developed a passion for higher education access and equity. He later served as an admissions representative at Post University, and then as a college counselor at Achievement First Amistad High School in New Haven, CT. Throughout his career, William has helped students find their voice through the admissions process and develop the foundation necessary to thrive at their best-fit college. William is the founder of Higher Access College Counseling, a company that provides admissions support to students across the country with an emphasis on the development of student writing as a...

There are so many moving pieces to the college application process. Check out this video to learn about the application timeline and the important pieces you need to be thinking about and doing. Families from the USA and All Over The World –  Sign up for a FREE 20-minute phone call or online video meeting now   so we can learn about your family’s college admissions needs and how we can provide support.

Admissions Sense: Navigating The Test Optional Landscape Confused by all the info out there about test optional admissions? Not to worry! Here’s what we at The Best U think you need to know: What’s the status of test optional admissions? Pre-pandemic admissions saw a long growing trend of colleges adopting test optional policies in recognition that standardized testing is a weak predictor of college success.  Large public universities, Ivies, and some of the most selective liberal arts colleges were the holdouts  on this long shift, led mainly by liberal arts institutions for well over two decades. With massive pandemic disruption to the availability of SAT and ACT testing,  a new wave of colleges adopted test optional admissions policies. Most of these institutions have retained their policies for at least the 2021-2022 application year , and some have indicated extensions through 2023. This coincides with an  ongoing call for colleges to examine the ways that testi...

Feeling Like Your Teen Is Struggling With Motivation This Summer? You’re Not Alone At TBU, we’ve been reflecting on young people and parents lately. This summer, we are  seeing new challenges arrive for families navigating the college process  that seem to be unique to this particular moment in time, following an unprecedented global pandemic and its impacts. If you are noticing that your child is exhausted, slow to get started on college planning tasks, or struggling to summon the motivation for thinking about their future, you are not alone. Here are some of our observations from working with many students and families this season, and some  tips to support your child’s growth through this time : What we are seeing — While we can’t speak for all students and families, we are seeing some trends emerge: Students are exhausted . Following almost a year and a half of uncertainty and altered plans, students are weary and need the summer to decompress. This is natural and may...

Lauren Dodington  received a B.A. in Sociology from Vassar College and holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government. Since 2005, Lauren has devoted her career to developing the potential of students and professionals in the fields of education and college access, working in both school and community based organizational settings in New York, Philadelphia and New Haven, CT. Most recently, Lauren was the Director of College Counseling at a leading public charter school in New Haven, Connecticut where she built a student-centered college counseling program and partnered with colleagues across the college landscape. In the spring of 2019, Lauren launched College Vision Consulting to continue to share her empowering and effective approach to college counseling with schools and organizations. As a counselor, Lauren is passionate about partnering with her students and their families and empowering young people to pursue a c...

It’s been widely reported that acceptance rates at highly selective colleges dropped lower than ever before in 2021.  So what to make of advice that teens might need a “break” this summer? While parents and teens are anxious for young people to make up lost ground from 2020’s canceled summer programs, test prep, travel plans and volunteer roles,  there’s a strong case for taking a more balanced approach  with the warm months ahead. As psychologist and adolescent expert Lisa Damour posits in her  recent NY Times piece “Why Teens Need a Break This Summer”   teens are, indeed, ending this year of unprecedented academic, social, and emotional challenge with a deep need to process, recover and restore before hitting the fall semester revived and ready to learn. From the college advising perspective, we encourage young people and their parents to  have honest conversations about summer expectations  this year more than ever.  There’s room for balancing ...

  Check out this video to learn from test prep expert, Brendan Mernin, of Noodle Pros, about which test prep strategy works best. Is it shorter more aggressive prep or test prep that is stretched out over longer periods of time? Families from the USA and All Over The World –  Sign up for a FREE 20-minute phone call or online video meeting now   so we can learn about your family’s college admissions needs and how we can provide support.