APPLY NOW!™ Advantage Program

Many families may think college counseling is just making a college list or working on essays in 12th grade. The overall timing of how all the pieces of the admissions puzzle fit together might not make sense. For example, a student may focus on working on letters of recommendation in the spring of 11th grade or developing an extracurricular plan in 9th or 10th grade.

The Advantage Program helps students make smarter decisions earlier, avoid mistakes, stay on track, and reduce stress over the long term for the entire family.

There are a lot of moving pieces in the APPLY NOW! Advantage Program, so it can be confusing to understand how everything works together. This might help:

• 9th Grade- Foundation Building
• 10th Grade- Exploration and Profile Building
• 11th Grade- Strategy and Preparation
• 12th Grade- Applications and Decisions

Honestly, it’s great for a wide range of students! The program works especially well for students who are capable but need direction, students aiming for competitive colleges, families who feel overwhelmed, busy families who need accountability, and students who want expert guidance without committing to an expensive, full private counseling package. As long as a student is willing to listen and do the work, they are a great candidate!

That’s a great question—and the answer is no!

The program combines structured lessons, accountability, and personalized guidance. Remember, students get help with the entire process. Some of the features and classes that past Advantage students have really enjoyed and found extremely helpful are the Aptitude Assessment, the Essay Boot Camp, Letters of Recommendation, Paying for College, and access to 1:1 counseling time.

Many families underestimate how early important decisions start. As soon as a students starts their high school transcript by taking high school courses (often in 7th or 8th grade), the admissions process has begun. Course rigor, activities, testing timelines, essay development, college list strategy, and affordability planning all begin sooner than many realize. The APPLY NOW! Advantage Program helps students make hundreds of smart decisions before senior year.

College can be expensive, and college counseling is an investment in the student’s future. But families must reach these types of decisions based on what makes sense for their individual needs.

Frankly, the cost of the Advantage program is negligible when compared to the tens of thousands of dollars most families will pay for tuition, room, and board. If a student wants the best options, they likely need an expert to help walk them through the process. 

Parents are important partners, no matter the grade level.

Many of the lessons offered in the APPLY NOW! Advantage program are for both students AND parents, which is pretty unique to our program.  Parents often attend the first few lessons, and then let their student take control once they feel comfortable with our team and the guidance that’s being given.

There are some lessons, such as Paying for College and the FAFSA/CSS Profile, that are incredibly important for parents to attend.

This is why a college counselor is so important! The importance of each of the pieces of the admissions process will vary by college. For example, a large, less-selective public college may put more weight on GPA and test scores. A selective university is going to dig much deeper into the application, with the subjective pieces having a more substantial impact on the process. For example, at Harvard, they have plenty of students apply with top-notch test scores and perfect GPAs. To admit a class, they have to look at the more nuanced pieces of the application, as well as things like legacy status.

Our college counseling team will advise each student based on our knowledge of what colleges see as important. This helps students create a much more balanced college list that provides the most opportunities for success.