How to pick the best college match. Three things you must consider!

Hello, my name is Shellee Howard and I am the founder of College Ready. Today I have the opportunity to share with you about the perfect match college. So if you're just joining us, thank you for logging in, um, and we hope to share this on such a special day. So today being Father's Day, I want to dedicate this broadcast to, um, the special fathers in my life and the wonderful things that they shared with me. So as we think about finding the perfect match college, I would like you to think about this in 3 ways. The perfect match college first starts out with the academic fit, then the financial fit, and then the social fit. Most of the time, if students are left on their own, they will pick the social fit then the academic fit, and then the financial fit. And then I talked to parents, and they want the financial fit, the academic fit, and the social fit. So getting everybody on the same page, as you can imagine, has been very challenging. So I've been doing this a little over 10 years. We're going into our 11th season, and I will tell you some things that I have learned because I want I want you to know, the families, I think it's super important that you know what you're about to face. So prior to COVID, college planning and putting the pieces together was challenging to say the least. Now with COVID it's just gotten that much tougher. So let's break it down. Let's talk about the academic fit. So you may be thinking, well, my high school, my student's high school counselor, they're gonna take care of that. I don't need to worry about it. I would like to challenge you on that thought. While your student has been home from school doing online, how many times have they heard from their high school counselor? Prior to COVID, how many times did they hear from their high school counselor? So academically, what we're doing is we're looking at rigor. We're looking at how much rigor for this student in what areas. Is it more important to get all A's in easy classes Or B's with IB or AP. How many AP classes, you may be asking? How much rigor is too much rigor? Mental health is real, and how do we do this balance? Then you take a look at what does my student want? Do they want to just get into any school, or do they want to go to an Ivy school? These are all going to matter a lot. Then you want to take a look at Do they need college, community college classes? How many units? In what classes will they transfer? And then you look at academically, do you want to put them in an IB program, an AP program? Do you want them to take AP tests? What amount of rigor are they going to need to get into the kind of school they want to go to? So as you can see, just the academic piece alone is a big piece. And I would love to share with you what it does take pre-COVID, post-COVID. Things are changing and it's not getting easier. So that's just one piece, and you be maybe thinking, okay, I've got that, I know what their strategic plan is, I've got all the pieces together, we've looked at the best schools that have their major, top 1, 2, 3 majors, we know that is a perfect fit school academically, and they have at least a 50% chance of getting in. So we have a custom-built, uh, platform that our students use that give students real information. What is the average test score? What is the average GPA of students who got into that college last year? This is not made-up information, inflated information. This is real information so students can make a dedicated real decision. So academically, is it a fit? That's just one piece. The second piece, financial fit. Is the school going to be financially doable for the student? Have they, uh, completed the FAFSA? When will they complete the FAFSA? Do they know what's on the FAFSA, what's not on the FAFSA? What about the expected family contribution? How will the family know what they're supposed to pay and what the college is going to pay. And the CSS Profile— what schools use it, what does it look at, how is it different from the FAFSA. If that doesn't make your head spin, you want to be mindful that the, um, the second semester of the sophomore year and the first semester of the junior year is the, the financial years. So what does that look like? Did you have a really good year, and how will that impact your student? As far as the financials go, I'd like to always challenge families to think of it this way. Would you pay full price for a home? Would you just walk up to a for sale sign, see a realtor, and just say, that's exactly what I want to pay? Probably not. Would you do it for a new car? Would you walk up to a new car, look at the sticker price, and say, yep, that's what I'm willing to pay, I'm going to cut a check? Probably not. I love to think of it this way: What will you do when it comes to college? Will you pay the sticker price, or will you look for reduced tuition, free tuition? So when my son got into several Ivy League schools and ended up going to Harvard 4 years for free, it's not because we just hoped that that would happen. We had a 4-year strategy, a plan Yes, it can happen in less years, but the more time you prepare, the more money you'll receive. This year alone, our seniors received over $2 million in free money, money they don't have to pay back, money that's not called a loan. It's called a scholarship. So when people don't know this information, they tend to make the wrong decisions. My job is to help educate you. You the consumer, you're the one who's having to put your signature on a loan. And then lastly, the social fit. And I don't weigh this lightly. Can that student get into an Ivy? And if they do get in, can they compete? Do they want to compete? Does it make sense? Are they willing to do the work? Just getting in is not the hard part, right? The hard part is keeping up with the grades and competing with the other students there. Or look at it this way, do they just socially just want to go to college just for the fun, for the sorority life, for the, um, the athletics? There's so many reasons why it could be a good fit. If you're not able to go on college tours, I would challenge you to either do a virtual tour or go drive the campus. I know several students who've been on local campuses and they've got out and they've walked around and they've pulled out their iPhones, and they have followed a plan. They have walked the campus. Now, keep in mind, not everything's open— the bookstore, the restaurants, whatever— but it gives you an idea. What is the little college town attached? Does that feel right for your student? Do they want to be the big fish in the small sea or the small fish in the big sea, right? As parents, we need to help them understand that. And if they can't verbalize it, how will they tell you if it's a good fit? How will they know if it's a good fit? If they're going based on just a football team or a basketball team, or hopefully academic major or class or professor, there's so much involved. Do you want to put this in the hands of a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old? Do you think that they're ready to make a decision on a $300,000 loan? College can be the cost of their first home, and they need help. They need a lot of help, a lot of guidance. And if you don't want to do the work, will your student do the work? What will their high school counselor do the work? We want to help you. I'm offering a free strategy session, no, no attachment to it. I want to help your student understand they can go to college free or at least a reduced tuition. It's so important, everything that goes into it. So please reach out to us and let us know how we can help because you matter to us and so does your student. We wish you all the best and Happy Father's Day.