The College Prep Podcast

Did you know that LInkedIn is a great place to search for information about what kinds of jobs students get after graduating from which schools? Megan and Gretchen had no idea…but a parent listener Mary did. Listen in as she shares: * How she discovered this cool trick, and how it helped her high school age son,* How to use LinkedIn to research whether colleges you’re considering will really help you get the kinds of jobs you think you want, and* The power of forming real-life relationships with professionals in careers students are interested in. We highly recommend listening to the live episode; however, if you want the quick instructions, here they are as typed up by Mary: Starting with the College: * Go to LinkedIn and search for a college. * On the left navigation bar, click on Alumni.* That will then show you high level information about where their alumni live and the top companies where they are employed.* However, what I think is so cool is you can filter down this view. You can filter based on year (in the top bar). This will allow you to see where their recent grads are being employed. Or you can filter down by location, major, or job. To filter by major or job, you’ll need to click the Next button. Starting with the Company: * This is similar to the college search but with the emphasis on the company. Let’s say that your child is very interested in a certain company. Type in the name of a specific company you’re curious about in the main LinkedIn search bar. * Click on people on the left navigation.That will show you all the people who work there. * Unfortunately, you don’t have the same date filtering capabilities. However, you can filter down by location, what they do, and what they studied.This can give you a good idea of the colleges that the companies heavily recruits from. I found it helpful to search based on major (because the colleges can change a lot based on major).

Many families of high achieving students sign up for too many specialized courses in high school, and forget to prioritize the core curriculum. Megan walks us through a set of reasons why we don’t want to make this mistake. Specifically, she discusses: * which classes are considered core and how many years you need* why four years in “other languages” is so important, even if it’s hard to do* examples of areas in which families make mistakes, such as specialized courses in medicine and engineering* the importance of choosing specialized courses IN ADDITION to, rather than as a REPLACEMENT for, the core curriculum.

As Gretchen teaches adults in her courses for educators, she’s started noticing a number of similarities between the grown ups and her teenage clients. In this episode she outlines 6 bad habits that all learners seem to have, regardless of age. They include: * Perfectionism* An aversion to making mistakes* Getting behind in their work* Not asking for help* Asking questions that have already been answered* Not paying attention to instructions. Apparently, learning is hard regardless of how old you are! And some of these habits, which adults often attribute to students’ laziness or lack of motivation, is actually a natural reaction to learning to build competency in a new skillset. Interesting!

The College Board recently announced that each student will now be assigned an adversity index in addition to their SAT scores. In this short summer podcast, Megan walks us through what the adversity index is and how she’s been thinking about it. If you’d like to read more about this index, check out this article too.

One of the important ingredients of studying strategically is cultivating your willingness to try new strategies, even if they require effort and are uncomfortable. Gretchen breaks down why this is, and tells some stories from her recent educator training about what happens when learners push themselves out of their comfort zone. If you are interested in learning some new study strategies to try, consider the: * Anti-Boring Approach to Powerful Studying (for families), or* Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically (for educators).

Since you can’t wear a smart watch when you take the SAT & ACT, what kind of watch SHOULD you wear? Megan breaks down the importance of bringing your own time piece for your wrist, which one to buy, and how to use it. In this episode, she refers to this youtube video, which will guide you through how to make your digital watch silent.

There’s a common controversy that comes up in Gretchen’s educator trainings: Should academic coaches teach students skills, or must they remain neutral parties who draw out the student’s inner wisdom? This controversy comes up because life coaches are taught not to solve their clients problems for them. However, teachers often solve students’ problems well but often don’t know how to draw out student’s own native knowledge. Both are important! Gretchen discusses this controversy, that comes up every new round of her course, and presents the “consent hamburger”, her solution to this controversy. She teaches the “consent hamburger” in her course for educators: The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically.

Wish you knew exactly what colleges look for when they evaluate high school students? In this “mini-cast” episode, Megan share’s a list of skills and experiences that help high school students stand out from the crowd when applying to colleges. The list was compiled by members of the Independent Education Consultants Association in 2018. Tune in to hear Megan share the thirteen skills and experiences everyone agreed were most important. She will comment on each item (at least one of which she actually disagrees with!). You can also access the original list here.

How full is your study toolbox? In this “mini-cast” episode, Gretchen shares the 7 different “toolkits” students need in order to study as effectively and efficiently as possible. Here’s the list, but make sure you tune in to hear details about each! * tools for understanding brain science, * tools for encoding in new ways,* note taking tools, * quizzable tools, * study planning tools, and* anti-procrastination tools

Do you ever run out of time on standardized tests? Does it feel impossible to get all the questions answered? Welcome to our summer mini-casts! In this one, Megan shares several strategies for how to pace yourself on the ACT and SAT. Specifically, she discusses: * The importance of knowing the actual time limits in advance,* How to break each section down into measurable parts and time yourself, and* How to build a testing routine that incorporates pacing checks

So many students study accidentally, or at the very least, incompletely. What’s the alternative, that delivers better learning and better grades in less time? Why, “studying strategically,” of course! Gretchen calls her course for educators The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically, but what exactly does that mean? In this mini-episode, Gretchen breaks down the 3 components of strategic studying. Tune in to hear more! If you want to take this idea of “strategic studying” one level deeper, please check out the free course: Study Cycle 101. It’s geared for educators, but great for parents, too. Sometime in 2019 there will even be a Study Cycle 101 for students too.

Ever wish you could ask a neuroscientist all your questions about teaching and learning? Today Megan and Gretchen got to interview professor and author Jared Cooney Horvath about his new excellent new book, Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Neuroscience to Make Your Messages Stick. Gretchen was particularly excited about this interview, because this book underscores so many of the lessons she teaches in her courses for students and educators! Tune in to hear this wide ranging conversation, and to learn more about how we can harness the way the brain works to teach and learn better. Jared Cooney Horvath is a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in human learning, memory, and brain stimulation. In 2018, Dr. Horvath co-founded LME Global, a mission-driven company serving teachers, students and schools through applied learning sciences. To learn more, visit www.lmeglobal.net.

The whole point of going to college is to get a job, right?! Yet families often forget to evaluate their prospective college’s career services. Join podcast parent Lydia Schulz as she details everything she learned about how colleges help students get jobs. Specifically, the crew discusses: * the two most important areas to evaluate in a college’s career services department,* what has changed over the years in regards to the kinds of career support college’s provide,* a complete checklist of 8 areas to evaluate to feel more confident about your school choice’s ability to help your student find a job,* and more. Here is the fabulous document that Lydia created for us, for your reading pleasure.

Drum roll please! Megan’s daughter has made her final college decision. In this episode, Megan outlines the lessons her family learned in their very personal college decision process, including: * How many schools she applied to, and how they honed their final list* 8 things the family did right from the beginning of the college search process* 4 surprising observations about the process that Megan didn’t expect* Details about how her daughter made the final decision* The big reveal about what school she chose! It’s an exciting episode (at least, Gretchen was on the edge of her seat with anticipation)!

Final exams are stressful — for students, teachers and parents! How can everyone take care of each other at the end of the school year? Megan and Gretchen talk through over ten tips for making sure you take care of yourself, inspired by the following infographic originally found here and discussed by Gretchen in this video.