FAQs

Deborah helps families determine realistic college targets from the outset. Position U 4 College has licensed access to a powerful tool to create a realistic college list, the Betterton Evaluator™, and Deborah is also skilled at using other tools, such as Naviance, US News & World Report College Rankings, College Board Big Future, and College Xpress Lists, to name a few. She will work with your student to thoroughly research a prospective university’s departments and programs of interest.

Deborah’s understanding of the current college admissions marketplace gives her a valuable third party perspective to share with families, which is more helpful in determining targets than nostalgic, outdated notions from decades ago. Rather than heightening a student’s anxiety with messages that he or she “must” get into a certain tier of schools, Deborah emphasizes fit and thriving in college.

Deborahw will also help your student instrumentally by walking him or her through applications, brainstorming and developing essays, organizing a resume, preparing for interviews, and tutoring for verbal sections of standardized tests.

If you start early enough, your student only needs to meet with Deborah once a month in the beginning. We usually start in January of the junior year, but we can do a preview session earlier if desired. This timing allows self-discovery to fit into your student’s busy schedule in a natural, painless way. It gives your teen “permission” to pause and reflect, think outside the daily grind, and conceptualize one’s accomplishments in a “big picture” way. It allows your student to digest college search experiences, such as campus visits, over a reasonable period of time, to allow for evolution of preferences (which often happens).

As a parent, if you feel that your student is so busy with extracurricular activities that adding periodic meetings with a college consultant is too much to handle, you may want to revisit how busy your student actually is, and whether this is an ideal schedule for your child. After all, the most important factors in a college applicant’s portfolio are grades and standardized test scores, followed by softer factors such as essays and recommendations. Extracurricular activities do not become critical unless they are tie-breakers for applicants to elite colleges who already have exceptional grades and test scores; activities should never be a substitute for academic performance (unless one is talented enough to be a recruited athlete, studio artist or conservatory musician).

Self-discovery can be enjoyable in a positive in-person context with an insightful, supportive coach who inspires confidence. If the process is broken down into small steps, the task does not become overwhelming. Feeling mastery after each step will help your son or daughter to actually look forward to the next step. Success breeds success! That said, a constructive college counseling relationship does require at least a basic attitude of cooperation on the part of the student. In our initial free telephone consultation, Deborah will discuss with the parent whether the student will be able to willingly deliver on assignments, such as essay first drafts. If we conclude that the student’s attitude is not conducive to a productive relationship, we may decide not to go forward.

If you and your student have serious problems in your relationship, beyond what I would call normal parent-teen tension, you may want to explore the services of a licensed psychologist or family therapist. In our initial free telephone consultation, Deborah will discuss the student’s psychological situation and the family relationship as appropriate; if we feel that the student would benefit more from a different kind of service, we may decide not to go forward.

But guidance departments often do not have the staff to offer the intensive one-on-one personal time that can lead to self-discovery, sort out complex situations, and help optimally position your student for acceptance at colleges that best fit one’s talents, interests, goals and values.  It can be helpful to get personal attention from a private source, as well.

Why should applying to college be an intimidating, last-minute struggle, with your student hunched over a computer screen trying to find a list of eight perfect colleges? A college coach can guide your student in a calm process, learning more about his or her identity, strengths, preferences, goals, and values. This can ultimately lead to a more authentic choice and place your son or daughter in a more strategic position to be accepted.

Yes! Deborah is a veteran high school English teacher, Spanish teacher, ACT verbal tutor, and guidance counselor. She offers tutoring services for verbal sections of the SAT and ACT (e.g., English, reading, writing, science), and will refer out for quantitative tutoring. While not a licensed learning consultant in NJ, Deborah has also worked with numerous students with learning differences who needed testing accommodations over the years, and can offer support as you pursue discussions with your school guidance counselor or licensed learning consultant.