T4CS will help you and your child build the right college list. There is a formula combining a specific ratio of reach, fit, and safety schools that maximizes the chance that your child will be admitted to a more selective school. Developing a list that accounts for your child’s preferences and considers the appropriate mix of reach, fit, and safety schools is a critical and often overlooked aspect of the college planning process.

T4CS will connect your family to the very best test prep providers. Most colleges are test optional, that is to say students can choose whether or not to submit SAT or ACT scores. AP and IB scores are rarely required but can be helpful in accruing college credits and signaling to colleges that the student can perform at a high level. While a small number of highly selective colleges have begun requiring SAT or ACT scores with their applications, and other highly selective colleges may also move in this direction, it is unlikely that most colleges will revert to policies requiring these scores. Test optional policies take considerable pressure off of the applicant. Still, T4CS strongly recommends that applicants prepare for and take the SAT or ACT, likely several times. A strong score significantly boosts an applicant’s chances for admission. A weaker score does not harm the applicant in a test optional environment. Also, T4CS strongly recommends studying for and taking AP exams. Very few colleges require that these scores be reported. But strong scores are an excellent boost on a student’s application and can significantly alter the coursework required in college. T4CS can connect students to the best test prep providers in the country.

T4CS will work with your child to write extraordinary and compelling college essays. These essays should constitute the best writing your child has ever produced. College essays generally serve as a tiebreaker in college admissions, and occasionally as an accelerant. Because admissions are quite competitive, an applicant should take advantage of every potential tiebreaker! The college essays should not be a list of academic and extracurricular achievements. This is a typical mistake made by applicants. Admissions offices can see an applicant’s  academic record through their transcripts and score reports. They see an applicant’s extracurriculars through the activities section of the Common App. Do not waste the essays telling admissions offices information they already know. Consider the job of an admissions office. Not only do they need to admit students who meet their academic standards. They also need to be attentive to the right mix of students. They strive for gender balance. They often hope for regional balance and socioeconomic balance. They are looking for the perfect combination of personalities and backgrounds. The essays are an opportunity for the applicant to tell admissions offices what they love, what they fear, what they strive for.  It is the component of the application process over which applicants have complete control. Tell the admissions office who you are beyond your academic record. T4CS will assist in producing excellent college essays.

If your family is applying for finanical aid, T4CS will help you negotiate with colleges. It’s well understood that families are not always required to pay a college’s sticker price due to financial aid, scholarships, etc. Did you know that it’s sometimes possible to negotiate a financial aid award? T4CS will assist families in reviewing financial aid awards and negotiating the best awards possible.

(for Washington DC residents) T4CS will assist you in making the right selection for middle and high school. There is a variety of public middle and high schools that families can consider as they make their way towards college. T4CS will help families consider the pros and cons of a select group of schools that tend to produce good college outcomes. Some of these schools are under the radar and should be more widely considered.

T4CS will work with your family to find the balance of extracurricular activities that best position your child for colege admissions offices AND keeps these activities productive, fun, and manageable. Many families are under the impression that colleges want their applicants to excel in multiple extra curricular areas. This leads some families to load up their children’s schedules with a variety of time consuming activities that are unlikely to aid in the college admissions process. T4CS can guide students to more productive (and fun!) approaches to extra curricular activities.

T4CS will work with your child to select the high school courses that will best position them with college admissions offices, with an eye towards maintaining a manageable course load. It is critically important for students to experience the sort of rigor typical of college courses while they are still in high school. T4CS can help families choose course schedules that meet their students’ needs, and make them attractive applicants, without overburdening them.

T4CS will connect your family to experts in specialized college programs and specialized colleges, including music, dance, and arts programs, as well as women's colleges and HBCUs.