What my work with your particular student looks like will depend on the various intricacies of your unique circumstance. That being said, what I offer below is a general idea of the trajectory that my student work tends to take.

Junior Spring

During this period of time, I usually like to meet with my students on a weekly basis. Our top priority is usually college list: we will go over the tools that I like to use when researching schools, the numerous ways in which schools can differ from one another. Our foremost mission at this point is that of uncovering our end-goal - what are we striving for? Once the college list has begun to take shape, we will also begin to discuss other topics that are particularly relevant during this stage of the process - a list that usually includes course selection (which courses will the student be taking during their senior year?), rec letters (who will be writing them? what can we do to optimize the student’s relationship with the teachers that will be recommending him/her?), and then finally (and perhaps most significantly) summer planning. We will dive into the student’s interests and work together to devise a plan for the summer months that will add as much value to the student’s ultimate application as possible.

Summer

During this period, my students and I might begin to meet with greater frequency - maybe twice a week. We will use this meetings on the one hand to make sure that we are continuing to make progress on overall application readiness. We will check in on the student’s summer activities to ensure that they are going according to plan; we will begin the process of “demonstrating interest,” i.e. reaching out to schools and making attempts at both learning as much about them as we can while also giving your student some meaningful interaction with teh admissions officers that will ultimately be evaluation their application; I will also use this time (now that the college list will be somewhat more finalized) to look into everything that is going to be required by each of the schools your student will be applying to, ultimatley compiling a list of tasks for us to complete as well as a timeline for when everything will need to be completed by. Secondly, we will also use these months to begin the process of writing application essays, starting with maybe one or two shorter essays and then quickly working our way into the student’s Common Application personal statement.

Fall/Winter

This is game time! During this period, I will often meet with my students multiple times per week (usually two or three meetings, or maybe more in the days leading up to major deadlines). We will use this time to make strategize over every discrete field of the student’s Common Application (focusing in particular on the activities list). We will also make sure that your student is staying on top of their assignments at home, and will discuss ways in which their extracurriculars can be pushed as far as possible in advance of their submission deadlines. On the essay side of things, we will transition at this point from our work on the Common App essay into working on the supplemental essays required by each particular school. This usually keeps us plenty busy until applications have officially been submitted!

As stated above, every student’s situation is unique and I am happy to adapt the overall course of action above to the particulars of your situation. I’ve had plenty of students that didn’t work with me as intensively as what I’m describing above - I’ve had students that worked with me only on their application essays, and students who met with me just a few times so that they could finalize their list of schools. Articulated above is the most intensive and elaborate version of the services that I offer, provided here so as to give you as detailed an impression as possible of how we could potentially use our time together.