How far behind is my student in the college prep process?

Parents often ask this question because they are worried that their spring semester junior or fall semester senior is only now ready to begin the college prep process.

Is the student who arrives to college prep work at this time late? —Yes.

Can they still find success? —Also yes.

Students mature on different timelines. Our preference is to start work earlier in the high school career, but we support many students and families who are late arrivals. Most of the time our late arriving students are able to find a college that is a good fit for their educational profile.

How early should we start to think about college?

There is some good research out of App State and UNC Greensboro that suggests that second semester 8th grade college prep work gets strong results, i.e. has some measurable impact on whether students attend and graduate from college.

Our general recommendation is to do some strategic planning in late middle school and have periodic check-ins throughout high school to assure that your student is staying on track with their (and your) educational goals. This is especially true for students with a unique interest or skills, i.e. art, design, film, or conservatory, as well as student athletes.

Students should take time throughout these years to explore passions and interests and have space to decide no, they don’t want to go to business school or yes, they really do want to apply to pre-med programs. When this happens, students can own their senior year decisions from a deep and meaningful place.

Can you get my student into _____ very selective college or university?

EntelechyEC values a model of education and college prep that centers the student. If your student desperately wants to go to FILL IN THE BLANK, we will support he or she in planning and executing a profile that makes them as attractive as possible to their dream school. However, we cannot guarantee admittance to any school, and we do not make students apply to schools which they are not interested in attending. Our goal is to find best fit colleges for our students. The best fit for one student may be a very selective college—for another student, it’s a large state school with a well-funded engineering program. We support a wide range of students in finding success, including students with learning differences and other disability diagnoses.