College Prep Ivy League Admission

Matt Hunt, founder and CEO of College Hunt Educational Counseling, once again leads a very informative workshop for prospective college athletes this time focusing on admissions for Ivy League schools. Throughout the workshop Matt breaks down the requirements and application process for Ivy League admission, as well as providing helpful tips and insight to meet these requirements. The workshop will conclude with a question and answer segment hosted by Matt. (See link below to the workshop) His experience while counseling at Rancho Bernardo High School has provided an opportunity for him to speak directly with Ivy League admission personnel gaining inside information on the admission process.

Click here to view the video and slides from the Ivy League Workshop

“The Ivy League admission office is looking for a positive display of well roundness in every aspect of life”

Do you meet the requirements to attend an Ivy League School?

Preparing to compete

• Enroll in the highest curriculum possible (honors, AP) taking advantage of your strengths
• Participate in 2 or more extracurricular activities demonstrating commitment and leadership
• Strong performance on SAT or ACT

Separating Yourself from other Applicants

• Participate in internships focusing on your major or career goals
• Extraordinary initiative or creative thinking in designing your opportunity
• Strength of character in overcoming adversity

The Essay

• This is an opportunity to express yourself, future goals, growth, and a particular strength
• Include specific information regarding the major you wish to be placed in
• Write your OWN essay, take ownership of process and product

Have a question or are looking for some potential help with the college selection process?

Matt is currently conducting a limited number of college planning consultation calls with families that are serious and committed to attending college.

Click here to schedule your consultation call or you can reach out to Matt directly at matt.collegehunt@gmail.com.

Why the Fall is Soooo Important

So you are a student-athlete that really really wants to get recruited and play at the college level, but you might not be doing some of the basic things to help you make your dream a reality. We see it happen over and over again…

* The BIG QUESTION we ask you today:

Do NCAA Coaches know your fall schedule & how to see you play?

5 Common answers players and parents give us:

1. I just play in tournaments and that’s where the college coaches are so I’m good right…
2. My coach will let coaches know and they take care of it all…
3. I don’t really have a college target list put together so…
4. I don’t know what to send coaches and who to send my schedule to..
5. I don’t know what colleges I am a good fit for….

These are all very poor reasons or excuses why coaches don’t know your fall schedule.

* College coaches don’t have the time to keep track of every potential prospect. They need to be contacted, reminded, followed up with and assisted in the recruiting process big time.

3 Steps to Take:

1. Find or list your fall schedule (events/games, dates, locations)
2. Create a target list or have your target list evaluated
3. Make sure you are focused on the right showcases, camps and schools to target (many families waste lots of TIME & $$$$)

The fall schedule and communication is just one of the keys to success as part of a complete college game plan to ensure your success.

Have a question or are looking for some potential help?

It all starts with an honest NCAA evaluation by an expert who knows what college recruiters are looking for and where you stand, an evaluation of what level of college is right for you.

Learn about scheduling your NCAA evaluation & consultation by following the link provided

http://www.sportsforceonline.com/college-prospect-evaluation-form.php

Finding the right college fit can be one of the most difficult tasks in the college recruiting process…

However, once you do, it will be one of the most rewarding decisions you make in your entire life!

You’ll need to consider everything from athletics, academics and location to the financial costs and social atmosphere of each school. All this criteria goes into creating your college target list and what you and your family should consider when making a decision before you even contact a school.

All these tools are in our College Recruiting Resources Section.

EXAMPLE CASE: Let’s say you’re a student who has a 3.0 GPA and a 1400 SAT score. Those are solid marks, but not in the upper ranks for academics. Likely, that student-athlete and family shouldn’t target Ivy League schools or schools like Stanford or UCLA on the West Coast. Rather, you should do some research and determine what schools are a better fit for you both athletically and academically.

ACADEMICS

There are some great websites like collegeboard.com that can help you determine what schools might be a great fit for you to attend.

Keep in mind if you are being actively recruited, you don’t have to have the same grades that are required for the listed academic requirements for most schools.

ATHLETICS

Athletically, the best thing you can do is to go out and see a college team play, or watch them on TV to see the caliber of play and if you are capable of developing into that caliber an athlete.

Visiting the athletic website for each college is a must as well.

Here you’ll want to look for the following:

– Get an idea of the type of roster they have and what positions are already filled

– See what their depth chart looks like

– Take note of what the backgrounds of the players are. Were they All-League in high school? All-County or All-State?

Remember, it’s great to dream and have a vision for your career, but it’s also important to be realistic and use your time wisely when you’re looking at the college decision and college recruiting process.

You can get started today by getting a personal scouting evaluation – CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Hopefully you have created your college target list. If you haven’t started your college target list yet, click here to see how to easily get started.

Once you have started your college target list you should really go through all of your schools and start ranking them based on how they score on some important decision factors. Click here to review the different decision factors you should be using to help you create and rank your college target list.

The next step for managing your college target list is to use the different decision factors and start identifying which category to place each school in: Reach, Target or Safety. We recommend that each category should have at least 5-10 schools.

In order to determine which category each school falls into, it is important to know which each category really means. Below we have broken down each category and provided some additional information to help you identify which schools belong in each category:

Reach Schools

Definition: A reach school is a college that you have a chance of getting into, but your test scores, class rank and/or high school grades are a bit on the low side compared to the school’s profile.

These are schools that you just might get into. These are labeled your dream or reach schools for a reason. While you may fall short on some of the requirements you could try to make up for it in other areas.

Expect strong competition for your reach schools and make sure to manage your expectations when applying to these schools. Your odds might not seem great, but you need to make sure you apply to your reach schools. You definitely won’t get in if you don’t apply!

Target Schools

Definition: A target school is a college that you are pretty likely to get into because your test scores, class rank and/or high school grades fall in line with school’s profile.

These are schools that you should feel pretty confident that you will be accepted to. Your target schools should be places that you really want to go to. You should meet all or at least most of the requirements and test scores for these schools.

Be sure to consider multiple factors when reviewing the schools profile. Your location could play a key role as State schools often favor in-state students. If you are applying to out-of-state schools, you may need to exceed the requirements.

Safety Schools

Definition: A safety school is a college that you will almost certainly get into because your test scores, class rank and/or high school grades are well above average when you are reviewing the school’s profile.

These schools you should feel the most confident about: You are going to get in! These aren’t your dream schools, but you should have some interest in your safety schools. You should be on the high end or exceed all of the requirements for these schools.

It’s important to have your safety schools just in case you don’t get into your reach and target schools. Your safety schools might provide other criteria that is more beneficial for your family (i.e. less expensive than your target and reach schools). They may also offer a scholarship or other perks that weren’t available at your other target schools.

Additional Advice:

Don’t Forget to do Your Research

•We recommend using a “bottom up” approach while making your college target list. While determining your reach schools is important, you should first focus on finding the schools that fall under your safety and target criteria.

•Understand your eligibility for admission at a particular school by getting familiar with the school’s admitted student profile.

Be Well Rounded

•While you may fall short on some requirements, you can make up for it other areas.

•Athletics can help lower the requirements in other areas.

•Volunteer Work, extracurricular activities and involvement in school organizations are also other great ways to boost your opportunities

Separating your schools will help you manage your expectations throughout the admissions process. It will help ensure you set some ambitious goals for yourself, but you also give yourself some back up options as well.

Tell us how your target list and different categories are coming along. Leave us a comment in the comments section below.

We have been stressing the importance of creating your college target list. It is the first step in preparing for the college recruiting process. We recently went over how you can create your target college list and how to rank the schools that you add to your list.

Below is a breakdown of some important decision factors for you to consider when you are creating your college target list.

Important Factors to Consider:

Athletics:

• How large is the roster?
• Which division do they compete in (NCAA DI, DII, DIII, etc.)?
• Are there athletic scholarships available? If so, how many?

Click Here to view the scholarships available for your sport in each division

Academics:

• What is the academic reputation of the school? Is it competitive or relaxed?
• What are the entrance requirements – SAT scores, AP courses, GPA minimum?
• Does the school offer the major or program you’d like to pursue?

If you’re unsure about your future, does the school offer plenty of options?

Cost:

• How much is your family willing to pay for college?
• Are you relying on athletic scholarships or financial aid?
• Will you be paying out-of-state or in-state tuition?

Location/Size:

• How far away from home do you want to be?
• Do you prefer a big city or a small town?
• Do you prefer a large, fast paced environment or small, more personalized attention?

Small: less than 2,000 students

Medium: between 2,000 and 10,000 students

Large: more than 10,000 students

As you can see, there are several very important factors to consider when developing your college target list. It is essential for you review and discuss which factors are the most important for you and your family.

Tell us which decision factor(s) are the most important to you and how they have helped shape your college target list. Leave us a comment in the comments section below.

As you continue through the decision making process, chances are you are overwhelmed by a never-ending list of colleges. There is a lot of stress that comes along with trying to figure out the ONE school that is right for you.

College isn’t just a 4 year decision… It’s a choice that will impact the rest of your life!

In order to help ease your anxiety, we’ve created a simple guide to help you narrow your search, create your target list, and pinpoint that perfect school.

Step 1: Create a list of target colleges

We recommend creating a list of target colleges and putting them into 3 different groups:

Group #1: Reach schools

These schools would have a very high ranking in almost all of the decision making factors that are part of your college decision (see below)

We recommend 10 – 15 schools in this group.

Group #2: Target schools

These schools would have a strong ranking in almost all of the decision making factors that are part of your college decision (see below)

We recommend 10 – 20 schools in this group.

Group #3: Back up schools

These schools would have an average to good ranking in most of the decision making factors that are part of your college decision (see below)

We recommend 10 – 15 schools in this group.

Step 2: Ranking target colleges

Create a list of all of your key decision making factors and give 1 to 5 points for each decision factor (5 being an extremely important decision factor).

Potential decision factors include:

• Academics (Majors offered, career development, alumni)

• Athletics (level of competition, W/L record, tradition)

• Social environment

• Size of school

• Public vs. Private

• Cost

• Coaching Staff

• Location

• Intuition (gut feeling, emotional connection)

We recommend doing this on a spreadsheet and then ranking the potential colleges you are interested in by using this system to create an overall point total for each school.

Once you have created and prioritized your college target list, you will be much more organized and can start setting up your game plan. Remember, it is very important to examine many different factors when setting up your target list.

Be sure to include your family in the decision making process, as this is a huge decision that will impact you and your family for the rest of your life…

How’s your college target list coming along so far?

Be sure to share your story in our comments section below.