By Neil Chyten, the Chyten Center
You may be loath to ask your 15-year-old daughter to think about college campuses and dormitory life and majors. No one would blame you. After all, it is difficult enough to get a 9th grader to think about cleaning his room or washing her hands, or to answer a question about homework. But…college? Is it even appropriate to ask a student 15 year old, perhaps just a few months out of middle school, where she would like to spend her 20th birthday? Of course, the answer to that question is no.
Mr. Chyten(right), nicknamed as the SAT Guy, has over 30 year experience in preparing students for college.
But the Gradual Admission Strategy (GAS) is not about asking young teens to choose schools or majors or careers. Begun in 9th or 10th grade, GAS helps students circumnavigate around the pressure of immediacy that is associated with retrofitting a transcript with stellar grades, prepping to earn high test scores, packing college essays with power words, filing the FAFSA, garnering glowing recommendations, planning college visit itineraries, preparing for interviews, and submitting anywhere between 5 and 12 applications. GAS is designed to shine up and fill out college applications, and to build deep learning and critical thinking skills that make higher test scores and grades not only possible, but likely. Simply stated, GAS is a strategy for parents to help their students avoid the pressure cooker that is junior year admissions.
With colleges looking for a years-long record of good grades, personal challenges, meaningful accomplishments and community-oriented activities, the earlier one begins, the more one can accomplish. Nowadays, colleges are more likely to look favorably on depth than breadth. A few meaningful long-term commitments trump a cornucopia of more shallow activities. And, with the recent push toward enrolling good citizens, the very definition of meaningful commitment has been transformed. It is now something far more likely accomplished over years than months, and in schools or churches or hospitals rather than on a Caribbean island.
Chyten’s GAS involves planning activities that boost resumes by finding meaningful, authentic activities for engagement, and by boosting test scores and grades over time. Students can strengthen areas of academic weakness, keep their GPAs high and qualify for high-level courses and boost math, reading, writing and test-taking skills, all while committing to a regular regimen of community-based or educational-oriented activities. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your college admission strategy, have a GAS! Call a Chyten admission expert today at 800-428-TEST.