College

It's amazing when we think about the twists and turns that life takes, and where these twists and turns can take us.  As I approach the age of 40, and after a complete 17 years of working as an educational consultant, I've started to look at what comes next for me in my own personal and professional future. In doing so, I've started to look for work in an independent school.  After 17 years of basically working for myself, it's been very interesting and exciting for me to embark upon a job search.

It's been a crazy school year and I hope that all you seniors have applied and are done with the college admissions process, finally. As someone who works independently with families, my schedule was to have everyone complete by Thanksgiving. Thankfully my first group of seniors were indeed done with the process in that time frame.

Happy New Year! I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have 2011 behind us. It was truly a nightmare of a year for my family and me on so many levels. I could probably write a book entitled 2011 Sucked! But I can’t imagine it would sell, with such a negative, almost hostile sounding title…oh well. Maybe one of these days, my creative nonfiction juices will flow and I’ll be able to write a memoir of 2011 that has a more appealing, marketable title. I’ll keep you posted!

The acceptances from ED and EA applications are rolling in and I must say, there's a lot of good news to be had so far. My students have started to receive acceptances from colleges and so far, so good! I am sure there will be more to report soon...but for now we have received positive news from colleges in MA, RI and FL and more good news, I am sure...to come!

So it’s May. For me, when it arrives, May always brings with it the promise of summer. May’s first reward to us for all the hard work we’ve all done in the last year is primarily climate-based. The weather starts to warm up in New England and suddenly it’s green again and there are all kinds of color bursts. The spring that comes with May in New England is magical and promises carefree summer days.

It’s April, and as I sit back in my chair, I can’t help but to close my eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief. It’s been quite a year in my professional world—working with students and schools throughout the admissions cycle while juggling numerous realities: the tail end of an economy trying to rebound from its depression, the end of a difficult pregnancy, the arrival of my second child, no maternity leave, a lot of sleep deprivation, and various health related and personal challenges that I can’t even begin to get into right now.

The March madness I experience yearly has little, if anything, to do with basketball. Honestly, even if I had more time during the month of March, I doubt that I would attempt to watch NCAA basketball. With the hectic schedule of life in my family's chaos, there's barely time to get all the chores done to even catch a glimpse of the college basketball that consumes the time of many of my colleagues who probably need a break after all of the admissions file reading that takes over their lives for a couple of months each winter.

Of all the winter months in New England, I'd have to say that February is probably my favorite. There are reasons for this; the primary one being that by the time February comes around winter is usually almost over. I like that it's a short month, and the month we celebrate Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year! Here’s wishing you all the best in 2011! To add to our initial list of successes from the early decision and early action rounds which included Stanford, Cornell, Bucknell, Stonehill and Syracuse, we have also received early admissions acceptances to The University of Rhode Island, The University of Massachusetts, The University of Connecticut, Michigan State University, Dickinson, Salve Regina, Quinnipiac and Babson College.