From the desk of Celia Tucker, Academic Counselor:

Do you have questions? I would love to help answer them.

I have been trying and trying to think of a way to personalize information about the college application process to make it Brook Hill parent and student specific and applicable to your needs. There are so many wonderful articles and so much timely information about this seemingly overwhelming event on the internet, college websites, in bookstores, and in the newspapers; but I also realize that you are familiar with much of it and I do not want to inundate you with material that you have already read.  I would enjoy assisting in easing the stress of the senior year (whenever that may be for you and your student) by again reminding students that applying for college is a process that they have been preparing for since they began school.

Are there deadlines, applications to fill out, certain criteria they must meet, documents they must provide, resumes they must write, tests they must take, essays they must pen, and so on and so on?…why, yes, but knowing this ahead of time and making sure they plan accordingly, then when the time comes for them to apply to their chosen colleges and universities they will gather their carefully prepared documents, upload them, press submit, and then sit back and enjoy their senior year confident that their future is and always has been in God’s hands.

In talking with parents and friends who are in the midst of trying to help their teens find the perfect college they will often mention that if they themselves had to pick a college all over again they might very well make a different selection and do things totally different. It is at that point that I gently remind them that if they had made a different selection that we wouldn’t be sitting together having a conversation, that I wouldn’t have the pleasure of working with their child and that I wouldn’t have the pleasure of knowing and working with them as parents.

Okay, selfish on my part, but so true. There have been so many times in my life that when I would start to make the wrong move or go in the wrong direction God emphatically stepped in and straightened my path. Did I understand at the time why things didn’t seem to be working out like I wanted them to…why He closed certain doors and opened others…why when things at times just did not seem to be working out and it seemed my world was turning upside down? No, I didn’t understand at the time but looking back I realize that the carefully orchestrated journey called life is pretty much a miracle. It is the only way I can describe it.

All this is to say that when your students choose a college and present the very best application they possibly can then they can turn the worrying part, the fretting part, the ‘what if I don’t get in’ part over to God. Now, we do know that to present their very best application to their very top choice schools requires them to have a crystal clear understanding of the process which brings me back to the beginning of this conversation—do you have questions? Let’s make our conversation pertinent and personal and call our dialogue “Brook Hill and Beyond”. I am waiting with eager anticipation.

Please feel free to email me your questions at [email protected]