Best Steps to College™

To begin to organize your Best Steps to College™, we have organized the process around a hexagon.

Following are the six hexagon areas, plus a center indexing reference:

1. Information
   A student might ask, "What do we really need to know?" Another might wonder, "How do I approach an essay for the college admissions application?" Still another asks, "When can I approach a college faculty member prior to enrollment?" These are all important considerations. As experts, we will guide you to the best sources of information.
2. Activities
   To be ready for college, students need to complete some thirty-plus activities during the 9th through 12th grades that are part of the 100+ events to college enrollment. For example, in the fall of the junior year, 11th grade students need to register and take the SAT, an important test toward college admission. But, to do your best, you should have registered and taken the PSAT in the 10th grade.
3. Assessments
   One area of the hexagon shows the different assessments one needs to take to be college ready. SmartGrades needs to be taken to see the student's progress. SmartGrades assesses eight important factors that have proven to lead to college success and increased GPAs. Other assessments include the SAT and the ACT, high school graduation, career interest, personality and study skills tests.
4. Educational Programs
   High schools do their best in preparing students for college, but we have learned as college professors, that in certain critical areas, students need additional emphasis. These areas are critical thinking, problem solving, problem analyses, scientific method analysis, critical writing and scientific reading.
5. Technology
   College requires a certain adequacy with technology that is expected from the first day of class. Basic computer, web site and internet searching skills, and spread sheet analyses are a requirement. Communication via computer, iPhone, social network, and blogs are a given in most colleges these days. Assignments even require video and cloud development for classroom projects, as well as basic internet, PowerPoint, spreadsheets and even occasional programming skills.
6. Calendar
   It is important, with all of these events and programs, to give you a sequencing of dates. In as much as the calendar for each college and state throughout the country is different, we have alerted you to the season of the year (fall, winter, spring, summer) as date references. This "heads up," plus your follow-through, will insure you don't miss important dates.
7. Event Index
   Alphabetical Indexing – If you wish to index a particular activity or educational program from the hexagon, all that needs to be done is to click on the bull's eye of the hexagon for an alphabetical indexing of all the 100+ activities and programs necessary to become a college student.