Don't Force It: How to Get into College without Losing Yourself in the Process

In today's episode, I chat with Rachel, an educational consultant at McMillan Education, who specializes in helping students with learning disabilities and neurodivergent needs find their ideal colleges. Rachel shares her unique journey from professional writing to education, and we dive into the importance of understanding each student's individual needs right from freshman year. We also discuss the benefits of gap years for building independence and essential skills. Parents, get ready for practical tips on supporting your child’s college journey while embracing their choices! Tune in for this insightful conversation!BioRachel brings her wealth of experience as a special educator of students with a wide range of learning, emotional and behavioral challenges to her school and college planning work at McMillan Education. Families love working with Rachel because they are immediately taken by her combination of genuine warmth and consummate professionalism. Rachel considers herself on a mission to help students find the learning and social environments that both address their needs and allow them to experience success. Nothing has brought Rachel more satisfaction than hearing the transformational stories from her students and families after they’ve found their best fit educational or therapeutic environment.Follow Rachel on LinkedIn and click here to visit McMillanEducation.comSign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today's episode, I sit down with Sachin Jain, an old friend and very successful CEO of a healthcare company. We discuss how he integrated his interests in social justice and policy with his family’s encouragement to pursue medicine, his ideas on mentorship, and the arc of his career.BioSachin H. Jain, MD, MBA is CEO of SCAN Group and SCAN Health Plan, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, which serves more than 300,000 members across California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Previously, Dr. Jain was President and CEO of CareMore and Aspire Health, which served 200,000 Medicare and Medicaid patients in 32 states. He also served as Chief Medical Information & Innovation Officer at Merck & Co., was Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and was the first Deputy Director for policy and programs at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).Dr. Jain graduated from Harvard College and earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and MBA from Harvard Business School. He is Adjunct Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and is a member of the boards of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Omada Health, Advantage Healthcare Services, and The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Follow Sachin on LinkedIn.Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today’s episode, I dive deep with Danny Tejada, who shares his journey from growing up in a tough NYC neighborhood to becoming a key figure in college access and admissions. Danny emphasizes the importance of understanding education’s return on investment and how he helps students navigate college finance and career planning. Tune in to hear his impactful insights and experiences.BioDanny Tejada grew up in public housing in East New York, Brooklyn. He is a first-generation high school and college graduate. He attended Skidmore College. He also holds a certificate in College Advising from Teachers College, Columbia University. He co-authored a book with his mentee called Different Families, Still Brothers.  Danny has been in college counseling for over ten years, working in public, private, charter schools, non-profits, and his own consulting company, We Go To College, LLC. In his consulting, he works with non-profits and high schools on their college counseling programming, colleges on their recruitment of historically disadvantaged students, and individual families on the college application process. In addition to his consulting work, he works at an independent school in Manhattan and reads applications for the University of California, San Diego.  Danny sits on the boards of Stony Brook University’s Counselor Advisory, Uprooted Academy, and Puerto Rican Family Institute, Inc. Previously, he was on Common App’s Counselor Advisory Committee and College Access Consortium of New York’s board. Throughout his college counseling career, he has presented at state and national conferences and been featured on NewsNation, in The New York Times, NPR, Forbes, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, and Money.com, discussing college access issues for historically disadvantaged students.  Danny’s mission is to expand college access for low-income, Black, and Brown students so they can achieve upward mobility and break their generational curse. Follow Danny on LinkedIn.Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today's episode, I’m sharing a webinar I did on test prep strategies designed to help your teen break through their score ceiling, even if they have ADHD. I’ll cover the common test prep mistakes that hold students back and share strategies to help them achieve their best SAT/ACT results. If you want to ensure testing doesn’t stand in the way of their dream schools, this session is for you. Join me to learn how to guide your child to success!Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today’s episode, I dive into the differences between Early Action, Early Decision, and ED2. I break down how each option can impact your college admissions strategy, what types of students might benefit from each path, and how to decide which is the best fit for you. If you’re navigating college applications and wondering how to increase your chances of acceptance, this episode is packed with insights to help you make informed decisions.Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

Today’s guest is Rick Weissbourd, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Director of the Making Caring Common Project, a national effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising and to provide strategies to schools and parents for promoting in children caring, a commitment to justice and other key moral and social capacities. Tune in to hear how college admissions intersects with these efforts.Bio:Richard Weissbourd is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and he also teaches at the Kennedy School of Government. His work focuses on moral development, meaning and purpose, mental health challenges among teens and young adults and effective schools and services for children facing risks. He directs the Making Caring Common Project, a national effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising and to providestrategies to schools and parents for promoting in children caring, a commitment to justice and other key moral and social capacities. He leads an initiative to reform college admissions, Turning the Tide, which seeks to elevate ethical character, reduce excessive achievement pressure and increase equity and access in the college admissions process. He is also conducting research on how older adults can better mentor young adults and teenagers in developing caring, mature romantic relationships. He is a founder of several interventions for children facing risks, including ReadBoston and WriteBoston, city-wide literacy initiatives that were led by Mayor Menino. He is also a founder of a pilot school in Boston, the Lee Academy, that begins with children at 3 years old. He has advised on the city, state and federal levels on family policy, parenting and school reform and has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications and blogs, including The New YorkTimes, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and NPR. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America’s Children and What We Can Do About It (Addison-Wesley, 1996), named by the American School Board Journal as one of the top 10 education books of all time. His most recent book, The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children's Moral and Emotional Development (Houghton Mifflin 2009), was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 24 books of 2009. Follow Rick on LinkedIn.Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAVisit our website at https://signeteducation.com/Access free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today's episode, I’m sharing a webinar I did on executive function challenges. If your teen struggles with time management, stress, or staying organized, this session is for you. Join me to discover how you can help your child have a more successful school year!Access the recording of our free masterclass, where I’ll share the best way to get your ducks in a row now so you avoid stress and disappointment down the line. Register here: https://signeteducation.com/eventsSign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdABook a free call with our expert here: https://signeteducation.com/book-a-callAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today’s episode, I sit down with Kelly Challen, a transition specialist at NESCA, and talk about her work helping neurodiverse students navigate the journey from high school to adulthood. Kelly shares insights on the importance of individualized coaching, real-world employment experiences, and critical life skills for fostering independence and success. Tune in!BIOKelley Challen, EdM, CAS, expert transition specialist and national speaker, has been developing and directing programming for teenagers and young adults with an array of developmental and learning abilities since 2004. She has been the Director of Transition Services at NESCA since 2013, providing individualized transition assessment, planning, consultation, coaching, training, and program development services. She is skilled in assessment and consultation determining optimal timing for a student’s transition to college, technical training, adult learning, employment, and identifying and developing programs and services necessary to minimize skill gaps. Ms. Challen is one of the only professionals in New England specializing in assisting families in selecting or developing programming as a steppingstone between special education and college. She has a unique understanding of local postgraduate, pre-college, college support, college transition, postsecondary transition, and 18-22 programs. She earned a BA in Psychology from The College of William and Mary and an MA of Education and Graduate Certificate in Counseling from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is co-author of the chapter, “Technologies to Support Interventions for Social-Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness, Personality Style, and Self-Regulation,” for the book Technology Tools for Students with Autism: Innovations that Enhance Independence and Learning. She is also the mother of two children and two puggles who continually help with her inventive and flexible thinking! Follow Kelly on Linkedin.Learn more about NESCA here:Website: https://nesca-newton.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nesca-newton/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NESCApc/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nescaneuropsychologySign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today’s insightful episode, I sit down with Jay Bacrania, who explores the role of desire in building a meaningful life. Jay discusses how desire fuels motivation, helps students overcome obstacles, and provides practical advice for addressing challenges like learning disabilities and mental health issues. Tune in to discover how to harness the power of desire for personal and academic success.BioJay has taken a broad academic path that encompasses both the sciences and the humanities. Jay is values-driven in his approach to both tutoring and running Signet. He believes that education and career are twin pillars vital to building a meaningful life. Jay continually experiments with how best to promote deeper learning and personal growth for himself, his staff, and the students who work with Signet. When he’s not at the office, Jay can be found at his home in Somerville, finding new and better ways to make a cup of coffee and spending time with his family. Follow Jay at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaybacrania/Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

In today’s Let's Get Tactical episode, I cover how to write standout supplemental essays. With back-to-school season here, I’ll share tips on aligning essay responses with each college’s unique offerings, showcasing experiences, and making the most of optional essays. Tune in for practical advice on navigating the college application process with confidence!Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!Students: https://forms.gle/cRyBSFP9tSEJnsVN6Parents and other Adults: https://forms.gle/v6Nppxix6HPKrRfdAAccess free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.