There are more than 4,000 post-secondary programs in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics<\/a>. While it\u2019s wonderful that there are lots of options for college, it can also make the idea of narrowing down your child\u2019s list of potential schools feel daunting and even overwhelming.<\/p>\n My teen and I are both a bit short on both the time and the know-how needed to cull through all <\/em>the schools.\u00a0 We had a general idea of some schools, but I didn\u2019t want to stick solely with suspect rankings or popularity contests among local parents when coming up with the list of places that could be great fits for my girl, who is soon-to-be a senior in high school. I worried that we would miss that needle in the haystack that would be perfect for her.<\/p>\n Enter CollegeVine<\/a>. They offer a wide variety of services designed to make the college application process easier for families. Their approach is driven by data, and as someone who adores facts and analysis, this appealed to me. I\u2019d heard their ads on NPR<\/a> so when they reached out, I was happy to learn more about their approach.<\/p>\n I was even happier when my teen got to test out the program for herself for creating her college list. She worked with Eric, a near-peer advisor to come up with a list of potential colleges that match her interests and preference.<\/p>\n Not only that, Eric gave her an idea of her chances of admission using solid stats from the prior 10,000+ students with whom they\u2019ve worked. I have worked with, well, 0 students. Seems they have a bit more experience than the average parent.<\/p>\n They presented that info in visuals that my teen found really interesting and easy to understand. Not all teens go gaga for graphs, but these really captivated my girl. It also made it easy separate out which schools are reaches, targets and likely for her. (I\u2019m a big believer that “likely” is a more positive term than \u201csafety\u201d and makes it seem less like settling if she goes to one of those schools.)<\/p>\n There were a few things in our experience with CollegeVine that surprised me, all in a good way.<\/p>\n Teens can sometimes think that adults, especially older ones, are not terribly privy to the ways of the world. (Little do they know, but that\u2019s the topic for another blog.) Rather than fight that tendency, CollegeVine uses near-peer advisors. That means they are younger than parents, have recently been through the college application and college attendance experiences, and have been really successful at both.\u00a0My daughter was paired with one named Eric.<\/p>\n They do video chats, so the kids can really connect with their near-peer advisor.\u00a0He was flexible and understanding with scheduling, something that not all teens are great about. When my girl needed to reschedule, Eric couldn\u2019t have been nicer about it.<\/p>\n She mentioned in the first of her sessions that she had finals coming up soon, and she appreciated that he asked how they were going the next time they talked. \u201cI really appreciated how well he listened and that he remembered,\u201d my teen told me. (I bit my lip and didn\u2019t say anything about how I\u2019d also like to be around good listeners.). She felt he made an effort to get to know her.<\/p>\n How they create a list of schools\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n So, I\u2019ve mentioned my lack of time and experience in this area. Turns out, I also don\u2019t have any way of having access to the data that CollegeVine uses to create a school list.<\/p>\n They have a Chancing Engine that utilizes more than 100,000 data points to create a list.\u00a0Holy data points, Batman.\u00a0That was never going to be something I could compile for my girl, let alone analyze and synthesize for her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To match up those data points, Eric had to extract a lot of info from my teen. That can be easier said than done, but he was a pro. Better than I am, for sure. She said it was helpful for her to think about what she wants and for him to give her factors to consider.<\/p>\n CollegeVine<\/a> not only helped create the list of schools, they helped my teen start comparing them and including the very valuable (literally) return on investment (ROI) stats based on likely income following graduation depending on major from each school.<\/p>\n When she concluded a session with Eric, she came upstairs eager to show me a few comparisons and wanting to talk about this info was impacting her perspective. \u201cThese graphs and charts are really cool! I haven\u2019t seen this before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I\u2019m hoping that she takes this analytical approach with her throughout her life. ROI isn\u2019t everything, of course. There are certainly emotional components to decisions, including about college, but ROI should be a consideration, especially when that information so accessible as it is with CollegeVine.<\/p>\n I was a little concerned that the process would stress my teen out. It\u2019s a lot. And talking about hopes, dreams and goals often means being a little vulnerable. Eric seemed very respectful of that and always made her feel like she was enough. She relayed their final conversation and described it as \u201ca bit of a pep talk but not a cheesy one\u201d during which he told her that she would certainly find a good fit and do well and that college acceptance or rejection is not something that defines who she is.<\/p>\n He was complimentary and encouraging without being condescending, and that positivity from a near-peer was really helpful for her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Frankly, I was also a little worried about my stress level, too.<\/p>\n What if our initial list of possible schools was all wrong? What if I\u2019d completely misjudged my kid and we had to go back to square one?<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t happen. Her list of possible schools included a few institutions that she\u2019s already found and liked. It also had a few that we\u2019d had on the periphery and were debating if they merit further investigation. (Spoiler alert: They do.)<\/p>\n Even better, there were a few new ones that we didn\u2019t have on the radar but that do seem like good fits for her.<\/p>\n Knowledge is power, and a powerful stress reducer. I feel like we learned a lot and gained much more knowledge than we originally had before working with CollegeVine, and that helped reduce our stresss.<\/p>\n Our CollegeVine experience was a very positive one. See what they offer for kids who are just entering high school to those incoming seniors who are anxious to apply in their College Applications Program here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You May Also Like:\u00a0<\/strong>8 reasons the college search process can be enjoyable (really!)<\/a><\/p>\n Prior Post:\u00a0<\/strong>7 truths about traveling with teens that I learned at Eagle Ridge<\/a><\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss a post!<\/span>\u00a0Please subscribe to Between Us Parents\u2019 safe, spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!<\/span><\/p>\n Please like Between Us Parents on<\/span>\u00a0Facebook<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0You can also find Between Us Parents on<\/span>\u00a0Pinterest<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Disclosure: This post is sponsored by CollegeVine. All opinions are my own, or those of my teen daughter. There are more than 4,000 post-secondary programs in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics. While it\u2019s wonderful that there are lots of options for college, it can also make the idea of narrowing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10058"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10066,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10058\/revisions\/10066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/College-Vine-Review-640x427.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Near-Peer Advisor Approach<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/student-849827_640-640x426.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMaking ROI real<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Review](\"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/money-1428587_640-640x426.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nManaging Stress<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/betweenusparents.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/meditate-1851165_640-640x426.jpg\")
<\/a>