We are pleased to announce that effective January1, 2009   is offering comprehensive college admissions counseling as well as SAT and ACT tutoring for high-school sophomores through seniors.

College Resources

Taking Control of your College-Admissions Campaign
A Letter to Students and Parents

 About ten years and some $300,000 of tuition and tutoring fees ago your child began his academic life when he was accepted at a New York City private school. If you are like other parents who have traveled the same path there has always been that faint voice reminding you that at some point, no matter how successful your child’s school years might have been, there was going to be that time in high school that the “College Application Process” was going to begin. The fact that you are reading this now suggests that this day has now arrived. 

The fundamental goal at DTT in assisting students with their college-application process is to ensure that they present themselves as applicants, not, as is so often the case, as supplicants. 

Unless your child is that extremely rare breed – academically successful, uncompromisingly goal-oriented, superbly organized and highly self-motivated – the questions as to what comes next are beginning to surface for her and for you. As a family you have had these many years to gain an understanding of the secondary-school environment. You have made good decisions on extra-curricular activities, sports to pursue, summer camps to attend and which subjects to tutor. You did most of this very well using school resources, the parental network and most importantly, old-fashioned common-sense. These favorable outcomes were aided by another simple, but less-obvious fact: There was nearly always sufficient time to change or discard an unsatisfactory decision and that this could often be done without significant adverse long-term consequences. 

This issue of decisions and their consequences is the single biggest difference between the character of the school year decisions and the college-selection decisions. For the next year or two the decisions facing student and family come at rapid-fire pace. What tests should I take? How is this affected by considerations of test-alternative schools? What type of school am I best suited for? How do I maximize the benefit of my school’s college counselor? What schools should be visited? When? Should I take campus-interviews? When? How do I compare the relative appeal and suitability of the hundreds of available schools? What about early-decision, early action and rolling admissions strategies? How about filling in the applications themselves, writing the myriad of essays and the all-important Activity Sheet for the Common Application? Then there are the individual school Supplementals. Finally there is having to make a choice from a number of appealing and desirable schools that have accepted me. 

This risks of making irreversible mistakes in this unfamiliar and sometimes chaotic process are compounded by the fact that many decisions made early on in the process can adversely impact outcomes later. Often the damage will be done and it will be too late to reverse course. Often, a carelessly made choice can suddenly rear up six months later, potentially throwing much of what appeared to be a stable, under-control process into total disarray. Given many families’ busy lives, there will often not be sufficient time or opportunity to reflect and come up with appropriate alternatives to these sudden problems. A typical early example is the test-taking strategy, particularly now that the College Board has changed its test-score reporting requirements. 

DTT’s college-consulting program will prepare you for these situations and also ensure that you make the best possible decisions for your own particular circumstances.  

Another key element in achieving a successful outcome is to have a full understanding of both sides of the process. On the one side are you, the student and the family. On the other are the colleges you’re considering and your high school. Family and student are the experts on the first side. We at DTT are the experts on the other side. Working together gives us all a complete perspective that will result in the most effective decision-making and presentation of each student’s qualifications to each of the targeted colleges. 

The earlier a client enrolls the easier it is for all concerned to get up to speed. This entails parents and students completing a detailed questionnaire on student’s strengths, weaknesses, interests and passions. DTT then spends whatever time is required to consult personally with the student and the family to prepare the foundation for the entire college-application campaign. 

It is also important that you accept that the college-application system is imperfect. It is certainly far from being an absolute meritocracy. The best students often don’t get into the “best” schools. And the competent, but not stellar students do not always have to accept the few leftover slots after the best-and-brightest have been catered to. 

Another important fact is that most high schools, many college consultants and virtually every college either ignores or denies: “Positioning” the applicant will very often be the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful college application campaign. Crass as this might sound, one way of looking at the currently hyper-competitive process where most selective schools reject more than two-thirds of their applicants, is not unlike how consumer brands compete for retail shelf space in the supermarket. Ask any advertising executive: It often matters less whether Brand A - say cereal - is cheaper, healthier, tastier or in any other way “better” than Brand B. What matters is where in the aisle and on what shelf the boxes are placed, what the box looks like and what it promises is inside. So, without trivializing the importance of the decisions you face, you do need to recognize that no matter how impressive (or, for that matter, unimpressive) your credentials might be, the manner in which these credentials are presented does make a difference to an admissions reader who may have a mere ten minutes for each of dozens of carefully presented life stories. Is this unfair? Maybe. But it is an absolute reality of the process we are discussing. But since it can be managed, students ignore it at their own peril. 

So, while it may be impossible to portray a moderately strong candidate as an Ivy-bound superstar, or an average student as a candidate for an exclusive liberal arts school, DTT, through its experience in understanding all sides of the college-application process, can effectively position each client to present themselves in the strongest possible way to each carefully selected target school. 

Another analogy that may further illuminate our focus on positioning and presentation is that of a baseball pitcher and catcher. The student is the talented pitcher who is nevertheless still a rookie in this league. However she is also the most important player - the one who has to eventually decide on the choice and location of each pitch and then execute the play. But DDT is the older, experienced catcher who has played many seasons at this level. Who knows each umpire’s strike zone. And who, when each call is made, has the ability to frame the pitch in the best possible way. 

None of this breaks any rules. None of this is unethical. It is simply a way of recognizing and adapting to how this particular game is played. 

Knowledge is power. The more you understand of this process the more of the outcome you control. Recognize also that almost everyone else feels the same. So, if you adopt our methods you can actually gain an advantage since much of your competition will be making the kind of pressure-induced missteps you are avoiding. 

Our promise to you is that DTT will be there every step of the way to ensure that your campaign to gain admittance at the college of your choices will be both successful and enjoyable. 

DTT’s College-Consulting Program

The following list is an outline of the services and benefits we provide to partner with each student and family to develop and manage a personalized campaign on gaining admittance to the best possible college. Clients may choose some or all services. We accept students who are currently sophomores, juniors and even seniors.

Since campaigns for each student are custom designed we invite you to contact us for a free personal consultation to discuss your requirements, answer your questions and clearly explain the various alternatives available to you, including all costs.

• Develop a Campaign Master Plan for each student.

• Evaluate each student’s educational, personal and extracurricular background and preferences.

• Develop strategies for identifying candidate colleges and present and refine these lists taking into account student, parental and guidance counselor input.

• Develop integrated plan for SAT and ACT test-taking.

• Provide academic and test-tutoring or assist in the selection of external tutors.

• Consider test-optional colleges and early-decision, early-action and rolling admission options.

• Assist in preparing college-visit schedules and preparation for these visits.

• Recommend publications and web-based resources to assist in the campaign.

• Integrate the entire application – essays, activities and supplementals - to present a uniform and self-reinforcing profile of why the student is a good match for each particular school.

• Ensure that the Common Application Activities sheet is presented in a manner that effectively highlights each student’s unique passions and interests.

• Help suggest essay topics and edit these essays while ensuring that the student’s voice comes through.

• Assist with the final selection of schools from which acceptances have been received.

• Help avoid and resolve differences between parents and students during what may be a lengthy and stressful period.

• Guarantee 24/7/365 access to your consultant.

Good luck, and remember that, in the final analysis, luck is nothing more than probability taken personally!

 Hourly, annual, multi-year packages.