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Newsletter: July 2011






Newsletter, July 2011

spotlight

Think Outside the Box!


 

5 Tips for Writing a Fantastic College Essay

1.    Choose a unique topic. The essay topic that is least liked by application reviewers is “a community service project that changed your life and made you so much of a better person”. Think outside the box and get creative. Here are some ideas for brainstorming:
 
a.    How do you feel about Wednesdays?
 
b.    What movie character do you relate the most to and why?
 
c.    If you could pick a food to describe you what would it be?
 
2.    The personal essay is supposed to be about you and not about anyone else so make sure that whatever you write about has to do with you and not someone else.
 
3.    Make sure the essay allows the reader to learn 20 new positive things about you that they couldn’t find out by just reading your application.
 
4.    Don’t wait till the last minute. Write your essay months ahead of the due date and make sure you have at least two people edit it for any mistakes.
 
5.    Have fun with it. This isn’t a thesis essay, it’s your one chance to show your college a more personal side of yourself instead of through GPA numbers and SAT scores. If you didn’t have fun writing your essay chances are it’s not fun to read it either.

For more information about college essay writing visit our blog: http://jbgeducationalgroup.com/tips-for-writing-a-great-college-essay

OR... Contact us today about our college consulting program!

A Quick College Consulting Overview
We are pleased to provide our clients with college consulting. College counselors provided by schools can often deter students from reaching their full potential (college-wise) or they might have so many students that they cannot provide each student with all the help they need. JBG provides a college list tailored specifically to your child and offers assistance for all aspects of the application, including the dreaded college essays. For more information on JBG's College Consulting please visit: 

Student of the Month
Julia Kennedy

Julia Kennedy graduated from Needham High School on June 6th 2011. Throughout her high school career, Julia always excelled academically and this year has been no exception. While maintaining excellent grades, Julia balanced a full schedule to include participation in a U-18 soccer league, tennis lessons 4 days a week, co-captaining the Needham High school girls varsity tennis team this spring and volunteering any additional free time she had with the Needham Women’s Club Association. This Fall Julia will be attending Stonehill College, where she plans to study Early Childhood Education. Since a very young age Julia has aspired to become an elementary school teacher. In her senior year she even found time to volunteer twice a week in a local kindergarten classroom.  It has been quite an exciting year for Julia, and it sounds like there are even more exciting times ahead for her. Julia is very proud and can hardly believe she will finally be pursuing her dream this Fall…and at her top choice school! JBG shares in her excitement, and we are very proud of her achievements! Congrats Julia! Jamie, Melanie, and the rest of our staff wish you much success in college and beyond. 

Tip of the Month
Soon-to-be college applicants - now is a great time to review the common application (commonapp.org) and take note of the changes to the 2011-2012 version, which you can register for in August. To view the changes to the updated common application please click here.

Tutor of the Month
Ivyrose Hess

Ivyrose was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated with her B.S. from Alma College where she majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry and Photography. Ivyrose’s passion for teaching developed from her work with urban youth and aquatics. She has taught swimming lessons, lifeguarding, first aid and CPR to urban youth at inner city pools for over ten years. This past year, Ivyrose completed the Boston Teacher Residency program where she earned a Masters in Education from UMass Boston in the summer of 2010. Ivyrose became dually certified to teach Biology and Moderate Special Education. She now teaches Biology and Chemistry for Boston Public Schools. Along with her passion for teaching, Ivyrose enjoys traveling, camping, running, soccer, photography, cooking and coffee shop conversation with friends.

Sharpen Up!
With the summer here, and lots of free time ahead, it may be a good idea to start studying for the SAT or ACT tests coming up in the fall. Both tests require practice and JBG can provide your child with the perfect tutor in order to score higher on the standardized test of their choice. JBG’s tutors are extremely familiar with the SAT and ACT and know all the tips and tricks in order to get a score that satisfies the college or university of your child’s choice. To read more about the SAT and ACTs you can visit: http://jbgeducationalgroup.com/sat and jbgeducationalgroup.com/act.

Quote of the Month

“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.” - Aristotle