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Call or email us for an initial consultation: (646) 378-7863, or info@optionsforcollege.com
OFC News and Press
Options for College News
Options for College releases Maximum Access, a guide for training guidance counselors
Options for College to work with Rochester City Public Schools in 2010
Keith Berman of Options for College named to
Bank Street College Alumni Association Advisory Board
Options for College works with Family Academic Programs
at the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University
Congratulations to the Class of 2013!
Options for College at the Irvington Public Library
Options for College in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Newark
Options for College at Merrill Lynch
Options for College presenting at NYU
Congratulations to the Class of 2012!
Options for College returns to the Princeton Review, Delhi, to train the staff
Options for College at the Yale Club of New York City
Options for College at the Rudolf Steiner School, New York, NY
Options for College works with counseling staff at the Yeshiva University
High School for Boys, New York, NY
Options for College trains Academic Counseling Services staff
for the Princeton Review/Manya Group, Delhi, India
IECA Conference, 2007, in Boston, MA
Congratulations to the Class of 2011! Results are in!
Options for College partners with Simply College, LLC,
for need-based financial aid information
First class of graduate students all get into their first choice!
American Institute of Certified Educational Planners certifies Keith Berman
Options for College in New York, NY
Congratulations to the Class of 2010! Results are in!
Presentation as part of University Road Trips
Options for College joins the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce
Options for College in the Press
Options for College cited in US News & World Report: America's Best Colleges, 2010 Edition
Article on writing college essays on K12Genie.com
Article on positive trends in college admissions on K12Genie.com
Article on the importance of the guidance counselor in the application process on CollegeKnowItAll
Options for College quoted in The River Journal
US News and World Report features Options for College in America's Best Colleges: 2009
Yale Daily News article
Education Update college admissions article
Harvard Crimson article
Columbia University Spectator article on college counseling
Boston Magazine
Education Update interviewing article
Education Update counseling article
Options for College News
Maximum Access
Options for College, Inc. has released Maximum Access: A Guide to College Admissions Counseling, a book on college placement intended for an audience of guidance counselors.
Options for College teams up with Simply College to deliver training to guidance and college counselors in Rochester, NY
Options for College is teaming up with financial aid experts Simply College to provide training on college access and placement through 2010 to the Rochester City Public Schools. This large-scale project will cover the entire guidance staff and parent community in an effort to grow the options for college that the upperclassmen have in New York's third-largest city.
Keith Berman joins Bank Street College Alumni Association Advisory Board
After compiling an online community of over 100 Bank Street alumni on LinkedIn, Keith Berman, President of Options for College, was invited to join the BSCAA Advisory Board.
CTY College Prep by Options for College, Inc.
Options for College, Inc. has been asked to run the first-ever CTY College Prep program by Family Academic Programs through CTYOnline at Johns Hopkins University. This exciting collaboration not only represents a meaningful option for students applying to college all over the world, but a homecoming, as Options for College's founder was both an attendee and staff member!
Options for College congratulates the Class of 2013!
Options for College is very proud of its class of 2013! 2013 saw an increase in interest in business school (whereas the Class of 2014 is full of artists!), including such programs as the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business at Penn, to Wharton, to the Freeman School at Tulane to Babson College's entrepreneurship program, the list of matriculated students into business programs is diverse and exciting. We had students decide to attend Colgate, Emory, Wesleyan, Lehigh, the University of Maryland, Mount Holyoke, Skidmore, George Washington, the University of Rochester, Sarah Lawrence, Boston University, Hofstra, and Vassar, among many others (please continue to report!), and students received acceptances to all the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford as well. We could not be happier -- the future is very bright for all of you, and as a result, all of us!
Options for College presents at Irvington High School
On March 28th, Keith Berman of Options for College gave a talk on test preparation and college admissions at the Irvington Public Library in Irvington, NY.
Options for College at Marist High School for the Archdiocese of Newark
On April 4th, Options for College conducted 90 minutes of a 3-hour session dedicated to college admissions and financial aid at Marist High School in Bayonne, NJ.
Options for College presenting for the Parent Network at Merrill Lynch
On June 26th, Options for College presented a program entitled Where Should I Apply and How: A Look at the College Admissions Process at the World Financial Center for the Parents Network at Merrill Lynch. The presentation included both live and teleconferenced participants.
Options for College presenting at NYU
On June 12th, Options for College presented a program entitled Get Ready for the College Search to faculty parents at New York University. The one-hour presentation was conducted at the NYU Kimmel Center for University Life.
Congratulations to the class of 2012!
Options for College would like to congratulate all the students who have successfully navigated the college admissions process! This year's wide variety of acceptances ranges greatly, from the Ivy League to small liberal arts programs, honors programs, and universities abroad, from elite scholarships such as the Presidential Scholarship at NYU and the Benton Scholars at Colgate, to strong state programs such as the University of Maryland and the Honors Program at the University of Delaware, to specialty programs such the College of Communication at BU and the Rhode Island School of Design. The list of schools this year is far too lengthy to list here, but the summary is clear: Options for College students indeed had many options, with more than 60 different schools accepting students this year, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsolicitied merit aid. Congratulations, Class of 2012! To see a full list of the school where Options for College students have been accepted over the last two years, click here.
Options for College returns to The Princeton Review, Delhi, to train the staff
Options for College returned to Delhi, India to train another cohort of tutors and counselors at The Princeton Review, Delhi. The six-day seminar will duplicate the successful training last September.
Options for College at the Yale Club of New York City
On May 22nd, 2008, Options for College presented the program entitled Where should I apply, and how: a look at the college admissions process.
Options for College at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York, NY
Faced with the sudden departure of its college counselor, the Rudolf Steiner School, a New York private high school in the tradition of Waldorf education, chose to work with Options for College to support its junior and senior classes for the 2007-8 school year. OFC is working with families and students on college choices, application decisions, and financial aid.
Options for College at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys, New York, NY
YUHSB worked with Options for College to help define the roles of the college counselors within the school through seminars, workshops, and weekly meetings for the 2007-8 school year. OFC also provided weekly meetings and monthly seminars with the YUHSB students.
Options for College trains 60 counselors and editors on grad school and undergrad admissions, The Princeton Review, Manya Group, Delhi
From September 15th through September 23rd, Options for College was in Delhi, India, training the tutoring and counseling staff of Academic Counseling Services of the Manya Group (the Indian franchisee of The Princeton Review). The six-day seminar covered topics that ranged from effective essay topics and writing to the best ways to match students to schools, all drawn from Options for College's comprehensive counseling approach. Video clips of the training are available.
Options for College at the Independent Educational Consultants Association annual meeting
This year's conference included dozens of colleges and universities, as well as presentations that ranged from creating art portfolios for the art application process to presentations from the colleges in Ohio, and everything in between. Despite the fact that many counselors were referring to this year's college admissions with the term "bloodbath," Options for College students again exceeded expectations. See their results.
Congratulations to the Class of 2011!
In addition to receiving over $500,000 in unsolicited merit scholarships, the Options for College Class of 2011 received an extremely impressive and varied list of acceptances that ranged from Honors Colleges and dual-degree programs to film programs and sports management schools. Students were accepted into the following colleges and universities: Boston University (including the Honors Program and the College of Communication), Carnegie Mellon University, Chapman University (including the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts), Columbia University, Cornell University, Drexel University (including the Drexel Scholars Program), Franklin and Marshall College, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Ithaca College, New York University, Rensselaear Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University (including the Renee Crown Honors Program), University of California -- Berkeley, University of California -- San Diego (UCSD), University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts -- Amherst, University of Michigan, University of Rochester, University of Pennsylvania (including the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology), University of Pittsburgh, University of Southern California, and the University of Wisconsin. Congratulations to everyone, please keep in touch, and consider acting as an ambassador at your school should a future OFC student want to visit!
Need-based financial aid group partners with OFC
Although Options for College students have received a great deal of unsolicited scholarships over the last two years (over $800,000), the need for foresight and accuracy in the process of applying for need-based financial aid is also very important in the college planning process. OFC is pleased to start a partnership with Simply College, LLC, which provides three levels of support (written, phone, and web-based) to families going through the process of looking, and applying, for financial aid. As an added strength of Simply College's approach, they provide their invaluable advice at only a nominal fee.
The first cohort of graduate school students working with OFC has a 100 percent success rate
Options for College is proud to announce that, in its first year working with graduate school students, our students got into all the schools to which they applied. These students' achievements are especially impressive given the programs which they will attend: The International Relations Programme at the London School of Economics (a 10.2% acceptance rate!), and the business schools at Columbia (17.2%) and Dartmouth/Tuck (20.3%). Please call to inquire about graduate school assistance at (646) 378-7863.
American Institute of Certified Educational Planners recognizes Keith Berman
Keith Berman was designated a Certified Educational Planner by the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners, a mark of distinction for counselors who meet the experience, educational, professional activity, and ethical standards of the AICEP, the only national certification organization for educational planners. The certification process involves lengthy application, reference, and examination phases, and there are currently only 12 other CEP's in all of New York State, and about 200 nationally.
Options for College in New York
Options for College is based New York, NY, in order to better serve its families and students. Options for College can now be found at 42 W. 24th St. in Manhattan.
Class of 2010 reports results
Options for College congratulates all the students who applied for 2010. We are happy to announce that each of our students got into at least one of their reach schools, and that our students received over $300,000 in unsolicited merit-based scholarship offers. Excerpts from reference letters are now being posted on the new testimonials page. Initial surveys indicate that students have been accepted into the following schools: Babson College, Boston University, Cambridge University (UK), Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Drexel University, Emerson College, Harvard University, Lehigh University, Northeastern University, Pratt Institute, Princeton University, Radford College, Roger Williams University, Stanford University, Susquehanna University, Swarthmore College, University of California -- Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California -- San Diego (UCSD), University of Miami, University of Rhode Island (URI), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), University of Richmond, University of Southern California (USC), Williams College, Yale University, and York College of Pennsylvania. Congratulations again to everyone, and enjoy your final semester of high school!
Presentation on college admissions to University Road Trips
Keith Berman presented a talk entitled Choosing where to apply for college, and figuring out how to get in to students from the UK, Chicago, and New York on the April University Road Trips college tour that began in Westchester County in New York. The tour visited Amherst College, Boston College, Boston University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Harvard College, Princeton University, Tufts University, Vassar College, Wesleyan University, and Yale University.
Options for College joins the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce
Options for College was welcomed into the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce in February at the Chamber’s bimonthly breakfast. The CCC is a non-profit organization that encourages community involvement, philanthropy, and development for its 1,400 members.
Options for College in the Press
US News & World Report features Options for College for the second year in a row
Options for College is featured in the 2010 Edition of America's Best Colleges, as US News unveils its new rankings and college information to families and students. Keith Berman is quoted throughout the article, providing perspectives on the collection phase of the process, on shortlisting schools without being prohibitive about selectivity, about finding the right match, and other topics. Click here to read the article as it appears online, or look at pp. 18 - 20 of the full print version guide, or pp. 50-54 of the subscription issue.
Writing a standout essay on k12genie.com
Keith Berman wrote an article on some basic tips on essay writing on K12Genie.com. Read the article here.
The very good news about college admissions on k12genie.com
Keith Berman wrote an article on positive trends that point away from packaging and anxiety, and towards growth and validation, on K12Genie.com. Read the article here.
The importance of the college guidance counselor article on collegeknowitall.com.
Jessica Brauser wrote an article that illustrates part of Options for College's approach entitled: Your Guidance Counselor: Your New Best Friend that gives students advice on how to build a meaningful relationship within their high schools' counseling staff. Read the article here.
River Journal quotes Options for College on issues surrounding the ACT
Options for College appeared in the River Journal on the question of whether or not to take the ACT. Click here to read the article.
US News features Options for College
Options for College is featured in the 2009 Edition of America's Best Colleges, as US News unveils its new rankings and college information to families and students. Keith Berman is quoted throughout the article, providing perspectives on the collection phase of the process, on shortlisting schools without being prohibitive about selectivity, about finding the right match, and other topics. Click here to read the article as it appears online, or look at pp. 18 - 20 of the full print version guide, or pp. 50-54 of the subscription issue.
Yale Daily News quotes Keith Berman on an article discussing the differences among Yale, Harvard, and Princeton
In the October 15 edition of the Yale Daily News, Keith Berman was quoted in characterizing the differences among what are often referred to as 'The Big Three," or the 'HYP.' Read the article here.
Education update on college admissions process
In the February issue of Education Update, an article by Keith Berman of Options for College appears on the holisitc nature on college admissions, and how, as advertised, college admissions offices do indeed review the whole applicant, looking beyond scores/grades to who the student is as a member of college community. The article is not currently online.
Harvard Crimson article
Keith Berman was quoted in the Harvard Crimson, the undergraduate newspaper at Harvard University. Click here to read the article.
Columbia Spectator article
In an April edition, the Columbia Spectator, Columbia University's undergraduate newspaper, quoted Keith Berman of Options for College three times on Options for College's student-centered philosophy, as well as on trends in college counseling. The article highlights the importance of "the growth of the student" in the context of applying to college. Click here to read the article.
Boston Magazine
In the March issue of Boston Magazine, Options for College is featured in an article about premium services for parents and students in the Boston area. Keith Berman is quoted in the article, talking about the importance of having a strong application. Click here to read the article.
Education Update interviewing article
In the February issue of Education Update, an article by Keith Berman of Options for College appears on the importance of the college interview, with some suggestions on ways to prepare. This article also appears on the online version of Education Update.
Education Update college counseling article
In the January issue of Education Update, Keith Berman discusses how college counseling is much more than a process of ‘marketing,’ but a chance for students to understand themselves better, take ownership over their college process, and become more college-ready. The article can be found here, in the .pdf version (this takes a few minutes to download).