Projects, presentations, and consulting services

Mission and Overview
Maximum Access: A Guide to College Admission Counseling
Project partners
Rochester City School District
CTY Johns Hopkins
Princeton Review, Delhi, India
Christian Unified Schools of San Diego
Yeshiva University High School for Boys
Rudolf Steiner School
School Choice International

Some of our talks and workshops

Contact us

Mission and Overview

OFC is a high-quality vendor of professional development and training, consulting services, presentations, workshops, and seminars. Options for College gets the best practices in transitioning and applying to college into the hands of those that need them, helping to provide maximum access to the world of postsecondary education.

Options for College has trained approximately 200 counselors all over the world. We have been asked to take over high school counseling offices and revamp urban districts’ community practice. We are professionals at creating meaningful language for the hopes and aspirations of students, schools, and organizations. We create mission-specific programs that will have lasting impact on students' access to postsecondary education and the larger world.

Maximum Access: A Guide to College Admission Counseling

In 2010, Options for College published Maximum Access: A Guide to College Admissions Counseling. This manual lays out the three areas of emphasis when considering counseling practices in a school or district: organization, outreach, and application. The publication is used by urban districts to reconsider and focus practices in a world of education and admissions with anxious parents, confused students, and ever-moving targets. This publication serves as the foundation for training and professional development services that Options for College provides.

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Project Partners past and present

From 2007-2010, Options for College trained over 200 counselors in the United States and abroad, and performed dozens of talks and workshops. Below are some of the highlights:

Partners

Rochester City School District College Access Partnership, Simply Student Aid

Options for College, in partnership with Simply Student Aid, created the College Access Partnership, a project to work with school counselors in the city of Rochester on creating a Rochester-specific community of practice that addresses the needs of students in New York's third largest city. Options for College created an on-site training project, and both on site at the 20+ high schools in Rochester, and virtually, support the development of best practices. Simply Student Aid complements this effort with work on financial aid literacy in the community of Rochester, providing on-site trainings and workshops.

Center for Talented Youth (CTY), Family Academic Program, Johns Hopkins University

Via CTY's CTY OnLine, Options for College delivers a semester-long program for talented high school sophomores and juniors called CTY College Prep, which takes students through the three phases of the college admissions process: collection, selection, and application. The programs are delivered in real-time via web technology -- students' ratings for the program were 5.0 out of 5.0 for instructor knowledge and 4.8 out of 5.0 for overall quality of the program.

Princeton Review, Delhi, India

With a stated goal to define itself by the quality of the college and graduate school placement and admissions advice provided in northwest India, the Princeton Review/Manya Group of Delhi, India, contracted Options for College to train its 90-person staff in two areas: a) how to provide advice on selecting US universities to its more than 1000 clients, and; b) how to work with student applications in order to improve the success rate of its students. Options for College provided more than 50 hours of in-person training seminars along with support materials of exemplary student work and organizational resources. TPR India and Options for College continued their relationship into 2008, and are quoted on the testimonials page.

Christian Unified Schools of San Diego

Options for College provided remote training to the resident college guidance staff at Christian High School in Ej Cajon. Training included focused looks at the organization, outreach, and counseling roles of a resident guidance staff. OFC provided three day-long sessions of training, helped shaped the college guidance schedule and procedures, and contributed to creating school reports and guidance materials to serve the district.

The Yeshiva University High School for Boys

As the YUHSB college guidance office transitioned in terms of staff and organization, Options for College was brought in to define the goals of the college guidance office's priorities, practices, and work with students. OFC conducted weekly meetings with the staff at YUHSB, as well as small group meetings with the students and monthly schoolwide presentations on the college admissions process. OFC also developed the student resource book that is distributed to each college-bound senior.

The Rudolf Steiner School

When the Rudolf Steiner School faced a difficult mid-year vacancy in its college guidance office, it called OFC in order to provide weekly, on-site services in order that its seniors received the college advice they deserved. OFC helped students with everything from applications to college selection to planning visits, working both on-site and via e-mail to make sure that students applied on time, and as effectively as possible, to the right match of schools.

School Choice International

SCI worked with OFC students from as far away as England and Hong Kong to provide seminars to students who were on tours of American universities from overseas. These seminars frequently helped students make sense of the differences and similarities among the schools they had just visited, and gave them solid first steps towards making applications to those schools that they felt were the best matches. On to planning visits, working both on-site and via e-mail to make sure that students applied on time, and as effectively as possible.

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Some of our talks and workshops

Irvington, NY Public Library: I won't join any club that will have me: a look at the college admissions process
Yale Club of NYC: College admissions and testing
Merrill Lynch Parent Network: Where should I apply, and how: a look at the college admissions process
NYU Family Life Center: Get Ready for the College Search: The Next Steps in the College Admissions Process
Young Presidents Organization: Finding the Right Fit: Choosing the College That Suits You Best

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Contact us

Please call Options for College at 646-378-7863 to discuss what your organization might need in terms of trainings, seminars, presentations, and materials. You can also e-mail us at info@optionsforcollege.com with a detailed description.