Admissions Counselors

AGM-College Advisors, LLC™ – Ray Anderson, Steve Garman, and Randy McKnight
ForWord Consulting – College Admissions Consulting –  College search and application management support, career/major planning and exploration, finding scholarships, and college application essay writing advice
Gimbel Group – Strategic educational consulting for high school admissions

Admissions Company – Sybil Gohari; (301) 761 – 3000|info@admissions.company

Educational Consultants

Tochterman Muir Educational Consulting, LLC. – Counseling for disabilities

Tutors

Help for Students on College Application and Classroom Essays

You can now book sessions with Cathy Colglazier through Inspiring Test Preparation.  Cathy retired from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology where she headed the English/Humanities departments and taught AP Language and Composition.  During her 40+ year career she also taught at McLean HS and several other college prep high schools across the nation.  Currently she works part time as a writing tutor specializing in the college application essay. In addition, Cathy tutors middle and high school students who have issues expressing their ideas well, managing the formal expository essay format, working under timed writing conditions, or understanding punctuation and grammar conventions.  Although essay writing is filled with rules and expectations, Cathy believes it can be an engaging personal and creative opportunity.  She loves the challenge of bringing students to enjoy the writing process. In her college essay tutoring, she helps students:

  • Choose their best essay topics,
  • Balance all the information in the admissions folder so they present the fullest portraits of themselves, and
  • Compose essays that are authentic to their own voices and experiences.

They learn the skill of taking a college application essay and modifying it for numerous competitive schools and scholarships, a skill that reduces much stress in the college application process.  Students not only develop essays to use in the college process but also they also acquire the best writing techniques for future college work. 

Cathy earned a BA in English at UCLA and a MS in education from the University of Tennessee and has taken graduate courses at Harvard Graduate School of Education and George Mason University.  During her career she was a frequent presenter to professional groups such as the National Council of Teachers of English, Journalism Educators Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Fairfax County Public Schools on college application essay strategies, as well as other creative expository approaches — journalistic modeling, science writing, portfolio assessment, and use of electronic media. Her articles have been published in professional journals and newspapers. Besides her part time tutoring work, Cathy currently volunteers in the District of Columbia schools, with the AVID program in Austin, Texas, and is on the Leadership Board of the Posse Foundation DC. Cathy can be reached at cccolglazier@gmail.com or 703-628-2348.

Improve essay writing for the TJ admissions exam, the SSAT and ISEE, and school projects.

Lesson 1 – Introductions that Get Attention

We will begin with a discussion of common essay writing mistakes.  Many of these are aimed specifically at essays written for TJ.  The primary concentration during this class will be on ways to write effective introductions.  The lead is the most important and often most difficult part of the essay as it must grab the reader’s attention, as well as provide a clear thesis statement.  A short writing exercise will follow this discussion to give students practice in writing different types of introductions for the same essay prompt.

Lessons 2 and 3 – The Heart of the Essay

These sessions begin with a critical look at mistakes made on previous essays.  We will then concentrate on ways to provide support for the thesis by considering known facts, personal experiences, and/or other examples, as appropriate, in response to a variety of prompts.  The importance of individuality (whatever it is that makes a writer unique) will also be stressed, and we will look at ways to effectively use personal experience to strengthen or support an opinion.

Lesson 4 – The Final Analysis: How to Sum Up

This final session will bring it all together.  A review of the introduction and body/support of the essay will be followed by a discussion of the variety of ways to write strong conclusions that strengthen and support the thesis.

  • Students will write one timed (30 minutes) essay at each session to be scored and returned at the following class.
  • Homework – students will be expected to revise essays according to reader corrections and comments and complete short (10-15 minutes) writing exercises during the week between sessions.
  • All students will be given personal workshop folders at the first class for handouts, essays, revisions, exercises, notes, etc.  They should bring the folder to each session.
  • Students should bring a laptop to class for in-class assignments.  If this is not possible contact Dalby to discuss that limitation before you sign up.

About: Katie Fawcett has tutored students in the Vienna area for several years, specifically in essay writing for the Thomas Jefferson High School admissions test, the SAT, and college admissions applications.  She spent ten years in the World Bank’s Publishing Department, did social work in Appalachia, and wrote ads for Peace Corps and VISTA.  She has published personal essays and articles in a number of magazines. In February 2010 her middle-grade novel, To Come and Go Like Magic, was published by Knopf Borzoi Books, an imprint of Random House.  It was a Parents’ Choice Recommended Book, listed by the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee as one of the Best Children’s Books of the Year, featured in the Weekly Reader’s READ magazine, selected for Battle of the Books 2012 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and winner of the Evelyn Thurman Award for Best Young Reader’s Book of 2011.  Mrs. Fawcett also volunteered in Fairfax County Schools for thirteen years in a variety of activities from teaching hands-on science enrichment classes to managing publicity for high-school theater. You can reach Ms. Fawcett by emailing ktzefr@aol.com  or calling 703-442-3833.

Caroline Hesse – SAT/ACT tutor, high school mathematics through pre-calculus.  Email: cbeckmeier@outlook.com Cell: 703-870-4280.

 

Camps and Classes

MathTree, Inc. – Math summer camps
Flint Hill School – Summer camps in Oakton – Check out the variety of programs available.

Music Teacher – P’nina McCabe — Language Arts, Piano, Violin, Voice, Music Theory — RosesNTune@aol.com 571-585-8687

Send your recommendations to kvs@katedalby.com  Check out Inspiring Test Prep on Yelp.

The Complete College Planning Calendar

College Planning Guide
Source: Online College Plan.com