Coaching students for college

As high school graduation grows near so do the stress levels in 18-year-old graduating senior Christine Prevel’s home, as she prepares for the long-awaited college admission process.

"The college process was all very overwhelming," Prevel said. "It just seemed like my school just threw me out to an open sea of colleges, and I just had to find one that worked for me."

But with the help of Melissa Bishop, an expert college coach, Prevel was able to get the direction and guidance she needed during this stressful and confusing time.

As an expert college coach, Bishop offers a variety of assistive programs designed to troubleshoot and streamline the various aspects of the college application process, as well as a comprehensive coaching plan that guides each student from the beginning of the school year to college acceptance, beginning as early as seventh grade.

Prevel said that with the help of Bishop, she was done with the whole college admission process in just three months, and by November of her senior year she was at ease.

"Being done with everything by November was such a load off my back," Prevel said. "All my friends were still stressing like crazy when it came time for winter break, their Christmas holiday was basically spent writing essays, whereas I just got to relax."

Bishop’s services are offered as either private in-home coaching or small group workshops that will be held July through August. She also offers online virtual counseling options.

"In addition to being an educator, I really want to help students with this difficult transition," Bishop said. "The whole focus is getting the college application from the beginning to the end finished within the scope of the program. I want to give students the strategy to get them where they want to go."

She also said she hopes that her services will help make Florida students just as qualified as students in the Northeast applying for admissions to Ivy League colleges across the nation.

"I know that Florida students really tend to be underrepresented in top-tier schools, and in the Northeast and on the West Coast there are people who do this kind of college coaching … and so our students who are applying at places like this are up against many, many applicants who have had the strategic advantage of a college coach," Bishop said.

Perry Norflus, education program liaison for College Application Preparation Strategies (CAPS), starting working with Bishop after he realized they shared the same passion — to help Florida students have the same opportunities as kids in the Northeast.

"It’s not fair that the kids in our state are being rejected… and are overlooked (from colleges), simply because the guidance counselors are overwhelmed," Norflus said. "It’s not that these kids don’t have the skills, they have the skills, but there’s no one to give them the added edge that these kids in the Northeast are getting."

As Prevel gets ready to move to her newly found home at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she hopes she can continue to represent Florida as an outstanding student in the vast ocean of students all competing for one thing — a good education.

"Students from Florida are just as capable, talented and special as anywhere else in the country," Bishop said. "But I think Florida’s getting ignored, and Florida students should be on the playing field; I think they have a lot to offer."

College bound

A free informational seminar on expert college coaching services will be held Saturday, June 12, and Saturday, June 26 at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. at the Magnuson Grand Hotel in Altamonte Springs.

To register for this free event, call 321-352-9150 or for more information on college coaching visit www.expertcollegecoach.com.