Terry Greene Clark's book,
demystifying College Admissions 3rd Edition
released March, 2019.
Click HERE to purchase 3rd Edition.
My Top Ten Recommendations to get started on the COLLEGE PROCESS
Step #1 Breathe! Just Breathe!
Step #2 Look at this process as a marathon, not a sprint.
Step #3 Recognize that finding the right college will be work for both the parent and the student.
Step #4 Remember that where you start is not where you will end up!
Step #5 Goal is to find the BEST FIT for your student.
Step #6 Don't compare your teen to anyone else.
Step #7 Begin exploring colleges locally.
Step #8 Utilize on line college guide resources including College Scorecard, Princeton Review, Peterson's or Fiske.
Step #9 Set up a separate email account.
Step #10 Keep a record of the schools you visit.
BONUS: Meet weekly with your student.
Book
EVENTS FOR BOOK
EVENTS 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019: Watertown Public Library 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 29, 2019: Ursuline Academy, Dedham, MA 6:30 pm
April 11, 2019: Weston Public Library, Weston, MA 9:15-11:00 am
February 26, 2019 : College Seminar, Morse Institute Library, Natick MA 7-8:30
EVENTS 2018
October 9, 2018: College Seminar, Westwood Public Library, Westwood, MA 7-8:30
September 25, 2018: College Seminar, Wellesley Free Library, Wellesley, MA 7-8:30
May 31, 2018: Ursuline Academy, Dedham, MA -6:30pm
May 4, 2018: Weston Public Library, Weston, MA 9:30-11:00 am.
March 27, 2018: Andover Free Library, Andover, MA 7-8:30 pm
March 5, 2018: Framingham PTO, Framingham, High School, Framingham, MA 7 pm
January 12, 2018: Private Parent Coffee, Medfield, MA 10 am.
EVENTS 2017
December 1, 2017: Notre Dame Education Center, South Boston, MA 1pm
November 30, 2017: Notre Dame Education Center, South Boston, MA 7pm.
October 22, 2017: Weston PTO, Weston Public Library, Weston, MA 9:15-10:30 am.
September 26, 2017: Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA - 7-8:30 pm
June 12, 2017: Weston Public Library, Weston MA 7pm
June 6, 2017: Private Parent Coffee, St. Sebastian's School, Needham MA
June 6, 2017: Leicester Public Library, Leicester, MA 7pm
May 31, 2017: Ursuline Academy, Dedham, MA - 6:30 pm
May 30, 2017: Cathedral High School, Boston, MA - 6pm
May 25, 2017: Westwood Public Library, Westwood, MA - 7pm
May 11, 2017: Chelsea Public Library, Chelsea, MA - 6:30 pm
May 6, 2017: Goodwin Memorial Library, Hadley, MA - 10:30 am
April 28, 2017: NotreDame Education Center, South Boston, MA - 1pm
April 25, 2017: Goodnow Public Library, Sudbury, MA - 7pm
April 12, 2017: Private Parent Coffee, Weston, MA -8:00 am
April 10, 2017: Private ParentPresentation, Weston, MA - 7pm
April 8, 2017: Falmouth Public Library, Falmouth, MA - 10 am
March 16, 2017: Haitian Multi Service Center of Catholic Charities, Dorchester, MA
February 28, 2017: Morse Institute Library, Natick MA 7pm-8:15p
EVENTS 2016
November 6, 2016: Private Parent Coffee, Wellesley, MA
October 1, 2016: Sawyer Free Library Gloughster, MA 11:00am. For more information,
September 23, 2016: Private Parent Coffee Newton, MA
June 15, 2016: Framingham Public Library Presentation on the College Process - 7pm.
June 1, 2016 : Grade 10 Parents at an Ursuline Academy Guidance Department forum.
May 24, 2016: Newton Public Library workshop on the College Admissions Process
May 25, 2016: Weston High School Grade 10 Parents Coffee - 8:30 am.
May 2, 2016 : Framingham High School Parent Teacher Organization - 7:00 pm.
April 28, 2016: St. Sebastian's High School Guild Parent Coffee - 8:00 am.
April 12, 2016 : Brookline Library Presentation on the College Process- 7:00 pm.
March 31, 2016: Tewksbury Library Presentation on the College Process - 7:00 pm.
March 10, 2016: Falmouth High School - 7:00pm
March 9, 2016: Matignon's High School Parent Association Forum, Cambridge MA - 6:30 pm.
February 9, 2016: Reading High School Junior Parents' College Forum.
January 12, 2016: Needham Public Library Presentation on the College Process - 7:30PM .
January 12, 2016 : Monomoy Regional High School - Harwich, MA
December 3, 2015: Speaking at Cristo Rey High School - Dorchester, MA
December 1, 2015 : Waltham Public Library - Waltham, MA 7:00-8:30pm.
November 12, 2015: Brookline Library Local Author Book Fair - Brookline, MA 6:00 - 8:15pm
Have you started to think about college for your child and felt anxiety?
Have the all the pieces of the college application process become so overwhelming that they have paralyzed you? That is exactly how author, Terry Clark, felt in 2010 when her eldest daughter entered her junior year of high school. It was only through extensive research into the mysteries behind those universities that she was able to gain a sense of confidence about the admissions process. In the Fall of 2020, Terry's youngest child, Reece will be a senior in high school, once again giving her a fresh perspective on the college admission process.
This single book will offer parents a simple guide, practical advice and real world experience, bringing together all of the information you need to know about the college matriculation process, from freshman year in high school to acceptance into college. Her research and personal experiences with her own four children and numerous nieces, nephews and family friends will provide you with a unique perspective on college admissions. The facts, simple steps, additional resources and reality checks in this book will empower you to take an active role in most effectively helping your teens find the colleges that are the best fit.
Terry Greene Clark self-published
demystifying COLLEGE ADMISSIONS, A Parent To Parent Guide
3rd Edition Released March 2019
Click HERE to take a look inside 3rd edition
Follow Me
FAFSA
1)File FAFSA on or after October 1
2)Financial Information
* single year income
*2 years prior to start of school
(Enter college fall 2020, Use 2018 income)
3)Register for a FSA ID Number,
so you can file a FAFSA. To register, click HERE
4) To Start a FAFSA, click HERE
5) To View or Print a Blank FAFSA, click HERE
6) To View my video on Financial Aid, click HERE.
PRESS
Weston Town Crier
The Cape Cod Times December 14, 2015
CAPE COD BOOKSCENE
Cape authors offer wide array for local shopping
Cape authors reminisce, thrill and demystify in this - the first of two installments of local books for holiday giving.
“Demystifying College Admissions: A Parent-to-Parent Guide to the Reality of the College Process,” by Terry Greene Clark, 2015, ISBN, 978-0-9964739-0-3
Terry Clark found that her own two college degrees (a B.S. and M.B.A.) were of little help when she started the college application process with her own daughter. So when it came time to start the search with her second oldest child, she started to think about how to break down the process into manageable and quantifiable pieces, including a timeline. Written list-style with notes in the back, the book is easy to use and may be helpful to those embarking on the search for the right college.
The Dorchester Reporter December 9, 2014
Dot native seeks to ‘demystify’ college planning for parents
By CaleB NelsoN speCial to the RepoRteR
As the college application season draws to a close for aspiring gradu- ates, high school juniors are just beginning the college search. The new federal “Scorecard” web- site, ranking colleges according to graduation rates and the estimated salary of graduates, is just one of the many places to start.
After guiding her three children through the college application process, Terry Greene Clark wrote a book, Demystifying College Admissions, to help par- ents lead a conversation about college. In an interview with The Re- porter, Clark explained how she encouraged her oldest daughter into the search. “February of junior year she didn’t even want to go look at colleges,” Clark said. “She just was not prepared to do it, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this girl is going to need a gap year.’”
Sitting down to discuss college options, Clark encouraged her daughter’s interests and sense of purpose. “We ended up focusing on liberal arts schools that had a women’s rowing team that was division three, and had a suburban campus,” she said. Starting with a discussion of the attributes, size, location and atmo- sphere, of the college her daughter would want to attend, Clark buried herself in research.
“It became somewhat of a part time job to figure out how I was going to get this child, who was reluctant to even think about college, to land on something that was going to make her a happy healthy adult in the future. That is where it started, with gathering all of this information.” “The learning curve is huge at the begin- ning because there is so much vernacular, and vocabulary and nuance to the college process.”
Growing up in Savin Hill with five siblings and a single mom, Clark was the first in her family to graduate from college. Remembering her own difficulties finding a college, and enrolling, she decided to write a guide book for parents. “The best thing that parents can do is help kids understand who they are,” she said. “Un- derstand where your child is in the process and help them grow from there.”
Demystifying College Admissions reads like a conversation. It outlines the resources, references and research that every teen will need for his or her college search, and it also includes stories from a family who has been down the path a few times. “The first step that every parent should do is just take a deep breath, and take a step back,” Clark said. “The college process is a marathon, not a sprint. It is some- thing that will change over the course of the next year and a half to two years. Your teen will not be the same person a year and a half from now, even if you don’t believe it.” “They do not need to be at the finish line right now. They just have to be willing to be open, and learn and get through the process. Parents need to know that it’s a process, and that there is a bigger picture.”
Clark’s book began with a series of letters that she wrote to her old- est daughter in college, to keep in touch and share stories and wisdom. "I discovered that she loved the letters I sent, and savored them, and would reread them, and it awoke in me this desire. I really enjoyed writing, and as that progressed it spurred on this process.” Immediately after her daughter matriculated, Clark’s son began his college search. It was a completely different experience, but a little easier since she had already done the re- search. While he applied to colleges, she began visualizing her book from start to finish.
“I felt strongly about providing people with a real flavor of what our lives were like. My children were the ones who gave me permission to share their stories, because it is really their stories that I’m sharing, and what was important for me was just to be honest.”
Two years later, when she began the college search with her third child, Clark startedwriting in earnest. Now Demystifying College is available on Amazon and in book stores around Massachusetts. Fifty percent of profits will go to charities designed to enrich education.
“My intent is to help people along in their journey,” Clark said. “It’s ok to be overwhelmed. It’s ok to know that yourchildchangedtheir mind ten times even after they applied early decision, because it’s normal. It’s a process for your teen as well. They are not just being defiant or lazy. They’re not sure, and may be afraid to make a move and choose the wrong path. My hope is to help parents understand the situations that they’re facing.”
To find out more about Clark’s work illuminat- ing the path to college for teens and their parents, visit terrygreeneclark. com.