College-bound high school juniors and their parents — help is on the way!

Parents and teens no longer have any reason to dread the college application process. Help is on the way!

Young adult librarian, Tara Ferretti, has organized a series of terrific programs over the winter (all free) to understand everything from the college application process, college rankings and even a program that will help students improve their test scores.

Although for many high school seniors, the college application season is now drawing to a close, the Somers Library is already gearing up to provide FREE programs this winter to help high school juniors get a jump on exploring their college options and burnish elements of their application.

Students will be able to take an ACT practice exam (January 27) and the SAT practice exam (February 3).  They will also receive an extensive score-report and a personalized consultation to review their practice test scores. Also coming up, a workshop for Improving Your Score on the New SAT (February 8) will be taught by SAT and math tutor Michael Goodman. Workshop tips will include the right way to read a passage on the SAT, the right way to approach an SAT math problem, and several surprising ways to help improve your score. All programs are free but require advance registration. Visit the library’s young adult events page for more information on these and other events.

And don’t forget to register for all of the Teen/Parent Talks planned for early spring. Parents and their college-bound student are welcomed to attend Understanding College Rankings (March 8), The College Application Process (March 10) and the How Best to Research Colleges (April 26) workshops. All workshops are free but require advance registration as seating is limited.

Understanding College Rankings presents the plusses and minuses of the popular college ranking formulas and explains how just three numbers tell you almost everything you need to know. This presentation is geared towards teens and their parents beginning their college search.

The College Application Process from A-Z will be led by Neal Schwartz of College Planning of Westchester. Students are applying to more colleges than ever before which has resulted in a significant drop in acceptance rates—especially at the top colleges. For the majority of high school seniors, it has become much more difficult to get into their first-choice schools. So, what can you do to best position your application?  Attend the workshop to learn more.

At the Researching Colleges: A Guided Tour seminar parents and students will learn to prioritize various school criteria like size, location, school setting, course offerings, etc. that make a particular set of colleges a good fit. In addition, you will learn about multiple online tools and resources for researching colleges and learn how certain factors at each college can guide a student’s decision whether or not to apply to or attend that school.

To learn more about upcoming programs and activities for teens, contact Tara Ferretti at (914) 232-9717, or visit the Somers Library Teen & Young Adult Page.