College Planning and Decision Making

Your child has worked very hard at private school. She has covered herself in academic glory, won many honors in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities and is ready for the next step: college. Graduation is always a warm, happy occasion as family gathers to bathe in all that reflected glory. Mark this important milestone with a memorable gift. Here are some suggestions with every budget in mind.

A Biking Trip
He'll be back at school studying hard soon enough. So why not treat him (or her) to a biking trip? There are several companies which organize these action-packed trips. Check out Teen Treks and Overland, for example.

A Scooter
A scooter is sustainable transportation especially if she will be going to college in an urban area without much public transporation. The Honda Metropolitan, for example, reminds me of the classic Vespa (only less expensive). It's easy to operate and light on the pocketbook.

A Watch
There are hundreds of makers and thousands of models of watches to choose from as you well know. In every price range too. From Michele to Casio.

A Pen
The bespoke shops call them writing instruments. Whatever you call them, a fine pen is a gift to be cherished. Mont Blanc and Cross have a variety of models from which to choose.

Make your gift memorable or a keepsake or both. Best wishes to you and your family at this happy time.

Many students find that a PG or Post Graduate year is a beautiful solution to several situations. Perhaps they feel that they are too young to go to college. As Kim Chorosiewski points out, a PG year offers time to grow and develop without taking a year off. Maybe they want to perfect a sport or artistic activity. A PG year offers a well-focussed period in which to accomplish that perfecting. A PG year also allows you to remediate small gaps in your high school transcript. Or maybe you want a year before you head off for five years of pre-med or bio-kinetic science. The PG year can suit a variety of purposes.

The PG Year is sometimes called a Gap Year or a year off. From my point of view, either description implicitly implies that a PG Year is a structured program of study, not simply a year off where you sit around and do absolutely nothing. Over one hundred private day and boarding schools offer PG Years. It will be worthwhile to explore a couple of programs to see if they fit your requirements.

There is a big push in high school to complete your academic studies with the best results possible to get into the college you want to attend after high school. A gap year gives you an extra year to develop a skill for which you didn't have much time while studying for SATs or doing your IB papers. That skill