Host Heather Pettey is joined by Beth and Greg Langston, founders of the innovative "College Flight Plan" program, who are guiding teens to find their purpose. With over 20 years of experience guiding students worldwide, Beth and Greg share invaluable wisdom for helping teens identify their passions, strengths and purpose early on.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of developing self-awareness before applying to college
- The 3 most important qualities colleges look for beyond just grades
- How the "College Flight Plan" equips students to choose the right major/career path from the start
- Strategies for motivating unmotivated or overwhelmed students
- The benefits of focusing extracurriculars on a dedicated interest vs. being well-rounded
- Tips for keeping track of activities, awards and experiences for college apps
- The role of volunteer work and how to make the most impact
- Insider insights into the college admissions essay process
Whether your child is just starting high school or is a rising senior, this episode is a must-listen. Beth and Greg's proven "College Flight Plan" methodology can empower your teen to gain clarity on who they are and what they want to achieve. This gives them a major competitive edge during the grueling college application process.
By the end, students will have an actionable plan for communicating their unique strengths, values and future vision in a way that wows admissions officers. Don't miss this opportunity to set your child up for a fulfilling college experience and career they are truly passionate about!
Visit www.collegeflightplan.com to learn more about working with Beth and Greg
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Transcript auto generated
our mission is to have. Kids fly into college and then beyond or do a vocation. We don't want them to fly back to their parents basement, which in Memphis you don't have basements, right? I understand, but we don't want them to fly back into the attic. We want them to go and have a, you know, a wonderful career and life.
Life Coach BFF show with me, your friend Heather, because we all need a BFF to take this journey called Life With. This is a podcast for midlife women who want to remain sane and find joy we're living with purpose and determination to get all the goodie out of life, because I believe God made the goodie for His people, you and me.
So hop aboard this train of intention, come and sit on my porch and rest, or pop in your earbuds and let's take a walk together. I'm just so grateful you're here.
Hey friend, have you [00:01:00] ever wished you had a flight plan to help navigate your child through the stressful college application process? My guests today are Beth and Greg Langston, experts in empowering students to discover their true passions and purpose. For over 20 years, Beth and Greg have guided hundreds of high school students worldwide, helping them to identify their core values, strengths, and life goals.
Their innovative college flight plan program equips teens with the self awareness and confidence to choose the right college major and career path from the start. In this episode, Beth and Greg share invaluable insights into what college admissions officers really look for when they're Beyond just good grades, you'll learn the three most important qualities they seek and how to help your child develop and communicate those qualities effectively. Whether your child [00:02:00] is just starting high school or is a rising senior, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Get ready to take notes. It's Beth and Greg are here to be your guides for giving your child's college journey a soaring head start.
And before we begin, don't forget to tap the plus sign if you haven't already. So you'll be subscribed and you will never miss an episode.
I cannot wait to dive into this. So tell me about your flight plan. I love the name of your plan. College flight plan. That's right. And what we do is help prepare the kids for the college application process. And what many people don't realize is you have to start early on this.
We get a lot of seniors, you know, Hey, I'm ready to write my essays. And they don't even know what they need to write about. So in a nutshell, what we do is we help students identify like their strengths, Their weaknesses and, what they're [00:03:00] passionate about doing and discovering their purpose in life and what they're gifted to do so that they can choose a college major or a career path that allows them to have success.
And if they do go to college to graduate in four years instead of six. Well, cause it's very important that only 40 percent of the kids that go to college actually graduate in four years. 60 percent graduate in six years. And that's because 60 percent of them change majors at least three times. And so we really believe that we can help kids to figure this out.
While they're still in high school, they can still make adjustments in college, but they shouldn't just go into college not knowing what they're going to do because those extra two years can cost them an extra 50 to 160, 000. Is it that amazing how much college tuition is now? I mean, it just is unbelievable.
It's crazy. And it keeps going up. You know, this year I have seen. Some more scholarship monies awarded [00:04:00] to my students and some in state tuition for those who are actually out of state. So that's good. I'm seeing some improvement, but not much. And many families think that the schools are going to provide them with this self awareness.
But after COVID, the teachers are just going crazy, just trying to get them back into school and their scores. And I think you've all seen that the scores have been the worst in 30 and 40 years in math and English. And so the whole aspect of self awareness is really not taught in schools. It is on rare occasion.
And so what we focus in on is teaching them the self awareness and our kids were our guinea pigs because while I was running large businesses. As I kept getting promoted, they kept saying, okay, Greg, you got to learn about your core values. You got to learn about your decision making. You got to learn about how to lead and inspire people.
And I'd come back and I'd say to Beth, why aren't we teaching our kids this in high school? And so that's what, that's what started us to think about, okay, how can we do this? They were guinea pigs and we didn't [00:05:00] break them. They've, they've gone on and are very, very successful. And so we put that into workshops and which we started in Memphis, by the way.
And we were doing those and then this with the advent of, of the internet and COVID, we put them all online and now we have students around the globe. Which is wonderful that you're able to help so many now, whereas before it was all live, I suppose. Were you meeting and teaching in a classroom setting?
Right. Yes. We had had seminars and we actually worked with some of the inner city, , youth in Memphis, which was very interesting and enlightening. They, they just wanted a way to get out of where they were, where their family was to get a leg up. So that was very rewarding too, right?
You got started with your own children . We all have teens, so we know how this works. We're so sorry. No, just kidding, just kidding. I know I'm on my third round right now, and you would think that I [00:06:00] would be used to this, but there are some things that still catch you off guard. So how did you get your own children to follow your flight plan?
Well, I mean, they were pretty willing because when we came back to the States, we thought, okay, it's going to be done in the high schools and it wasn't being done. And So they were our guinea pigs and they were willing to, , at the time, you know, go with our teachings and our suggestions and, and then their friends wanted to get in on it.
So that's really how it started. So then we had this whole group, meeting and just discovering the thing is when they start to learn about their purpose in life, which, what is the statistic? I think. 87 percent of 16 to 29 year olds feel that they have no purpose. They don't know purpose or meaning.
Isn't that scary? 80. It's sad. That's it's very sad. And these [00:07:00] kids are worried. I'll tell you, we have these conversation cards that we sit. On our table at night, and we'll go through usually one over dinner, and one of the questions was, what do you worry about the most? And my 13 year old, which broke my heart, said, I worry about my career.
And I thought, I never worried about that when I was 13. I didn't even consider it, but they, they are worried. So true and so many students are what we found because we also consult with life coaches for these students and the ones we work with, they're worried about what college they're going to get into.
There's so much pressure to go Ivy League or the big name schools, which you don't have to do to get a good education. And, but they, but there are pressures in different areas of the United States. We've found where they're going to school. My friend just got into this boarding school. We have a.
Wonderful young man in Philadelphia we're working with and he's so capable and wonderful, but he [00:08:00] doesn't have that confidence in who he is and what his strengths are and, but he's developing it as we go. So it's wonderful to see. And so he says, if I have a 1550, will I be okay in my SAT? And if I do this and this and this at Penn and at Stanford, will I be okay?
And we say, I have one B and all A's, will I be okay? I mean, that's the stress they're under. And then we have the other end of the spectrum with kids that are totally unmotivated. Because they're overwhelmed and so therefore they procrastinate because they don't want to make a mistake. They're not, it's not that they're bad kids.
It's not that they don't want to do something. They just aren't sure what to do and they're spending a lot of time on social media and that's not a good place to go. To figure out what you want to do. And so that's why we come alongside the, the young man or young lady and say, listen, this is all about you.
What is it that wakes you up in the morning that you say, this is cool. I'd like to learn more. And we kind of peel back the onion to help them [00:09:00] gain self awareness so that they can learn what are my core values and why are they important and how am I going to make decisions based upon these core values so that when your mom and dad are not around, You're making these decisions for you.
What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your what's your purpose? What do you really want to do going forward? And so we help the kids to really get clear on that and the interesting thing is is at the end They present their findings to their parents, which is wonderful to be in the room where that happens or on the zoom where that happens because That the parents are sometimes in tears Because they can see this wonderful transformation in their child because they have clarity and knowing what their values, strengths, weaknesses, and purpose is, or are, and they have confidence in clearly understanding and articulating who they are, what makes them unique, what makes them And they can express that for us in their inner college [00:10:00] interviews and their essays.
And then they feel also these kids feel they have a little bit more control over their futures because they have actionable plans and goals that they created through the process. So it's exciting. I love that. , there's so many adults that don't know what their purpose is. Yeah, we have parents that say, Hey, listen, Can you do this for us? And now that my son or daughter has been able to do that and it's, it's really kind of a drop the mic moment when the mother or the dad says, man, I wish I would have had this. This is so great. This is really fantastic.
Because typically when a kid goes to school and goes to class or a parent invests in a particular program, they say, how was school? And they go, fine. , what did you learn today? Nothing. , what's the, what can I, and then you say, So what's the highlight of the day? Well, nothing. , so that's why we incorporated the feedback to the parents and accountability partner.
Yeah. I'm a huge Zig Ziglar fan. I wish he was still with us, but he [00:11:00] would always say you have to plan to win or you're planning to lose. And I'm a big believer in this. So you've got to have some sort of plan to, to go forward. So what are the three most important qualities that college admissions officers are looking for now?
Yeah, well, of course there's always the academic success, you know, your GPA, got to keep that high starting freshman year in high school. Then when you get to college, it starts all over again. You got to keep that GPA high starting freshman year. I always try to keep that. that in my students and the standardized tests, some of them are going by the wayside.
Some of them are not as necessary, but I've found that a lot of students want to take it and want to submit their scores because they're proud of those scores and then, the quality of your curriculum. So in the academic area, you know, you have to have a good. challenging curriculum for the colleges.
The second thing they're looking for is [00:12:00] extracurricular accomplishments, and that means in depth, time in community projects, not just a smattering on the surface. They want to know that you were committed to something. and that you helped it grow and that you, , , had a dedicated interest in it and it had a leadership position.
, they just want to see that commitment and they also love entrepreneurial spirit in the, extracurricular accomplishments they want. We had kids, in Cincinnati who during COVID in their neighborhood, they did a food drive for the kids who were at home and depended on the schools to get their meals and they weren't getting them because you had to isolate.
So they raised my food or did a food drive, collected all the food from their neighborhood, took it to this facility that would distribute it to the kids that were at home and didn't have access to good food. So that was great, you know, and it didn't take long. Everybody was willing to. I think it's a really great way for kids to [00:13:00] commit to it in their neighborhood, too.
So that was great. And the third thing that college admissions officers are looking for are kids with self awareness and plans for the future. That they know what they want to do. And they can express this. We always encourage our kids, if colleges allow it, call and ask for an interview with a college graduate.
it. from that university that's in your area. Some colleges don't allow this, but many of them will, and it shows an interest. And the kids that can express who they are, what they're going to do in college how they're going to use this scholarship, or this university, or this program to enhance their career goals, and what they're going to do when they get out, those are what, that's what the university's looking for.
Right. Absolutely. And one, one additional thing is, We teach the young student to deliver an elevator speech. That takes all the, the strengths and the purpose and the values that they've established. [00:14:00] And they can use that, you know, they've memorized it. And so they can, they can vary it depending upon the situation.
And, you know, say, Express who they are very, you know, clearly instead of I'm a gamer or, you know, I don't know. I, I go to, I go to this high school, they're able to communicate very clearly. And it's not only serves them in the admissions. Interviews, but also, you know, let's say they move to a new class and sometimes teachers will be mean and unknowingly and they'll say, okay, Greg, stand up and tell us a little bit about yourself.
And, you know, the last thing that Greg wants to do as a teenager is get up and tell about themselves. They'd rather, you know, go under the desk. So this gives them a tool that they can use to clearly articulate, Hey, this is, this is my strengths. This is what I really like to do. You know, these are the kinds of friends that I hang out with, and this is what I like to do in my free time.
It really is part of that confidence that we build in the kids. Right, and their self discovery, it's so [00:15:00] important. . I love an elevator spill. For that age to be able to stand up with confidence and say who you are. And the fact that you really promote knowing your values.
How do you get them to establish what their values are? Yes. Well, as part of the program, we determine, Hey, listen, here are 200 values. Yeah. And what's really important to you? What, what is something that's not negotiable to you? And we take them through an iterative process where they use a card sort process that's on the computer, and they pick out what are, you know, must have values versus nice to have and like to have.
And we work them through a process where they get to the point where they say, these are my top three values. And so therefore they make decisions based upon those top three values in order. Okay. And they say why they're important and why they're important and what they need to start doing to make that more important, what they need to stop doing and what they should continue doing in each case.
And again, the basis for all this is the learning that I [00:16:00] received as an executive. And there's no reason why kids in high school can't learn that, right? They don't have to wait 20 years to learn this stuff. Yeah. I agree. You know, as parents, we just pour into our children constantly and we hope that they are getting , what We are projecting.
And so for a parent to hear this, like you said that, you know, sometimes the parents are crying. I can only imagine just to hear your child repeat back to you what you have been instilling all these years. So that's a gift that and Greg that you're giving to families. That's a true gift. Oh, well, we enjoy it.
We, we love, you know, seeing the results and seeing the parents have more confidence in their children and their children's decisions going forward. And it's particularly interesting, well, in all cases, but in some cultures, when you're dealing with, for example, in, in India you know, the [00:17:00] father says, the patriarch says, I'm a doctor, you're a doc, your mom's a doctor, you know, uncle Samir's a doctor, you have to be a doctor.
And, you know, the little Johnny says, I would, you know, I'd be a terrible doctor but doesn't really have the opportunity to voice that. But going through this process says, Hey dad, I'm not going to be a doctor, but I'm going to be the best architect. That gives the student an opportunity to have a dialogue with their dad instead of just acquiescing and saying, okay, I'd be a doctor.
I hate it. I will suck at being a doctor, but I, you know, I don't want to be a doctor but I'll be an architect that really changes the conversation. We also encourage students or parents to help their students find opportunities to experience these fields that they think they would like to go into. Our son is a great example. His whole life he thought he wanted to go in the medical field and he got to high school and We happen to [00:18:00] be good friends with a cardiovascular surgeon and a neurosurgeon.
So he was able to go in for a couple weeks in their operating rooms and experience what they experienced. After those weeks of working with him, he came out and said, that's not at all what I want to do. That's not at all, but he already had a scholarship to a university. Well, he started out at Auburn University.
So we had a scholarship in the biology department. I'm going, well, you're going to go there, you know, and then you can always transfer somewhere else. So he went and he took the standardized courses that you have to take. And then he started to transition. He went into the world of finance.
He transferred to an Ivy League school after two years at Auburn. We call Auburn his real college experience because when he got to University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, he really had to work hard. And There was no time for fun. He just had to study. Yeah, it just study, study. And at the Wharton School, they pump oxygen into [00:19:00] the building because these kids are up All hours of the night studying.
That's how hard they're. Wow. I know. I did not know that I had no idea. They need to be pumping oxygen in at Auburn and Ole Miss and some of these others, the oxygen. I know, but getting internships and experiences is key for these kids to realize, Oh, I like this or I don't like this, but it takes pursuing those opportunities.
Yeah, and I'm going to backtrack just a little bit about volunteer work, service work. Do you feel that Beth and Greg that it's more valuable to concentrate because I heard you say something that led me to believe concentrating on one thing. Project is better than dividing up 500 hours between different organizations.
I definitely feel, and especially they want to see a dedicated interest that you really delved into these situations [00:20:00] and these concerns, these needs in your community, and what did you do to improve that? And a lot of times, some of the essays we write are on that very subject. So we have to.
Pull from their experiences and if they have more dedicated interest and dedicated experience we can write to that better. They just like to see that. It's not a smattering because colleges are, they're not looking for a well rounded student. They're looking for a well rounded student body. They have their categories to fill also.
So they want people with different interests that can bring positive results to the university, positive influences to the university. That makes sense. I know smaller towns, I'm sure bigger cities as well, they have these service clubs. For teen boys and girls, and so they'll have them do all these different projects with different organizations and the students are putting down a list of charities that they have [00:21:00] served.
So I just wanted to clarify, it's much better than to concentrate on one. Definitely, and some high schools have community service hours that you have to fill. So they do fill some of the categories that you will have to list in your activity section of your application. So, you know, that's not bad, but they want to see something somewhere that you've given a dedicated interest within your community because you have to jump off the page when the admissions officer is looking at your information.
Because after going through all those years of, you know, schooling, they only have between 8 and 12 minutes to determine if you move forward or not. Per application. Per application. Oh, my goodness. What are the biggest challenges families face when dealing with the college application process?
Well, I always say number one is not starting early enough to prepare, like, [00:22:00] as colleges want information from, you know the summer before freshman year up until senior year, but you're, you're submitting these applications. A lot of my students admit submit early applications on by November 1st.
So you've just started your senior year. Really? You don't have much results there. So you have to get a lot in to those first three years of high school because we start writing the essays. At the end of junior year, I know what they're going to have to write depending on their college list So we we don't have to wait till senior year, but their activities I recommend Keeping a list of all their activities their awards their internships and everything in a safe place.
I used to keep it on my calendar in the back of my calendar, I write everything down for my kids because you forget and Yeah, so we get we get to You You know summer before senior year and we're filling out these applications And they're like, well, I don't know I [00:23:00] got this award. I can't remember what with what that award was for Let me ask my counselor the counselors college counselors are overworked.
They have so much to do They recommend 240 to one counselor to student ratio most of the time it's 420 You To students to one counselor and here in California where we are, it's like 900 to one so you can't depend on the counselor to give you the help you need. You really have to be a squeaky wheel.
You have to get outside help for like testing of SAT. I recommend it's a strategy for these SAT tests and to learn the strategy, we'll give, give the student a leg up, get help on essays. A lot of students don't want help. I had a gal once. Oh my gosh. She was wonderful. She lived in minnesota She was so qualified and by the time they got to me.
She was [00:24:00] being turned down by some of the great colleges, but she had everything going for her and So she had to write a letter if you're deferred by a college. You have to write another essay. I'm, sorry and so she I said, can you show me the essay that you submitted first? And she sent it to me and in the first paragraph It had a grammatical error.
That's why a lot of colleges are like done. We won't even look at the student anymore So you must get help in those areas, you know that the essay writing and internships, you know, I think that just really driving better understanding of what makes them tick gaining the self awareness so that they know what they're strong at and what they're, they don't do as well.
What we also do is we give the students a 360 assessment where they pick up to nine trusted advisors who will give them feedback on what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses, what these nine trusted advisors, and these can be parents, teachers, You know, students relatives, coaches, and [00:25:00] teachers, what they think are the best things that they should study or something to consider.
And so they get 200 data points. Of real information about them, not about their friends. It's about them specifically and how they add value to other people. And this becomes very valuable for them I'm amazed that this is even available. I really am.
I wish I had, I wish that you had been around about 10 years. Well, you were, I just didn't know about you because y'all have been doing this for how long? Over 20 years. Over 20 years. Why did I not know about you? Okay, what key statistics should every family know about college success? Well, the key statistic is that it's not cheap.
That 60 percent graduate in six years. Not in four. And so, you know, that's an extra 160, 50 to 160, 000 that most kids change majors, 60 percent change [00:26:00] majors, at least three times. And this can all be a brag. And that's expensive regardless of who's paying for it. And just think of this if a person were to graduate two years earlier The average starting pay out of college now is 55 000.
So they can be 110 000 ahead If they were to invest that or a parent were to invest that through To the time they're 40 that's 600 000 to 800 000 dollars worth of additional income or savings that they would have been able to generate so there's real value to the To doing and doing the introspection and the last the last statistic that I would give you is the one that Beth mentioned that 87 percent of kids 16 to 29 say they had no purpose or meaning.
And it's, you know, our mission is to have. Kids fly into college and then beyond or do a vocation. We don't want them to fly back to their parents basement, which in Memphis you don't have basements, right? I understand, but we don't want them to fly back [00:27:00] into the attic. We want them to go and have a, you know, a wonderful career and life.
Yes, as we all do. We all just want the best for our children. Going back to the essay, and I'm understanding now just how important this is. This is what's going to separate them from the others. So what are the key do's and don'ts when writing a college application essay?
Oh, gosh, I've written a whole book on this. But my first thing I tell my students is, You are a victor not a victim. They don't want to see a victim mentality. Even if somebody's been through a lot, we have to show how did you overcome? What did you do to address that situation and how are you going to handle that in the future?
You know, and these essays, It's always, you know, what, what are your plans, they want to know your plans, they don't want to know what you did in first grade, you know, so we can't speak about what we [00:28:00] did way back then, unless it's very pertinent to your essay. But they want to know about you. They don't want to know about your mom and dad.
So when I go through this process with them, we do a lot of brainstorming at first. Brainstorming is the hardest part. But I have a whole process I walk them through to pull out these ideas. And then I go through their ideas and I can see I can see a pattern. Oh gosh, we can combine these two because you overcame this and you did this and this is your great quality and this is obviously your purpose, you know.
So everything, I, I just love pulling it out because every kid has a story and they all have to write a 650 word personal statement is what they call it. And so we know we have to do that already. And so that's what we usually start with is that, but you know, They can reflect who they are in these and colleges are looking to.
For students who know who they are, who can hit the ground running at their university, and they're going to [00:29:00] survive and make positive contributions to their campus and the surrounding community. And then they're going to graduate with honors or very well high in their class, and they're going to go out in the world and reflect well on that university.
And they can tell all that by what they write in their essays. If this kid's a winner. On the other side of that, though, is I do have some kids. They are winners, but the universities can't take all these winners. They don't have room. It's like Booking a flight on an airplane, a seat. They only have so many seats to give, and you might be qualified to get on that airplane.
You might be qualified to go to that university, but sometimes they just don't have enough, and they're filling their categories. They have to fill categories too. Beth is, that's her wheelhouse. She knows how to do that really well. And the fact that she has 145 IQ kind of helps too. I'm sure. Okay. So what do you do if you have, and I, you know, I'm asking for a friend, of course, not myself, but if you have an unmotivated [00:30:00] student, how do you get them on board with this?
Well, that's not unusual because the kids are going from class to class, if they've got extracurricular activities or they're visiting friends or they're in scouts or whatever, and they say, Mom, you're giving me something else. This is so lame. I don't have time to do this. What are you getting me involved in?
This is going to be hard. It's going to take a lot of thinking. And so we understand that. But what we do is once we have a, we typically have an initial conversation, Consultation with the parent and the kid and we say, look, I know your parents told you you need to be here, right? Yeah. You think this is gonna be lame?
Yeah. Well, listen, this is, this is all about you. Everything's done in two and a half minute videos. It's not, you know, one hour of education. It's two and a half minute videos that say, Hey, what's important to you? What makes you tick? What do you like to do? What is important to you? And the kid starts to see, Hey, this really is all about [00:31:00] me.
Yeah. And it's not about my mom, not about my sister, my dad. It's about me and the opportunity that they get to go in and delve in and say, you know what? I got 200 data points from people that care about me that say that I would really be able to do this well. And that's what I thought I could do. But listen, I got.
200 more data points saying that I do that really well. And I also got these points to say I procrastinate. And you know what? Yeah, I do procrastinate. And why do I procrastinate? Because I don't know what I'm going to go do. And so what it does is they start seeing the value. And there's like the flywheel effect at the beginning.
Nothing's happening. And then all of a sudden they say, Oh, this is good. This is good. I'm getting this feedback. And they're having little wins along the process. And they also choose an accountability partner. Who will help them move forward. They choose the accountability partner and many people say, well, it's, they're going to choose a friend.
Rarely do they choose a friend. They typically pick a relative, a parent, a coach, a [00:32:00] teacher. We don't suggest counselors because counselors are overwhelmed. And though they meet with their accountability partner to stay on task and finish the process. Which is so helpful when you have an accountability partner in anything that you do, I feel like you're much more likely to accomplish your goals.
Well, the statistics, I agree. The statistics say that, hey, I'm going to go run a 5k, and you say that to yourself. You know, the likelihood of doing that's 5%. If you tell your ecosystem, your friends, the people on this podcast, I'm going to go do this. You know, the likelihood of success goes to 65%, but if you pick an accountability partner, there's a mutual responsibility there.
And the probability of success goes to 95%. Yeah. What do y'all think about. Community colleges. I'm just curious because we're talking about the cost of colleges. You know, a lot of these states will offer the first 2 years tuition free. If your student will go on to a community college, how do you feel about it?
Yeah, I think there are [00:33:00] some wonderful community colleges and it is a good place to start. And they can always if they develop a good resume there and and again, do all the things that are needed. They can always transfer. You go to a state school or another state and earn a scholarship, those, those are the things.
There are so many scholarships. That's another place to get help. There are so many scholarships out there that go unawarded because nobody knows they're there. And there are services that will look these up for you. You can look them up online too. But and then when you get into the university, like when Brad, our son got accepted to Auburn, we went right to the School of biology, and he applied for a scholarship in that school.
Within the universities there are scholarships and programs and a lot of times you don't find that out until you've submitted your application and then they come back and invite you to [00:34:00] apply for scholarships.
So yeah, there's so much going on. How did I get on to scholarships? Well, we were talking about community colleges and just how that can help with the cost long term. And I just wondered how you felt about, about pursuing that route first, but okay. And another thing that I have considered with this, you know, anxiety is so prevalent with kids now.
I mean, all they're all anxious. And you want to be so careful as a parent, because you don't want to cause more anxiety is my whole point. And so do you feel getting them involved in this helps alleviate anxiety? Yes, yes, it does. On both. The parents part and the kids part, because the parent will say to us, Oh gosh, he's not listening to me.
Can you tell him this and this? Cause he'll listen to you. I'm like, okay, I'll try. Right. We'll try. So we meet with them and, you know, We have one student [00:35:00] who we know he spends a lot of time playing games on his phone or his computer, right? He, he hasn't really told us that yet, but his parents have told us.
We're like, we approach it, we're like, you know, we try to approach, are there things that maybe you could eliminate so you have more time to sleep and Do your studies even though he's a great student, but so it's funny. We it helps because the parents Feel like someone else has an eye on their child, you know, yes Yeah, go through this process support And, and the student feels, okay, these people probably know what they're talking about.
They, you know, gain our confidence and we gain theirs after time. And so then they're, they're like, okay, I'm going to listen to them. I'm, you know, this is good. It's working. This is making sense. In the beginning, it didn't make sense. And then at the end. And they're doing their report out to the parents.
They're really proud of what they've been able to accomplish. And it [00:36:00] really provides for, you know, tremendous communication going forward. What we do is we say, listen, you're going to review this plan. Every year I said for the next four years while you're in high school or wherever you are, you're buying dinner.
I mean, they're buying dinner. I said after the fourth year. You can buy your mom and dad dinner. And so what it does is it really gives them a sense of ownership. And like Beth said earlier, they have the clarity in terms of this is what I know I I'm good at doing. This is my, I have confidence in being able to express it.
And I have a sense of control with, with that clarity, with that confidence and that control, the anxiety goes down. Parents aren't running around with their hair on fire. It just, it becomes a lot better. I can definitely see that. So let's recap what you do from the time that, let's say I contact you and I say, you know, I really want my little precious to be involved in this.
What's the first thing that happens? Well, the first thing is we meet with them [00:37:00] and their parents. We usually have a zoom with the parents so they can get a feel what we do. Then we, if they decide yes, we bring the kid in and we talked with them, tell them what to expect from the course that we offer.
Here's what we found though, people aren't doing this early enough. So we like to start with these kids, freshman, sophomore year, to develop all these great qualities that they're going to need. And so we walk them through that and they go through our whole program. And we forgot to mention one thing, in our program we deal with four areas.
So Health, wealth, wisdom, and relationship when they're setting their goals, right? Greg, can you write so they have six We call those the success elements and so health their lifetime goals five year one year goals wealth While they're in school, it's from an educational perspective their grades their scores wisdom.
What do they want to learn in relationships? What are they, what are their relationships with their parents? What are their relationships with God? Do they go to [00:38:00] church? Do they want to go to church? You know, every aspect relative to those four success elements. And so they come out with a much better picture as they go through a sense of, of discovery of what's important to them.
They then have an element of determination, what's important to them. And then they direct their knowledge and their decisions to God. In the final part of the program and it takes about a kid can go through this in about four weeks If they really put their mind to it, it's about 12 hours of work 12 hours of work And then from there we go I've written a book, which I'm going to revise on writing essays for college.
And so then we go into that process if they want to work with us on that. . Using all this great information. And and the other thing about our courses, colleges love to see that students have gone outside of the classroom academics to improve themselves, to [00:39:00] take courses, to do activities that improve themselves, especially in the area of self awareness, because that's so key for leadership these days.
And so they can put this in as one of their activities or their extracurriculars. Yes, that is good. Beth, what's the title of your book? How to write essays with confidence and clarity. So the college essay, I'm going to make it into actually a course that they can follow because I find it, it saves people money.
If they can go through my book, they, they don't need me as much, but then when they get to me, they've already eliminated a lot of things that I would be telling them in their essays anyway. to eliminate and the other things to bring out. So that, and that comes after this. Usually they carry right along and we are into the essay writing process.
If seniors approach us, they can do the essay writing first because they have to, and then they can take our course after because it will benefit them for life, you know but sometimes they are so [00:40:00] slammed with what they have to do. They don't have time for everything. They've got to write those essays by the deadline.
Beth and Greg, I cannot thank y'all enough for your time today. And as Greg mentioned, you mentioned your website earlier and it's www.collegeflightplan.com if you want to learn more. So this is exciting. And for those of you listening today, you can see down in the show notes that they have created a free link to their parents starter kit to teen self discovery guide.
That shares in more detail what they've covered today. This link also includes their top five early actions that lead to college success, which helps your team stay on track for the future. We hope that you found the information that they shared helpful for you and your families today. And we thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for joining us, Beth and Greg. Thanks for having us.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope this [00:41:00] discussion with Beth and Greg provided valuable insights. If you found this episode helpful, I'd be so grateful if you could share it with your friends and family who may also be going through this season of life with their kids.
The more we can empower and equip one another, the better. Remember you've got this. Keep shining bright and being the amazing, woman, God created you to be. I love you. And Jesus loves you even more. As Joshua one nine says, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. I love to end with this verse. I hope this sticks with you and encourages you. See you next time for more life coaching insights and inspiration. Take care... [00:42:00] [00:43:00]
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