Maximizing Junior Year: What Every Parent Needs to Know

Join us on Monday, February 9 at 4:00 PM PT / 7:00 PM ET for a session designed to help families of 11th graders navigate the pressures of junior year with more clarity and less stress. You’ll walk away with a step-by-step roadmap to help your teen make confident, well-informed choices that best position them for college admissions.

Junior Year Is Now More Than Halfway Over. Are Your Teen’s Choices Setting Them Up for College Success?

By this point in junior year, grades, course rigor, and activities are already forming a narrative that colleges will evaluate closely.

The second half of 11th grade offers a critical window; it’s among the last opportunities to make intentional, strategic decisions that can meaningfully strengthen your teen’s application before senior year begins.

Our speakers, Julie Brasseaux (former Tulane Regional Senior Assistant Director of Admissions) and Renee Bischoff (former Admissions Officer at Northwestern), will share proven best practices families should be using right now to help your teen make the most of their junior year.

You’ll learn how to:

Understand what colleges value most in junior year performance, choices, and activities
Develop a focused testing plan for the, SAT, ACT, and AP exams
Lay the groundwork for strong essays and recommendation letters before senior year begins
Apply proven strategies to manage workload, reduce stress, and keep motivation high

Junior year is the most pivotal year in the entire college prep journey. Give your family the knowledge and plan to navigate it with confidence. Register now!

Julie Brasseaux

Former Tulane Regional Senior Assistant Director of Admission

After earning a Master’s in Counselor Education at UT Austin, Julie joined the admissions office at Tulane University (her own undergraduate alma mater), where she spent the next seven years evaluating more than 10,000 applications for admissions. During her tenure, Julie also personally led the Community Service Fellowship scholarship team, trained a dozen new members of the school’s admissions team, created the Spring Scholars January Admit abroad program, and managed the application process for Tulane’s accelerated BS/MD combined medical program.

Renee Bischoff

Former Admissions Officer at Northwestern, DePaul, Lake Forest, and Carleton

Renee brings over 30 years of admissions and counseling experience to Collegewise, including roles in college admissions at Carleton, Northwestern, DePaul, and Lake Forest, and in college counseling at top independent schools like Polytechnic School in Pasadena and Hawken School in Cleveland. She’s guided students to more than 200 colleges across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., including Stanford, Yale, Duke, Cambridge, and the UCs. Known for her candor, warmth, and strategic mindset, Renee helps students stay grounded, confident, and on track no matter how complex the process. She holds a BA from Carleton College and an MBA from DePaul University.