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The Coaching Process

Coaching — What Is It?

Coaching can be defined as one-on-one mentoring between a coach and a student. The goal of a CollegePlus! coach is to help students excel in their studies and develop the motivation and skills that are important for future leaders.

What Is a Typical Coaching Session Like?

A typical coaching session takes place by phone every two weeks and lasts 30–45 minutes. After discussing the priorities of the call, the coach will lead the student in a time of reviewing the progress made since the previous call. Any questions that the student has will be answered. The coach will then lay out a specific plan of action and will assist the student in every aspect of implementation. Before ending the session, the coach will communicate clear goals based on realistic expectations for progress to be made between now and the next coaching call.

Sample excerpts from a CollegePlus! coaching call can be found in our Information Packet.

How Are the Coaches Selected and Trained?

Our coaches are chosen based on three criteria. They must:

Once coaches are selected, CollegePlus! provides them with an intense training and certification process in which they learn the systems and processes unique to CollegePlus! The coaches also receive ongoing training and performance feedback from our management team and clients.

How Do We Assign Students to Our Coaches?

Coaches are assigned first by gender, then by availability, and finally by degree similarity and student/coach personality. CollegePlus! has a policy of assigning male students to male coaches and female students to female coaches. This allows for a deeper relationship to develop between the students and coaches. While CollegePlus! works with a large quantity of students, our focus remains on offering a service of consistent quality.

Where possible, degree similarity between the student and his coach is taken into account. However, because CollegePlus! coaches have access to all the program’s resources, and to each other, they are capable of offering assistance to any student, regardless of their degree.

Why Do I Need a Coach?

It is possible to earn a degree through distance learning working alone. However, some have found this unfamiliar process overwhelming. It is for these students that CollegePlus! was designed. With CollegePlus!, a coach is there to offer assistance in making a customized degree plan and in carrying out that plan to completion. Because a coach is there to worry about the logistical details, students are able to fully concentrate their efforts on their studies.

Can I Do This by Myself?

Students can complete a college degree using accelerated distance learning methods on their own. However, with CollegePlus!, students are guided step by step through making the best use of their time, avoiding costly mistakes, both of time and money. Each CollegePlus! coach has earned his or her own degree through this accelerated distance learning process and offers valuable advice, lots of encouragement, and accountability for making progress. Without the accountability and motivation of a coach, it is difficult for students to maintain a steady pace. CollegePlus! provides comprehensive study modules and coaching feedback clearly communicating what to study and a plan for how to study it.

What Is the Recommended Age to Start?

CollegePlus! requires a student's knowledge level and ability to at least be equivalent to that of a junior in high school. In most cases this would be comparable to age 16 and older. However, maturity and internal motivation have proven to be far more important at determining a student’s eligibility than his age. Please keep in mind that a number of students are combining and even replacing the last two years of high school with college. Many earn their entire bachelor's degree before they graduate from high school.

The CollegePlus! program places a strong emphasis on the benefits of internships as a means of preparing for working in a given field before committing to that particular career path. One of the benefits of the program is that CollegePlus! students have the opportunity to enter the workforce with a fully-accredited bachelor’s degree and two years of work experience that many of their peers do not have. CollegePlus! is working to incorporate a system of business connections that can provide mutual benefit to both students needing internships and businesses that have internship positions available.

CollegePlus! provides a 5–6 week Life Purpose Planning course as a part of the degree process. While it is not a diagnostic test per se, it does help students better discern their aptitudes and the skills they have acquired and how to focus them most effectively in a particular area. The goal is to allow them to narrow their focus so that their potential career choice has the best possibility of being more enjoyable and more permanent than is currently normal in today’s society. (See: Life Purpose Planning Overview)