The International College Playbook
Shellee Howard (00:00)
a student gets to know themselves truly, who are they, what matters to them, and how have they proven it? That's how you go debt free because you know where you want to go, which is going to save you time and money. You've proven to the university that you know what you want, which is going to get you in.
House Of Peregrine (00:11)
Yep.
Shellee Howard (00:19)
and get you big scholarships. So starting with the foundation of who is the student and what is important to them will save you time, money, and
House Of Peregrine (01:02)
Hello everyone and welcome back to the House of Peregrine podcast. Today I am joined by Shelly Howard who helps parents and children get college ready or university ready. She has a podcast and is full of all sorts of wisdom about how to get your kids ready to go to university abroad or within the states or anywhere around the world. Thank you so much Shelly for joining us today. I'm so happy to have you on.
Shellee Howard (01:26)
Thank you so much for having me and I look forward to giving your listeners massive value.
House Of Peregrine (01:32)
Yeah, that sounds great. Well, why don't you start out by telling us exactly what it is you're up to.
Shellee Howard (01:39)
So currently, some big exciting news. I just found out yesterday that I have been awarded 2026 Global Educational Consultant of the Year. And I will pick up my award in the Philippines in April. And so that's pretty exciting. And then I'm in two weeks going to record a TV series called Next Level CEO.
with Damon John. And so two really big awesome events that I'm really excited because it will allow me to share with families what I'm so passionate about. And so I'm so happy to be here.
House Of Peregrine (02:18)
Thank you so much. So when we spoke earlier, you were telling me about your passion and what you have turned into this amazing consultancy or what you're helping families do. Tell me a little bit about that.
Shellee Howard (02:33)
Well, a little bit of backstory is I am a mother of four. I think that's important for listeners to understand is I'm not just somebody who graduated from college and I'm giving parental wisdom. I truly have raised two boys and two girls who have all attended college and all graduated without debt and I didn't pay a dime. So when I speak, I speak from...
the place of I've walked in your shoes if you're a parent or a guardian listening, and I'm truly passionate about helping students figure out who they are, what matters to them, finding a career that aligns, and ultimately picking a major that they can go to university and be educated in and enjoy the process without going into massive debt. So that's really in a nutshell what I'm...
what I truly get up in the morning and can't wait to do.
House Of Peregrine (03:30)
So you're just changing lives, it's fine. Helping people find their path. Small things.
Shellee Howard (03:34)
Yeah,
small things and teenagers are my people. They always have been. A lot of people think I'm a little crazy, but I really love when they're 12 to 18. That is my favorite time to have conversations with them about their future. And so that's what I hope to give your listeners today is how do we have those conversations?
where the teenager is feeling empowered and inspired and really looking to have the life that they set out to live.
House Of Peregrine (04:10)
Yeah, which is really important and also a little bit scary if you're a parent. And so I can imagine with your wisdom with four of them, you have a lot to share. But you said something in there that I think is really important, especially maybe if you're in the US or are from the US, is that college debt is a really big concern. And especially maybe if you're living abroad, knowing how to navigate that, because at least from my friends in the States, I'm from the States, but
A lot of my family still lives there. And that's their biggest worry is how are we going to pay for university? It's even quadrupled since I went to university. The debt that you, it seems is inevitable. And then when we're staring, I have two teens, one preteen, and we're going, okay, what if we want to send them to school in the States where they're from? That seems daunting because at least when I was going to school, you needed in-state tuition.
grants, all these things. And so it sounds like you have some good strategies and maybe some insight even for our international families as well.
Shellee Howard (05:11)
And I think that's important. So I really dove into the international universities four years ago. My youngest, so my first went to Harvard pre-med and graduated without debt, went on to UC San Diego Medical School and he is the chief resident at UCLA Orthopedic Surgery.
he set the bar really high for the others. Imagine following, Internationally, that would be your Cambridge or your Oxford or, there's so many great ones, but I like to let listeners know, like, I've had to learn through the process of being a parent. My second chose University of Alabama and we're from...
House Of Peregrine (05:36)
Yeah.
Shellee Howard (05:55)
Southern California and I'm like, why in the world would we go to Alabama? Well, it's the football, right? So the first went Ivy, the second went to college for the whole school experience. Third, he wanted to stay a little closer to home. He's like, you know, I'm not feeling I need this big, large adventure. I kind of like it here. And so he went to San Francisco State University and graduated in three years debt free. And then my fourth.
This is how I learned about the international side of things. She says, I have no desire to go Ivy. I have no desire to go to football school. I don't really even like school. I like to travel. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are we talking about here? And she says, well, I really want to go to school in Europe. And I am like, of course you do, because that's the only thing I haven't mastered yet. And so that's an important
point as listeners from all over the globe is university in Europe applying and getting accepted is very different than applying and getting accepted in at the US. They both have their challenges. They both have their their positives. And so I like families to really think about what is the end result. Remember college or university is not the end.
It's the stepping stone to get to where they want to go. And so if your child wants to live in the US after university or college, I recommend going to university in the US. On the flip side, if your child is like my fourth and it's like, I'm over the US, I'm ready to head out. We had other challenges like
That's a long way for a young lady to be by herself when she's 18. Her father had a big fit, but we got past it. And the nice thing is she wanted to do international business. She can live on either side of the border. It does not matter. And so for her as an international entrepreneur, she could go anywhere she wanted. And so
parents or guardians, if you're listening, really think about the child. I have four and all four are completely unique. Right. And that is what I want your listeners to really understand, because if you have a child whose core value is family and they think they want to go across the globe, they don't quite understand what that entails.
because a core value of family is I need to see them, talk to them, be with them all the time. But a core value of adventure or travel or excitement or, I don't know, just a unique core value, they could care less if they talk to their parent every day. They are just fine. And that was my fourth. She's just like, I want adventure. I want something different.
House Of Peregrine (08:58)
Ciao.
Shellee Howard (09:05)
So applying to college and the cost of college is going to be very unique from the US to Europe.
House Of Peregrine (09:11)
each kid.
So I wanna start that. How do you get, how do you recommend or do you have a framework for how to find kids' core values? Because if I say the word core value to my 15-year-old, he's gonna be like, mom, what are you talking about? What do mean core value? So tell me how you start those conversations, because I have a feeling the earlier the better.
Shellee Howard (09:27)
Yes. So I have.
Yes. Core values are set by seventh or eighth grade depending on the child's maturity. So think about your child, right? Sometimes first born, second born, third born, that plays into it as well. Knowing your own child, when they hit an element of maturity that they can tell you who they they're ready to talk about their core values. If you ask them,
who are you and they shrug and they're like, I don't know. They're just starting to comprehend who they are. So you have to meet them where they are. Regardless, you can start as young as elementary school playing this game. So I'm gonna give you the fundamentals and hopefully parents, can enjoy this So there's only two rules and they love that. The first rule is that
the students and it could be multiple children, cannot roll their eyes and call an idea stupid. That's it. That's the foundation. From the parent's side, the parent cannot gasp, not art. You'll have to be a little bit of like that straight face and like hold your shock in because they may shock you.
House Of Peregrine (10:36)
like that role.
Shellee Howard (10:52)
And those are the only two rules. After that, here's how the game is played. I always recommend if you can do this one on one with your where it's you and them, quality time, get a frozen yogurt, gelato, whatever that is. Now you sit down and you say, if I gave you a million dollars cash,
and you had to spend it in 24 hours or give it all back to me, what would you do with it? And if they say, I have no idea, that means they're not ready to talk about their core values and who they are. They're just not ready to intellectually dive into that. Maybe you wait six months, maybe you wait a year. On you may get a child who says,
well, first, I take all of my friends and I buy a jet airplane and then I buy a yacht and I would take them around the world for a year and you're like, no, no, one million. So that means they have no financial literacy whatsoever. And that's the first thing you need to help them understand is how much are groceries? How much is electricity? Do you ever want to live on your own like the fundamentals of life? And then you may have a child who says, well,
First, I would buy a fixer-upper home. I'd fix it up, and then I'd sell it, and I'd buy two, and then I'd sell those, and I'd buy three. And then they're listening to your conversations. Not that you're even knowing it, but they're hearing you talk about how do we invest? How do we adult? And they're going to be everything else in between. So for the in-betweeners, what you're going to do next is you're going to help
them gently by saying, so what would you do with the money? And well, I don't know. I buy clothes. OK, what kind of clothes? How much of your million dollars would you spend on clothing? you would give it all away to a charity. What charity would you give it all away to? you would give it all to your parents. How lovely. How much would you give?
or what kind of car you want to buy, what color, is it new, is it used? All of the sudden, you're just helping pull out in them these things that value, right? If they value their family, they're going to talk about, want to take my whole family on a vacation. If they value friends, I just want to take all my friends with me. If they value giving,
So you can start to gently pull out without, what do you want to do when you grow up? Or who are you? Or you know what I mean, the hard, hard questions.
House Of Peregrine (13:39)
Yeah,
no pressure. PS, some adults can't answer that question.
Shellee Howard (13:44)
Yes, truly. And so I
call it a game and I say, will you play a game with me? And let's just talk about you'd spend a million dollars. Well, at the end, once I've helped them break down how much money they would spend on each thing, I say, can I share what you told me? And they're like, yeah. I say, well, that brand new Maserati that you really want
You were a little low on the cost. So let's talk a little bit about that. And then we break it down so they start to understand is money important to them? For some children, it's not until they have to use their own money, right? They can spend your money all day long. But when you ask them to spend their own money, now they're a little more stingy. And so it's it's leading them.
with questions that are open-ended without judgment. Now they're leaning into the conversation sharing with you because it's a game. And that is the entry level to the core value.
House Of Peregrine (14:54)
Cool. And that is helpful on many levels, but when you're looking to make that next step, and I bet it's a little bit like we talk about like sex education or these harder, harder talks that parents have with their kids, it's not maybe one conversation. This is multiple conversations. But so assuming you start doing that as soon as possible, you kind of help them get to know themselves, you know them a bit better. This helps you
with debt how? to graduate without debt how?
Shellee Howard (15:24)
So,
yes. So once a student gets to know themselves truly, who are they, what matters to them, and how have they proven it? That's how you go debt free because you know where you want to go, which is going to save you time and money. You know how you're going to get there, which is going to save you time and money. You've proven to the university that you know what you want, which is going to get you in.
House Of Peregrine (15:40)
Yep. Yep.
Shellee Howard (15:52)
and get you big scholarships. So starting with the foundation of who is the student and what is important to them will save you time, money, and debt.
House Of Peregrine (16:04)
And so that sometimes, at least when I was at university, that is a lot of time and money wasted where it's not wasted. It depends on how you look at it. But if you want to spend the time and money spending tuition and changing majors and all this stuff, you can. But it's just good for the kids maybe to realize that's what's happening. So you can take eight years to get a bachelor's degree, but that's a choice you're making. And so.
Yeah, and on this podcast, we talk a lot about getting to know yourself and as adults, as kids. And so that's a really beautiful framing for how to start talking to your kids about their core values and what they wanna do. And as international parents, it's really tricky because they sometimes have multiple allegiances or they have multiple identities. And so in my family, at least we talk a lot about way the culture is in the US, because our family, we're...
My husband and I are both from the US and our kids have been here since they were little. And so they have kind of this split idea. So I think I had another woman on this podcast and she was saying, you know, all of my kids are on different continents now because we raised them abroad. And so she said, be careful what you the freedom you tell them the world is theirs, they'll take it. But at least for me, I've been.
excited about that, about offering that to them, but also a little bit scared because it feels like we're in this in-between between two systems. Being from the US, and again, like when I was going to university, you paid in-state tuition, so some people would move to the state to get better tuition that they knew they wanted to go to school in, like strategically. And I know some people who doing that with countries, so moving to the EU strategically so their kids get university for free. And so it sounds like you're saying maybe that's
We don't need to make these big life changes in order to be strategic about our kids being able to live their dreams still.
Shellee Howard (17:55)
Yeah, I think that's important, especially in the US, because many people are terrified. One, it's so competitive and so expensive that they throw up their hands and they're just super frustrated. as in Europe, I was just at University of Reykjavik in Iceland and Bacone in Italy last week doing college tours. And what I can say is it's happening over there as well.
that good schools are competitive no matter where you're at. And so I approach it very differently. I approach it from what is best for the child, the child, not children, but that unique individual, what ultimately is going to serve them well. If they want to be a doctor in the United States, they need to go to college in the United States. If they want to be an entrepreneur,
They can be anywhere they want to be and do whatever it is they want to be. So it's helping families navigate because when you apply to university, universities are looking at your GPA and your test score. If they could care less about your community service, your extracurriculars, your leadership. Now flip-flop if you're applying in the US.
It is completely holistic and you better have a lot more than just a GPA and a test score. So that's the unique part of understanding both of the beauties of in and out. And I have a lot of students that will apply half of their universities in the US and half of them abroad. And then they look at ultimately what is the best academic, social and financial fit.
for me. But that's at the end, not at the beginning.
House Of Peregrine (19:52)
Yeah, okay, cool. And so that, if you're, so it sounds like the process is a little bit, go from your core values so you don't waste time and energy. So know those values, kind of know where you're going. Even if it's just your first degree, maybe you're planning on getting many, but on this first one be targeted. You said something important, which is the extracurriculars really matter in the US. And so that's an interesting point for students who are going to,
Shellee Howard (20:15)
Mmm.
House Of Peregrine (20:20)
school outside of the US, what do you think, because at least in the Netherlands where I am, there aren't a lot of automatic extracurricular activities. And so what advice would you give people if they are preparing, they think their child might want to go to university in the US? Is there certain, I'm sure there's not certain extracurriculars, but can you give us maybe some guidelines that universities favor?
Shellee Howard (20:44)
So what they favor is exactly what you're talking about, not the easy ones. They're not impressed if everybody tutors. Any smart person can tutor another person. It's not, wow, that's amazing, they tutored. Or feeding the homeless, that's a very popular, easy one. I tell my students, if it's as simple as sign up and show up, colleges are not impressed.
you leading others to do something, that is what all they're looking for. So it really comes down to it's better off. You're at an advantage if you're not just signing up and showing up and doing what everybody else is doing. I'll give you an example or examples. So I have a nonprofit called Empower Education dot World where I mentor students all over the globe.
every Sunday on how to find their passion and live with purpose. We have built two schools in Uganda and support an orphanage in Oaxaca, Mexico. It's truly an international program. And why it's so great is because we have international students from all over the world who are collaborating as teenagers to be change makers and lead other people. That's extracurriculars that
colleges stand up and cheer for because it took somebody's initiative, somebody's desire, somebody's passion, somebody's leadership to make this happen. And so I now mentor teenagers to lead other teenagers to make impact. That can happen in or out of the US. It's just desire.
House Of Peregrine (22:33)
So directing your desire to bringing people together or doing a task or a project. Do other languages, are those impressive at all? So if your kid is trilingual, helpful, not helpful.
Shellee Howard (22:47)
I think it's helpful if they want to do something to use it. I think if they just have multiple languages, mean, that sets them apart, but if they were going to go into a career that you didn't need any of that, I don't know how impressed they would be versus if they wanted to be a diplomat or ...
something where they were really going to count on all of that. I will tell you, my two oldest, I have a doctor and a nurse, and they both fought me on learning Spanish. They did not want to do it. And I made them do it. And they use it every single day for their career. That is impressive. That is making sense. But I have students who are learning Latin.
and Chinese and English. And you're like, what are you going to do with all that other than you're good at it and you enjoy it? It's an extracurricular for them. They find joy in learning languages and traveling internationally. That sets them apart in the uniqueness that it offers, but it's not going to trump a high GPA or a high test score.
House Of Peregrine (24:07)
Right, yeah. And that's what I'm getting is that leadership is of utmost importance in the US system and maybe even being aligned with their chosen field. that, yeah. So that really gets to this getting to know yourself sooner, learning your core values, you know, not rushing it, like you said, but having these friendly conversations because do you really think some of this stuff is innate or all of it's innate?
Shellee Howard (24:15)
Yes.
That would be a blessing.
there's none of it that's innate. These kids are on their phone so much. They're looking at everybody's best day and they think that they're not, they think they're an imposter, that they're not good enough. They're not smart enough. They're not, they're not enough because this technology day and age is, it's competitive to see everybody's best day.
And so helping students realize that they were giving gifts and talents and they advocate for things they're passionate about, that's what colleges want to know. They don't want everybody to be the same. They're not looking to just have a bunch of CPAs one year and a bunch of artists the next year and then engineers. They have to have a balanced college because they're not going to fire teachers every year.
We have to help families understand that they want your child to be genuinely, uniquely them.
House Of Peregrine (25:37)
Yeah, yeah, that's cool. And to actually bring that out in the process of selection and any applications and all this stuff. And so is that kind of where you come in is helping people as you're having these conversations with your teenager, hopefully earlier than teenager, but even through your teenage years and into university age, as you're doing these applications.
That is kind of the process because at least in the case of my kids, we'll be looking at least in two continents. And with your youngest daughter, it sounds like you're looking at two continents. That's a lot of schools. So how do you start narrowing that down? Like, is it value space? Is that kind of where your specialty is? Have you thought of, you you've thought of Harvard, but have you thought of these schools? Like, that kind of where you come in a little bit?
Shellee Howard (26:24)
So that's a part of what we do. We start with the very beginning as we help with college and career assessments, where we actually have gamified for teenagers to figure out who they are. Then we can let them know how much a career will make, how much debt they would have to incur. Will AI be taking that career over? So don't even waste your time or money doing that, right?
House Of Peregrine (26:49)
Yeah, that's a good one.
Very timely. ⁓
Shellee Howard (26:54)
So,
yes, so we start with that because it gives them processing time as we start to choose the right classes, choose the right test, choose the right community service, choose the right leadership, choose the right extracurriculars, right? It guides them versus kind of throwing spaghetti at a wall and hopefully something sticks.
we start there, then from there, we help them to build their extracurriculars, honors and awards. Colleges in the US, colleges will have a spot for 10 activities, honors and awards. And at the University of California schools, there's 20. In Europe, that's not a thing. So it's really important
House Of Peregrine (27:44)
you
Shellee Howard (27:46)
for families to understand if they do wanna apply in the US, they need extracurriculars, they need service, they need to set themselves apart. So what we do is we help them to figure out, do they want a big school, small school, East Coast, West Coast, public, private? We help them to navigate what is it that they think they want. And then I just did my hundredth
hard to imagine, college tour internationally last week. And so in the US, I've done more than that. So I have an advantage because I've been on the campus, I've seen the students, I understand their academia, I understand how long does it take to graduate. In some schools in the US, it could take you six years to get a four-year degree because they're so overcrowded.
House Of Peregrine (28:19)
well.
Shellee Howard (28:40)
People are like, what? That's a thing? And I'm like, yes, that's a thing. In Europe, my daughter got in and out with a dual US European degree in three years in total for 27,000 US dollars in total. Well seen all of Europe on the weekends. Which of your children is that? That is what I get to do. I get to help them navigate
House Of Peregrine (28:42)
Yeah, that's a thing.
Wow.
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
Shellee Howard (29:09)
What platform is a good fit for you? Is it this type of Ivy thing? Is it a small private? Is it a large public? Do they want to graduate at the top of their class so they can go in to get their master's or law? There's so many things to consider that we guide them through that. Some students start as young as 12 years old. Some students
Don't find us until they're in their final hours and we just have to move a lot quicker. So it really is helping them academically, financially and socially navigate the process, but really leaning in with don't start with the school, start with you, start with the child.
House Of Peregrine (29:55)
start with you and what your goals are, even if it's your 12 year old goals, which are valid, I think it tells you. And that's what I guess I mean about being an aid. Do you see in your own kids that their core values kind of, like you said, were kind of there already. You just kind of had to help them discover and maybe yourself discover them along with them. Is that what I'm gathering from what you're saying?
Shellee Howard (30:00)
Yeah.
For some students, yes. For some students who are really good at a lot of different things, it is torturous for the parent because if you're really good at numbers, you're going to go into business or engineering or something scientific. If you're really good at your English and your liberal arts, so it's easier to help a child who is more directed.
And that was my firstborn. We knew early on he had the gift of photographic memory for numbers. And so it really just it helped guide his path. My second, hers was compassion for human beings. So we learned early on that she would do things for other people that would gross me out, just nursing kind of things. And I'm like, you have a gift of compassion. You need to lean into that.
And so I think it's important to help your child. I took my son to Kenya, Africa because I wanted to know, did he want to be a doctor for the money or did he want to be a doctor to serve his community for the rest of his life? You put these situations in front of the child and watch how they navigate and it becomes so apparent when you give them opportunity.
House Of Peregrine (31:33)
Yeah.
Yeah. And a lot of us are watching our kids do that abroad. They're navigating two cultures, multiple languages. In the Netherlands, they learn three to four languages at school. And so it's quite, what I'm learning as a parent, of course, we're all doing this for the first time. So it's amazing that there's someone like you who has some wisdom and experience as a mother and this, but is that they actually ask them to get to know themselves a lot earlier here.
And so they're in that process a lot earlier, but it leads to these inconsistencies. So they get tracked earlier and maybe it's all of Europe. So ⁓ they know if they're university bound by 12. And so that's quite intense. So there's already this split at 12 where the kids go on different tracks. ⁓ But what we've done with them and just kind of just because it's part of our culture,
Shellee Howard (32:09)
Good luck.
It's...
Yes.
House Of Peregrine (32:36)
is all of our kids play an instrument, they each have a sport, and they each, you know, they have, we just grew up doing this. But people here make fun of Americans because they have extracurricular activities that they don't, they do too, but they're hobbies. And so it's funny that you mentioned that it's an advantage. So now I can say, by the way, they need this if they want to go to university.
Shellee Howard (32:57)
And not only that, but it's helping them figure out who they are. When I learned to play an instrument, it was very humbling because I was not gifted at it. So not every child is going to be good at all of these. so allowing them to play tennis or allowing them to be a runner or do art or whatever, it's not doing it for college, it's doing it to help them adult.
House Of Peregrine (33:08)
Thank you.
Yeah, and be a
Shellee Howard (33:28)
Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (33:29)
full person. And so is that the way you approach it? Is like, don't do it for university. Find these extracurriculars that are genuine to you. And that's not a system thing. That's almost like just wisdom, like a spiritual wisdom. Like doors will open for you if you are aligned with yourself. Is that kind of part of what you're helping people to do?
Shellee Howard (33:48)
Yeah.
It's really connecting with a teenage mind. A teenage mind is still so simple. It hasn't been through the years and years of socialization and all of the pressures that we go through as an adult. It's still very just raw. And so I tell them lean into that and it will help navigate their compass.
to say, you know, this is easy for me. And what might be easy for your child number one, maybe awful for child number two, like picking up the phone and ordering pizza. For one child that's like, that's so silly, so stupid. And the other child's like, please don't make me do that. That's horrible.
That to me is intuition as a parent. And I don't know if it's just my parental intuition, but I loved when I saw them doing something that they were gifted at and calling it out. Wow, you really led that beautifully. And they're like, I did? I don't know what you're talking about. That is how you're.
House Of Peregrine (35:02)
You do sound like
an incredible mom, so that's credit to you. But you can teach us all something here, which is to start really pointing out when you notice your kid is good at something and reflect that back to them, because that's how they get to know themselves.
Shellee Howard (35:17)
That's it. It's as simple as not, you know, not everybody's going to get a trophy. That's not what I'm talking about. I also would tell them, are you sure you want to do that for the rest of your life? My son wanted to be a trash truck driver. Nothing wrong with that. Not here to say that that's a bad thing. But he had photographic memory.
House Of Peregrine (35:18)
Thanks.
You
Shellee Howard (35:42)
It was like, you sure that's using your best skills and your best talents? That's what I'm talking about.
House Of Peregrine (35:48)
giving them a little bit of perspective.
Shellee Howard (35:51)
Perspective is a lot. Yeah. Some are great test takers. Some are not.
House Of Peregrine (35:57)
Some are not, yep. And that's one big difference, Is the testing is different depending on which, so do you have, how do you navigate people who live in the US and want to go to Europe or the other way, like with your daughter, what is the test taking strategy or are they transferable between continents?
Shellee Howard (36:15)
I think setting yourself up for what you don't know is the most important thing. So what you don't do will cost you. So here's the best way to look at it. If you think for a second you might want to come into the US, you better be test prepping. That's all I'm going to say about that. If you want, if you have an inkling that your child may want to study university in Europe,
they better be at the top of their class with the highest GPA possible. So there are just things we like to let students know that, okay, the worst case is they test prep and they're a better test taker and they don't need to do the testing. That's not a horrible thing.
House Of Peregrine (37:01)
Yep.
No. And so what I'm gathering from this is the test. So even in an IB program or something like this, you still have to do the US tests or you have to really have the top of your class to stand out in Europe. Okay, cool. And so if you think, so let's say my 15 year old thinks he might want to go to the US for university. He would need to take either the ACT or the SAT depending on his target schools, maybe both. ⁓
Shellee Howard (37:12)
Yes.
Yes.
Yes,
House Of Peregrine (37:31)
And so prepping for those tests. Okay. ⁓
Shellee Howard (37:31)
he doesn't need to take all, just one. Yeah. And so what we do with our students is we give them a time diagnostic at home exam for the ACT and the SAT. And then we let the numbers prove to the student which is their best test because they have a ton of theories about which is their best test and none of them are correct.
So they've heard or they've researched or yes, don't believe any of it parents. They need to show proof, which is their best test, throw away one of them, focus on the other, have a goal of what test score they need to hit to get into their dream school. That's what we can show them. And then from there, now they have a goal. So you're not having to nag them about hitting the score. They are self-motivated to hit the score.
House Of Peregrine (38:21)
Yeah, nice. And that's really important, actually, especially if you're coming from abroad. And with your daughter, was that kind of what she was focused on? She's like, I don't care if my friends are getting Cs, whatever, Bs, probably not Cs, but they have a different goal. My goal is to go abroad, so I need to stand out with academics. And that was kind of her North Star.
Shellee Howard (38:42)
Yes.
It was, and it really made a big decision in where she could apply. In Europe, it's very, it's cut and dry. It's like, if you don't have at least this GPA, don't apply here. I mean, they call it straight out. They're not trying to hide it. Like in the US are like, well, we have this range and this range is kind of vague and nobody really knows. But in Europe,
House Of Peregrine (38:59)
Right.
you
Shellee Howard (39:10)
I mean, my Italian exchange daughter, she lived with me for a year, so I helped her get ready. And she's in Italy. And as much as she wanted to go to a certain school, her marks did not allow it.
House Of Peregrine (39:26)
Wow. Wow. Yeah, it's pretty it could be very insular in some ways.
Shellee Howard (39:33)
Yeah,
and there's no getting off a path. Once you're set on a path, if you've decided that you're not going to go a top tier school in Europe, it's really, I haven't had a student who's been able to get off that path and jump over to the other side. They really pigeonhole. And that's why I tell students, the sooner you start this process, the better off you will be.
House Of Peregrine (39:58)
Yeah, you mean in Europe, they pigeonhole kids into staying at that. interesting. And when does that start? Like when they apply?
Shellee Howard (40:03)
yeah.
When they ask
them, it really starts kind of in the middle school, the middle age, when they are like, well, do you see yourself as a business person or going into medicine? What they're really doing is they're fast tracking them into a certain program for the university at a very young age, much younger than the US.
House Of Peregrine (40:29)
Yeah, it's, I totally see that with my kids and my kids, I have three different kids as well. And my daughter's at a very high level, like university track school. My middle, or my oldest is an IB program. And so we don't know what that means. So tell us about what you know about IB because there's all these rumors in the international community. Oh, it's going out of style. It's not as well regarded. It's perfect. So tell us about this because sometimes you...
you might know more than we do.
Shellee Howard (40:59)
So it's interesting. Again, I'm going to break it down for in the US and outside because it means something different in both areas. So IB or International Baccalaureate, for those of you who are like, I don't understand the language you're talking, ⁓ is very important to know your child. If you have a child that despises writing, do not put them in an IB program because there's a lot.
House Of Peregrine (41:13)
What is IB? Yeah.
Shellee Howard (41:27)
of writing and their thesis their senior year will absolutely destroy them as they're applying for college at the same time if they don't like writing. So know your child first and foremost. After that in the U.S. there are some high schools that have worked really really really hard to become an IB school because it's prestigious and
They like to flaunt it and it attracts certain people. But in all honesty, it's no better than AP Advanced Placement. Where it is better is if a child really enjoys reading, writing, and history because it really lends itself well to that child. But if you have a math science kid, it is
painful and I've watched so many struggle through it. So it's knowing your child. An IB is just as good as an AP. The main difference financially. AP equals dollars. If you get a three, four or five on your AP exam and you have three of those, you're now an AP scholar.
And some schools will say you don't have to take any of those classes that you scored a three, a four, or a five on in college, which could equate to about a year of not having to go to college, which saves a year of tuition. That doesn't happen with IB. So if you're looking for financially, AP is going to get you there quicker if, if...
House Of Peregrine (42:56)
wow. Yeah.
Okay.
Shellee Howard (43:09)
A school allows you to do it like that. At our IBs they don't. So at an Ivy, it doesn't matter if you're AP or IB. It truly doesn't matter. So there's pros and cons, and that's why there's so many rumors out there. It's because it really depends on the child. It comes down to what is better for that child. Will they get better grades and learn more as an IB student?
or an AP student or a dual enrollment student, right? That's where they're taking college at the same time that they're taking high school and they're clicking them off. again, what does the child, where are they going to be most successful? That's the program they need to be in.
House Of Peregrine (43:54)
Yeah, and sometimes it's complex as a universe. If you're in the private system here, obviously you're not in a different language, you're learning in English. If you speak English natively and you're in a private school here, you're usually in English. And so that makes it less complicated. But in a lot of people's case, especially since a lot more people are choosing to move abroad, not for jobs, just for lifestyle reasons,
A lot more people are putting their kids in public schools that they are learning in their second languages. It's a very big trend because then the tuition is free and then they just have to learn the language. And as young kids, that's easier. But as they mature or you don't know your future, if it's uncertain where your family is going to be, say after a decade, because there's a lot of complications with visas or aging parents or jobs.
There's a lot of things, pressures and different things for international families. That's when this choice starts to become, there's these points. And my family hit one when my oldest went to middle bar school. So it was like, do you wanna go to university here? Then you should choose this type of school. If you think you might wanna go to school in the US and you might be doing your tests, cause he's 15 now. So he chose an IB school that he could study in English for three years. And so then he could.
be educating for the first time in school in English, even though he's a native English speaker. And so these are these, they're pressure points for everyone, parents in the US, parents around the world, but as an international family, there's these pressure points where you really need to have this insight you're giving me as soon as possible. And so that's why I love that you're here, because there are a lot of these things and there's a lot of.
There's a big shift in the international population, especially in the last eight years that I've been abroad. Is it used to be you're here for a job, maybe, but there's just a lot more people that are like, we're here for as long as we are having fun. know, people are moving for their values. And so that is a totally different way of approaching things, which is super simple when the kids are little. And then it gets a lot more complex in these little moments of pressure. And often the local schools don't understand your plight. Like I said,
Shellee Howard (45:55)
Mm-hmm.
House Of Peregrine (46:08)
There's no extracurriculars. My son's teacher told me, why do you have him doing all this stuff? He's a kid. And I'm like, well, I don't know. It's our culture. We weren't doing it for university, but because they don't have football, basketball, they don't have sports in school usually. And so these are things to really be aware of, even if you don't know where you'll end up is to have your eyes on these, not only your kids values and your location, but what these
ecosystems are how they're different. That's such good insight. And so I have what I have from our conversation so far, and I know we don't have unlimited amounts of time is know your kids values, know their core values, and get to know them as early as possible. Do the testing you think you'll need to do, prepare for it, even if there's a possibility. And then what else? Is there anything else we should be talking about?
Shellee Howard (47:01)
For sure. So for families in the US, scholarships are a big deal. And the earlier you start to apply for them, you can start applying for college scholarships when they're in middle school. You don't have to wait until they're in high school or in college.
House Of Peregrine (47:19)
I did not know that. This is breaking news, Shellee. Okay, tell us, tell me.
Shellee Howard (47:21)
Most families don't. So... yeah.
The shock on your face
kind of tells me that this is big news. So families back in the day would not even talk about college till their junior year and maybe not even till their senior year, but it wasn't half as competitive and it wasn't half as expensive. Now, because it is more competitive and more expensive, we've had to start having these conversations earlier so they can start applying to independent scholarships
when they're in middle school, which will go for college tuition. All the way through college, they can be applying. So middle school, all the way through college, they can get free money. There's buckets of money in the US. There is institutional money, which is if you get in and they want you, they will throw money at you. There is independent. If you have green eyes and blonde hair, there's a
Scholarship for that. have some really random ones. Ten thousand dollars if you're a vegan. Like there's some really random ones. Then if you're in the US, you complete what's called the FAFSA and that opens up the world of scholarships. Free money. The FAFSA looks at the second semester of their sophomore year in high school. So if you're waiting until your junior year to talk about this, you just missed out on a ton of free money. So
These are the things that make it very unique. The other thing is going from the US to Europe, there are some schools that are very inexpensive for international students to attend and then there are some that are not cheap. There are some that are quite expensive. So it's not one way fits everything. so...
You know, I've written two bestselling books and my last one was the college admissions plan simplified because it has become so complex. And now if you add both international and US like I did in my own family, like it's twice as overwhelming and twice as frustrating. And I, I, I feel for you because I lived it. but
Either way you go, it is important to think about the whole process, not just put your head down and just kind of hope it all happens. Lacking to plan is planning to fail and you can't catch up and you can't fix something that you made a mistake on in this process. So knowing and working with a college strategist like myself,
will save you time, money and heartache because this is what we do. It's kind of like doing your own taxes, right? You could do your own taxes or you hire a tax specialist who knows tax code. Very similar. And there, I don't know of another consultant in the US that is doing both US and European and doing it well. And because it is complex, most people are like,
House Of Peregrine (50:22)
Mm-hmm.
Shellee Howard (50:43)
Why would I want to do that? That's crazy. Who would want to do that? I've been doing
House Of Peregrine (50:47)
just like tax
lawyers or just like tax, nobody does both.
Shellee Howard (50:50)
Yeah. No,
I've been in 99 countries and that's why I'm passionate to be able to allow students to be able to choose which way they want to go because I think both offer such incredible opportunities that I can't just side with one way. I think for the right student, one way is not the best way.
House Of Peregrine (51:13)
Yeah, what a beautiful outlook too, because I think that a lot of times international families or families who have that aspiration are very poorly understood. When we're using tax people as a, they're just always like, no, why are you doing this? It's very hard. You're making your life very hard financially. But you said something really important, which I think is something I wanna highlight, which is if you're living in the US, you can do the FAFTA, FAFTA?
Shellee Howard (51:25)
Okay.
That's FASFA.
F-A-S-F-A. ⁓
House Of Peregrine (51:41)
But
if you are American but are living abroad, you can't. Is that right?
Shellee Howard (51:47)
depends on the visa, depends on green card. There's a lot of, for the most part, no, but I have had some families that have dual citizenship who have been able to pull it off. And it also depends on where they are going to graduate in the US or in Europe. So it's really quite complex.
on a whole nother level. And so I've had families where one parent lives in the US and one lives in Europe and the student is bounced when you're here, when you're there, because they couldn't navigate the process. So it is challenging. And if money is important, then you want to be looking at now, where should I be? At what point? Because
There are advantages of living in the US if you're going to go to university in the US. International students pay double what US students pay. That's painful.
House Of Peregrine (52:51)
Yeah, as even if you're, so that's a residency matters is I guess my point is still matters. Maybe the state tax residency doesn't count. It's where you actually live. Is that what I'm gathering?
Shellee Howard (53:02)
where you
graduate from. So, yes. And you can't just go there a month before, they'll look at your transcript and they'll know what you're doing. But that is a reality is they're going to consider, a perfect example is I have families who think they're gonna outsmart the universities and at the last minute transfer into California so they can
House Of Peregrine (53:04)
Where you graduate from, ⁓
Shellee Howard (53:28)
apply to a University of California school and pay in-state tuition doesn't work like that. I don't know if it's six months. I don't know if it's a year. I can't remember the exact number, but they do look at, you have to be at that school. I think it's a year, but it may be six months.
House Of Peregrine (53:49)
Okay. reason to hire someone like you to help you decide where to live next. No, that's, yeah, no, but that's, but so at House of Peregrine, that's what we're always trying to help people do is you, you can't live, you can, but if you have a very specific goal in mind, you do have to plan and you have to have experts along the ride with you. Whereas if you stayed in your home country and lived in the same place, you would
Shellee Howard (53:53)
Yeah, in case you didn't know, I can help you figure that out too. Sure.
House Of Peregrine (54:16)
be going with the system and be doing what it intends. But for all intents and purposes, if you are not living in where your passport is from, you are an exception to most things. And so it's, we're always trying to give people the resources like yourself, the wisdom so that they can make good decisions and not have, be further outside the system to be able to do as much as possible strategic life planning. And so that, yeah, it's a beautiful insight you have there.
It turns out my friends are moving for good reasons.
Shellee Howard (54:46)
And you could say one way or the other. I mean, there's lots of people moving out of the US and there's still people moving into the US. So I go back to what is best for your family and in particular, the teenagers in your family and ultimately, where do they want to live and where do they want to start life?
House Of Peregrine (54:46)
Anyway.
Shellee Howard (55:10)
because that's going to impact them. Do they want an MBA, PhD, law degree, medical degree? Sometimes just choosing that path is going to force them to go one route or the other.
House Of Peregrine (55:22)
Yeah, cool. So start in middle school applying for, applying for scholarships. No, that's a really huge thing that you just gave a huge tip to people, especially if they're in the US to start applying for these things. So is there, it feels like you just have like a list in your head. Do you have like resources or is this what your clients get from you to where, cause I'm assuming you don't just.
you need to be strategic about where you're applying. So you have a dream to go to Harvard. You start applying for scholarships to Harvard in middle school. Is that kind of?
Shellee Howard (55:58)
No, it's a little more complex than that. So my son knew in eighth grade he wanted to go to Harvard. And I knew that I had no idea how we were going to afford $63,000 a year. And so our strategy was we were going to make sure that he was so valuable to Harvard that they were going to gift him that degree.
What we ended up doing is he had an incredible resume, got a full ride to USC, University of Southern California, and Harvard matched it. So we negotiated, we did financial reconsiderations, we made him such a great candidate that schools were fighting over him. And that is a strategy that one can use.
For other students, they might use a totally different strategy of, have no idea what school I want to go to, but I do know that I want to go to medical school. So I need to go to an undergrad that is going to set me up where I can be at the top 5 % of my class. So when I apply to medical school, I am now a competitive candidate. Well, that's a whole nother layer that most people don't even think about.
So everything we do is a custom strategy. There's not one size fits all. So what I would do with your child number one would be different than child number two and child number three. And that is what makes our program so successful. Last year, our students got 13.3 million dollars in scholarships and every student got into their top three school. So
the program success is because we don't do anything the same for every student. And it's not that it's in my head, it's actually in a custom password protected portal. the resources, 18 years I've up here is in there, but I have certified college consultants where we meet with students via Zoom.
House Of Peregrine (58:08)
Wow.
Shellee Howard (58:15)
and we talk to them and we get to know them and we advocate for them and we mentor to them and they listen because our only desire is for them to be successful. they love to, their parents are like, I've told them that that the same exact thing and it's different.
House Of Peregrine (58:33)
It
hits different when it's not your parent.
Shellee Howard (58:35)
It is so different. so sometimes just coming from an expert, they're like, okay, that's what I need to do. And so a big part of what we offer is meeting the student where they're at, but knowing how to get them where they need to go.
House Of Peregrine (58:53)
amazing. So you're really a partner. It seems like you're really a partner in finding what they're a good fit is for them listening, strategizing, and then kind of navigating that whatever system you're navigating or to it sounds like it sounds like your your new expertise with your daughter is navigating both at the same time. But yeah, that's beautiful. And it's such an, like I said, usually as an international person, having these types of people on your team is
Shellee Howard (59:08)
For sure.
Yes.
House Of Peregrine (59:20)
is just you have to do it. You can't know everything. So I really love that you have experience in both. I wanted to talk quickly. You said you mentioned briefly about the charity that you're running. I wanted to talk about that really quick, if we could, and then tell and then we'll end with telling people about your books and then where they can find you if they want to maybe work together.
Shellee Howard (59:41)
Absolutely. So briefly, if you go to www.empowereducation.world, you can sign up your child for no cost at all to be part of this nonprofit international organization. I put this together because so many students were struggling to find their passion, to find their purpose.
to find community service that they wanted to do, to feel like they could make impact as a teenager, to even know the steps to start this process. And for the first 15 years of College Ready, I was painfully doing it one student at a time. And it was a bit exhausting. I loved it, but still very time consuming. And what I ended up doing
House Of Peregrine (1:00:27)
wow.
Shellee Howard (1:00:36)
is I was in Uganda, Africa. That was my fourth time in Africa. And I met a gentleman there who was a women's advocating attorney. And I was having lunch and I said, what exactly do you do? In Africa, women's rights are not really a thing. And here is a black man talking about women's rights. And so I was fascinated. Long story short, he said when a young girl becomes a woman, she gets her menstrual cycle.
She's unclean and she cannot continue her education. And I was not happy. As a mother of two daughters and being a woman myself, I thought that is cruel and unusual. And I said, what can be done? And he says, well, we can build a school where they can live in and we can educate them. And I said, well, why don't you do that? And he says, it costs money. I said, how much money? says, 6,000 US.
House Of Peregrine (1:01:11)
Yeah.
Shellee Howard (1:01:34)
and I wrote him a check.
House Of Peregrine (1:01:36)
Wow.
Shellee Howard (1:01:37)
And that's how got started. And so now my students have raised over $48,000 and they've built two classrooms. They're doing amazing things and they get to meet Yona straight from Africa and see the children and watch their progress. And it's just a beautiful thing. And the students get to...
House Of Peregrine (1:01:39)
Wow.
Shellee Howard (1:02:02)
work with other students who share the same passion of art or science or sports and make impact together. And it's such a cool place to just allow them to step into anything as possible. And I get to mentor students and help them navigate that process.
House Of Peregrine (1:02:22)
sounds fantastic and congratulations, that's a really cool story. And now you're not doing it one by one and you're personally in a way making more impact, which is very beautiful. Yeah, cool. And so.
Shellee Howard (1:02:27)
Thank you.
For sure, for sure. Yeah, so feel
free to go that website.
House Of Peregrine (1:02:39)
Yeah, perfect. We'll put that in the show notes and then your books. Tell me quickly your two books.
Shellee Howard (1:02:44)
Yes. So the first one is how to send your student to college without losing your mind to your money. That was my first bestselling book. And the reason why I wrote that is because my son made me a bet when he got into Harvard that if he graduated without debt, that I would write a book to help others do the same. And he remembered and I didn't write the book. So I had to stop what I was doing life.
House Of Peregrine (1:03:04)
Wow.
Shellee Howard (1:03:12)
and write the book. So that was my first one. And then my second one I just wrote is called, College Admissions Plan Simplified because I feel so heavy-hearted listening to all of the social media platforms on how overwhelming this process has become for families that I just wanted to give them a step-by-step timeline. Both books can be purchased
House Of Peregrine (1:03:14)
⁓
Shellee Howard (1:03:39)
on Amazon and you go to HTTPS colon double backslash bit.ly backslash CR book one and I'll put that in the show notes as well and the other ones book two but if you go to Amazon and just Google or search you'll they'll pop up they're the only ones with that name and so
The other thing I would like to gift your listeners is 30 minutes where I can answer their individual questions. They might have a question about finances or this child or whatever, and all they have to do is go to www.collegereadyplan.info. CollegeReadyPlan.info. And it will take you right to our calendar. You schedule an appointment and we give you a checklist to show you how
ready your family is for college.
House Of Peregrine (1:04:35)
Wow, that's great. Thank you so much. Be prepared to get a lot of people who are very confused about life from us. But I think it's really beautiful that you've had this experience as a parent now and as well as with your clients because I don't know, think we're pretty, the international community is pretty great. just sometimes are, the tax people get mad at us because we're complicated. But yes, but.
Shellee Howard (1:04:57)
It is complicated. It is.
House Of Peregrine (1:05:01)
So I'm just gonna say, if you need to know where you're going to move next, call Shellee. No, I'm kidding. But to be in all honesty, in all frankness, having a college or university consultant like you, I think is probably worth its time and investment from an emotional and also a financial standpoint. So please, for our audience, you're...
navigating these things, reach out to Shelly. She'll get you in the right direction. Is there anything else we've missed in the last minute or two that you want to talk to?
Shellee Howard (1:05:36)
I would recommend don't wait. Don't procrastinate on this one. If I can encourage you, the longer you wait, is the less money you'll receive. 18 years of doing this, the people who have these conversations, going on college tours like you would a museum or an art gallery, just walk on campus, explain to your children, know, intellectual curiosity.
get them on board so it's not another thing they have to do, but really inspire them about how life opens up the more opportunities that they have. And college is just one of them. It's not the end game.
House Of Peregrine (1:06:16)
That's beautiful. That's beautiful. You've given us so much today. I really appreciate you coming on. I'm very, very excited for our community to reach out to you. And thank you, everyone, for listening and for coming on and listening to us today. I hope you've enjoyed Shellee. And please feel free to like or share this podcast if it's been helpful for you. And we will see you next time.