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Steve and Dottie Sterling created their first college admission
scheduling system as a way to prepare their high school
children for getting into the best colleges and universities
possible. As an educator and student mentor for more than
22 years, Steve has spent years refining their methods, patenting
their processes and today the result is a unique online admissions
system written for students and free of charge.
The Sterlings believe every student and parent should possess
the same basic tools, information and advantages when applying
to colleges and universities. This is what inspired them
to create their college admissions calendaring method more
than nine years ago and why the system has been so successful
from its inception to date.
How MyCollegeCalendar Started
MyCollegeCalendar.org's scheduling system began in 1999
as hand-written college admission notes on a wall calendar
for the high school children of co-founders Steve and Dottie
Sterling. The calendar and notes were displayed with step-by-step
instructions so all family members could see upcoming tasks
related to college admission and to take action when needed. Soon
word of the Sterling's calendar-based "system" spread
from household to household, eventually reaching local high
schools and colleges. The Sterlings began updating this calendar-based
system each year in anticipation of helping other students
and parents with the complex and confusing college admission
process.
By 2003, so many students were using this one of
a kind college admission calendar that the Sterling’s
were encouraged by friends and educators to create a company
called The Kalendarium to publish their guide for all students
to use. Wall-calendars of the college admission calendar
were professionally published in 2004, 2005, and 2006 with
great success. Thousands of students and parents from all
over the country purchased the Sterling's College Admission
Survival Guide. Many high schools purchased calendars
for their entire Junior and Senior classes as part of the
school year college-prep curriculum. Each annual calendar
release was improved and updated from the previous year but
it soon became clear that this unique product needed to
be accessible by a wider audience. In mid 2006, the Sterlings
partnered with friend and entrepreneur Mike Jacobson to move
the concept to an online college admissions tool
for any student or parent to use. The new team established
MyCollegeCalendar, Inc.
In the Fall of 2007 the company released its first online
beta product, the Essential Admissions Guide™,
an online college admission step-by-step calendar system
for both Junior and Senior high school students. In early
2008 the company officially launched MyCollegeCalendar.org,
its free college and university admission service written
and designed for students and parents involved in the college
admission process. The free service includes recommended
admissions schedules and a proprietary interactive task management
and calendaring tools for both Junior year planning and Senior
year application. Additionally, more than 2000 pages of uniquely
written admissions content is laid out specifically for students
along with multiple how-to guides assisting students with
the planning and admission process. Hundreds of links direct
students to external resources on a variety of topics. In
May 2008 the Company released its next generation calendaring
product, an interactive and personalized admissions
calendar and task manager.
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