For Parents of 9th–11th Graders
Why Straight-A Students Still Get Rejected by Top Colleges
Learn how your child's grades, activities, and college list affect admission odds, and how families who can afford full tuition can still pay less.
As Featured In
Led by Andy Lockwood — trusted by 2,400+ families over 24 years of college admissions and financial-aid experience.
Save Your Seat
Thursday, August 27 at 7:00 PM Pacific. Free to attend.
What families are saying about working with Andy
"Working with Lockwood College Prep over the past six years has been one of the best decisions my wife and I have made. They handled the financial aid process for both of our college-aged children and consistently delivered the absolute best FA deals year after year."
"Lockwood is worth every penny!! Even if you just use them to do your FAFSA each year. It is a full time job to do it on your own. Couldnt recommend them more strongly!!"
"We have been with Andy and Pearl for almost 10 years at this point. They have successfully guided our three kids through years of college and FAFSA applications. Having one less thing to worry about, and knowing that side of the process is being taken care correctly is priceless."
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Right now, your kid is just another applicant.
When your child's application looks like every other high-achieving kid... the only thing left is luck.
You hope the admissions officer has a good day. You hope the numbers work out. You hope for the best.
That's not a strategy. That's a prayer.
Andy's P4 system breaks you out of that. It's a framework so different from what your guidance counselor tells you that comparing the two stops making sense.
That's when the right schools start saying yes... the money starts showing up... and the anxiety drops for the first time in months.
What we'll cover at the live training:
#1: The Plan Phase
Discover how your child is actually wired and what that translates to in the real world. Most families skip this step entirely... and wonder why their kid picks the wrong school, the wrong major, and ends up transferring.
#2: The Path Phase
Back into a set of colleges that fit your kid's wiring, not just a list of prestige names. Find schools where your child will thrive and stand out, instead of disappearing into a pile of identical applications.
#3: The Position Phase
Optimize your child's entire body of work to stand out as an Incomparable Applicant. Not another well-rounded National Honor Society kid who looks like everyone else. Andy shows you what actually separates the kids who get in from the ones who don't.
#4: The Produce Phase
Pay less than sticker price even when you can afford full tuition. Andy breaks down how families who can write a check are still getting $30,000 to $60,000 a year in merit money through positioning and school selection that has nothing to do with income.
What Families Who Can Afford Tuition Get Wrong
The biggest misconception Andy hears from affluent families.
Most families who can comfortably write a check for tuition assume they don't need to think about financial aid, merit scholarships, or funding strategy. They assume those conversations are for families who need the help.
That assumption is exactly why wealthy families leave the most money on the table.
Merit aid is not need-based. It's based on how you position your child and which schools you target.
A family that can afford full sticker price at one school might receive $30,000, $40,000, even $60,000 a year in merit money at another school that's just as good... simply because they understood how to play the game.
Andy covers how families who can easily afford tuition are still paying less than sticker price through strategies that have nothing to do with income and everything to do with positioning, school selection, and knowing which schools are generous with merit money versus which ones are stingy.
If you can afford to pay full price, you can afford to pay less. That's what the Produce phase of the P4 system is about.
Meet Andy Lockwood
Andy Lockwood has spent 24 years helping families navigate the college admissions and financial aid process. He and his team have worked with over 2,400+ families, helping students get into top schools and helping families pay less than they ever thought possible.
Andy has been featured as an expert (not a suspect) in the Netflix documentary "Operation Varsity Blues," on Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto, on NBC, and in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post. He has written five books on college admissions and financial aid.
He is not your typical college advisor. He tells it like it is, does not sugarcoat things, and his advice often contradicts what you'll hear from your guidance counselor, other parents, or read on the internet.
Lockwood in the Media
Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto
Netflix: Operation Varsity Blues
NBC News
CBS News
FAQ
No. Andy works with families targeting a wide range of schools, from state flagships to highly selective privates. The strategies apply whether your kid is aiming for a Top 20 or a strong regional university. The framework is about finding the right fit and paying less wherever you land.
That's exactly the problem Andy addresses on this training. A 4.0 and strong scores used to be enough. They aren't anymore. Every applicant to a selective school has those credentials. Andy breaks down what actually separates the kids who get in from the kids who look identical on paper and get rejected.
9th and 10th grade is the sweet spot. The positioning work, the course selection, the activities, the testing strategy, the financial planning. All of it compounds over time. Families who start early have options. Families who wait until senior year are making decisions under pressure with fewer levers to pull. Andy covers exactly what you should be doing right now based on your kid's current grade.
Yes, and this is one of the biggest misconceptions Andy addresses. Merit aid and scholarships are not need-based. They're based on how you position your child and which schools you target. Families who can easily afford tuition are often the ones leaving the most money on the table because they assume they don't qualify for anything. Andy shows you how families who can write a check are still paying less than sticker price through strategies that have nothing to do with income.
That's normal, and it's actually where Andy's Plan phase comes in. The whole point is discovering how your child is wired before you start picking colleges and majors. Most families skip this step entirely. Andy walks through how to figure out what your kid is actually suited for, and then how to back into colleges that make sense for that direction.
The training is real content. Andy teaches the P4 framework, breaks down why straight-A students get rejected, and covers tuition reduction strategies families can use regardless of whether they ever work with him. If you want to talk about working together after, there's an opportunity to book a call. If not, you'll still walk away with strategies you can use immediately.
Most families spend more time planning a vacation than mapping out the next 40 years of their child's life.
Be the exception. Save your seat for the live training and walk away with a clear picture of what your family should be doing right now.
Save My Free Seat