The Mother Who Wanted to Get It Right.

Dr. Shanelle R. Dawson  ·  ED with Dr. Shanelle  ·  DrShanelle.com

I was not a perfect college preparation parent. I want to say that first.

I was a determined one. I was a present one. I documented everything I learned alongside my daughters so that the next parent — the one who does not have twenty-four years of educational experience and fifteen years of consulting to draw on — would have a roadmap I did not.

What Parents Are Navigating Right Now

The college preparation process asks parents to know things they were never taught. Which standardized tests matter and which do not. When to start the college list. How to read a financial aid award letter. What a demonstrated interest visit is. How to help write an essay that sounds like the student, not the parent.

It asks them to navigate a system that changes every year, provides inconsistent information, and moves at a pace that disadvantages families who are not already inside it.

And it asks them to do all of this while working, parenting, and trying to support a young woman who is simultaneously trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs.

What Queen Moves Gives the Parent

Queen Moves was written for the young woman — but it was built alongside a mother. The roadmap in this book is the one I walked my daughters through. Campus visits with a purpose. Application timelines that do not leave anything to chance. Scholarship research built into the process rather than added as an afterthought. Conversations about fit, about finances, about what college is actually for.

And it is organized around the FAR Framework™ because a framework gives a parent something to hand her daughter — not as a lecture, but as a shared language. Rhythm. Alignment. Flow. Three words that create a through-line across the years between the decision and the acceptance letter.

If Your Daughter Is a Junior or Senior Right Now

You do not have all the time in the world. You have exactly the right amount of time — if you start now. Seniors applying this fall have a window that is narrower than it appears. Juniors building toward next year have the best possible runway — if they use it intentionally.

Queen Moves gives both of you a place to start. Available on Amazon and at DrShanelle.com. 

For consulting and workshop inquiries:

[email protected]  ·  (800) 803-2095 🕸️ ·  DrShanelle.com

Educator | Author | Systems Thinker

Systems That Empower. Strategies That Last.

Every system begins with a decision. Every strategy begins with a purpose.