N.E.T. Collective - Where we Navigate Everything Together from Classroom to College to Careers and Beyond

Send us Fan Mail You Don't Have to Pay Full Price For College — If You Know Where To Look “We make too much money, so we won't qualify for any aid — why even bother?” It's one of the most common myths about paying for college, and today we're busting it wide open. In this episode of NET Collective, Kay McBrearty and Vinita Patel sit down with Todd Weaver , President of Strategi...

Send us Fan Mail Finding Your Fit: Why It Matters More Than You Think Two out of every three people at work are unengaged — not fully checked out, but not thriving either. What if that's not a laziness problem? What if it's a fit problem? In this episode of NET Collective, Kay McBrearty , career coach and founder of Waterville Partners, and Vinita Patel , school psychologist in private p...

Send us Fan Mail When a bright, capable child is struggling, parents often know something isn’t adding up long before they understand why. In this episode of NET Collective , Vinita Patel, licensed school psychologist, draws on more than 30 years of assessment experience across school settings and private practice to help parents understand what comprehensive neuropsychological testing can actuall...

Send us Fan Mail The college admissions process can feel overwhelming before it even begins. When should students start? How involved should parents be? What are colleges actually looking for? And how do families find the right college fit without getting consumed by rankings, deadlines, and pressure? In this episode of NET Collective , Kay and Vinita sit down with Dr. Jill Maraldo, founder of Hig...

Send us Fan Mail Navigating Obstacles: What To Do When the Plan Didn't Work! Season 2, Episode 3 (203) Who is this for: For students, young adults, and the parents and educators supporting them. You organized the space. Built the systems. Steadied your mindset. Lined up your people. And then… a bump happened anyway. In this episode, Kay and Vinita tackle what happens when you've done eve...

Send us Fan Mail What does real self-confidence look like in a teenager—and can it actually be taught? In this episode of NET Collective , Kay McBrearty and Vinita Patel sit down with Leslie Randolph, self-confidence coach for teen girls, TEDx speaker, and host of the Why Didn’t They Tell Us? podcast , for a powerful conversation about how confidence develops, what quietly chips away at it, and wh...

Send us Fan Mail You can have the backpack packed, the calendar organized, and the dorm room ready—and still not actually be ready. In the season 2 opening episode of NET Collective , Vinita Patel and Kay McBrearty go beyond the traditional back-to-school checklist to explore what it really means to be ready for a new school year, college semester, career transition, or season of life. Vinita intr...

In this Season 1 finale of NET Collective , Vinita, Kay, and Ruth pause to reflect on the conversations, questions, and themes that shaped the first season. What began as a shared idea — creating a practical, compassionate resource for parents, students, young adults, and professionals — has grown into a collection of conversations about executive functioning, writing, career readiness, self-aware...

Interviews can feel intimidating—but they don’t have to. If they make you nervous, this episode is for you. In this episode of NET Collective Podcast, we break down the different types of interviews students and young professionals may encounter, from informational interviews to behavioral job interviews to video interviews. Drawing on decades of experience in staffing, college recruiting, career...

If you've ever sat among a stack of library books wondering how to will them into a cohesive essay or struggled to produce advice for a teen embarking on their first major research paper, this episode is for you!  Research is a broad and varied collection of skills required for a multitude of academic and professional tasks. While we can't discuss all of them, in this conversation we off...

Working memory is one of the invisible skills we use all day, every day — often without realizing it. It helps us hold information in mind while using it, whether we are following directions, writing, solving a problem, staying organized, participating in a conversation, taking notes, cooking dinner, or simply trying to remember what comes next. In this episode, Vinita leads a practical and relata...

Think your resume is “good enough”? Think again. In this episode of NET Collective, we break down what makes a resume stand out in today’s competitive job market—for college students, recent grads, and the parents supporting them. We cover basic tips to get started and share what hiring managers are really looking for (and what causes resumes to get rejected in seconds). From understanding what an...

Do you want to start working on your Common App essay but don’t know where to start? Are you a parent wondering how to guide your child through the process most effectively? Join us as we walk you through the ins and outs of crafting an effective essay! In this episode, we discuss the challenging, sometimes fraught, utterly unique writing task that is the college admissions essay. At the nexus of...

Why do some highly capable students, teens, and young adults seem to have so much potential, yet struggle to perform in ways that actually reflect it? In this episode, we take a deep, compassionate look at one of the most misunderstood patterns parents, educators, and students face: underperformance in students with clear strengths. We unpack why intelligence alone is often not enough, and why str...

Navigating Networking: How to Build Connections, one conversation at a time.  Who is this for: For students, young professionals, and parents supporting them, looking for simple and approachable tactics to begin networking, expand your network, or learn healthy networking habits. How do you network if you don’t feel confident walking into a room full of strangers?  What if you’re an introvert and...

Why do some people care deeply, mean well, and still struggle constantly with time? In this episode, we explore time blindness — the often-overlooked difficulty of sensing, predicting, and mentally holding time in mind. When time does not feel concrete internally, planning, pacing, starting, and finishing tasks can become much harder than they appear from the outside. What is often mistaken for pr...

Have you ever stared down a blank page, unsure of how to attack it? Have you ever sat among a pile of library books wondering how to turn them into a research paper? If so, tune in to learn how to approach any writing task confidently! In this conversation, we discuss what leads up to a strong first draft: choosing a topic, gathering materials, and turning loose notes into a solid outline. We’ll e...

How do you tell your “story” concisely, yet leave them wanting to know more? Sort of like reading a well written, enticing book jacket and wanting to read the first chapter. While the concept of the elevator pitch may sound a bit corporate, it is incredibly useful in everyday life.  An elevator pitch is a short, clear introduction that explains who you are, what you do, and what you care about — i...

We’ve all been there. You make a plan. You know exactly what you should do. You even want to do it. And yet… somehow you still can’t start. Why does that happen? In this episode of NET Collective: Navigating Everything Together , we explore the often-frustrating gap between planning and execution —that moment where good intentions stall and action feels surprisingly difficult. We break down what’s...

To test or not to test?  Post-COVID, that is the question The pandemic led in-person college admissions exams to be abruptly cancelled and forced universities to adopt ad-hoc policies that have still not been completely normalized. If you or your child are navigating the college admissions journey, you know it’s become a minefield of test options and requirements–and if you’ve been through it your...

Have you ever felt stuck with your career?  Maybe figuring out your college major, launching or pivoting your career, or considering what's next after raising kids or closing a chapter.  If so - tune into your internal compass to help guide you .  If you don’t know what your internal compass is, or where to find it, then tune into NET Collective Podcast to learn more. Learn about your true No...

Executive functioning skills are the brain’s management system — the invisible engine behind how we manage life. They are the set of mental processes that help us organize our days, manage time, regulate emotions, stay focused, adapt, and follow through on what matters. When these skills are working well, life feels doable. When they’re not, even bright, capable people can feel stuck, overwhelmed,...

In this very first episode, you’ll meet the three voices behind the podcast and hear the story of why we created this space. We share our professional backgrounds, the work we do every day with students, families, and young adults, and the experiences that shaped how we think about learning, growth, and life transitions. We also talk about what you can expect from future episodes—real conversation...