College Admissions Counseling

Yep! Our team has 150+ years of combined college admissions and college counseling experience. So if there’s a question or confusion you have, we’ve likely covered it many times over the past 30 years.

Working with the right counselor that you connect with is key to feeling great about the college admissions process, especially since this might be a multi-year process. So we recommend that all prospective students and families schedule a Get to Know You call with our recommended counselor to see if it’s a great fit before getting started.

As we like to say with most college admissions questions, it depends on each student’s needs. Students that plan to apply to the most selective universities or are the first in their family to attend college in the US often start working with us as early as 9th grade. Not sure? Schedule a call with our team so we can learn more and provide guidance.

Parents are crucial to the college admissions planning process. We invite parents to offer input at various stages of the college planning process, with often a bit heavier involvement at the start to provide input on family finances and college selection. We also often invite parents to join select meetings throughout the process.

Every student’s needs are a bit different, and we cater our scheduling times and frequency based on the needs of families. On average, 9th and 10th graders may meet with us a couple of times a semester, with possibly more meetings if you’re looking for more hands-on summer application, college visit planning or extracurricular coaching.

Once 11th and 12th grade arrive, we recommend meeting closer to monthly during the school year. Counselors are typically in communication with students and parents in between meetings to answer questions or address emergent needs. We are here for you from the moment you sign up through the end of your senior year of high school!

Our counselors work with students to schedule meetings at mutually convenient times. We know that students are usually available on the weekends, after school, and in the evenings during the school year, so we don’t have issues accommodating most student’s schedules and this is something that can be discussed during your Get to Know You call. Meetings take place on Zoom.

We do! We work with a number of transfer and gap year students every year. Ask us for more info about how we tailor our college counseling and essay coaching support for these students.

Applying to graduate school? Schedule a call with the head of our Graduate Admissions team here.

We work with students at all stages of the college admissions process, from high-achieving Ivy-bound students, those targeting liberal arts colleges, or even students targeting awesome in-state options close to home. We work with athletes, visual and performing artists, students applying to direct entry medical programs, selective business or STEM programs, and lots more. Share with us your unique goals and needs, and we can share how we might be able to help.

We also have experience working with non-traditional students, whether you’re returning after a decade plus long break from college, homeschooled, or embarking on a gap year before applying to college.

Students typically work with one college counselor through the college admissions process, though you’ll have your profile and work reviewed regularly by our full team of college counselors throughout your time with us.

Once senior year starts to roll around, students can elect to sign up to work with a dedicated college essay specialist during the summer and fall to help you craft a compelling narrative in your essays, activities list, or other supplemental writing requirements.

Our counselors love diving into the heart of the application process with students. We begin by preparing students for applications ensuring they understand what the application options are and how they function. Later in the fall of senior year, we play an active role by guiding and providing specific feedback for upleveling application content. We are typically the last set of eyes on your application before it’s ready to hit submit!

While we often find that students don’t need to meet on a regular basis after applications are submitted, our support is in place through senior year. This means that we are here to help with any unexpected needs through the application process to help you navigate college decisions. While it’s impossible to anticipate receiving a deferral or wait list decision ahead of time, we’ll be ready to provide guidance should you need to strategize around outcomes or prepare a letter of continued interest.

Here’s the short version:

We don’t guarantee admission to any particular college (and if someone promises you they do, you might want to run the other direction.)

We work with students to plan ahead, think intentionally about their extracurricular involvement to have maximum impact, challenge themselves with a rigorous course load, and work hard to craft compelling college applications and essays. Students that we work with who have put in the effort have had gratifying success and go on to amazing colleges around the world.
Each year, we have half a dozen or more acceptances to each of the Ivy+ colleges, as well as top liberal arts colleges and public universities, selective specialized STEM, business, pre-med, and arts programs. But we don’t just base our success on where students get in.

Beyond getting into their top-choice colleges, we help students to move through the process with more ease and less stress, put thoughtful intention behind each choice they make, and to have some fun along the way. (Yep, this is gonna’ be fun.)