With this full-service counseling package, students and families receive guidance from the early stages of first thinking about the college process all the way through the final stages of sorting through acceptance offers and making the exciting decision about where to attend.  This plan is suitable for students who begin their work with me in 10th or 11th grade. Over the course of our time together, students will benefit from regular check-ins and individualized support as they explore their options for life beyond high school. Furthermore, I will provide regular updates to families about their students’ progress. Specifically, this plan includes:

• Initial conversations with students and families about questions, anxieties, and hopes related to this process. As a part of this early stage of our getting to know each other, students and families will complete questionnaires offering reflections that will help me to tailor my approach to an individual student and family’s needs.

• Discussions about purposeful course selection for junior and/or senior year of high school.

• Counseling about pursuing extracurricular activities, leadership roles, and summer opportunities relevant to students’ interests and curiosities. Feedback on application essays for summer programs.

• The development of a clear timeline for the process, including standardized test taking, college visits, teacher recommendation requests, essay drafting and revision, and financial aid and college application deadlines.

• Advice about how to best research colleges and enrichment programs.

• Access to Counselmore, an online resource for building college lists, researching schools, and staying on track with application requirements and deadlines.

• Guidance about college visits, both in person and virtual, and about interviews.

• Honest, supportive counseling about building a well-rounded college list that represents the students’ preferences, goals, and strengths.

• Advising on early decision and early action applications.

• Thoughtful coaching through the process of writing genuine and captivating essays. This includes the generation of meaningful topics, insider perspective about how to approach the various essay prompts, and ongoing support through the students’ completion and polishing of the main Common App essay, essays for schools that don’t use the Common Application, and supplemental essays (including essays for special programs), up to 12 colleges requiring additional essays. I will also provide coaching for completing the activities section of the Common App in a dynamic way, in addition to the rest of the application.

• Guidance in putting together music, art, and writing portfolios, as well as video supplements.

• Helping students to effectively demonstrate interest in the colleges on their lists and to communicate appropriately with admissions contacts and coaches.

• Availability to talk through admissions outcomes and to provide guidance as students and families evaluate offers of admission, deferrals, and waitlists.