Frequently Asked Questions

• Individualized attention: as much as you need. 
• Accessibility: including evenings, weekends, school breaks--when students typically work on essays and applications.
• Objective third party: can put your strengths/weaknesses in perspective, with your interests in mind.
• Relationship: ongoing support and guidance to ease pressure, encourage personal growth.
• Expert yet always researching: knows the colleges, the process, the people, the resources.
• Complementary: to what your school counselor can provide...and with professional confidentiality.

• Relates well to a variety of teens and parents, including first-generation Americans (like me!)
• Unparalleled depth and breadth of relevant education and experience for educational consulting
• Trained as a psychologist: can calm anxiety about the college admissions process and expertly guide students in discovering their best self to put forward to the right colleges.
• Provided counseling at a university counseling center: can provide insights beyond the psychological horizon of just “getting in”
• Trained as a family therapist, useful in addressing parental concerns
• Essays: brainstorms with students and edits essays herself, not outsourcing this integral task!
• Well-connected to HECA and collegial resources to use on your behalf
• Has been there herself as a mom of college applicants—multiple times!
• Advises on merit scholarships, assisting with applications, essays, and interview prep
• Caring and generous approach
• One-on-one higher education consulting is what I do fulltime—I am not writing a book or giving talks to corporations or running organizations or tutoring or hosting group workshops…

A host of wonderful colleges including: American, Amherst, Bard, Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Brown, Bryn Mawr. Bucknell, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Clark, Clemson, Colby, College of Wooster, Colorado College, Colorado School of Mines, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Denison, Dickinson, Duke, Duquesne, Elon, Emory, Fordham, Franklin & Marshall, Furman, Georgetown, GWU, Georgia Tech, Grinnell, Hamilton, Harvard, Haverford, High Point, Indiana, Johns Hopkins, Kalamazoo, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lehigh, Loyola, Macalester, Miami University of Ohio, Middlebury, Muhlenberg, Northeastern, Northwestern, Notre Dame, NYU, Oberlin, Occidental, Ohio State Honors, Oxford, Penn State Honors, Pomona, Princeton, Reed, Rice, Rollins, Sarah Lawrence, SCAD, Skidmore, SMU, Stanford, SUNY-Binghamton, Susquehanna, Swarthmore, Syracuse Newhouse, TCU, Tufts, Tulane, UChicago, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UDelaware Honors, UGeorgia, UMich, UMiami, UMinnesota, UPenn, UPittsburgh Honors, URichmond, URochester, USC, U St Andrews, USNA, UTexas-Austin, UVA, UWisconsin, Vanderbilt, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington College, Washington Univ. in St. Louis, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Wharton, William & Mary, Williams, Yale...​

Much merit $$$ has been offered, too: a potential bonus of producing a stellar app is that some top colleges offer vastly reduced tuition and "scholar" status to entice you to attend! 

• When you first recognize that attending a top college is complicated, best approached with a plan
• Growth-oriented counsel that boosts top college acceptance will serve you well before...& beyond
• Both HS and college experiences are enhanced by ongoing reflection & planning, with mentoring
• Yet: I work well with intensity, so even 12th grade is possible if you're motivated to do your part!​​

​I work independently. But I can offer a seasoned, nuanced understanding of what's entailed in successful merit-based admission to highly selective colleges and what to expect once on campus.​​

​You bet! I'll help you find wonderful schools where you'll thrive--academically, personally, socially. Many strategies needed to successfully apply to the most selective schools benefit all applicants.​​

No. I recognize that any process that forces you to examine yourself and come up with a product​ (that expresses that) is fundamentally difficult. But with my individualized brainstorming and coaching and editing suggestions, ​you'll create essays that reveal, in your voice, your best self.​​

Yes! If we cannot meet in person, I’ve long worked very successfully using  Zoom, or Skype, with clients from all over.

I can be a thought-partner for parents: providing info, resources, insight, oversight.

​In other words: coaching the parent to be their teen's college admissions coach!​​

A person with deep, rich knowledge of a particular realm who finds purpose in sharing that wisdom.