Our Services

Our college consulting services focus on helping students find and gain admission to top-notch private liberal arts colleges where they will be awarded generous financial aid in the form of merit scholarships and/or need-based aid.

Our services and fees in a nutshell:

• All-inclusive package: $2,500

• Initial telephone consultation: Free

• Intake session: $250

• College application strategy: $500

• College list building: $500

• Assistance with financial aid process: $150/hour

• Evaluation and comparison of financial aid offers: $150/hour

• College essay coaching: $150/hour

• College interview coaching: $150/hour

• Assistance with enrollment decision: $150/hour

• Follow-up consultations: $150/hour

Initial telephone consultation

Contact us for a complimentary initial consultation to find out whether our services are right for you.

Intake session

We will meet for about two hours, preferably in person at your home or otherwise online (e.g., Zoom, MS Teams), to get to know your family. To this end, we will, for example, talk about the student’s high school academics, interests, passions, talents, and goals, and listen to your own questions, concerns, and expectations related to the college application process.

To streamline this process, we will ask you and your student to fill out our Intake Questionnaire before we meet.

College application strategy

We will meet with your family at least twice, for about two hours each, to discuss the two key components of our recommended college application strategy: 1) affordability and 2) admissions.

Affordability strategy session:

The goal of this session to help you to decide on a college budget and to settle on a financial aid strategy that will bring the cost of college within your family’s budget. To this end, we will, for example, discuss how much your family is able and willing to pay for college, explain the different ways to pay for college, and introduce you to the most important financial aid concepts, such as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)/Student Aid Index (SAI) and the difference between need-based aid and merit-based aid. Understanding the financial realities involved will enable you to decide whether the student should focus on colleges that give generous need-based aid, colleges that give generous merit aid, or both.

Admissions strategy session:

The goal of this session is to develop a strategy that will allow your student to gain admission to top-notch, affordable colleges that are also a good academic and social fit. To this end, we will, for example, introduce you to the admissions landscape, explain the difference between a large research university and a small liberal arts college, and discuss the comparative merits of highly selective/big name schools vs. less selective or nonselective schools. Understanding all of the different academic options, including their pros and cons, will enable you to decide what type of institution the student should focus on when building their list.

College list building

Deciding which schools, and how many schools, to include in your student’s list of colleges is arguably the most critical step in the college application process.

To optimize the student’s list of colleges, we will provide you with three distinct services:

List of recommended colleges

Based on the information from the preceding sessions and the completed Intake Questionnaire, we will provide the student with a list of up to 10 recommended colleges: 

• which are an excellent fit for your student, academically, socially, and otherwise,

• where the student has an excellent chance of admission, and 

• where the student has an excellent chance of receiving a scholarship and/or need-based financial aid that will bring the cost of attendance within your family’s budget.

Personalized college profiles

• We will provide you with highly detailed, personalized College Profiles for some or all of the recommended colleges on your list (the number is up to you).

• Between 10-20 pages long (!) and using an easy-to-use format, each College Profile describes the general character and key features of the college, such as its particular academic and other strengths, its curriculum and any special programs (e.g., pre-law, pre-med, pre-engineering). It also includes the most important key metrics, such as the four-year graduation rate, freshman retention rate, and financial aid statistics.

• To allow you to compare the selectivity and cost of different colleges, each College Profile is personalized and includes your student’s estimated chances of admission, estimated range of merit-based scholarship awards and/or need-based financial aid, and estimated net price of attendance.

• We will also be happy to include any additional information you may request.

Final list

We will help the student make a final decision as to which schools, and how many schools, to include in the list of colleges, explaining the salient differences between the various schools under consideration, weighing the pros and cons of each school in terms of academic, social, and financial fit, and making sure that all colleges on the final list are a good academic, social, and financial fit and are consistent with the student’s application strategy.

Assistance with financial aid process

We will help you understand how this byzantine process works, so that you are able to correctly complete and timely file all required forms, including the FAFSA and/or CSS Profile. To make this process as painless as possible, we will explain the processes involved, offer advice and guidance along the way, and also provide you with our highly detailed, step-by-step FAFSA Parent Guide and/or CSS Profile Parent Guide. Please note that by law we cannot complete financial aid forms for you.

Evaluation and comparison of financial aid offers

We will make sure you fully understand financial aid offers from different colleges and help you compare offers. We will also offer advice on whether, and how, it may be possible to get a particular college to up its financial aid offer.

College essay coaching

While college essays can be important, they are not as critical a component of our recommended college application strategy as you might think. Yet, we realize that your student may still prefer to get some help with the essay writing process. If so, we will be happy to help your student brainstorm essay topics, provide guidance on how to best approach the essay writing process, and give constructive feedback for how to improve essays, as needed.

Assistance with enrollment decision

If your student has trouble deciding where to enroll, we will assist the student with arriving at a final decision by weighing the pros and cons of each school on the student’s list in light of the student’s goals and the family’s budget.

Follow-up consultations

Sometimes, questions or issues arise after the student has accepted an enrollment offer. If so, we will always be there for you.

Our commitment to affordability:

We are committed to making our college consulting services accessible to everyone who may benefit. To that end, we offer reduced rates on a sliding scale based on income level, financial need, family background, and other personal circumstances. This is to ensure that our services are affordable to all.