You have been so responsive and just plain wonderful in all of our interactions. We cannot recommend or thank you enough. Our son's college list was terrific and the support you offered when he reached out left him feeling solid and focused. The hourly structure allowed our son to take the reins of his application process. He was able to access you when he needed input or guidance. As a parent, this allowed me to feel confident in stepping back as I knew he had you for support. We are so appreciative.
- Jane, parent of Wesleyan University student
I really appreciated the time Heather took to get to know our son, assess his interests and strengths. She did a great job of helping compile a list of schools to apply to. She found some that we hadn't really considered that turned out to be a great fit! Heather was very accurate in her assessment of what was a "fit school" vs. what was a "reach school." She was also super helpful in navigating estimating total cost of attendance and likely merit aid. The monthly newsletters were also really helpful and kept our family on track.
- Allison, parent of George Washington University student
You were exactly what we needed. Our student was not interested in a "full" service or meeting months and months out. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to have someone to use as a resource, no pressure, extremely reliable and just enough for us all. The college list was right on point and very useful throughout the search, the essay and application review was the perfect level. We enjoy your blog and emails - very helpful as well! Excellent experience and we will be back with our second! Thank you.
- Susan, parent of Cal Poly SLO student
We liked how student directed the process was. Your advice was invaluable but didn't require you to manage or direct the student (too much). It also gave me reprieve as the parent so I didn't have to manage the process. I got to let you and my child figure it out.
- Krista, parent of Pitzer College student
Heather - We found you to be super knowledgeable and helpful. Even though we worked with our school's student counseling, and they generally do a fantastic job, they have a few blind spots. One of those blind spots is knowing specifically what to do with a very STEM-focused kid who wants to go to a smaller STEM-centric university/college with a heavy and strong engineering, math and science focus. This was a great value for the investment - we really felt you had specific knowledge that helped us choose a solid list of schools and guided us through the process to optimize our approach for each of the schools where our son applied.
- Bob, parent of Worcester Polytechnic Institute student
Great communication and connection with our kids from the initial appointment all the way to decision and beyond. I appreciate that our kids were able to be relatively independent with the college application process because they respected Heather and were willing to trust and follow through on her guidance. Great follow through with emails to parents and kids.
- Lorena, parent of New York University and University of Miami students
I really appreciate you taking a kid centered approach rather than focusing on the parents. We made clear to our son that this was his journey, not ours, so he needed to be involved and lead the way. Having him reach out to you for follow up meeting without us was great. I think that is very important for kids so they are invested and learn how to navigate all this stuff! I have recommended you to others because we like your hourly model.
- Carly, parent of Case Western Reserve University student
You are exactly what we needed for both of our kids! You helped us narrow options, get applications in order, and have realistic expectations.
- Bridget, parent of Santa Clara and Gonzaga students
We worked with Heather on the college process for both of our kids. Her guidance and recommendations relieved a lot of stress. Her process is thorough and gave us the confidence we needed to know we were approaching this with thoughtfulness and were not missing anything. Thank you, Heather!
-Amy, parent of Whitman and Amsterdam University College students
It was super helpful to have someone so knowledgeable to guide me through the process. I appreciated both your honesty and enthusiastic attitude. I liked that there was a mixture of conversation and planning followed by feedback on my writing. As someone who can be self-conscious of my writing, it worked well to receive feedback via comments rather than face to face. It was also super helpful that you took notes on our brainstorming sessions so I could focus on the conversation but also could refer back to it later for inspiration. Thank you so much for all of your help this year in making this process very smooth and successful!
- Lauren, University of Washington
We were 100% satisfied with all aspects. Definitely made the process much less daunting and way more organized. Heather has so much experience and insight and really relates well to teens. She knows what realistic expectations are and has a great handle on all of the colleges. Her response time to email was always quick and very personal. She really cares and it shows!
- Luna, Bryn Mawr College
If we could have signed up all three of our kids after our first meeting with Heather we would have! She put our son first, what did he want, what were his interests, what did he care about, what were his strengths. She spent the time getting to know him, and that made all the difference. She was not building a relationship with us, she was building one with our son and they built trust and respect for one another and made our son want to achieve and complete the requirements based on the deadlines she set for him. Goal achieved, he was accepted at his top choice.
- Jessica, parent of Pitzer College student
Heather, you made the process so much easier and more pleasant than we anticipated and we felt lucky to have found someone so knowledgeable, available and helpful. We could not be more thrilled with the outcome of our daughter's applications and are confident she is going to the best possible school for her. Thank you so much!
- Helen, parent of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) student
I feel like even though applying to college isn't hard, it's scary. What you did was make the process simpler without compromising the quality of of my applications. A huge part of that was your elevated level of organization; by the end of our first meeting, you already had a schedule for the rest of the year and then some. Every part of the application process was carefully planned out (with buffer time to account for procrastination on my end), including college research, interviews, even supplemental materials.
When it comes to essays, I especially appreciated how our brainstorming sessions entertained unconventional ideas and drew out my creative side, which contributed to better content than what would have been written without you.
Overall, it was incredible to work with someone who knows not only about a multitude of colleges from around the world and what they're looking for, but also knows how to elicit the best out of every high school student, whether they're anxious or apathetic. I also really appreciated your sense of boundaries both in terms of my essays' content/timeliness and in terms of dealing with my parents. Thank you so much for giving me that kind of freedom!
- Angie, Pomona College
You’re approachable and easy to talk to, super knowledgeable, and just overall helpful. You didn’t sugarcoat anything- at one point you told me to basically just start an essay over again, which was what I did need to do, and I appreciated how direct you were. Thank you!
- Sophie, Swarthmore College
I am thrilled that we found Heather last year! She is a great balance of knowledge and time management during the craziest months prior to college apps. She was very insightful on what different colleges are looking for, making recommendations for schools that we hadn't looked into, honor programs and always being aware of our budget forschool. She assisted us with financial aid questions and timelines as well as suggesting plenty of scholarships.
Heather guided my daughter through writing essays and interviews that lifted a lot of weight from all of the pressure. It was a very long year, but in the end my daughter was accepted by one of her top schools and received enough scholarships and aid to go to school in Boston! I can't recommend Heather enough...she has a warm personality and a great spirit - I think this is key to our kids feeling like their college coach is relevant and wanting to interact with them.
- Tami, parent of Northeastern University student
Working with you was a huge success and helped our family through a challenging time. In the end, our daughter found a school that was a perfect fit, she had choices, and she was proud of the process. I feel like you understood how important money would be long before we did. Thank you!
- Ashley, parent of McGill University student
We have worked with three other independent counselors and two different private school counselors and truly appreciate the personalized and responsive approach you take. Thank you for your excellent work and commitment. Your ability to relate to both student and parent as well as up to date and extensive personal knowledge and experience of many of the schools really helped us feel confident in your understanding of our needs and preferences in relation to the current atmosphere and expectations at various schools. Incredibly organized, on task without stressing anyone out!
- Amy, Parent of Claremont McKenna College Student
As other parents have said, just do it! You took care of the details which enabled us as parents to focus on the bigger things like visits and budgets. I'm so proud, pleased and impressed with the number and quality of schools my son was accepted by... and we credit your help in how he responded to essays.
- Jamie, parent of University of Washington student
Thank you for helping us with navigating the college entry experience, Heather. Your professionalism, willingness to really hear our needs and your follow through helped our daughter feel confident in a somewhat daunting college application process. We loved your knowledge base, ability to be in rapport, follow through and willingness to listen to our daughter when she had some concerns. We appreciated you helping her draw out her abilities to transfer them to paper, you helped her be on task and you helped make the process of navigating the college entry process much easier than it was before we had your help. The best part is that she got accepted into all 6 of the colleges she applied to. Thank you so much.
– Stacey, parent of Western Washington University student
With Heather's help my son was accepted at his top University! She was very knowledgeable and provided information on application process, such as what degrees could interest my son, the application process, evaluation of transcripts, etc. She assisted with the essay and brainstormed to identify information overlooked.
– Martha, parent of University of Washington transfer student