Clarity at Every Step

Every family is different, but the path generally looks like this:

• We begin with a conversation. I meet with you and your student, usually in the spring of junior year, though earlier and later both work. I listen first. Who is this student? What matters to this family?
• We build the list. Together we develop a balanced list of schools chosen for genuine fit: academic, social, financial, and personal. No trophy lists. No safety schools nobody would actually attend.
• We do the real work of applications. Essays are my specialty. After 25 years chairing an English department, I know the difference between an essay that impresses and an essay that reveals. We work until your student's applications sound like your student, at their best.
• We manage the process. Deadlines, testing decisions, teacher recommendations, interviews, demonstrated interest. I keep the trains running so that dinner conversations can be about life, not logistics.
• We decide together. When the acceptances arrive, I help your family weigh them with clear eyes, and celebrate the choice.

The work does not end when a student accepts an admissions offer. The first year away is its own transition, for the student who is leaving and for the family that is letting go. Drawing on my training in family therapy, I coach students and families through what comes next: the homesick October, the roommate negotiations, the gap year done well, the quiet recalibration of a household with one fewer chair at the table.

Getting in is a milestone. Growing into the life that follows is the journey.

Here are three useful resources for students and families at the beginning of their journey. The List Builder helps with the first point where people get stuck - how to start building a first-draft list of target schools. The New Student Form asks a series of questions that help clarify what's really important. And the Practice SAT helps set a baseline to further inform the whole process of identifying target, reach, and safety schools.