College Counseling
Full-cycle support includes:
Guidance on course selection
Summer planning
Résumé development
Extracurricular planning
Standardized testing planning
College list building
College visit planning
Essay coaching
Activities list support
Letters of recommendation support
Application and deadline management
Mock interviews
For families looking for targeted, specific support in one area, I also offer these services à la carte. Both full-cycle and à la carte services are billed hourly.
Essay Support
I LOVE the college essay. At a time when admissions offices are flooded with tepid, AI-written dreck, there’s nothing more exciting to an admissions officer than reading a college essay that explodes with personality.
Every student has a story to tell, but frequently, it’s not the obvious one. I help students dig deep, explore every corner of what makes them tick, identify great stories, develop a structure, and craft essays that only they could write. My job is to make sure every single one of the 650 words in their personal statement is used in service of showing admissions who they are.
In my essay work, I draw heavily on my background as a writer at Warner Bros. and HBO Max.
Mock Interviews
My freshman proctor (RA) was an admissions officer, and one of the most surprising lessons I learned from her was that AOs at highly selective schools frequently treat the interview as a “jerk test.” A good interview won’t get you in, but a bad interview will keep you out. Years later, I learned this lesson firsthand when I served as an alumni interviewer and asked a student why he had volunteered at the local animal shelter. “My mom thought it would look good for college,” he replied. Wrong answer.
The truth is, the interview is unlike anything students have done in school — which is why I recommend that students prepare for these interviews. A Mock Interview Session is split into two parts: a role-played interview followed by a debrief, during which the student and I discuss how to approach each of their college interviews.
Test Prep/Tutoring
For two decades, I have guided students to success on the SAT, ACT, and ISEE. I take a strategic approach to these exams and love to tell my students to think “not like a test taker, but like the test maker.” The strategies I teach help students avoid traps, manage their time, and guess effectively; programs are custom-tailored to each student’s individual needs. These strategies are not only useful to them on the ISEE, SAT, or ACT, but on every test they ever take. Though my students have seen gains of as much as 10 points on the ACT and 300 points on the SAT, I do not make — or believe in — score guarantees.
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