FAQs

How can you help my student?

• We can help your student navigate the college preparation/application process from beginning to end. That includes many moving pieces:

  • the development of a list of colleges that suit your family’s individual needs and priorities

  • the essays

  • the deadlines and decisions

• We can help build a unique testing timeline for your student’s needs and goals, and we provide top-notch test preparation that helps students succeed.

• We have an online portal where your student can keep all college application information in one place: testing information, application information, college information, essays, passwords, and more.

• Our experience and insights can help reduce the stress and increase the likelihood of success in this high-stakes process.

What services do you offer?

• For students, we offer a range of services from essay writing workshops for groups of stressed-out seniors to individual, customized, year-long ongoing and continuous college coaching.

• For parents, we offer local seminars, access to resources, and a real person to talk or text when you have questions or concerns.

• We’ve got all kinds of free stuff too! Check out our social media pages for links and likes.

Why should I pay for this service? Can’t we do this ourselves?

• Students certainly can apply to college without help. However, it’s likely that you and your student will have questions at nearly every step of the way. With our experience, we can walk with you through the entire process: answering questions, providing guidance, and offering options that you probably hadn’t even considered.

• Parents hire private coaches for their kids all the time: speed coaches, tumbling coaches, pitching coaches, tennis coaches, voice coaches. College is an important (and expensive!) piece of your child’s future. Hiring a professional to guide you through the process of choosing the best-fit school with the right programs and putting together the best possible application is truly an investment in your student’s success.

Do you work with clients who don't live in mid-Missouri?

• ABSOLUTELY WE DO!

• Our essay workshops and parent gatherings are typically local, although they are offered throughout the mid-Missouri region.

• Our individual college coaching packages are available to clients ANYWHERE, although meetings will be remote (via Zoom) with texts and calls whenever you need them.

• Our resources are available to ANYONE with an internet connection.

Are you accepting new clients?

• Yes, although at this time we can only accept a maximum of 25 students in grade 12.

• First preference is given to 9th and 10th grade Jump Start students, then 11th grade clients before a Senior can be accepted.

My student is so busy, how can I possibly add one more thing to his/her schedule?

• That busy schedule is exactly why our services can help! We won’t do the work for your student. But, we can offer guidance in setting priorities, and we can help with reminders of important deadlines.

• This is a critically important phase – it’s what you and your student have been aiming for! Don’t run the risk of missing deadlines or not budgeting enough time for quality applications and essays.

• We help busy families navigate the calendar as much as the process, and guide your stressed-out student to the finish line!

What kind of students do you work with?

• All kinds!

• We work with students looking at highly selective colleges and students looking at less competitive schools. We work with students at all academic levels, all walks of life, and all sorts of interests (from football to cross country to orchestra and opera and musical theatre and quidditch).

Will you contact schools for my student?

• Nope. Not at all. We will guide your student as he/she makes contact with college and university admissions, and we will urge your student to be in regular contact with the school counselor at his/her high school. But we will not make those calls. Your student is preparing to go off and manage his/her own life at this point; we’re going to nudge that process along, too, by making sure your student takes ownership of this process.

• We will make calls to gather information, though, and to find resources and information you need.

When should we start?

• If you’re reading this page, probably NOW.

• Students in 9th and 10th grade should be looking at the road ahead. It’s hard for anyone to reach a goal in four years if they don’t even know what that goal is or how to get there.

• 11th and 12th grades are the big years, and we offer an array of services to support students in those grades.

What do you charge?

• Services vary, and so do the costs involved. Contact us for details.

• An initial consultation is always free.