Very few people NEED a college adviser. Lots of families want one. You could easily plan your own wedding, but bringing on a wedding planner will often streamline and alleviate a lot of the stress surrounding the project. Having someone whose job it is to keep up with notable events in the field, show you the best ways to stay organized, and advocate for you, your voice, and your vision on your team ensures a process that feels supported and organized while also making sure you don’t feel left in the dark.

The amount of work that it takes to prepare for college doesn’t change, but the amount of time that you have to do that work changes every day. That’s why we tell everyone that the journey to college starts now. Your 9th or 10th grader will appreciate meeting once a month to get started earlier when the process is far less stressful during the 11th and 12th grade years.

It depends. If you want to meet one of our coaches, there are two options. First, you can schedule a 15-minute introductory conversation with a member of our team for free. Second, you can schedule a full-hour consultation with one of our team members for $180 to go through grades and test scores and discuss the beginnings of the college journey. It costs $230 to consult with Lily and $280 to consult with Keith. However, you should feel free to call the office to ask any initial questions that you might have.

• Grades
• Test Scores (SAT/ACT/PSAT/PACT/SSAT/ISEE/ERB)
• Awards/News Articles
• IEP/504
• Any other documents that you'd like to discuss

It really depends on the particulars of your situation. At our hearts, we are problem solvers so we ask questions to get to the bottom of how to best simplify your journey to college. Here are some examples:

• If your child is playing AAU basketball and the star of the school team, we will likely discuss how to engage the recruitment process and make colleges aware that you are interested in playing on the collegiate level.
• If your child is struggling through a tough semester, we could discuss how to mitigate that damage so that you can still consider the best college options available.
• If your child is interested in pursuing a career in STEM, we might chat about the best summer opportunities and internships to strengthen the profile for your application.

You are free to discuss any aspects of your college readiness plan that you would like during the meeting, but some things that people frequently ask about are:

• How do I write an effective college essay?
• When should I start applying for summer opportunities and travel experiences?
• What classes should I be taking in the coming years to strengthen my application?
• Which standardized test do you think would be the best one for me?
• How can CollegeThoughts help my child develop stronger study skills?
• How does CollegeThoughts work effectively with students remotely?

We don’t sign contracts with our clients, but we do have an engagement letter, which just serves as a memorandum of understanding. It explains a little bit about the company, asks families not to cancel appointments on the same day, and makes sure that families understand that this is a paid service.

But there is no minimum number of meetings. If you do one meeting with us and decide it is not a good fit, that’s okay. And if you decide to expand services with us along the way, we welcome that. But each session is one that you chose to have with us, not one that you were stuck doing because of a contract.

Each of our coaches only has availability to take on so many students, so they can’t reserve space for students months in advance. You should sign your engagement letter if you are ready to get started during that month. If not, you might want to reach out again closer to when you are ready to begin.

If you are doing test preparation with us, we use the digital curriculum available through Test Innovators for SAT, ACT, ISEE and SSAT preparation. While you can buy the program directly from Test Innovators, we are happy to pass our volume discount along to our clients (a savings of $50 in most cases). That’s the only time there is an additional cost to get started.

This rarely happens, but if the coach is not a good fit, please contact us at the office, and we will discuss the concerns and reassign you to a coach that may be better able to meet your college readiness needs.

When we meet with your student, you will receive an invoice that evening for that session. You then have seven days to pay for that meeting. No prepayment is required. You may also automate payment to a credit card by completing our authorization form if that makes things easier.

Each of our coaches has their own preference for scheduling. Some have schedulers like Calendly, others schedule the next meeting in the current one, and others send out weekly messages to schedule students’ meetings in the coming week. Students work with their coach to figure out the best cadence for their meetings.