For a practical parent evaluating this investment, the right consultant should not just help your child compete for Ivy League acceptance; they should also help your family identify the best-fit schools, navigate the financial landscape, and ensure the entire process yields a strong return on your investment. To evaluate any consultant you are considering, start with our comprehensive guide on how to choose the best college admissions consultant.

What credentials should the best independent educational consultants have?

When evaluating an independent educational consultant for highly selective admissions, credentials are your first filter — but they are not the only one. At a minimum, look for membership in one or more of the three major professional organizations: the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), or the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Each of these has experience requirements and ethical standards that provide a baseline of professionalism.

Jamie Berger, a highly acclaimed college admissions counselor and veteran admissions expert, is direct about the value of these affiliations: “They don’t vet everyone as carefully as they might, but they do the best they can, and it’s way better than someone who isn’t in any of them.”

Beyond organizational membership, the strongest consultants typically share certain background characteristics. Many have completed recognized training programs, such as the UCLA or UC Berkeley IEC certificate programs. Their professional experience generally falls into one of two tracks: former admissions officers at selective institutions, or academic professionals with backgrounds in teaching, university administration, or writing. Some hold the Certified Educational Planner (CEP) designation, which requires additional training — though this credential alone does not guarantee superior results.

The most important credential, however, is one that does not come with a certificate: a verifiable track record. Ask for references from families who have actually worked with the consultant, and look for specific examples of students placed at schools similar to your child’s targets. A firm like Great College Advice brings six counselors with over 100 combined years of experience in college admissions, spanning academic coaching, admissions, professional writing, and student development — a depth of expertise that individual practitioners rarely match.

How much do independent educational consultants for the top 20 schools cost — and is it worth the investment?

Comprehensive independent educational consulting for highly selective colleges typically costs between $5,000 and $20,000, depending on the consultant’s experience, geographic market, and whether you choose hourly or package-based pricing. Understanding the specific pricing tiers can help you make an informed decision.

Is the investment worth it? Sarah Farbman, Senior Admissions Consultant at Great College Advice, frames the ROI in concrete terms: “If you are looking for merit-based aid, the right college counselor could potentially help you save $20,000 or $30,000 per year. So if you’re spending $10,000 upfront, but this person is saving you $20,000 or $30,000 per year off the cost of college tuition times four, that is a significant ROI.”

Jamie Berger reinforces this point, noting that a skilled consultant “might save you $20,000 a year by getting more merit aid” — and can help families discover “hidden gems, off the beaten path” target and likely colleges that offer both academic quality and generous financial packages. One parent in the Great College Advice community shared that just a few hours of strategic guidance from an outside counselor made a significant difference — including a recommendation change that better aligned with her son’s profile, a move she described as well worth the investment.

The bottom line: for families targeting highly selective schools, the consulting fee should be weighed not just against admission outcomes, but against four years of potential tuition savings. 

What is the difference between an independent educational consultant and a high school guidance counselor?

This is one of the most common questions families ask — and the answer often surprises them. High school guidance counselors and independent educational consultants are not interchangeable. They perform fundamentally different roles, and understanding the distinction is critical when your child is applying to highly selective schools.

High school counselors handle functions that no one else can: sending official paperwork including the school report, transcripts, and the counselor recommendation letter from the school to colleges. These are exclusive to the school counselor and are required by every institution.

Where the gap emerges is in the depth and breadth of guidance. At large public schools, a college counselors may be responsible for 500 or more seniors. Even at well-resourced private schools, a college counselor might oversee 40 to 80 seniors — which Sarah Farbman notes is still “four times my personal caseload.” Sarah spends about ½ her time consulting and the rest on operations. A full-time experienced GCA counselor at capacity will have around 15-20 seniors at a time. 

An independent consultant’s smaller roster allows for genuinely personalized guidance: deep self-discovery conversations about values, priorities, and goals; comprehensive national college research; and months of iterative essay development.

The scope difference is equally important. Sarah Farbman puts it clearly: “A high school counselor knows their high school, and they know the colleges that their high school typically feeds into, and that’s helpful. But we keep an eye on a national pool, and since it is a national competitive pool that you’re competing against, you really do want somebody who’s able to have that bird’s eye view.”

Jamie Berger adds that high schools often have their own institutional agendas and “relationship schools” that may shape their recommendations. An independent consultant, by contrast, is focused solely on what is best for your individual student. The ideal approach is not choosing one over the other, but leveraging both: your school counselor for their institutional role and school-specific knowledge, and an independent consultant for strategic depth, essay expertise, and national perspective.

For more on why hiring a college counselor can make a meaningful difference, see our detailed guide.

When should I hire a college counselor if my child is targeting highly selective colleges?

Timing matters — and the earlier you engage, the more value you typically receive. The most common entry point is sophomore year or early junior year. This allows enough time for a thorough college research process, strategic extracurricular refinement, standardized testing decisions, and the multi-month essay development process that highly selective applications demand.

Sarah Farbman captures the philosophy succinctly: “Now is the right time. If you’re a senior and you haven’t done it yet, then now is the right time. But in general, the most typical time that we start working with people is late sophomore year or early junior year, and that is a really great time if you’re hoping for advice about the entire college process.”

For families who begin even earlier — freshman year — the benefits extend to course selection guidance, summer opportunity identification, and building an authentic activities profile that develops organically rather than appearing manufactured. Great College Advice’s Premium and Elite packages are available starting in 9th grade, reflecting the value of this extended engagement.

The critical window for essay development explains why starting in junior year is particularly important for highly selective admissions. Jamie Berger typically works with students for about 30 weeks, meeting roughly once per week. Much of that time is devoted to helping students move beyond what he calls the “gamifying mindset” — the instinct to write what they think admissions officers want — and instead produce genuinely self-reflective essays. This transformation cannot be rushed.

If you are already in senior year and have not yet hired a consultant, it is still worthwhile for strategic guidance on Early Decision versus Regular Decision, essay review, and list refinement. But the earlier you start, the more comprehensive — and impactful — the support can be.

Should I choose a local or online independent educational consultant?

For families targeting highly selective colleges, an online college consultant often provides a structural advantage. The reason is straightforward: competitive schools draw from a national and international applicant pool, so you want a counselor whose experience reflects that same breadth.

Sarah Farbman explains the decision framework clearly: “If you are really hyper-focused only on the colleges in your immediate vicinity — in-state, within a two-hour drive — there’s nothing wrong with going with a local counselor. But if you are planning on broadening your radius at all beyond your immediate vicinity, or if you have a school right next to you that’s very competitive, then you have to know that you are competing against a national pool. And so you actually want a counselor who’s familiar with that national pool.”

Based in Massachusetts, Jamie Berger reinforces this from his own practice, noting that he regularly helps students gain admission to schools 3,000 miles away, including the University of California system and Stanford. His practical advice: “If you’re only applying to the UCs and the Cal States, you probably don’t want to hire me — you could pay less. But generally, it doesn’t matter much anymore.”

From a workflow perspective, the online experience is now virtually indistinguishable from in-person consulting. Sessions happen via Zoom, essays are developed collaboratively in Google Docs, and follow-up communication is typically faster with consultants who are native to the digital workspace. As one community member noted, “A good counselor can make a huge difference in surviving the testing and college application process” — and that impact has nothing to do with whether they are down the street or across the country.

The online model also unlocks access to boutique firms with team members distributed across multiple regions. Great College Advice, for example, has counselors based in Colorado, the NYC tri-state area, Chicago, the Raleigh-Durham area, and Massachusetts — each bringing regional expertise while collectively serving families nationwide. To learn more about how online consulting works in practice, see our article on why and how to talk to a college prep advisor online.

How do the best independent educational consultants actually help students get into their dream colleges?

Understanding what top consultants do, not just what they promise, is essential for evaluating whether this investment makes sense for your family. The best college admissions counselors for highly selective admissions operate across four interconnected areas.

Authentic essay development through deep self-discovery. At schools with admission rates below ten percent, admissions officers have already verified the academic credentials. They are looking for something else entirely. Jamie Berger explains: “The first person reading your essay won’t look like me. They’re probably closer to 28 than my age. They’re probably working at their alma mater. They’re excited, they’re sculpting a class. They have all your data. They don’t want to hear more about your accomplishments. They want to get a little feel for who you actually are.” The best consultants spend months guiding students through this self-reflective process, working through multiple drafts of the personal statement and supplemental essays until the writing is genuinely authentic rather than strategically calculated.

Strategic, balanced college list building. A strong list typically includes around 12 to 15 schools — not 20+ — with a genuine balance of reach, target, and likely colleges where the student would be happy. Jamie Berger is emphatic that “finding happy likely colleges and targets is super important,” and that he pushes families to invest as much thought in the bottom of their list as the top. This is where the best consultants earn their fee: helping you discover how many colleges to apply to and which ones offer the right combination of academic quality, campus culture, and financial generosity.

Team-based expertise. The most effective consulting firms operate as teams, not solo practitioners. Great College Advice has six counselors with over 100 combined years of experience who meet weekly to discuss clients and share insights across different regions and specialties. Jamie Berger notes: “You hire me, you’re hiring all six of us because we meet once a week, talk about our clients, ask questions, and bounce things off each other. And we all are in different regions of the country with different expertise.”

Specialized support for unique application elements. Elite consultants provide targeted help beyond the core application, including interview preparation for Ivy League interviews, strategic Early Decision guidance, and supplemental essay coaching. For students with specialized needs, firms like Great College Advice offer add-on services for athletic recruiting, art and music portfolios, BS/MD programs, and international university applications through the UCAS system.

What questions should I ask before hiring a college admissions consultant?

The initial consultation with a prospective IEC is your opportunity to evaluate whether this is the right partner for one of the most consequential investments in your child’s future. Here are the essential questions, informed by what the best consultants in the industry actually recommend.

Ask about their professional background and credentials. How many years have they been practicing? What pathway brought them to this work? Are they members of IECA, HECA, or NACAC? Have they completed a recognized training program such as the UCLA IEC certificate? Do they attend professional conferences and maintain relationships with admissions offices? Sarah Farbman emphasizes looking for consultants with backgrounds in “academic settings — high school teaching, university administration, admissions work — or professional writing,” as these backgrounds directly translate to the skills most needed in the application process.

Ask about caseload and personalization. An independent consultant’s greatest advantage over a school counselor is personalized attention. If a consultant is juggling 50 students, you are not getting meaningfully different service than your high school provides. The best consultants maintain small caseloads — typically no more than 20 students per senior class at any given time.

Ask for a student-counselor meeting before you commit. Jamie Berger is clear on this: “What’s most important is that the kid meets the counselor and thinks, who do I want to meet with once a week for 30 weeks? Who am I going to work well with?” A good firm will facilitate this introductory meeting and will not pressure you to sign on before it happens.

Ask about their approach to likely colleges. Any consultant who focuses exclusively on reach schools and treats the rest of the list as an afterthought is not operating in your family’s best interest. As Jamie Berger notes, he works with clients “who understand that the bottom of the list and the middle of the list are as important as those top three or four choices.”

Ask about their process. The best consultants use structured assessments — personal, academic, and career-oriented tools — to understand your student deeply before making any recommendations. Look for a systematic approach that includes clear milestones, regular meeting cadences, and defined deliverables, not an ad hoc “we’ll figure it out” style.

Ask about the parent-student dynamic. Strong consultants will keep you informed at key milestones while making it clear that the student is the primary client. Jamie Berger tells parents directly: “You’re paying the bills, but your child is my client.” This distinction is not just philosophical — it is what allows the student to develop the independence and self-advocacy that elite colleges value.

Great College Advice’s Jamie Berger explains the importance of finding the right college fit in this video:

Ready to Find the Right Independent Educational Consultant for Your Family?

Choosing the right independent educational consultant is one of the most impactful decisions you will make in the college admissions process — especially if your child is targeting highly selective schools. The right partner brings national expertise, a personalized approach, and the kind of strategic depth that can make the difference between a good outcome and a great one. Great College Advice’s team of six experienced counselors provides exactly this: a boutique, team-based approach with over 100 combined years of admissions expertise, serving families nationwide.

Schedule a free consultation with Great College Advice to discuss your family’s goals.

The post Best College Counselor for Ivy League Schools first appeared on Great College Advice.

When schools like Duke have admission rates below 5%, expert support can make the difference between a strategic application and one that gets lost in the crowd. For a deeper dive into evaluating your options, see our complete guide on How to Choose the Best College Admissions Consultant.

What Are the Main Benefits of Hiring a Private College Admissions Counselor?

The primary benefits of hiring a private college admissions counselor center on what overstretched high school counselors cannot provide: truly personalized attention throughout the entire application journey.

A dedicated college counselor works with you from college list development through final decisions, providing expert guidance on essay writing that helps students discover and communicate their authentic story—rather than trying to “game” what admissions officers want to hear. This strategic partnership includes developing a balanced college list that identifies both prestigious reaches and schools where your student will genuinely thrive.

Perhaps most tangibly, professional guidance often translates directly to increased merit aid. As veteran college admissions expert Jamie Berger puts it: “The sticker price for us might seem large, but it might save you $20,000 a year by getting more merit aid at a college. You can’t guarantee it, but it might very well—often does.”

Unlike high school counselors who may be responsible for 200 or more students, private counselors provide dedicated time and individualized strategy. After junior year, comprehensive package clients typically meet almost weekly with their counselor until applications are submitted—a level of attention impossible in a school setting.

Why Can’t My High School Guidance Counselor Provide the Same Support?

High school guidance counselors face significant structural constraints that limit their effectiveness for students aiming at highly selective colleges. The numbers alone tell the story: each counselor at a school could be responsible for 200 or more students, making truly personalized attention mathematically impossible.

Jamie Berger, who transitioned from working as an academic coach at a prep school to private college counseling, observed this limitation firsthand: “Their college counselors would meet them junior year and give them a list of colleges without really knowing them.” Even at well-resourced private schools, the counselor-to-student ratio prevents the deep understanding necessary for crafting compelling applications to elite institutions.

Additionally, high schools often have their own institutional agendas and established relationships with certain colleges that may not align with your student’s best interests. Private counselors have no such conflicts—their only objective is your student’s success.

For students at public schools with minimal college counseling resources, this gap becomes even more pronounced. Families who chose public school over private and can invest in independent counseling often find it provides the personalized attention their student needs to compete effectively.

How Do I Choose a Qualified College Admissions Consultant?

Selecting the right college admissions consultant requires verifying professional credentials while also ensuring personal compatibility with your student.

Start by checking for membership in professional organizations like IECA (Independent Educational Consultants Association), NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling), or HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association). These organizations maintain experience requirements and professional standards. As Jamie Berger notes, membership is “way better than someone who isn’t in any of them. Although there are some great people who don’t participate in any of those, but they should come to you recommended personally.”

Personal recommendations from families who have completed the process remain the gold standard. Beyond credentials, consider the counselor’s background: some come from admissions departments and bring insider perspectives, while others come from academic backgrounds and may excel at essay development and intellectual positioning.

Most importantly, the student should meet with potential counselors before committing. Berger emphasizes this critical question: “Who do I want to meet with once a week for 30 weeks? Who am I going to work well with?” This relationship will span the most intense period of your student’s high school experience—chemistry matters.

For more detailed guidance on evaluating consultants, read our comprehensive guide: How to Choose the Best College Admissions Consultant.

What Is the ROI of Hiring a College Counselor, and Is the Investment Worth It?

The return on investment for college counseling can be substantial, manifesting in both financial returns and less quantifiable—but equally important—outcomes.

On the financial side, expert guidance often translates directly to increased merit aid. Jamie Berger states plainly: “In terms of increased merit aid and finding the perfect fit, I think it’s totally worth it. And if I were a parent today with a kid, especially a kid without much [school] college counseling, I would definitely hire someone.”

Quality college counseling typically ranges from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands, depending on the level of service and the firm’s expertise. Berger cautions against extremes: “I don’t know anyone who should spend $100,000 on a college counselor or even a fifth of that.”

Beyond direct financial returns, the ROI includes reduced family stress during an inherently tense process, more efficient use of the student’s time, and perhaps most valuably, discovery of “hidden gem” schools—institutions off the beaten path that match your student’s profile where they can truly flourish. When counselors help identify target schools where students qualify for significant merit scholarships, the initial investment can yield returns many times over across four years of tuition.

When Is the Best Time to Hire a College Counselor?

The ideal timing depends on your family’s needs, but most experts recommend beginning the formal relationship after sophomore year.

Jamie Berger explains his approach: “I personally like to start working with students after sophomore year. I sometimes will meet students who are freshmen and help them guide them on engaging in extracurricular activities.” Some families hire a counselor freshman year for occasional touchpoints with engagement intensifying substantially after junior year.

The reasoning behind starting after sophomore year is nuanced: beginning too early can make “a young person get too obsessed too early in the process.” High school should include time for genuine exploration and discovery, not just strategic positioning.

That said, the foundational decisions that shape college applications—particularly around extracurricular development—should be considered “even in middle school,” according to Berger. The key question families should be asking early: “What are they really into? How can I help them dive deeper into it?” The modern admissions ideal is no longer the well-rounded student but what the Great College Advice team calls the “well-lopsided” student—someone with superior talents and deep commitment in one or two areas rather than superficial involvement in many.

How Can a College Counselor Help with Application Essays?

Essay coaching represents one of the highest-value services a college counselor provides, particularly for students targeting elite institutions.

The best counselors help students avoid the most common—and costly—mistake: trying to “gamify” the process by writing what they think admissions officers want to hear. Jamie Berger is direct about this trap: “When you’re dealing with the most selective schools in the country, that is just the wrong way to go about it. They’re getting thousands and thousands of applicants from kids who have always done what they think is the right thing to do. And they fall into kind of a cookie-cutter bunch of kids.”

Instead, effective essay coaching guides students toward authentic self-reflection. Berger describes the admissions reader’s perspective: “They have all your data. They don’t want to hear more about your data or your accomplishments. They want to get a little feel for who you actually are.” This process takes months because high-achieving students must “shed that mindset and just do it authentically, not right.”

Beyond voice and authenticity, counselors help students organize multiple essays across applications, enforce strategic deadlines, and ensure the personal statement and supplemental essays work together with the rest of the application to present a coherent, compelling portrait of the applicant.

What Should I Look for in a College Counseling Firm Versus an Individual Consultant?

Both models can work well, but multi-counselor firms offer distinct collaborative advantages worth considering.

At Great College Advice, for example, six counselors bring over 100 years of combined experience to every client. Jamie Berger describes this team approach: “Not only you hire me, but you’re also hiring all six of us because we meet once a week, talk about our clients, ask any questions, and bounce things off each other. And we are all in different regions of the country with different expertise.”

A team structure provides diverse perspectives on challenging situations, regional knowledge spanning different parts of the country, and collective problem-solving when unusual circumstances arise. This matters because college admissions vary significantly by region—what works for California schools differs from strategies for New England institutions.

Look for firms that offer comprehensive packages rather than purely hourly billing. As Berger explains, “A comprehensive package commits both the client and the counselor.” This alignment of incentives means your counselor isn’t watching the clock or needing to “resell” themselves repeatedly—they’re invested in your outcome from day one.

The best firms also conduct thorough initial assessments to match students with counselors whose backgrounds and expertise align with the student’s needs, whether that’s strength in essay development, knowledge of specific school systems, or experience with particular application scenarios like athletic recruiting or arts portfolios.

Take the First Step Toward Your Student’s Success

The college admissions process doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Our team of experienced counselors is ready to provide the personalized guidance your family needs to navigate this critical journey with confidence.

Book your free consultation today to learn how Great College Advice can help your student stand out, find their best-fit schools, and maximize their opportunities for admission and merit aid.

The post Why Should I Hire a College Counselor? first appeared on Great College Advice.

According to veteran college admissions expert Jamie Berger, “If I were a parent today with a kid, especially a kid without much college counseling, I would definitely hire someone.”

The investment can yield significant returns through improved admissions outcomes and increased merit aid. For comprehensive guidance on evaluating consultants, see our guide on how to choose the best college admissions consultant.

What Types of Students Benefit Most from Hiring a College Admissions Consultant?

Not every student needs a private college consultant, but certain situations make the investment particularly worthwhile. The students who gain the most from professional guidance typically fall into several categories.

Students at schools with limited counseling resources often benefit tremendously.

As Jamie Berger explains from his experience: “Each counselor at a school could have 200 (or more) kids they’re responsible for. If you know that you’re at a big public school and there’s almost no college counseling, especially if you made the decision for public school over private and you can spend the money on this now, it will definitely serve you the personalized attention you need through the whole process.”

Ambitious students targeting highly selective universities face a particularly challenging landscape. When schools like Duke have admission rates below 5% and even formerly less selective universities like Northeastern have dropped into single-digit acceptance rates, strategic positioning becomes essential. The Elite Comprehensive Package at Great College Advice is specifically designed for students aiming for the most competitive colleges and universities in the US, providing strategic guidance to improve a student’s chances at highly selective universities such as the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, and the top 25 liberal arts colleges.

Students needing help developing a “well-lopsided” profile represent another ideal candidate for hiring a consultant. Modern admissions has shifted away from valuing well-rounded students. As the Great College Advice Family Handbook explains: “‘Well-lopsided’ students have superior talents in one or two areas. Admissions officers at the most highly selective colleges like to see students who have well-defined interests in which they excel and exhibit leadership. They do not like to see students who flit from one activity to the next without really committing to any.”

Families seeking merit scholarships also benefit significantly. Jamie Berger notes: “The sticker price for us (our services) might seem large, but it might save you $20,000 a year by getting more merit aid at a college. You can’t guarantee it, but it very often does.”

Additionally, students applying to specialized programs (BS/MD, athletic recruiting, arts portfolios) and those whose school counselors don’t know them well enough to provide meaningful recommendations can gain substantial value from independent educational consultant relationships.

Is It Better to Hire a College Consultant in Freshman Year or Wait Until Senior Year?

The timing question requires balancing strategic advantage against the risk of creating unhealthy pressure too early. Jamie Berger’s recommended approach reflects years of experience with hundreds of families.

“I personally like to start working with students after sophomore year,” Berger explains. “I sometimes will meet students who are freshmen and help guide them on engaging in extracurricular activities. You can hire someone freshman year just to meet with them twice a year for freshman and sophomore year. And then the frequency of meetings amps up and up and up. And then after junior year, we meet almost weekly until the decision gets made.”

However, Berger is careful to note a significant caveat: “It couldn’t hurt, except by making a young person get too obsessed too early in the process. That’s why I think sophomore year is a good time to start.”

The critical insight is that some of the most important college preparation work happens before applications begin. “Some of the questions you would ask about extracurricular activities you should actually start thinking about even in middle school,” Berger notes. “What are they really into? How can I help them dive deeper into it? Deep dives for four years into activities is what’s most valuable. The great well-rounded kid is not the ideal anymore.”

What Are the Risks of Waiting Until Senior Year to Hire a College Consultant?

While consultants can absolutely help families who start during senior year, waiting significantly limits strategic options and can compromise outcomes in several ways.

Extracurricular development cannot be rushed. Admissions officers value sustained commitment over years, not last-minute activity loading. Jamie Berger illustrates this with a story: “A few years ago, a family had given their son a terrific life. He went to a normal American summer camp for seven years, all the way through junior year of high school. And that was his main summer activity. Well, if that’s your main summer activity and you got all the great grades, all the great scores, you still won’t get to major in aeronautics at Stanford. The kids who get into aeronautics programs at the top schools have been little astronauts since middle school.”

Academic records and course selections are fixed. By senior year, three years of transcript data are already established. A consultant starting earlier could have advised on appropriate rigor, course sequencing, and addressing any weaknesses before they became permanent parts of the academic record.

The “well-lopsided” profile requires time to develop authentically. Demonstrating an ongoing, in-depth commitment to an activity is more important than the activity itself. Students don’t need to fill all ten Common App activity slots, but what they do include should demonstrate genuine depth.

Rushed timelines create stress and lower-quality work. Completing college applications is the most stressful part of the process for most families. Great College Advice aims to have essays completed one month before each deadline, but that timeline assumes adequate preparation time.

One parent in the Great College Advice community shared: “We waited too long and felt like we were constantly playing catch-up. The essays felt rushed, and we didn’t have time to really explore all the school options our son might have loved.”

What’s the Cost and ROI of Hiring a College Admissions Consultant?

Understanding the relationship between cost and return on investment helps families make informed decisions about when to engage a consultant.

The cost of college consulting varies depending on the level of service your family needs. Great College Advice offers a range of options—from Comprehensive Packages that guide students through the entire process starting as early as freshman year, to Senior Select Packages and targeted services like college list development and essay support. Each service level is designed to deliver meaningful value at its price point. For a detailed comparison of consulting models, see our guide on comprehensive packages vs. hourly consulting.

The ROI calculation should factor in merit aid potential. Jamie Berger frames the value proposition clearly: “The sticker price for us might seem large, but it might save you $20,000 a year by getting more merit aid at a college. You can’t guarantee it, but it very often does.” He adds: “And if we help you find some hidden gems, some off-the-beaten-path schools more in your target and likely areas that you hadn’t thought of, then it’s well worth it.”

The Great College Advice team reinforces this perspective. When families build strategic college lists that include schools known for generous merit-based aid, the upfront consulting investment can yield savings of $20,000 to $30,000 per year—potentially $80,000 to $120,000 over four years. Even for families not focused on merit aid, the right consultant helps students find schools where they’ll genuinely thrive, which translates to better academic outcomes and stronger career trajectories.

The team approach at Great College Advice further multiplies the value of the investment. As Berger explains: “There are six of us with well over 100 years of experience in college admissions. Not only do you hire me, you’re hiring all six of us because we meet once a week, talk about our clients, ask any questions, and bounce things off each other. We’re also in different regions of the country with different areas of expertise.”

What Specific Advantages Does Early Engagement (Freshman/Sophomore Year) Provide?

Families who engage consultants early gain several distinct advantages that simply aren’t available to those who wait.

Strategic course selection guidance helps ensure students take appropriately challenging classes throughout high school. This includes balancing rigor with performance, sequencing courses logically, and addressing any gaps before they affect the transcript.

Extracurricular coaching helps students develop the “well-lopsided” profile that selective colleges prefer. Early guidance helps students identify activities worth pursuing deeply and recognize when to discontinue others.

Summer opportunity identification becomes strategic rather than reactive. Great College Advice’s Elite Comprehensive Package includes individualized research and identification of appropriate summer opportunities. These experiences are most valuable when they build on each other over multiple years.

Standardized test preparation planning allows families to approach testing methodically rather than cramming. Comprehensive packages include a one-year license to Magoosh SAT/ACT self-paced test prep. Great College Advice will also recommend trusted partners for individualized test prep tutoring.

Activity prioritization guidance helps students make informed choices. Berger advises: “Diving deeply into things they like and dropping things that are just not for them. Even if they’ve done something for two years and they realize after sophomore year it’s just not for them, then it’s just not for them. Yes, it would be better if they did the same thing for four years, but you don’t want them to get into Harvard and be miserable in a major they didn’t want.”

Authentic narrative development emerges naturally when students have time to explore genuine interests. As Berger notes about essay writing: “The essay that writes a resume that duplicates their activities list is the worst possible essay. Imagine being an admissions officer reading 40 things a day and you come to one that’s just a reiteration of all that stuff that’s right there on paper already. You don’t get to know the kid at all.”

Can a Consultant Still Help If We’re Starting Senior Year Without Guidance?

Absolutely, and for many families, senior year is when they first recognize the need for professional support. While the scope of assistance differs from earlier engagement, skilled consultants provide significant value even with compressed timelines.

Great College Advice offers Senior Select Packages specifically designed for these families—those who want robust support with essays and a little extra support with the rest of the process. The Elite Senior Select Package includes support for the Common App personal statement plus up to 25 additional supplemental essays.

Senior-year consultants excel at essay support. The personal statement and supplemental essays are areas where expert guidance makes an immediate difference. Consultants help students identify compelling topics, avoid common pitfalls, and present their experiences authentically.

Strategic college list development remains valuable at any stage. Consultants identify schools that match students’ academic profiles, interests, and preferences, creating balanced lists with appropriate reach, target, and likely schools. The Targeted Services College List option includes identification of “20+ colleges and universities that match the student’s academic, social, and personal needs, preferences, and ambitions.”

Application strategy guidance helps families navigate Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision timing decisions. Jamie Berger explains the nuances: “Early action is something almost everyone should do. You’re not bound to a school, you’re just expressing that you’re genuinely interested. The only time not to apply early action is when you’ve had a rough patch, say your junior year grades were lower and you need to prove yourself in the first semester of senior year.”

Line-by-line application review catches errors and missed opportunities. The Senior Select packages include detailed instructions about how to complete application platforms and ensure every field is filled out correctly and strategically.

Interview preparation helps students approach alumni and admissions interviews confidently. While Berger notes that interviews matter very little in admissions compared to other factors, he advises students to approach them as informed consumers: “You’re going in as a potential customer of a product that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Go in with your sincere concerns, interests, and questions about their school.”

What Should We Expect from a Consultant at Different Stages of High School?

Understanding what consultants provide at each stage helps families set appropriate expectations and choose the right service level.

Freshman Year: Expect regular check-in meetings focused on extracurricular exploration and course selection. The relationship is light-touch at this stage, helping students identify genuine interests worth pursuing deeply and helping develop that balance between good grades and academic rigor.

Sophomore Year: Meeting frequency increases as extracurricular commitments begin to solidify. Standardized test preparation planning begins, and preliminary conversations about college preferences start. Students may complete initial assessments to understand their strengths, interests, and potential fit factors.

Junior Year: This is when intensive work begins. Students complete comprehensive diagnostic assessments covering personal, academic, and career-oriented factors. Strategic college list development starts in earnest, using detailed criteria spanning majors, campus culture, location, size, and dozens of other factors. Summer opportunity planning intensifies. Early essay work may begin, though the bulk of writing happens later.

Senior Year: Meeting frequency reaches its peak. This phase includes essay drafting, revision, and refinement across multiple applications; application platform completion with line-by-line review; Early Decision and Early Action execution; supplemental essay support; interview preparation; and guidance through deferrals, waitlists, and final decisions.

Throughout all stages, the best consultants maintain what Great College Advice calls a hybrid tone that is both expert and conversational—providing authoritative guidance while nurturing genuine relationships with students. The goal is ensuring students remain authentically engaged rather than developing what Berger calls a “gamifying mindset” that admissions officers easily detect.

Finding the Right Consultant for Your Family

The questions above give you a framework for evaluating college consultants on what matters most: legitimate credentials, genuine fit with your student, clear value proposition, ethical practices, comprehensive services, appropriate meeting cadence, and effective working arrangements. A quality consultant welcomes these questions because they understand that informed families become better partners in the process.

Remember that the goal isn’t finding someone to do the work for your student—it’s finding an experienced guide who will help your student do their best work while discovering colleges where they’ll genuinely thrive. The right consultant helps your family navigate complexity with confidence while keeping your student at the center of every decision.

For additional guidance on maximizing your student’s college application success, book a complimentary call with our team.

The post When to Hire a College Counselor first appeared on Great College Advice.

It’s no secret that the college admissions process is a long and winding road. Most college-bound students (and their parents!) look at this process with apprehension, if not outright fear. But exactly how long do college admissions take? The answer to this question depends on many factors, not least of which is what you personally consider to be the official beginning to this process. 

Some students may think that the college admissions process begins in December of senior year, when stressed out procrastinators sit down to cram in their applications over winter break, while some farsighted parents might imagine that getting their four-year-old into the right preschool is the first step on the college journey. In this post, we’ll outline some of the key college milestones you’re likely to encounter during high school so that you have some idea of how long college admissions will take for you.

Ninth grade (freshman) college milestones

Your biggest focus in ninth grade is most likely going to be adapting to high school, and that is totally fine! It is important to focus on getting your footing in your first year, but there are a few future-focused items to consider.

Course selection

The classes you take throughout high school and the grades you earn are the single biggest factor that colleges will consider when they evaluate your application. Throughout high school, you want to make sure that you are taking the hardest classes that you can handle while still keeping up your grades and your mental health. This starts in ninth grade. If you feel confident in math, challenge yourself by taking honors. If you are a bookworm, try honors English. If you have the chance to take an AP class freshman year, give it a whirl (while some schools won’t allow you to take AP classes as a freshman, some put easier APs on the menu. AP Human Geography or AP World History are popular options for freshmen looking to get their AP feet wet). 

High school is also a low-stakes time to begin exploring your academic interests, so throughout high school, be on the lookout for elective or core courses that open your eyes to new subjects. For example, if you like drawing or are interested in architecture, perhaps you’ll have the chance to take a Computer Aided Design (CAD) course. If you think you might be interested in engineering, keep your eye peeled for Project Lead the Way or other early engineering courses.

Extracurricular activities

Colleges will be looking at the extracurricular activities you participated in throughout high school, not just junior or senior year. Rather than a variety of extracurriculars that you attended for an hour a month, colleges are looking for longstanding commitment to a more narrow band of activities. Freshman year is a great time to try out a few different activities, with the idea that you’ll narrow in and seek leadership positions in two or three of these activities, rather than sticking with all of them.

Summer opportunities

The summer after ninth grade is a great time to continue exploring your interests. Maybe Spanish class was exciting for you, so you seek out a five-day Spanish immersion program over the summer. Maybe you’re developing an interest in politics, so you intern for a local politician over the summer. Whatever it is, use the summer after ninth grade to have new experiences and gather more data about the world and yourself, without worrying too much about how these experiences will look to colleges.

Tenth grade (sophomore) milestones

In terms of college, sophomore year is going to be pretty similar to freshman year. Keep choosing the hardest courses you can handle, and keep using courses and summer opportunities to explore your interests. In terms of extracurricular activities, this is the time to let go of activities that aren’t interesting to you and to start committing more to the activities that are interesting to you. On top of these considerations, there’s one more thing to start thinking about….standardized tests!

PSAT and Pre-ACT

Many sophomores take the PSAT or the Pre-ACT through school. This will give you a good baseline idea of what your future SAT or ACT scores might be. You don’t need to stress about this test too much, but it’s a good idea to at least have some familiarity with the format and content of the test. And of course, the night before, be sure to get a good night’s sleep!

Eleventh grade (junior) milestones

This is where the process is going to start picking up. While it’s still not time to actually write your applications yet, this is the year to really lay the groundwork so that when you do write the application, the process is (relatively!) seamless. As always, you’ll want to continue doing your best work in the hardest classes you can manage. Now is also the time to begin seeking out leadership opportunities in your extracurriculars, and you can also begin using summers to demonstrate leadership in your community. On top of that, there are a few new milestones to keep in mind.

Test Prep

You’ll most likely take the SAT and/or ACT in the spring of your junior year. You may also decide that you want to retest the summer after junior year or even the fall of senior year. In any case, fall of junior year is the time to start prepping for these tests. You may have a baseline score from the PSAT or Pre-ACT. If not, find an official diagnostic test and take it under test conditions (meaning set a time for the proper amount of time for each section and take the sections all in a row, just like you would on test day). Look up the median ACT and SAT scores at a few of the schools you’re interested in. This will help you decide if you need to pursue ACT and SAT tutoring.

Letters of Recommendation

Most colleges require a letter of recommendation from your counselor and one or two letters of recommendation from your teachers. Because college applications are due relatively early senior year, your senior teachers won’t really have time to get to know you enough to write a robust letter. For that reason, you’ll most likely want to pick a teacher from your junior year (sophomore year is okay if you had a really strong relationship with a particular teacher, but you don’t want to go much younger than that; presumably you’ve matured a lot since freshman year, and you want a teacher who can speak to that growth).

Many teachers “fill up” on their letters of recommendation, and rightfully so! It’s a lot to expect one teacher to write dozens of letters of recommendation, so it’s understandable that they might only accept thirty or so requests per year. For that reason, it’s a good idea to approach teachers in the spring of your junior year, even though the letters aren’t due for months. That way, you’ll know early on if they have the capacity to write you a letter, or if you’ll need to ask someone else.

College Research

There are a LOT of colleges out there! It takes a long time to figure out what it is you’re looking for in a college and even longer to figure out which colleges have what you’re looking for. Junior year is an important time to begin doing this research. This means doing some soul searching. Talking to your parents, counselor, teachers, or other adults who know you well. They may have some important insight into what kind of college environment might be best for you. But most importantly, do some journaling yourself. What do you want? Where do you want to be for the next four years? Afterall, this is your education!

Once you have some idea of what you’re looking for, it’s time to go find it. This might mean doing official college visits. It might look like staying with a friend or relative who goes to a specific college. If travel isn’t the best option for you, you can gather a lot of information from virtual tours and information sessions. Keep notes so that you’re comparing apples to apples. In the end, you want a well-balanced list of somewhere between five and fifteen schools, depending on your goals.

Twelfth grade (senior) milestones

This is the big one! You want to think of senior year as starting the minute junior year ends – the summer before senior year is an important time to get a jump on the actual application process!

Finalizing the college list and creating your plan

You’ve done the research. You have a pretty good idea of what colleges you want to apply to. The summer before senior year is the time to sit down with your parents, advisors, or other trusted adults, and finalize which schools you plan to apply to. You also want to make a note of deadlines. Deadlines can range anywhere from mid-October to mid-March or even later, so you want to do your research and know when those applications are actually due. Now is also a good time to decide whether you’ll be applying anywhere early action or early decision.

Make note of all requirements and put this information into some sort of spreadsheet

By August or September, schools will have published their updated application requirements. This includes any supplemental essays as well as other requirements like interviews, auditions, or portfolios. Gather all of this information and put it in one place (like a Google sheet!) so that you know what you have to do.

Write your Common App Personal Statement and other essays

How long do you think it will take you to write your Common App Personal Statement and other essays? However long you’re thinking, multiply that by three. Then add another week or two for good measure. These essays take way longer than you’d expect! Start them over the summer to give yourself time to write high-quality essays well before the deadlines.

How long does the college admissions process take? Dive into the detailed timeline from ninth to twelfth grade. Learn, plan, and succeed with this informative guide.

Fill out your applications

Fall of senior year is the time to actually create your accounts for the Common App, the University of California system, or any other applications you’re planning to submit. Fill everything out and paste in your essays!

Fill out your financial aid forms

Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as well as any other financial aid forms that your schools request. These forms will require you to have your parents’ tax information. Like most other steps in this process, this will take longer than you think! So start early and communicate clearly with your parents or guardians!

Congratulate yourself (and monitor your inbox)

Once you’ve submitted your final application, give yourself a HUGE pat on the back! Whatever happens, you have just completed a very challenging process, and you deserve to feel good about that! While you’re congratulating yourself, be sure to keep an eye on your email inbox. Colleges will send important follow up instructions and information (like your application decision!).

How long do college admissions take? That depends on you! But the timelines above should give you a pretty good idea of what this process is going to look like. Good luck!

Need more advice on your college applications?

The team at Great College Advice has deep experience in guiding students along the road from high school college. We provide individually tailored, one-on-one advising to help young people achieve their educational ambitions. If you’d like more information about our services, contact us for a free consultation. Or just pick up the phone and call us at 720.279.7577.  We’d be happy to chat with you.

The post How Long do College Admissions Take? first appeared on Great College Advice.

It’s no secret that the college admissions process is long and mind-bogglingly complicated. If you’ve decided to seek independent help to guide you through the process, you’re not alone! In today’s digital world, one great option is working with a college prep advisor online. Once you’ve decided to go this direction, you may be left wondering how to talk to a college prep advisor online. It’s normal to be a bit nervous! In this post, we’ll break down online college counseling so that you know what to expect and can feel calm and confident going into it.

How does online college counseling work?

The way that online college counseling works can vary slightly from counselor to counselor, but most counselors use similar core methods. Most of the time, you’ll meet with your counselor regularly one-on-one via video conferencing (FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Meets are all popular options). During these meetings, your counselor may walk you through questionnaires or a set curriculum to help you understand the college options as well as what you personally are looking for. Your counselor will most likely use this information to help you build a list of schools and to help you develop a timeline for completing your applications.

Once you have your application plan in place, it’s time to put your nose to the grindstone and get to work! Many college prep advisors will also help you brainstorm and write your essays. Sometimes a college prep advisor may refer you to an essay coach who specializes in essays. In either case, you will most likely meet with your essay coach via video conferencing. Most essay coaches will have you draft and edit your essays in Google Docs or a similar cloud-based word processor. Only once your essays are complete will you copy-paste the text into the Common App, the University of California application, or whatever other application platform you’re using.

How to find a college prep advisor online

There are many ways to find a college prep advisor online. Like any other service, it’s a good idea to ask around. Have your friends or parents’ friends used a counselor they liked? SAT and ACT tutors often are in contact with college prep advisors, so if you know any test prep tutors, it might be a good idea to ask them for a recommendation.

Another option is to read college prep blogs. Often, college prep advisors will keep blogs (like this one!) where they showcase their expertise and perspectives about the college process. When you find someone whose ideas align with yours, that’s a good indication that that counselor might be a good fit for you.

College prep advisors also have a couple professional organizations. There’s the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA). Both of these organizations keep lists of college prep advisors on their websites in order to help you find someone to work with.

What to ask your online college advisor

Once you find your online college advisor, it’s time to figure out what to talk about. If you’re nervous about this, relax! This may be your first time going through the college application process, but your counselor has done this dozens or even hundreds of times. Let them lead the conversation. They will probably ask you about your goals, experiences, credentials, and values. Be prepared to talk about the experiences you’ve had so far and what you think you’d like to get out of your college education. But if you don’t know that either, don’t worry! Part of their job is to help you figure out where you’re going.

If you do have specific questions, don’t be afraid to bring those up! You may be wondering whether you should submit your test scores, how to audition or submit a portfolio, or how to reach out to athletic coaches, among many other questions. Write your questions down ahead of time so that you don’t forget during your sessions. But if you do forget or get sidetracked, don’t worry! You can always follow your session up with an email to ask any lingering questions.

Why talk to an online college counselor

Talking to a college prep advisor is a great way to make sure you’re navigating the crazy world of college admissions to your best ability. Specifically, talking to someone online can have many benefits over talking with someone in person. For one thing, working online saves you the time and stress of having to commute to an in-person location. It’s also likely that an advisor who is used to operating in the online space will be more responsive to online follow up questions or communications.

Beyond the convenience, however, it’s important to remember that college admissions is very much a national game. Even if you’re planning to stay close to home for college, you still may be competing against kids from across the country. For that reason, you really want someone with a broad, national perspective. Counselors can only develop that type of insight by working with students from across the country and even around the world. And only counselors who work online are afforded that kind of opportunity. So choosing an online college prep advisor, rather than an in-person one, can have important benefits throughout the process.

If you’re worried about how to talk to an online college prep advisor, don’t be! A big part of the college prep advisor’s job is helping high school students feel comfortable. Your advisor is going to walk you through the process. All you have to do is keep an open mind and communicate as best you can!

Need more advice on your college applications?

The team at Great College Advice has deep experience in guiding students along the road from high school college. We provide individually tailored, one-on-one advising to help young people achieve their educational ambitions. If you’d like more information about our services, contact us for a free consultation. Or just pick up the phone and call us at 720.279.7577.  We’d be happy to chat with you.

The post Why and How to Talk to a College Prep Advisor Online first appeared on Great College Advice.

Educational Consultant
*****************
I had a great visit here at Samford University, really beautiful, beautiful campus.  One of the things I learned about today was, it was a great lesson actually in the idea of discount rates, Samford University is actually cheaper, the sticker price of tuition is cheaper than a lot of other private universities and they use that as a huge selling point about why you ought to consider coming to Samford.  The interesting thing is that they really don’t discount tuition too much.  They do provide financial aid for some students, but fully one-third of the students who come here pay the full price of tuition.
Now at other universities, even the other ones I’ve been visiting in the south, the other private universities, they actually have a much higher tuition rate but they discount the tuition for a much larger percentage of the students.
So, when I talk to my clients, and I always talk about the fact that most students will not pay the sticker price when they are accepted to a private university, but parents will also be looking at that sticker price and doing comparison shopping, say between Samford and let’s say, Vanderbilt or even Birmingham Southern, and they say, “Whoa, the sticker price at those other places is so much more than it is at a place like Samford”.  Well, if you’re paying full price for tuition or if you’re planning to pay full price, then yes, Samford is a deal.  But if you are looking for financial aid, you may get less financial aid at a place like Samford than you would at a place that has a higher sticker price.
So that’s a really confusing reality of the way universities, which are businesses, price their product or their service.  So it was a fascinating discovery here.  I enjoyed my time very much and I think that they provide a really great educational product here but I thought it was really interesting to learn about their pricing structure.

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TRANSCRIPT:

I’m here on the campus of Vassar College today, and Vassar’s located in Poughkeepsie, New York, Upstate New York, sort of between New York City and Albany. Beautiful, absolutely gorgeous campus, and always fun to come learn about it, a particular campus.

Vassar has a reputation for being extremely liberal, left-wing, pretty progressive in terms of its ethos. And I did ask the tour guide about that, and she said, “Yep, pretty much, it is true to its reputation.” But I’m always looking for independent indicators of that understanding. So we’re in the dormitory taking a look around and it’s very beautiful, these really old, stately buildings, it’s gorgeous. And every parlor in the buildings has a Steinway piano. It’s really attractive.

So we’re talking and parents are asking questions about dormitories. It’s usually the parents that ask the questions, right? And one of the questions that parents have, “Is it co-ed by floor, co-ed by room, co-ed by hall, how’s that work?” So the tour guide dutifully explained and went on about the living arrangements, there’s one dorm that’s all women.

And then at the very end, she said, “And all the bathrooms are gender-neutral. So let’s move on to the next place.” And the parents, of course, many of them, their eyes lit up, “Gender-neutral? Bathrooms, gender-neutral? That means that anybody can use the bathroom?”

Gender-Neutral Arrangments

Of course, this is not a particularly new thing, that there have been campuses since the 1960s that have had gender-neutral living arrangements. But at a place like Vassar and a few others, that is the norm. So you walk into the bathroom and the toilet stalls, the shower stalls, are first-come first-serve. Doesn’t matter which gender you are or how you identify, everyone has equal access to those facilities.

Now if they’re co-ed by floor, co-ed by hallway. There are some practicalities that would suggest that the majority of people using this particular bathroom are going to be man and this one is going to be woman. But there’s no rule, right? There’s no indication on the door that this is the men’s room and this is the women’s room.

So that’s just one indicator that Vassar, by its very — the heart of the place tends to be very tolerant, very progressive, and very, sort of, cutting edge, shall we say, about the ideas of gender and sexuality. It’s just not an issue. They don’t think of that as an issue. Of course, if you care about that, and you don’t want to be in a place where the bathrooms are mixed by gender. Well, then you should think twice about coming to a place like Vassar because that’ really the norm.

But it’s always fun to visit the campuses and sort of get an independent view of the reputation of a particular school. Vassar is a very liberal place.
 
Mark Montgomery
Expert Educational Consultant

The post Vassar College: A Very Liberal Arts School first appeared on Great College Advice.

TRANSCRIPT:

So I’m here today on the campus of Manhattan College, and it’s an interesting place because it’s relatively small. It’s only 3,500 students, Lasallian Catholic college, there are five Lasallian colleges in the country. Probably the most well-known are Saint Mary’s of California. And also La Salle College in the Philadelphia area, and then Manhattan.

5 Colleges In 1

The thing that’s interesting is that with 3,500 students, it is really a university. Because it’s divided into five different colleges. You can see the colors on here. So you’ve got the arts and sciences, business, education and health careers. Also engineering, which is fairly popular here, and then sciences. So there are actually five different streams within this “college” of only 3,500 students.

You Will Graduate and Get A Job

Now, the thing that became very apparent as we took the tour, and we also met with the director of the engineering program, getting a job is really what it’s all about here at Manhattan. The idea is that you’re going to get an education that is going to prepare you for a particular career in one of these areas. And of course, because it’s just on the outskirts of New York City, the opportunities for internships in the city, fantastic, or any of the surrounding areas as well. But the college emphasizes that what this institution is doing is preparing you for your career, for your next job.

That’s very different from the liberal arts college. This is a college, but different from a liberal arts college. Which may be emphasizing more the critical thinking and the big ideas of learning. And less worried about your particular job when you exit. “We know that you’ll get that job,” is what the message of the liberal arts colleges is all about. Here at Manhattan, though, the idea is this is professional training for a professional future. So great little place here in — not in Manhattan, but in the Bronx, but Manhattan College: definitely worth a look.
 
Great College Advice

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TRANSCRIPT:

I’m here on the campus of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and I had the pleasure of walking into the art museum today. It’s Sunday, it’s really not an ideal day to be visiting Colby because pretty much nothing is open. I tried with my companion here today. We were trying doors and I was trying to be optimistic, but most everything was closed.

But we did have the occasion to walk into the art museum and spoke with a young woman who is a student here. And I asked her what she liked about it, and she said, “Well, you know, it’s really great. We’re up here on the hill and this is such a bubble.” And that’s a term that’s used quite often to describe a number of campuses around the country that are relatively isolated or separate from an urban area of any kind.

So Colby, in order to get to town, it’s probably, I don’t know, maybe two miles to get to the commercial heart of the city. Not too bad, not too far, but it’s not right next door.

The Bubble

So when students talk about the “bubble” of the campus that means that it really is physically and psychologically isolated from the rest of the world. It’s its own little environment. It’s its own little terrarium, if you will, populated by college students who are eager to learn and eager to be involved and have fun. But they want to do it within the environment of the undergraduate experience.

Colby is an undergraduate college, it’s about 1,800 students, and the young woman we met. She was very enthusiastic that there’s tons to do here, there’s plenty to keep one active. And she did say, also, that students are pretty studious, and that they take academics seriously. So, students who want to come here, they are in some sense trying to avoid the distractions of a big city like New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Chicago. And they want to have a quiet academic life with others. Who share that priority, that their four years in college is to study, to learn stuff.

But they also still want to have fun

She was very quick to say that the kids at Colby have plenty of fun, very outdoorsy. Because we are in Maine and the opportunities for outdoor involvement are terrific, whether it’s skiing. Whether it’s going to the lakes in the summertime, or there’s a pond over here. And I presume they have ice skating in the middle of the winter.

Tons to do, it’s also a very athletic school, it’s a member of the NESCAC group, the New England Small Colleges. Very, very busy place. But it’s separate from any sort of city. It has its own little environment and that’s why we call it the Colby Bubble here on the hill. So a great place, a nice day, next time I hope I can come on a day. Other than Sunday so I can actually get in some of the buildings. But a very attractive campus and clearly a top-notch liberal arts college in the north of New England.
 

Great College Advice

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