College Counseling in Massachusetts

Families across Massachusetts turn to Great College Advice for one-on-one college admissions guidance backed by decades of counseling experience and proven results — from the Boston area including the western suburbs to the North Shore, the South Shore, and Western Mass.

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Why Local Guidance Matters

Massachusetts families face a set of specifics that exist almost nowhere else:

• The highest concentration of selective private colleges in the country, which creates a perception that proximity confers advantage. It does not.
• Intensely competitive high school environments in the Boston suburbs including all of the prestigious private high schools in the area, where dozens of students from a single graduating class target the same highly selective New England colleges and universities.
• Once thought of as regional ‘safety’ schools now highly selective. Acceptance rates at Boston-area universities have moved so fast that parents’ own experience is out-of-date with the new reality.

Jamie Berger, a highly acclaimed college admissions counselor who leads our New England office, is direct about that last point: “Northeastern [acceptance rate] is in single digits.” For Massachusetts parents who remember Northeastern as an accessible local option, that single fact reframes an entire college list. The same compression in its acceptance rate has also hit Boston University, Boston College, and Tufts.

The solution is not lowering ambition — it’s building a list where every tier holds real appeal. As Jamie puts it: “Having happy likelies will lead to a happy outcome regardless.” 

The same applies to the state’s high selective liberal arts colleges. Williams, Tufts, and Amherst sit within the NESCAC, and as a member of the Great College Advice community notes, “the three NESCAC schools on the list are going to have a lot in common as New England SLACs. They attract a lot of cross applicants.” Applying to all of them is not a strategy — it’s one bet placed three times.

College Counseling Services in MA

✅ Common App & supplemental essay support
✅ College list building & fit assessment across New England
✅ Application strategy & timeline planning, including Early Decision and Early Action
✅ High school course planning under the new state graduation requirements
✅ AP and dual enrollment planning
✅ Standardized test prep strategy and test-optional decision-making
✅ Financial aid / FAFSA guidance
✅ Merit aid strategy, net-cost comparison, and aid appeal support
✅ College interview prep
✅ Support for high-achieving, gifted, and neurodivergent learners
✅ Guidance for MA students applying out of state or internationally
✅ Guidance for out-of-state and international students applying to Massachusetts schools

Meet Your Massachusetts-Based College Counselor

Jamie Berger — New England Office

Jamie leads our New England office and brings over 30 years of experience as a prep school and college instructor, test-prep and writing tutor, academic and executive function coach, and Common App essay consultant. Raised in Albany, New York, he lived and worked for many years in New York City and San Francisco before settling in Western Massachusetts. His views on the admissions process have appeared in Politico and The New York Times.

Schedule a consultation with Jamie →

Massachusetts families are also matched with other members of our six-counselor team based on the student’s goals, target schools, and working style.

Massachusetts High Schools We’ve Worked With

Note: This list reflects general GCA outreach across MA and is not tied to any specific counselor.

Ready to Get Started?

Schedule a consultation with Great College Advice to build a personalized plan for your student’s college journey. All counseling is delivered online, so families anywhere in Massachusetts can work with us.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best Massachusetts colleges to apply to?

“Best” depends entirely on the student, and Massachusetts offers more genuine variety than almost any state. Commonly targeted schools include Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, Brandeis, Williams, Amherst College, Wellesley, Smith, Mount Holyoke, College of the Holy Cross, Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Olin College of Engineering, Babson, Bentley, Emerson, Berklee, and UMass Amherst. Our counselors help students look past name recognition and geography to focus on programs, campus culture, and genuine fit.

Does living in Massachusetts give my student an advantage in the college admissions process?

It can, but there are both significant advantages and challenges. Massachusetts offers families an unusually rich educational environment. Students have access to outstanding public and private high schools, exceptional academic programs, and a remarkable concentration of highly selective colleges and universities. For motivated students, this creates tremendous opportunities to challenge themselves and explore their interests.

At the same time, being surrounded by high-achieving students can make the college admissions process more competitive. Admissions officers evaluate students in the context of their high school and community, so a student who is near the top of a highly competitive Massachusetts school may be competing against many similarly accomplished applicants from the same area.

This is where thoughtful college planning becomes especially important. Students need to identify ways to demonstrate not only that they are academically capable, but also who they are, what they care about, and what they will contribute to a college community.

Does having so many excellent colleges nearby make the process easier?

Not necessarily but it can make the college search much more informed. Massachusetts families are fortunate to have extraordinary institutions within relatively easy driving distance, including schools such as Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, Amherst, Williams, and many others.

Being able to visit these campuses can help students develop a much better understanding of what different colleges offer and, perhaps more importantly, what type of college is actually the right fit for them.

However, proximity can also create unrealistic expectations. Families sometimes assume that because a college is nearby, or because their student’s high school regularly sends students there, that their student will have an easier path to admission. At highly selective colleges, geographic proximity provides little protection from an increasingly competitive applicant pool.

Is UMass Amherst still a likely school for Massachusetts students?

Not automatically. UMass Amherst receives over 50,000 applications every year and accepts approximately 60% of students that apply. However, this acceptance rate is virtually identical whether you are applying in-state or out-of-state. 

We won’t qualify for need-based financial aid so what other options are available to lower the cost of college?

The team at Great College Advice can work with your family to create a college list that increases the odds of generous scholarship money. For families unlikely to receive much need-based aid, merit aid at private colleges is usually the larger lever, and we help families compare net cost rather than sticker price.

Do we need to live in the Boston area to work with a Great College Advice counselor?

No. All counseling is delivered online, so families anywhere in Massachusetts — or beyond — can work with Jamie or another GCA counselor. Working with an online counselor is a feature, not a compromise.

How can Great College Advice help Massachusetts families?

Massachusetts families have extraordinary educational resources at their fingertips but navigating those resources and translating them into an effective college strategy requires perspective.

At Great College Advice, we combine deep college admissions experience with personalized, one-on-one counseling to help students make thoughtful decisions about academics, activities, college selection, essays, and applications. We understand the unique dynamics facing students in highly competitive Massachusetts schools and help families look beyond rankings and conventional wisdom to identify colleges where their student can truly thrive.

Our goal isn’t simply to help Massachusetts students get into college. It’s to help them find the right colleges—and put themselves in the strongest possible position to be admitted.