It depends. Many of our students sign on to start the summer leading up to junior year. That seems to be the sweet-spot. But there are plenty of sophomores who might really benefit from an extra semester or year of academic and extracurricular planning. We even get students right before senior year who might be feeling a little anxious. We have worked with them all.

Perhaps a more important question to ask is this: Is your student ready or at least willing to actually invest time in getting to know thyself? Seriously, though. We ask a lot of questions. We keep asking. Why? Why not? So, what? How?

Is your student ready to reflect? Are they ready to articulate their strengths, their interests, what’s important to them, both for their present and their future? It’s okay if they don’t have all the answers. Neither do we. But we hope they are willing to come to this process with curiosity and the eagerness to explore.

Lots of individual tasks are assigned along the way and we will cover all the big things (we assure you), but there is no set curriculum per se.

Many of our conversations organically happen due to what the student is experiencing along the way. One meeting might be polishing up the student’s resume while another might be talking about something that happened at school that day. (That’s the former school-based counselors in us.) All of it helps us get to know your student better. We like to move at a pace that works for each individual student.

Throughout our time together, there will be many questions asked, suggestions made, and insight gained about what students are looking for in a college and how to level up each piece of the college search and application process. And since you’re not buying into a plan that limits the number of meetings, we can schedule more time to meet if we need to.

As much as we also enjoy talking with you too, we value (and want to protect) the time we have with students. With parents sitting in (even off-screen), there’s something that’s lost in our connection with students. The trust and rapport we build is key to the work we do. So, down the line, when we ask your student to reflect sincerely on their experiences, interests, and aspirations, we can expect honest answers.

You are welcome to check in with us and have your own link to schedule a parent meeting. We’re glad to answer your questions and appreciate any insight on your student so that we’re able to help them (and you) more easily navigate this process.

And then there might be times that we all want to meet together, whether that be a financial aid/budget meeting or around college decision time. We’re here for the harder conversations, but we also really like the celebratory moments.

Use the parent scheduler link we provide to set up a meeting to discuss. Our hope is that students are communicating with parents throughout this process, but if the college conversation is immediately a source of stress or contention, let’s talk about why.

What does your student need more information about? Does a bigger conversation about a particular piece of the application or college search need to happen sooner rather than later? You know your kid best. We’re here to help manage expectations. Some of that might be budget, selectivity of schools, or college options. Or do we need to establish some systems for all of us to be in the loop? 

We honor that parents come to this process wanting different levels of involvement but also realize that this may currently be dictated by your student’s (un?)willingness to share. Let’s come to a happy medium to start.