College admissions from start to finish

I’m the only college counselor in Seattle, and one of only a handful nationwide, to focus on providing support for every part of the admissions process. The three main obstacles between high-schoolers and getting into college are: preparing for the SAT or ACT; finding fits; and writing the application itself. I will help with all of these.

Test Prep | Researching Schools | Essays | What Next?

Numbers matter. I will improve yours. My students gain an average of 200 points on the SAT and 4 points on the ACT. As someone who scored 1590 on the SAT, I also specialize in turning strong scores into elite scores, with 1400 to 1520 (30 to 34) and 1450 to 1550 (32 to 35) being typical results. 

Typically, we’ll begin in junior year by determining which test would best play to your strengths, figuring out where you are and where you want to be (based on a preliminary list of colleges), and making a plan to get from the former to the latter. From there, we’ll meet to review practice problems and tackle new concepts, with the goal of attaining your desired score on the first or second try.

At the same time, I’ll work with you to narrow down your list of colleges until you’re only applying to places you want to attend. School fit encompasses everything from selectivity and location to the strength of the college’s overall academics and particular programs, but I find most of my students have done best when they pick somewhere they feel happy and comfortable. I’ll help you find somewhere you can flourish, too—drawing on my countless college visits and my decade of teaching experience.

Once we know where you want to go, I’ll teach you how to write your applications, with an emphasis on the personal statement. In such a competitive environment, lots of applicants have good numbers—so excellent essays are the best way to stand out from the pack. I’ll help you craft attention-grabbing narratives tailored to each school, using my five-step editing process. We’ll brainstorm ideas, work together to draw out ideas and themes, write an outline, compose a draft, and finally customize it to precisely address what each college is looking for. Extending the process over multiple sessions gives you the time and context to accumulate ideas, which we’ll refine, step by step, on Google Docs—remotely or in-person. We’ll end up with essays densely packed with the stories and observations that reflect your best qualities.