Services
I taught high school English at The Blake School in Minneapolis and at Stamford High School in Connecticut, and I get how teenagers learn, write, and grow. From the right private school in the Twin Cities, to the right college, to what comes after, I work with families at every turn: finding the school where a child will thrive, building a college application over years rather than weeks, coaching the essays that make a file come alive, and helping graduate applicants, from law school to veterinary school, hone the exact wording their field demands. Come in for the whole journey, or just the piece you need.
Ten years in the classroom
I get them. And they know it.
Before I was a college counselor, I spent ten years teaching English to high schoolers, the same age, the same nerves, the same half-formed ideas my students bring me now. That classroom time is the quiet engine behind everything I do here.
Teenagers know, almost instantly, when an adult is genuinely interested in them and when they are not. They also know when someone takes their thinking seriously and is not going to flinch at the messy first draft of who they are. That is the relationship I build with every student I work with.
It is also why parents tell me their kid will talk to me about the college process, sometimes for the first time all year.
College Admissions Strategy
Admissions strategy is proactive, not reactive. The students who land the best outcomes have spent years building an academic, extracurricular, and personal profile with intention, long before they open the Common App. This is the work I do with families who want a real plan, not a scramble.
Guidance areas
Our Strategic Approach
01
Identify strengths, interests, values, and long-term goals.
02
Build meaningful experiences that reflect genuine interests and intellectual curiosity.
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Develop a compelling personal narrative and distinctive application profile.
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Navigate applications, essays, interviews, and admissions decisions with confidence.
No single formula
Every student’s strategy is their own.
There is no formula for admission. What works is finding authentic opportunities aligned with your student’s real interests and goals, and shaping them into a coherent picture, piece by piece.
Strategy work is most effective when it begins before senior year. Students in grades 8 through 11 benefit the most, though we can start meaningful work at any point.
“The strongest applications are not created during senior year—they take shape across the years through thoughtful planning, meaningful experiences, and authentic self-discovery.”
What strategy work may include
Interested in building a thoughtful, personalized plan for high school and college admissions? Schedule an introductory consultation to discuss your student’s goals.
How I bill
I work on an hourly basis. No large package paid up front. Time is tracked and accounted for as we go, so you only ever pay for the work your student actually needs.
No handoffs to junior staff. You work with me, start to finish.
Rates are discussed in our first conversation. That call is complimentary and there is no obligation.
College Admissions
01
8th-12th grade
Every engagement begins with real time getting to know your student: their talents, interests, and the way they actually think. We review the academic and extracurricular record to date, identify strengths and gaps, and sketch a personalized plan. The first conversation is complimentary.
Includes
02
8th-11th grade
Course selection, summer programs, and extracurricular paths built with intention. I map out a multi-year plan that gives admissions officers a coherent picture, not a collection of activities.
Includes
03
10th-12th grade
Researched, balanced lists shaped to academic ambition, environment, and aspiration. I draw on first-hand knowledge of schools across the US, the UK, and continental Europe, including merit aid and honors options families often miss.
Includes
04
11th-12th grade
Two decades of teaching and coaching has taught me one thing: the best essays sound like the student. Through conversation first and drafts after, we find the story only your student could tell, then refine it until the voice is unmistakable.
Includes
05
12th grade
From Common App and Coalition to UCAS, Bocconi, IE, and Sciences Po. Deadlines managed, recommendations coordinated, interviews prepared, and every detail reviewed line by line before submission.
Includes
Not sure where your student fits? Reach out and we will figure it out together.
Beyond College Admissions
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Graduate & professional applicants
Thinking about what comes next? I work with graduate and professional school applicants across fields, from law school to veterinary school, and the wording that wins in one discipline is not the wording that wins in another. My understanding of these fields of study lets me help you hone the exact language your particular field expects, so the essay is accurate to its subject and informed by the knowledge that field rewards. The same principle holds as with seventeen-year-olds: the reader wants to encounter a mind.
Includes
07
Twin Cities families, all ages
Finding the right school for your child is its own admissions process. Sometimes a child needs to move: a learning difference, a mismatch of style, a school that simply is not working. Other times a family is relocating to the Twin Cities and needs help choosing well, fast, from a landscape they do not yet know. I know these schools intimately. My three children attended a wide range of them, from Lake Country Montessori to Waldorf to Blake to St. Paul Academy, and I have coached the students who came out of the others, so I know what kind of young people each one tends to produce. Having studied education and pedagogy at Columbia, I can help you weigh genuinely different philosophies and find the environment where your child will thrive.
Includes
Beyond the core engagement
Most engagements weave these in as they become relevant. Since everything is billed hourly, any of them can also be chosen à la carte.
Need-based, merit, FAFSA, CSS Profile. Translating what it all means for your family and surfacing schools known for generous aid.
Who to ask, when to ask, and how to give teachers what they need to write a letter that actually sounds like your student.
Mock interviews and coaching for alumni interviews, admission reps, and on-campus conversations so students walk in prepared, not rehearsed.
A clean, college-ready resume that highlights real strengths, useful for applications, recommenders, and summer opportunities.
A line-by-line read of every application before submission. Rarely is a draft error-free; this is the final pass.
Once acceptances are in, we sit with the choices (fit, cost, gut feel) so the final decision is made with clarity.
An invitation
I work with a limited number of students each year.