Comprehensive Ongoing Independent School Counseling

The Ongoing Counseling program gives clients top priority for my time and attention, and unlimited access through personal or video appointments, e-mail, text, and telephone calls. As a concierge practice, I will continue to provide counseling and guidance throughout the admissions and school decision-making process. Ongoing counseling involves more regular meetings, as well as outreach to, and organizational support for, students on my part.

Typically, families choose the ongoing process upon debriefing after our initial consultation and deciding that they need additional and comprehensive support through the admissions process, and that we are a good fit for the student and their family’s needs. Sometimes, clients will wait to decide until they have scheduled and completed a second consultation one or more months after the first meeting. In either case, discussions about goals, expectations, and the counseling process are more than welcome prior to making a commitment to the ongoing program.

Ongoing Counseling is a comprehensive program with a flexible process that adjusts to a student’s individual circumstances. Whether you live right down the road or on the other side of the globe, the counseling process can be extensive, supportive, meaningful, and personal. Over the course of one or two years, the process typically includes:

• Reviewing the progress of the student’s educational planning throughout the school years prior to making a school change.
• Working with both student and parents to help make wise decisions, while handling issues as they may arise.
• Identifying and refining the appropriate list of schools, including reach, target, and likely schools based on feedback from the student’s and parents’ research and visits, grades, and test results, as they develop over time.
• Making recommendations on activities and summer plans.
• Preparing the student for campus visits and interviews.
• Guiding students on the preparation of school applications, including the review of the online Standard Application Online (SAO), Gateway application, and other materials required in the admissions process (résumé, high priority emails or letters, etc.).
• Advising on essays, including content critiques and editorial input. 
• Strategizing on such issues as when to apply, whether to repeat a year, and planning for post-graduate (PG) options.
• Discussing the financial aid process.
• Guiding the student on the selection of the most appropriate school from among those to which they have been admitted.
• Supporting students if they are trying to gain admission from one or more school waiting lists.
• Helping the student make initial class choices, and prepare for the transition to a new school.

Clients typically pay a total Ongoing Independent School Counseling fee at the outset of the process. Prospective students may become ongoing clients as early as the beginning of their middle school years, as late as their senior year of high school, or during a gap year after high school graduation or other specialized circumstances.