Feedback From Families

Deep knowledge
“Working with Barbara during our children’s high school years has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. She has a deep knowledge about how colleges assess homeschool applicants and has helped us successfully navigate the opaque, stressful process of selective college prep and admissions. More importantly, Barbara has spent time getting to know each of our children, gaining their trust and buy-in, and her advice has been both consistently sensible and specifically tailored to their individual interests, abilities, and needs. We have been so grateful for and delighted with her guidance.”   Jenny and Ed, parents in Tennessee

Clear roadmap, insightful feedback
“Barbara provided a clear roadmap and framework to navigate the daunting application process. I am grateful for her help in crafting essays that let me put my best foot forward. She knows what colleges want and don’t want to see (especially for homeschoolers!) and provides insightful feedback on tailoring your application and homeschool documents. I finished my applications significantly ahead of the college deadlines thanks to the easy-to-follow structure Barbara created. Her encouragement and guidance made the process so much smoother and I came out of it feeling far less stressed than if I had done it without her support.”  Liana, student in Texas

Organized, efficient, thoughtful, compassionate
“From our first consultation with Barbara, we knew immediately that we had found the perfect person to guide us through college admissions. She is organized, efficient, thoughtful and compassionate and knows college admissions inside and out. Our daughter really connected with Barbara during their individual meetings and we felt like Barbara enjoyed taking the time to get to know our daughter, her passions/interests and what she was looking for in a college.

Barbara gave incredibly helpful feedback throughout the essay writing process and walked her through the Common App at just the right pace. Barbara also helped me as a homeschool mom, from offering suggestions on senior year classes to guidance on my counselor’s letter of recommendation to helping us shape our daughter’s college list.

We were not sure initially if we should spend the money for a college consultant, but we have all said many times in the past year, “Thank goodness for Barbara!” Her knowledge and advice was absolutely invaluable to us and we are so happy for our daughter, who has found a college that is a perfect fit for her!” Lara, parent in North Carolina.

True advocate, ethical and straightforward
“You can 100% trust Barbara to provide wise counsel and expert guidance for your specific child. She uses her expertise and vast experience to provide the best advice for your child in today’s college landscape, interpreting changes and trends as they specifically affect your child. She is a true advocate who is ethical and straightforward. She makes a confusing process clear, providing families with a sense of peace. With Barbara, we found the joy in partnership with someone who truly “gets” the students she is working with–their academic and non-academic goals and needs. We were incredibly pleased with the outcome for both of our students.”   Dana, parent in California

Both in at top choice schools
“Both of my kids, one interested in the computer science track and one interested in the literature, science and arts track were admitted into schools that were their no. 1 choice. I truly believe it might not have happened without Barbara.

She really got to know our kids and shaped her suggestions around who they were and what they wanted. Basically, she was my lifeline and completely reduced my anxiety. My kids liked working with her. There was not one time she could not answer my unending questions and did not have concrete suggestions. She was the huge difference maker for us. Could not recommend her any more highly. Simply the best. Forever grateful.”   Angela, parent in Michigan

Responsive and helpful
“Heading into admissions, I felt it was daunting and unsure how I was going to get all the materials together as I’m not very organized. You took the mystery out. Your sample documents were a lifesaver. Your upbeat and positive, and calming demeanor calmed me completely. You are so helpful. So responsive. Barbara is always willing to give more advice and excellent critiques that enhance every document and is such a lovely person”   Meredith, parent, UK

Highly Recommend
“We were extremely pleased with Barbara’s advice, guidance and support throughout the college planning, application, and decision-making process. I appreciated her ready availability and her reality-tested advice and kind manner in which she delivered this information. She held my daughter’s and my hands through it all, even offering support as needed when my daughter was feeling overwhelmed with decisions and deadlines. We highly recommend Barbara’s services!”  Melissa, parent in Virginia

Best Fit
“I am thankful to Barbara for providing good, practical advice on crafting applications and making decisions. I appreciated her comments on my college essays as well as her insights into the decision-making process.  Her insights into finding a best fit are really helpful, especially for students who have long been bombarded with commentary about the rankings and reputation of various institutions.”  Miranda, student in New York

Great Advice
“Barbara was amazing to work with! She is very knowledgeable and helped our son focus on his strengths in his essays, gave great advice throughout the admissions process, and helped me fine tune his transcript. We are truly blessed to have found her.”    Brenna, parent in Virginia

Excellent Results
“Thank you for all of your guidance, on a zillion little issues (and some big ones), especially around how to package a homeschooler into an application process meant for public-schoolers. I don’t know how homeschool parents pound their by-definition square pegs into the round holes of the Common App without this advice.   We appreciate that you advised our daughter already had enough testing and validation. We had no idea that was true but we trusted you and forgoing all that extra testing made a huge difference for her late childhood not having to add things she finds stressful and antithetical to learning.  She had excellent admissions results with acceptances with generous aid and scholarships including at more prestigious reach schools. Knowing she had those choices helped her be confident in her final decision. Thanks again – your help was invaluable.”   Victoria, parent in Wisconsin

Never Disappointed
“Barbara came highly recommended and we were never disappointed. She helped us plan homeschooling for both of our teens guiding us through course planning, testing, and homeschool records.  She connected with our introverted daughter and convinced her to get involved in volunteering. When we hit a rough patch with dual enrollment, Barbara had constructive advice to fix the situation. She knows her stuff and explains everything in a straight forward way.   If you are at all intimidated by homeschooling high school working with Barbara is a must!”    Tracy and Pete, parents in New York

Simplified High School Planning
“Thank you for helping us plan for dual enrollment and testing. It was so much easier to get this done with your help and I feel better knowing we have a good plan for high school.” -Karen, parent in Oregon

Improved Student Writing
“Thank you Barbara! Your encouragement and support got me through my college search. As a future engineer I dreaded essays but you helped me brainstorm and find my voice. Working with you on essays helped me become a better writer. Thanks again!”    Adam, student in Ohio