There is a moment that has started to surface in nearly every conversation I have with families preparing for the 2026 and 2027 college admissions cycle. It usually does not begin with a direct question. It shows up more subtly. A pause. A hesitation. A parent glancing at their student’s essay and then back at…

It usually starts with a simple assumption. A student works hard in high school, earns strong grades, builds a solid college list, and believes that once they arrive on campus, everything else will fall into place. The expectation is clear. Study hard, graduate, and opportunities will follow. But somewhere between freshman year and graduation, that…

It usually begins with good intentions. A family sits down at the kitchen table with a sense of urgency and optimism, determined to build a college plan that will set their student up for success. There are conversations about grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, and a list of colleges that seem to represent the right…

It often begins with a quiet comparison. A student looks at their transcript, notices the pattern of B grades, and wonders what that means for their future. Around them, conversations about college admissions seem to revolve around perfect GPAs, elite universities, and acceptance rates that grow more selective each year. It becomes easy to believe…

The email does not announce itself with any ceremony. It arrives quietly, often in the middle of an ordinary afternoon, carrying a weight that feels anything but ordinary. A student opens it slowly, already sensing what it might say, and in a matter of seconds, months of anticipation condense into a single outcome. A rejection…

The moment eventually arrives for nearly every college-bound student. Somewhere between browsing university websites, speaking with guidance counselors, and imagining life on a campus far from home, a deceptively simple question begins to surface, What should I major in? At first, the question appears straightforward. Yet as families begin to explore the possibilities, they quickly…

The email arrives quietly. There is no drumroll, no warning, just a subject line that carries months of anticipation in a handful of words. You open it slowly, already sensing what it might say. When you read the decision, the world feels momentarily still. A rejection from a college you had imagined yourself attending can…

The college planning journey often begins with excitement, ambition, and a clear vision of the future. Yet for one recent family I spoke with from Woodland Hills, California who had already sent their older child to college 2 years ago, that excitement slowly turned into overwhelm. Deadlines started to stacking up, essays remained unfinished, and…

I was recently meeting with one of my students who lives in Newbury Park, California about his college preparations and the conversation centered around how higher education often begins with grades, test scores, and college rankings. Yet what ultimately separates a strong college experience from a transformative one is what happens beyond the classroom. Increasingly,…

For many families, college visits mark the moment when the idea of college stops being abstract and starts feeling real. A campus is no longer just a name on a list or a set of statistics on a website. It becomes a place you walk through, listen to, and imagine yourself inhabiting. Yet without a…