Most California families spend the summer doing nothing about college — then panic in October. We built the program we wish every family did instead. Free, self-paced, and adapted to your student's grade.
Reserve your family's spot below. We'll send you the program structure and Week 1 instructions immediately. No spam, no upsell pressure — just the program.
We'll email you the full program structure and Week 1 within minutes of signup.
Check your inbox in the next few minutes. Week 1 instructions and the program overview are on their way. We'll see you all summer.
Each week takes about 45 minutes. One diagnostic action, one piece of content, one reflection prompt. Adapted to your student's grade — a sophomore's Week 4 looks different from a senior's Week 4.
Take the College Readiness Assessment. Sixteen dimensions, five phases, ~5 minutes. Real benchmarks against UC-competitive applicants.
Convert assessment findings into specific actions. The Roadmap shows you which gaps matter most, in what order, and what realistic progress looks like.
A grade-matched deep dive into how the modern admissions process operates. Includes The Admissions Room — watch real applications scored live.
The PCG School Atlas — explore 1,000+ colleges through PCG's strategic lens. Selectivity, leverage tier, cost progression by income, graduation outcomes.
Different work for different grades: list strategy for juniors and seniors, profile-building strategy for sophomores and freshmen. Plus merit aid positioning.
No more sticker price guessing. Run real cost numbers using SAI 2026-27, Cal Grant eligibility, UC/CSU aid logic, and the donut-hole income range most California families fall into.
The question every parent is asking but few counselors will address. Model AI's impact on different degree paths, then think through how that affects your investment decision.
Review your outputs from the previous seven weeks. Optional: a free 30-minute consultation with PCG to discuss specifically what you've found and what comes next.
A freshman parent should do different work this summer than a senior parent. The program adapts automatically — your assessment results, your school list depth, your strategy focus, and your timeline are all tuned to where your student actually is.
A webinar makes you watch. A program makes you act. By Week 8 you'll have real outputs — an assessment, a school list, a cost model, a strategy — not just notes.
Most counselors talk about strategy. We built the tools that make strategy concrete. The program is the curated path through them — same tools, sequenced for maximum impact.
Self-paced means done on your schedule. ~45 minutes a week. No commute, no babysitter, no calendar block, no pressure to be in front of a screen at a specific time.
Most counselor marketing leads to a sales call. Ours leads to clarity about whether your situation needs a counselor at all. Some families don't — we'll tell you so.
Every tool in the program, every benchmark, every strategic framework comes from real families we've guided through admissions and financial aid. The program exists because we kept seeing the same questions on Reddit, College Confidential, and Paying for College 101 — and nobody had built anything that could actually answer them for a specific family.
Hand-verified 2026–27 data for schools California families actually apply to.
Real outcomes in both admissions and financial aid — informing every tool.
No legacy EFC framework. Updated for the actual cycle your student is in.
All free. No account, no email gating on the tools themselves.
Yes. No credit card, no trial period, no surprise paywall. PCG's business is independent college counseling — the program is how we demonstrate the quality of our thinking to families who might eventually become clients. Most families who use it never become clients. That's fine.
Two real ones. First: we'll email you once a week during the 8 weeks with the next step. You can unsubscribe anytime. Second: at the end, families who completed the program get an offer for a free 30-minute consultation. No obligation. We're honest about whether your situation needs a counselor — sometimes it doesn't.
No — the program is designed for parents. Some steps (like the readiness assessment) work best with student input, but most of the work is the kind of strategic thinking parents typically lead. Many families do it together; many do it parent-only.
The program is calibrated for high school. If your student is in middle school or early high school, the assessment will tell you so honestly. You can still work through the program — many of the strategic frameworks help with course planning, summer planning, and the broader question of whether college is the right path. Sign up under "younger / other" and we'll send you a modified version.
Yes — the weekly cadence is a suggestion, not a requirement. Some families binge it in a weekend. Most space it out across the summer. The tools are always available — the weekly emails just keep the structure clear.
It maps to summer. Roughly Memorial Day through end of July, or June through early August. By the time school resumes, you've done the strategic work most families don't get to until panic mode in October of senior year.
Yes — Calabasas and Westlake Village. We work primarily with California families. The tools are calibrated for California-specific realities (Cal Grant, UC/CSU systems, OOS public surcharges, etc). Out-of-state families can still use the program, but California families get the most leverage.
Reserve your spot in 30 seconds. Week 1 hits your inbox immediately. You'll know by Week 2 whether the program is right for you — and if it isn't, unsubscribing is one click.