What is “College Advising?”

We view academic coaching and college advising as inseparable pieces of the student achievement puzzle. While college advising frequently recommends rigorous course taking, academic coaching is required to ensure both class success and exam performance. Armed with the right academic success tools, we are then able to further demystify the oftentimes confusing and frequently overwhelming college admissions and financial aid processes. Since 2006, we have successfully helped thousands of students develop strategies to maximize their high school success and postsecondary opportunities, while avoiding student loan debt. Just as each student has their own gifts, talents, passions, and demographic backgrounds, they each have their own postsecondary pathway. The following article, written by one of our students who is now attending Williams College on a full scholarship provides insight into who we are.

What makes our advising unique

Our approach to college advising, developed by author, educational consultant, and parent, Mychal Wynn, is based on the concept of “Backwards Mapping,” which begins with each student’s aspirations after high school and develops a debt-free pathway to pursuing the student’s aspirations. Consequently, the plan developed by an 8th grader is likely to differ from a plan developed by a high school senior, as the 8th grader has 4 years to plan their course taking, activities, developing their gifts and talents, and building the brand that they would like to present to college and scholarship providers.

Student Profile – MIT

As profiled throughout our website, we have advised students from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, public school, private school, and boarding school backgrounds. We have chosen to profile Arshia, a member of our Class of 2025 who will be a first-year student at MIT? In 2020, we had a contract with Pinellas County Schools (FL) through which we hosted a summer college planning boot camp for middle school students. As a rising 8th grader, Arshia attended the book camp and in his response to the question, “What are your aspirations after high school?” wrote:

“I aspire to become an ophthalmologist with my college major being the ophthalmology residency program. I intend to obtain a medical degree before beginning my ophthalmology residency. Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who conduct vision services, eye exams, medical eye care for conditions like glaucoma, iritis, and chemical burns, surgical eye care for trauma, crossed eyes, cataracts, glaucoma, and other problems, diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions related to other diseases, like diabetes or arthritis, and plastic surgery to raise droopy eyelids or smooth out wrinkles. I wish to pursue this career because I have always taken a keen interest in the properties of the eye and I have been inspired by the actions of doctors and medical professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic to help other people to the best of my ability.”

He affirmed Stanford and Yale among his top college choices, and high school goals of earning a 4.0 GPA, scoring above a 1350 on the SAT and above 30 on the ACT (all goals that he would exceed at the time he submitted his application to the MIT MITES program as a high school junior). Arshia emerged from the book camp with a goal of branding himself not only as a top academic student, but in a manner consistent with the Stanford University Holistic Admissions Policy, which stated:

The primary criterion for admission to Stanford is academic excellence. We look for your preparation and potential to succeed. We expect you to challenge yourself throughout your educational journey and to do very well by maintaining a strong academic record.
We want to see your commitment, dedication and genuine interest in expanding your intellectual horizons, both in what you write about yourself and in what others write on your behalf. We want to see the kind of curiosity and enthusiasm that will allow you to spark a lively discussion in a seminar and continue the conversation at the dinner table. We want to see the energy and depth of commitment you will bring to your endeavors, whether that means in a research lab, as part of a community organization, during a performance or on an athletic field. We want to see the initiative with which you seek out opportunities and expand your perspective.

If Arshia had affirmed future aspirations of becoming a welder or automotive mechanic, we would have advised him of the year-to-year actions needed to fulfill his aspirations. However, any student should be able to understand that the level of classes, grades, and test scores required for being offered admission to Stanford or Yale is different from what would be required for being offered admission to a technical school or community college.

In Arshia’s commentary, he provides insight into how a student’s aspirations after high school may evolve throughout their middle school and high school experiences. By advising Arshia in regard to his course taking, community service, leadership, and summer program experiences, his aspirations evolved as his experiences deepened.

By advising Arshia to pursue leadership and service through his passions—math and science—and the advising him to apply to the MIT MITES program, which is only available to students following their junior year of high school, Arshia built a relationship with MIT.

A Community of Dreamers

In the following video, Arshia shares his experiences in being part of a community of students with similar aspirations and the encouragement and inspiration students draw from being in such a community. He mentions collaborating with Jocelyne (Brown), Josiah (Williams), and Erin (Georgia Tech), all of whom were offered full scholarships. Their collaboration on our ACT Study Skills Project provides guidance for students to raise their ACT scores through brain-based study skills and learning strategies to enable more students to earn scholarship qualifying grades and test scores.

Arshia provides insight into how our guidance in developing a strong body of work across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service distinguishes our students among students in their respective high schools, thereby maximizing their competitiveness as college and scholarship applicants.

Choose Your Level of Advising

Pay as You Go ($95): Begin the process focused on your individual needs through 1-on-1 sessions. These 1-hour sessions can make the difference in high school students earning the grades and test scores to be an academically competitive college applicant or ensuring that current college students meet the GPA requirements to maintain their scholarships.

Each session is focused on the individual needs of students. Additional weekly or monthly sessions can be purchased to fit each student’s current needs or long-term goals. A 10% discount is available for sessions purchased in a block of 5 and a 20% discount is available for sessions purchased in a block of ten.

1-on-1 Year-to-Year College Advising ($999.95): Through this program, we review a student’s body of work; opportunities in their school or school district; and summer program opportunities within the context of each student’s postsecondary aspirations and family’s financial need. Each student’s year-to-year trajectory throughout their 7-year middle school through high school experience determines their competitiveness as a college and scholarship applicant. Our 1-on-1 advising is designed to build on year-to-year strategies regardless of where a student attends school or whether a student attends a public, private, charter, or boarding school.

Join a Cohort ($899.95): Our 2025-26 Cohort curriculum is designed for the following grade levels:

High School Freshmen & Sophomores
High School Juniors
High School Seniors

Following our monthly large group presentation, students will engage in discussion groups for their grade level and paired with a college adviser.

Develop Specific Strategies

Develop an Essay Writing Strategy ($499.95): May be used to develop a Common Application essay or to develop a scholarship essay up to 650 words:

Students are provided with a copy of Their Stories Vol I: Inspiring Essays of Students from Challenging Backgrounds, which is a collection of high-quality essays that resulted in the profiled students being offered admission to such selective schools as Amherst, Caltech, Duke, Georgia Tech, Williams, Swarthmore, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Vassar, and Northeastern, and to such HBCUs (together with full scholarships) as North Carolina A&T, Claflin, Dillard, Benedict, Spelman College, and Xavier University of Louisiana.
Student must submit a copy of their résumé for our review.
Student must submit a narrative essay describing their high school experiences, in which they provide insight into each area reflected on their résumé.
Student may provide a essay that the student has written or we can make recommendations of 3 essay topics based on our review of the student’s résumé and narrative essay.
We provide 3 reviews and 1 round of editing for a 650-word personal statement (i.e., Common Application Essay) or for a scholarship essay up to 650-words.

Develop a Scholarship Strategy ($499.95): Developing a scholarship strategy includes:

Reviewing the student’s high school transcript; résumé; PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT score reports; high school profile; desired college list; desired college major; and family’s financial need.
Providing a comprehensive assessment of the student’s profile across the 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service as reflected on the student’s résumé. This review is performed within the context of the holistic reviews conducted by college admissions and scholarship reviewers.
Discussing strategies to be pursued and actions to be taken (within the context of the student’s current year of high school) to maximize a student’s college and scholarship opportunities. During this stage, as a part of an open and candid discussion, we may recommend colleges, programs, and scholarships to which we perceive the student to be a good match.
Providing students with step-by-step guidance in researching scholarships and developing high-quality scholarship packages.
Providing students with guidance on how to write high-quality essays and instruct students on how to develop a scholarship table for planning future scholarship applications.

Develop a Career or College Strategy ($499.95): Appropriate for students planning to enter the workplace or military, or enroll into a 2-year or 4-year college:

We require the student to write a narrative describing their desired college major and career aspirations.
We direct the student to complete a free interest profile and to write a narrative summarizing any differences between careers that match to their interests and their previously established career or college major.
We review the student’s narrative, together with a review of the student’s résumé, transcript, high school profile, PSAT, SAT, or ACT score reports, and career clusters offered by the student’s school or school district.
We host a meeting with the student and parents to discuss the student’s career or college aspirations and results of the interest profile.
Based on what is shared by the student, and career or college pathways offered by the student’s school or school district, we draft recommended actions during the meeting to maximize available opportunities within the student’s school or school district.

Develop a College Application or Transfer Strategy ($499.95): (1) We review the student’s high school transcript; résumé; PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT score reports; high school profile; desired college list; desired college major; and family’s financial need. (2) We then provide a comprehensive assessment of the student’s profile across the 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service as reflected on the student’s résumé from the context of the holistic review conducted by college admissions reviewers for first-year or transfer students. (3) We provide the student and parents with a plan for strengthening weaknesses and increasing college match. (4) We may recommend schools based on a student’s desired college major and college match.

Develop a 4-year High School Strategy ($499.95): Developing a 4-year high school strategy (appropriate for students pursuing career or college-bound pathways):

Students receive materials based on whether they are pursuing a pathway into a 2-year or 4-year college or a career pathway into the workforce or military.
We assess the student’s aspirations after high school.
We engage the student in an interest profile assessment to identify potential career or college pathways.
We provide a comprehensive review of the student’s aspirations, interest profile, résumé; transcript; high school profile; PSAT, SAT, ACT, and/or ASVAB score reports; and career clusters offered by the student’s school or school district.
We host a meeting with the student and parents to discuss the student’s career or college aspirations and the results of their interest profile.
Based on what is shared by the student, and the available career or college pathways offered by the student’s school or school district, we draft recommended actions to maximize available opportunities within the student’s school or school district during the meeting.
We discuss strategies to be pursued and actions to be taken within the context of the student’s current year of high school through the 12th grade to maximize the student’s career or college opportunities.

Develop Study Skills and Learning Strategies ($499.95): Whether preparing to earn top grades, engaging in SAT or ACT prep, or preparing for graduate school exams, every student should develop effective study skills and learning strategies. Learning that occurs in the moment, i.e., in class, tutoring, or test prep, must be supplemented by what students do in their own time. It matters little how good a teacher, professor, or tutor is if the student cannot recall the information to answer questions or successfully solve problems when taking an exam. Through our proven approach:

We assess the student’s gifts, talents, and learning style.
We provide comprehensive guidance through the metacognitive process of assessing student’s study skills and learning strategies.
Working in collaboration with students, we explore their daily approach to studying and learning and how study times are allocated during a typical 24-hour day.
We help students to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their approach to the 5-step study cycle.
We host a series of meetings with students and parents to develop a study skills and learning strategies plan in a manner consistent with the student’s daily schedule.

Visit our College Cohort YouTube Channel to learn more about our work through the experiences of students and parents.