hi there!
I had a lightbulb moment when I was working with my older son on his college applications. Even though he had straight A's, great standardized test scores, and was an editor of his school paper, his college essays weren't impactful.
I realized what was wrong when he said, “Dad, I just spent the last three years being told never to begin sentences with the word ‘I.’”
He was just like almost every one of my student-clients since then: nobody has taught them how to write well -- and least of all, write about themselves. So, I work with students to identify their roles/values/identities, and fashion strong, authentic essays that connect their strengths to attributes colleges are looking for.
My son got into his top-choice, Brown University, and many of my students now also have the same result. But my students also finish the process with new skills to effectively communicate who they are… and hope to become. In this way, it is a transformative process.
High school is just better when it is done with intentionality. That's why I start with many students in 9th grade. Kids make better choices when they are aware of the college application gauntlet that awaits them at the end. Going through high school years with built-in self-reflection not only makes you happier, but it forms you into a more desirable applicant to colleges.
BEFORE COLLEGE COUNSELING
I turned down an Ivy League offer to attend Wesleyan University, where I could not have been happier. By sophomore year, I was student body treasurer, student body president in junior year, student trustee senior year, a Film Studies major, and an Econ minor. The day after graduating, I drove across the country to start my life in Hollywood, where I had a successful career for 30+ years. I am in the Writers Guild for a feature screenplay I sold to Disney, I’ve directed tons of low budget TV, and I thrived in the niche of movie-marketing content (think blockbuster movie trailers). I also nourished my soul making commercials for many of our country’s leading non-profits, including St. Jude’s, Wounded Warrior Project, Easterseals, and the ASPCA.
Before moving into college counseling, I learned how to tell a story, market a product, and elicit a response. What am I doing now? I’m teaching students how to tell their story, market themselves, and elicit acceptances from colleges.
In my pre-dad years, I founded a youth group at Santa Monica’s Quaker Meetinghouse, my spiritual home. Even back then, I was seeking ways to help young people become their best selves! An unusual way that I still do this is my love for umpiring high school baseball games, where I’m the ump that the players actually like.
