Experience & Expertise
As a graduate and professor of Ivy League institutions, I have the inside scoop on the culture of highly selective institutions. And having worked in admissions at the world’s leading research university, I know what it takes to get in and make it in a very competitive academic environment. I also have ten years of experience in college admissions counseling (with a certificate of College Admissions & Career Counseling from the University of California at Berkeley). My career in writing and teaching writing means that I play a very active role in teaching students to master the art of the college admissions essay. My background in counseling allows me to offer a full range of assessments in personality (MBTI), skills, and the Strong Interest Inventory (for career/major interests) as an integral aspect of academic, career advising and the college list. I am a member of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC) and abide by its Statement of Principles of Good Practice.
Innovative method
What distinguishes Top Choice from hundreds of other private college admissions counseling services is that I tailor design an individualized plan of advising based on assessments about your student’s cognitive style, personality, skills, and career interests optimizing your student’s chances of getting into the best college most fitting for him or her. Through this unique, personal method of coaching, I am able to motivate, encourage, and nurture your student to maximize his or her potential and realize the full extent of his or her dreams.
Informed vision
Most college admissions counselors have little to no first-hand knowledge about what lies on the other side of the admissions wall. As a professor of seven years at elite liberal arts colleges like Bard College (where I was tenured) and as visiting professor to Ivy League colleges like Columbia and Princeton University, I bring first hand knowledge and a feel for what kinds of students make it, what preparations are necessary to succeed in these places, and how students are chosen in the admissions process. Top Choice is doubly engaged in not only getting your students into a highly selective campus but also providing them the best preparation for thriving once they get their foot in the door.
All-inclusive approach
Everything from A to Z about college admissions is the goal and promise behind Top Choice. This all-inclusive, holistic, and personalized approach to academic advising and college admissions is unique to Top Choice. An hour long brain-storming session about essay topics is normative as is strategizing together about outside-the-box methods to show interest in schools. Top Choice never leaves any stone unturned. Meticulous attention to the college application essay, for example, means at times providing feedback to as many as ten drafts of a single college application essay before it receives the green light. It means working with students until they find their unique writerly voice. It means combing through every application before submission. And it also means making the right decision when the flurry of admissions offers come flying in.
