Services

Independent School Placement

(Greater Boston area and Northeast Boarding Schools)

It’s important to hire an educational consultant who is highly familiar with the independent schools in their area and has well-established relations with admission teams.

This is particularly true when admission offices are either very busy in the fall or on summer break. With over 13 years experience of working with hundreds of families, Carol uniquely knows many of the Northeast private school market and has strong ties with their admission offices.  She is quickly able to quickly make contact with the leading--or less well-known--day and boarding schools.

 

Traditional School Placement

Here’s an outline of our process: The typical engagement is four to eight months or longer. Though, in some cases, placement can happen within a much shorter time period. It depends on the timing and the student.

For example, if you are seeking a secondary school for your 8th grader and you start in October, you will hear from the schools you’re applying to by March 10th about their acceptance. We work with you until the placement is made and help with any transition concerns.

If your student requires a quicker school placement, say in mid-August (yes, this happens) and is open to a variety of school options (day and boarding), given the timing, decisions are made quickly, and the placement may be immediate. In all cases, Carol provides steady, experienced guidance and extremely reliable, ongoing communication.

Here are the specific consulting services we provide:

  • In-depth initial interview with student and family to explore: Who the student is as a learner? What are their real interests, strengths and areas of challenges? In what school environment would they be best served? 

  • Detailed review of teachers’ reports, test scores, assessments and other supporting documentation.

  • Discussion of a list of targeted schools for the family to explore.

  • Timeline developed for open house visits, interviews and interview prep, essays development application deadlines.

  • Detailed discussion of testing options, with referrals to well-regarded test prep specialists.

  • Guidance to ensure student with exceptional academic skills will be allowed to take specific courses, advanced classes, if appropriate.

  • Guidance in completing application forms.

  • Service as a liaison and advocate between the family and school admissions staff.

  • Regular consultation after placement with both families and school officials to ensure a successful ongoing experience.

  • Ongoing one-on-one with family and student on final placement decisions.

 

Specialized independent school placement for students with learning or attentional or executive function challenges

(Ages 3-17 years)

What if your student is struggling to read and/or understand the books in class, or finds themselves too quickly forgetting math facts or important school discussions?

Some parents have a student that doesn’t want to go to school or psychological or educational testing has identified a learning or attentional/organizational challenge. A new school can be a life-changing experience.

Sometimes, a new school can simply provide a much-needed peer group change.

Finally, In other cases, staying at the same school and adding the right support makes the most sense. We work with you to make the best choice.

Students we work with may struggle in the following areas:

  • Dyslexia (weak decoding of text due to phonological, fluency, attentional or oculomotor difficulties, etc.)

  • Reading comprehension

  • Receptive or expressive communication

  • Dyscalculia (math)

  • Dysgraphia (writing)

  • ADHD, Executive function

  • Social pragmatics

  • Anxiety

Here are the specific consulting services we provide:

  • Initial interview with student and family:

    • Who is the student as a learner? What are their real interests, strengths and areas of challenges? In what school environment would they be best served? 

    • What are your main concerns and goals regarding your student's learning, social or attentional placement? What diagnosis, if any, has been made? If multiple issues exist: how can we triage the issues and find a school that can appropriately support the primary concerns?

  • Review of teachers’ reports, test scores, psychological and educational assessments and other supporting documentation. 

  • A detailed discussion of the student’s learning style and the optimal environment for them; also, what academic, organizational, or therapeutic support is needed now or summer, and for next school placement?

  • Referrals to neuro-psychologists, therapists, tutors, and other specialists.

  • Discussion of targeted schools and support services, by school .

  • Contact with schools in advance of applications and interview to investigate fit.

  • Serve as a liaison and advocate between the family and school admissions staff.

  • Timeline developed for open house visits, interviews, and interview prep, essays development.

  • Guidance in completing application forms.

  • Discussion with academic support teams at potential schools to ensure student support.

    • Important: After acceptance, but prior to contract commitment, we work with the school teams to develop an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) to ensure agreed upon support will be provided and goal, benchmarks and measurements are established .

    • After placement, check-in services are offered for an additional fee.

 

College placement

(Traditional students and Students requiring specialized support services.)

First, we conduct an initial intake. We focus on a student’s college goals, interests, strengths: and areas that may need support. Who is this young adult? In what college culture would they thrive and be most successful? What are the pieces that need to be pulled together to enhance this student’s competitiveness?

Then, a detailed plan is developed that includes an initial college list, course recommendations, goals for GPA, test scores (if appropriate), advice on teacher recommendations, activities, school tours, interviews and how to stand out with an admission team.

From that meeting on, we focus on the following aspects of the process. 

  • Grades/GPA/course Selection: What courses should be taken? How do your student’s grades, course selection and GPA compare to other students who applied to the colleges (including those from your school) and were accepted or denied?

  • Test scores: Should your student take the SAT/ACT? We’ll analyze past test results, discuss and provide referrals for test prep, if needed; also, in-depth advice is given on when to take the test, how to get accommodations, when to submit scores.

  • Recommendations: A key part of the process! Which teachers should be chosen for recommendations? We will discuss how the recommendation is organized to evaluate candidates and how to truly enhance a teacher’s recommendation of your student.

  • College list development: Using the leading college data sources, a detailed comparative college list is developed; the student will be able to use this database to find out important information on all colleges listed, and a college of interest. Each school will be analyzed based on past acceptance and the student’s school Naviance data. 

  • College visits and Interviews: Guidance on college trips: Which ones can be seen in a block of several days? Detailed help on how to visit, observe and tour a college campus; how to make important connections with admission staff or faculty; guidance for when and how to interview with admission.

  • Common Application (and California Application): 

    • Guidance provided for filling out all applications 

    • Extracurricular list: What are admission people really looking for? How many activities and which ones should you highlight? We will discuss a student’s real interests and goals and past activities—and then move forward with how to best present this information in a way that sheds light on a student's identity and aspirations.

    • Essays: What do you write about? As test scores become optional, it’s increasingly important for a student to highlight who they are and, when required, why they’re interested in a particular college. We outline a timeline for essay writing, with detailed support on how to showcase your “best self” story and how to skillfully answer supplemental questions.

  • Demonstrated Interest:

    • We’re good at this! Colleges want students who are uniquely interested in their school. We provide highly targeted advice to help a student show interest and stand out among other candidates.

  • For students with academic, psychological and/or attentional/organizational challenges:

    • We use several college databases that provide data on the specific academic, social/psychological and organizational support each college offers. This information is compiled so the student and their family can compare each college’s services against others.

    • Advice is provided on how to tour colleges to determine best fit for support.

    • Guidance is given on how and when to address support needs during the admission process and when completing the application forms and essays.

After each meeting, detailed updates to keep your student in control and relaxed during this process.

The goal: to ensure the student showcases their skills and conveys authenticity while reducing the stress of the process.

We know your student will be 15, 16 or 17 years old only once. It is important that these high school years are not later remembered by them as stressful and unhappy. Our primary goal is to understand the student and determine the college environment where they would  become most successful and self-confident and where they’d gain valuable social, academic and technical skills.

Our placements help ensure  they walk out at graduation time ready for the next stage of life.