Why Choose CollegeUnlocked?
Our relationship with families bridges the entire college readiness experience, in most cases extending beyond the college application submission.
Our time with you may start as early as the first year where we counsel on curriculum, activities, testing, and summer programs. Our advice grows with increasing sophistication as sophomore and junior years are underway.
During the senior year, we’re there to help manage all the moving parts – from the personal statements and supplements to identifying the steps to meet submission guidelines and deadlines, preparing for interviews, and most of all, reducing stress.
Our relationship continues once the applications are submitted. We provide support insuring all documents are received by the college, interpreting the college financial award letter, and helping evaluate between acceptances. We also provide guidance on filing financial aid papers, housing selection, and transition to college for both students and parents!
We believe:
the application process should be as stress-free as possible
college shouldn’t bankrupt your family
college awareness and preparation should start early
students should have choices for matriculation
college fit and affordability trumps perceived status
university brand name does not determine future success
you will see a return on investment when you work with us
And we believe in your student.
This is your student’s journey, so our approach is to guide them through the morass of options by exploring careers, majors, and colleges. We help them to discover where they fit, and we assist them with the trade-offs amongst academics, extracurriculars, athletics, work, and even sleep.
We work together with the student to create a balanced list of college choices – from highly likely to super reach. We understand the family financial wheelhouse to identify affordable schools and those who award merit aid. Then we guide our students through the process, helping them manage essay preparation, interviewing, and their senior class workload, all while beating deadlines for early action, early decision, priority, or regular decision application filing.
We believe you are raising your child to be a productive citizen of the world, and you are not raising only a college applicant, who meets some unknown preconceived notion of “the perfect college student.” Our focus is to get to know the whole student – their passions, strengths, and their plans for the future. We celebrate the student they are today and the adult they wish to become. We don’t measure our success by the brand name or perceived “elite level” of the colleges on the application list but by matching your student’s goals and needs with the environment, culture, geography, affordability, and academics for the best college fit.
We believe any time you invest money in services you should expect to see a return on investment. Typically our fees are replaced by merit aid or an extraordinary college match whose value far exceeds any price.
Our families repeatedly say the greatest benefits in working with us are finding the perfect match, getting through the application process with as little stress as possible by submitting the highest quality applications, and meeting all deadlines.
While we can’t guarantee an admittance to a specific school nor a specific scholarship amount, we work hard to identify schools where your student will be eligible for merit scholarships (not dependent on your income) and/or the collegiate experience is of equal to or greater value.
We work with students across the entire spectrum of major, GPA, test scores, and financial abilities. After assisting over 450 students with their college admissions, we have found our most successful students and their families want:
help navigating the complex college matching and application process
to optimize the time spent on college admissions process
to reduce the stress associated with the high school years and college admissions for both the student and the family
a realistic, balanced college list, with affordable options including merit and need based aid (even for B students)
to look beyond the rankings of the US News & World Report and the California public universities to find the right college fit.
