Your Account

Our Core College Consulting Services

How We Can Support Your Family

Service 01

Senior Sprint

A focused, four-meeting package that gives your student a clear plan, fast. We’ll help them sort out their deadlines, tackle the Common App, and get their essays moving, all with personalized support.

  • Six weeks, four meetings, flat fee
  • One-on-one guidance, answers, and encouragement
  • Shared dashboard to keep track of to-dos, requirements, and timeline
  • Get back to being their parent and let us be the project manager
SPRINT DETAILS & PRICING
A stressed student with a hand on their forehead in a classroom
Service 02

College Roadmap

A personalized, multi-year plan is the foundation of everything we do. We map out academics, activities, testing, and milestones so your family always knows what's coming next, and why it matters.

  • Custom four-year academic and extracurricular plan
  • Course selection guidance (honors, AP, dual-credit enrollment)
  • Summer and extracurricular planning tied to real interests
  • Ongoing check-ins to adjust the plan as goals evolve
Start With a Roadmap
Students walking together on campus
Service 03

Application Support

This is often the most needed service. Applying to college has a lot of moving parts, and they are very different than when parents applied. We act as your student's project manager, keeping every deadline, document, and detail on track so nothing falls through the cracks in senior year.

  • Step-by-step guidance through the Common App and school portals
  • Deadline tracking across every application on your list
  • Coordination of recommendation letters and required forms
  • Interview preparation for schools that request them
Get Application Support
Smiling student with backpack
Service 04

College List Development

Rankings don't tell you where your student will thrive. We build a balanced, honest college list rooted in the criteria that actually matter — school size, location, campus culture, cost, and selectivity.

  • In-depth family intake to understand goals and priorities
  • Evaluation across size, location, culture, cost, and selectivity
  • A balanced list of reach, target, and likely schools
  • Guidance on how to research and evaluate a college website
  • Campus visit planning and follow-up debriefs
Build Your College List
Tree-lined college campus walkway
Service 05

ACT/SAT Prep - Coming Soon!

Test-optional admissions have made standardized testing more strategic, not less important. We help your student decide whether, when, and how to test and then build a study plan around it.

  • Diagnostic testing to compare SAT and ACT performance
  • A personalized study plan and test-date timeline
  • Practice test review with targeted score-improvement strategy
  • Honest guidance on test-optional strategy by school
Plan Test Prep
Students studying and writing at desks
Service 06

Essay Review

Admissions officers read thousands of essays a season. The ones that stand out sound like an authentic, real person. We help students find their story and sharpen it, without ever writing it for them.

  • Brainstorming sessions to find an authentic personal statement topic
  • Structural and content feedback across multiple drafts
  • School-specific supplemental essay strategy
  • Line-edit guidance that preserves your student's authentic voice
Get Essay Support
Student writing thoughtfully with a laptop
Service 07

Paying for College

The sticker price rarely tells the full story. We help your family understand the real cost of college, make sense of financial aid offers, and pursue every scholarship opportunity available to your student.

  • Understanding the true cost of college, beyond the sticker price
  • Reviewing financial aid offers, including grants, loans, and scholarships
  • Guidance completing the FAFSA
  • Scholarship searches and application support
Plan for the Cost of College
Jar of coins labeled college
Service 08

Hourly Support

Right for families who want the flexibility to start small and grow into more support over time — whether that means easing in at a lower upfront cost, carving out real one-on-one time beyond a quick consultation, or simply getting honest answers to the questions keeping you up at night.

Explore Hourly Support

Grade-by-Grade College Advisory

Support That Grows With Your Student

Every family starts at a different point. Explore what a college counselor at Oak & Ivy focuses on at each stage of high school.

Building a Strong Foundation

Freshman year is about breathing room, not pressure. We help your student explore genuine academic and extracurricular interests, choose a course load that stretches them without burning them out, and start good organizational habits early — all so that by senior year, nothing feels rushed.

  • Four-year academic roadmap and course selection guidance
  • Extracurricular exploration beyond "resume padding"
  • Early introduction to standardized testing timelines
  • Summer planning: camps, volunteering, and enrichment

Turning Exploration Into Momentum

Sophomore year is where academic rigor increases and leadership starts to matter. We help students step into greater responsibility in the activities they love, refine their course plan with AP or dual-credit options where appropriate, and take their first diagnostic look at standardized testing.

  • Honors/AP/dual-credit course planning aligned to college goals
  • Leadership development within existing activities
  • PSAT/PreACT review and early test-prep strategy
  • Introductory college exploration and campus visit planning

Relevant Services

The Pivot Year: Exploration Becomes Direction

Junior year carries the most weight academically, and it's when a real college list starts to take shape. We guide standardized test strategy, help build a balanced and honest list of good-fit schools, and begin laying the groundwork for strong recommendation letters and essay topics.

  • SAT/ACT test planning, prep, and score strategy
  • Development of a balanced reach/target/likely college list
  • Campus visit guidance and college research strategy
  • Reviewing early application deadlines (Early Decision/Early Action)
  • Early brainstorming for the personal statement

From Application to Acceptance

Senior year is a sprint of deadlines, portals, and decisions. We meet with students at least once per month and communicate regularly to manage the Common App and supplements, guide essay drafts to their strongest version, coordinate recommendations, help your family weigh Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision strategy, and make sense of acceptance letters and financial aid offers as they arrive.

  • Common Application and school-specific supplement strategy
  • Personal statement and supplemental essay review
  • Deadline and document tracking across every application
  • Interview preparation and final decision guidance
  • Commit to your school by decision day
  • FAFSA completion and financial aid offer review

Is This You?

Why Working With Us Might Be Right for You

If you answered yes to any of the following questions, working with a college consultant might be the right choice for your family.

Do you wish you had a clear plan instead of figuring it out as you go?

A college roadmap replaces guesswork with a step-by-step plan, so your family always knows the next move, and why it matters.

Are you unsure which colleges are actually the right fit for your student?

We look past rankings to help you build a list rooted in academic fit, culture, and cost that is right for each individual student.

Do the deadlines, checklists, and details feel overwhelming?

We manage the moving pieces of the process so your student can focus on being a strong applicant, and you can focus on the rest of parenthood.

Do you want honest, unbiased guidance focused only on your student?

As an independent educational consultant, we have no institutional agenda, just your family's best outcome.

Is nagging your teen about deadlines straining your relationship?

Let us be the one keeping track of next steps, so you can go back to being their parent, not their project manager.

Want to understand your options for paying for college?

From completing the FAFSA form, to financial aid and scholarships, we help you see the full financial picture before decisions are due.

Not Sure Where to Start?

Book a complimentary consultation and we'll help you figure out exactly which services fit your student's stage and goals.