WELCOME!

I’m honored you want to learn more about my background in college admissions counseling, why I’m so passionately committed to this work, and what I can offer you or your child. 

My Mission

I’m on a mission to transform the overwhelming college preparation and application process into a meaningful, exciting, and empowering experience that helps young people get into the right schools and excel once they’re there.

When you team up with me, you’re partnering with a college insider.

I’m a former full-time college English professor, and over the course of nearly twenty years, I worked in a variety of capacities within the world of higher education. I’ve taught upper-level literature and writing classes, served on an admissions and hiring committee, provided high-level advising to gifted freshmen and sophomores at a groundbreaking honors college (the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York), successfully mentored hundreds of students from a wide range of majors and backgrounds, and offered extensive support to undergraduates applying for prestigious scholarships, internships, and graduate schools.

I launched Get Yourself Into College® in 2010.

Students in my Get Yourself Into College® programs succeed.

These are some of the schools to which my students have been accepted:

…and many other great schools.

I know what it takes — professionally and personally.

I’ve created my own successful application packages, which have helped me earn over $60,000 in funding from major institutions like the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Philosophy of Religion, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women. This amount reflects the funding I have received for my interdisciplinary research on early American literature, religion, and philosophy (not all the merit-based scholarships I was granted in college and graduate school).

Let’s be honest.

Knowing what students need to do and telling them to do it is easy.

Getting them to put that advice into practice in their own lives and really knowing how to guide them through the process of implementing these essential strategies is a whole different story.

These are my gifts.

I’m known for my unique approach to educating, empowering, and motivating young people—from the most driven, gifted kids who know exactly where they’re heading to those who need extra support in order to realize their potential and clarify their goals.

Check out my students’ success stories to hear what they have to say about the experience of working with me. I have very high standards, but as you can see, I am deeply committed to a student-oriented approach that involves aligning myself with them as individuals.

The GET YOURSELF INTO COLLEGE® method is rigorous, eye opening, and fun.

Students learn how to become active participants in shaping their own exciting and challenging educational paths. The work we do together enriches their entire high school experience, fosters their growth, and increases their chances of getting into college.

Your child will receive my support as I guide him or her through the process of stretching past limitations, tapping into strengths and passions and taking action on them in innovative ways, and learning how to write illuminating personal essays that spark the interest of admissions officers.

All students deserve high-quality and comprehensive guidance, but…

Unfortunately, many schools—even the best—do not have the resources to provide this type of support.

Trust me, I know.

As a full-time professor, I had very little time to engage in the kind of mentoring that I knew was absolutely crucial to my students’ success. I was teaching three or four classes a semester (approximately 100 students), pursuing my own scholarly research, giving talks at national conferences, and offering service to both the college and my department.

High school teachers and guidance counselors are just too busy to give your child the extensive one-on-one support they need and deserve.