College admissions consulting plans are for 10th - 12th grade students who would benefit from expert, professional guidance in any or all of the following areas:

• Assessing their college and career goals

• Determining which colleges to apply to

• Strategizing, formulating, editing, and revising essays and personal statements

• Identifying and applying for financial aid and scholarships

• Monitoring and prioritizing of tasks, dates, and deadlines

• All questions related to the college admissions and athletics advising process

A college admissions consulting plan works equally well for high achievers with exact targets, students recovering from achievement below their potential, and students who are undecided on colleges or majors.

We work together (and consider input from your parents and guidance counselor) to create the most effective college application profile for you. This process may include any or all of the following items, organized under our four foundations of college admissions success.  

• Excel Academically

  • Transcripts: Reviewing transcripts and planning coursework

• Test Well

  • Standardized Testing: Which tests (SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Test, AP tests, etc.) to include on your applications, when to prepare for and take these tests, what scores mean in relation to colleges

• Build Your Application Assets

  • Extracurriculars: Discussing strategy for extracurriculars and choosing specific activities over time

• Explore Early & Apply Right

  • Assessments: Intake survey and a battery of up to four assessments to help develop your list of target colleges of majors

  • Campus Visits: Planning campus visits – when, where, registration, preparing questions for various constituencies, etc.

  • Application Strategy

    • College List: Finalizing your college list over time to achieve a balanced list of reach, match, and likey colleges

    • Early Action/Early Decision: Determining whether it is advantageous to apply early action/early decision to school(s) on your list

    • Majors: Reviewing the pros and cons of applying declared vs. undeclared

    • Essays & Personal Statements - Planning & Editing

      • Before August 1 of your senior year: Creating Common App account, completing writing and brainstorming exercises, selecting Common App prompts, identifying most effective basis/experience/topic/theme, drafting/editing/revising responses

      • After August 1 of your senior year: Reviewing Common App school supplements, individual school applications/essays (e.g., University of California), repurposing and adapting Common App essay themes as applicable

    • Recommendations: Choosing and requesting counselor/teachers, developing your brag sheet/planning sheet

    • Interviews: Preparing for interviews; mock interviews

    • Dates & Deadlines: Monitoring deadlines and deliverables in CustomCollegePlan, our online portal

    • Financial Aid & Scholarships: Identifying financial and and scholarships, completing the FAFSA, monitoring dates/deadlines/requirements for application/merit-based scholarships, reviewing scholarship essays

    • Deciding Among Acceptances: Making final matriculation determination based on prioritized criteria of best fit, including evaluating financial aid offers

      
      

In addition to the specific services listed, throughout your plan, we will:

• Answer any questions about the college admissions process from parents or students

• Serve as an advisor to, and mediator between, parent and student

• Provide session summary reports to parents if requested and parents not at session

Your Frontier Tutoring college admissions counselor will work in cooperation with your high school guidance counselor. We serve as an enhacement to, not a replacement for, your guidance counselor. Guidance counselors are extremely important because they review your transcripts, help you choose appripriate courses for graduation, send colleges the official school report, as well as write recommendation letters. While guidance counselors are highly knowledgeable and excellent at delivering on their core functions, unfortunately in Alaska, each counselor is responsible for an average of 397* students.  For this reason, most guidance counselors simply do not have the time to work one-on-one with students on specialized college admissions matters, nor do they always have the resources that are available to an independent college counselor.

*American School Counselor Association, 2024 (https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/f2a319d5-db73-4ca1-a515-2ad2c73ec746/Ratios-2023-24-Alpha.pdf)

Yes, but it will require discipline, organization, and oftentimes extensive research.  Even our most self-motivated and highest achieving students agree that having a trusted advisor to guide them through this complex process relieves added stress and saves valuable time.

You will receive a custom college planning portal account and communicate with your college admissions counselor via face-to-face meetings, phone calls, emails, and our online messaging system.  The frequency and duration of meetings and other communications depends on your needs and the number of hours included in the plan you choose.

Typically we recommend that parents attend the first session to help provide background information.  Students attend most other sessions by themselves, although parents are always welcome if the student would like them to attend.  Parents often choose to join sessions related to topics such as financial aid and scholarships, or making final decisions among acceptances. Other than that, many students feel more comfortable talking about their goals independent of their parents.

Throughout the process, parents are also welcome to email or call their student's college admissions counselor directly.  Additionally, we are happy to provide parents with session summary reports if requested.

Since 2014, 93% of our students have been admitted to their first choice colleges and 100% have been admitted to at least one of their top five colleges.  Some of our students' acceptances include Dartmouth, West Point, the University of Chicago, the United States Air Force Academy, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Washington. View a full list of where our students are being accepted!