I highly recommend Michelle Myers as a college counselor. Michelle has worked with many kids over the years and definitely knows the ins and outs of the college application process. She will recommend schools based on interests, major, strength of program, and realistic chance of being admitted based on the student's profile. Michelle will advise on class selection, major, and getting letters of recommendations from teachers. She is a great college counselor for someone who is unfamiliar with the process. I think that Michelle works with all types of students, but of the students I know who have worked with her, all were high achieving students who were applying to "high-end" schools. All of these students got into their very selective colleges.
From my daugher's experience, her guidance with the essay process was what really impressed me. Michelle has the students start on their essays early, which is very important. Writing good essays, especially several of them, is hard to do and takes a lot of thought. Michelle met with my daughter early and had her think about her experiences and how they could fit with the prompts. Michelle would give her opinion about which experiences would be better as a college essay but in the end, the subject matter and style of essay were always my daughter's choice.
I really appreciated how quickly Michelle would review the essays, sometimes within a day. For this type of work, the quick turnaround worked best for my daughter because she did not have to wait for weeks to get feedback. With the way Michelle works, the essays can be completed on a steady timeline if the student gets down to business and works in an efficient manner. I appreciated the organized essay review because I knew that the essays would be completed on time as long as my daughter was motivated and completed the revisions in a timely manner. My daughter wrote several essays and they each reflected who she is within the parameters of the particular essay prompt.
Another positive, Michelle will tell the student the realities of the college process, whether admission to certain schools is difficult, whether a certain college essay is unappealing, etc. While Michelle is very supportive of her students, she also imparts reality into the situation. I think it's part of her job to be realistic and straightforward with her students. The job of a college counselor is to help students and their families through the process, which includes selecting a range of schools so that the student will have a school they will be happy to attend in the fall.
Another positive, Michelle responds quickly. There were several times where I called her and she answered the phone! She always gave me the time I needed to understand the process or ask questions.
I would definitely recommend using Michelle's counseling, especially if aiming for very selective schools, including the UCs. My daughter got into her top school, plus several selective UCs. My daughter's academic and extracurricular profile were excellent, and she is a pretty good writer, but I believe that Michelle's guidance on the essays set my daughter apart from all the other high achieving students out there and made a difference with her college results. read more