How a College Admissions Coach Can Help You Achieve Better Results

Trying to navigate the College Admissions process without a coach is like climbing a mountain without a guide.

I just returned from a trip to Varanasi, a millennia-old city on the banks of the Ganges river in India that Hindus consider sacred. The city is full of crowded, narrow alleyways and back-streets which wind like a maze. Street signs are few and confusing. Without a guide to help, it’s easy to get completely lost. With a guide, however, one can focus on the beauty and the history, and not stress about whether one is headed in the right direction.

In theory, the college admissions process should be straightforward, even if it’s not easy. Students select colleges based on their desired majors, cultural fit, size, or other factors. They send in applications which summarize their high school activities and accomplishments and receive responses promptly, either with acceptances, or explanations of why they weren’t a good fit.

But in practice, like a trip to Varanasi, the process of applying to college is opaque, complex, and full of unwritten rules. The complexity and the profusion of rules that only insiders know means that an experienced college admissions coach can be critical to help students and…