If you’re reading this, chances are you are in the process of applying to college, either for yourself or for one or more of your children.
In my family, we have children and then we have “kids.” Our child is a very precocious kindergartener, but our “kids” are all the students we have ever worked with. You see, my wife is a high school teacher, and I am a former teacher who still works closely with students who find themselves in the midst of the often stressful, always confusing world of college applications. Some of our “kids” now have children of their own, but we have both stayed in contact with a myriad (good SAT word to learn!) of the students who have come our way over the past 10+ years.
It was a surprise therefore, when one of my kids from my first year as a teacher, now a successful attorney in Manhattan sat me down several years ago to turn the tables on me and give me some advice: “You’re not happy with schools these days, Rob. There are too many rules, too much red tape. Focus on what you’ve always been best at: college admissions. Start a company.” I was startled to realize that this student, one of the first people who had ever come to me for help with college admissions, had cared enough to think about my future the same way I had once helped him with his own. And, he was right. Much as I love teaching a class full of students, I have been working on the side on SATs and college applications for over a decade, and developed a real talent for helping students with every part of the college process. I had never dreamt of owning a company, and certainly never thought about setting out on my own, but that conversation started me on the path that led to the foundation of Columbia College Consulting.
I have been helped along the way by numerous experiences, in the United States and abroad, that have allowed me to work with students from all backgrounds and ability levels. I have worked with students in China and Saudi Arabia who are just learning English in the hopes of coming to the United States for college, with American students of limited means who are the first members of their family even to apply to college, to legacy students applying to some of the most prestigious universities in the world. I count among my former students artists and architects, nurses and teachers, chefs and captains of industry, lawyers and doctors, and everything in between. As a result, I have developed an excellent working knowledge of American colleges and universities, their strengths and weaknesses, and the types of student who seem to succeed in different environments. I have worked with students who have gotten perfect scores on their SATs and students who struggle to get a combined score over 1000. I can’t say that I’ve seen it all, but I’m getting close.
That having been said, I’m still learning myself. When I founded my company two years ago, I relied almost entirely on word-of-mouth to recruit clients. Students with whom I had worked recommended me to other students, and I plodded (another SAT word) along quite happily. Like I said, I never wanted to own a company. But, another one of my former students, one of the brightest I have ever taught, had started her own company, focusing on company branding and positioning, and when I asked her for advice on my fairly pedestrian (SAT word again) website, I wound up with an entirely new website, a new focus, and what sometimes seems like thousands of brilliant new suggestions, including this blog. She basically sat me down and told me that while it was all well and good to work with a handful of students each year, she knew I would be far happier if I could reach a larger, more diverse audience, and be able to help even more students navigate the college process and find schools that are the right fit for them.
I could write a lot more, but this is already a bit long for an inaugural (SAT word...you get the picture) blog post. Needless to say, if you’ve come this far, and have questions about the college process, please do not hesitate to reach out to me for more information. I hold free half-hour sessions, in person or on the phone, where I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about any part of the college application process, and hopefully relieve any anxiety you might be facing about it.
As the tagline on my website says, “Your stress ends here.”