When our son was a sophomore, we thought we would be proactive and hire a college coach. We paid a non-refundable $4200 to counsel our son through the entire college process. The goal was to have a stress-free college process with applications and essays completed well in advance.

There was a lot of talking and planning as my son is applying to 10 schools. However, there wasn’t a whole lot actually getting done. I have had to nag my son to set up every college counselor meeting and to actually go to these infrequent meetings, just two in his Junior year. I’ve had to ground him from the car to get him to follow up with the counselor. I admit that my son, although high performing, is a procrastinator and also feeling a bit overwhelmed. I offered repeatedly to assist and he said not to worry, he will get it done. Of course, progress was almost non-existent. So I asked the counselor to help him by having him come into the office and sit there with him and start the applications–then if he had any questions he could ask. The counselor said he didn’t have time. Almost all contact between the two has been orchestrated by me. It’s been exhausting.

The stress and conflict continued and in my opinion worse than if we had just worked with him ourselves.

So, last week—almost October of his Senior year!–I called James Keating in desperation. We set up a meeting for that very Saturday. My son went and stayed for five hours. (Austin’s meetings with his other counselor ended after one hour). James actually sat down and worked with him, helped him fill out the applications, strategized on his deadlines and essays. On the way home, my son called me and he sounded relieved and happy. He say he had made progress. I know that this was weighing on him as well, and he associated the process with boring ineffective meetings with the prior college coach. I asked him what he thought of James vs. his other counselor and he said no comparison, so much better.

After the meeting, James sent a detailed description of what they accomplished. I never received anything like this from the other counselor. He listed the applications in progress and what was still required. He listed all the passwords, updated me on the essays and deadlines. I was blown away. Because I couldn’t help myself, I asked my son about the upcoming deadlines, and he told me exactly what he was doing and said he was much happier working with James. Apparently James had no problem keeping him focused and working for hours. He truly connects with teens and pulls out the best from them. My son did more in five hours with James than in his entire Junior year and Senior summer.

I would encourage anyone considering a college coach to understand exactly what the coach expects to do. I feel like we wasted two years of precious time. Now it’s a rush to get everything done with James. His other students have completed everything over the summer! The delays and frankly the stress on my relationship with my son were so unnecessary, I so regret not switching sooner.

Chris S.Castle Pines, CO