CollegewiseReviews of collegewise.com

Working with Christina Mangano at Collegewise was truly life-changing for our kids. From our very first meeting, she transformed what felt like an overwhelming, high-stress college process into something thoughtful, manageable, and even empowering. Her calm, compassionate approach immediately put our entire family at ease. Christina worked with both of my children, who had very different needs. Her ability to meet each of them exactly where they were was remarkable. Our daughter is dyslexic and has attentional weaknesses. Christina instinctively understood what she needed from the onset. She broke the process into manageable steps, explained everything patiently, and helped her identify not just where she 'could' get in, but what she should actually be looking for in a school. The combination of steady emotional support and clear, strategic guidance set our daughter up for long-term success and confidence. Our son, a recruited athlete and a classic procrastinator, presented a completely different challenge for Christina and still she handled it with equal parts insight, organization, and good humor. She helped him thoughtfully weigh competing at D1 versus D3 schools, while also encouraging him to consider what life might look like if he chose a different path altogether. Just as importantly, she kept him on top of deadlines, saving us from countless family arguments and a lot of unnecessary stress. Watching friends’ families make frantic, extremely expensive decisions based on limited or inaccurate information made us especially grateful to be working with Christina. We always felt informed, grounded, and in control, knowing we had a full-picture and an up-to-date understanding of the process. Today, both of our kids are thriving at schools that are excellent fits for them. They each received substantial merit scholarships that we wouldn’t even have even known to pursue without Christina’s guidance. She came highly recommended to us, and we have since enthusiastically recommended her to many others. The investment in working with Christina paid for itself many times over, and we are profoundly grateful for the impact she’s had on our children’s lives and futures. Christina is the absolute BEST!

We started working with Collegewise during the Summer before my daughters Senior year. Elizabeth Majors is our College counselor assigned to us and we have been extremely happy working with her through this entire college process. She has given my daughter step by step instructions and timelines to keep her on track with deadlines and task. Liz has completely treated my daughter as her own through this somewhat frustrating process from beginning to end. She continues to provide her with so much encouragement and empathy no matter what news she receives and helps her in overcoming some of her feelings. Her knowledge is amazing about it all coming from a Mom who knows none of this and she has been very patient with us both. We are truly grateful for Liz and all of her guidance and support she has and is continuing to give to us. We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Liz for my senior daughter as she makes her final decision and of course starting to work with my freshman daughter soon!

Sarah Turner was my counselor and she was the best!! She was extremely helpful, especially throughout the essay brainstorming process, and supportive of my ideas. She also ensured that I stayed on track and started the application process early. With her help, I got into my top school!

Working with CollegeWise and our counselor, Ida Lonnqvist, was an absolute game-changer for our college application process. Ida not only helped us to focus and organize our timeline - but she also made the process enjoyable and FUN for our family! We highly recommend working with her and CollegeWise!

Overall, Collegewise offers great resources to support students, and I 100% recommend working with them! Specifically, I am so grateful to have worked with Lynne O'Shaughnessy throughout my college process. She consistently helped me stay calm and confident during such a stressful time. At the same time, she made sure that I stayed organized and on top of every deadline. Her guidance and feedback truly strengthened my applications. I’m extremely grateful for her support.

We truly could not be happier with our experience at Collegewise. Lynne O'Shaughnessy was our daughter's counselor, and she was exceptional in every way. She brought professionalism, clarity, and structure to a complex and stressful process, while always remaining deeply human, supportive, and understanding. She offered constant support, thoughtful guidance, and genuine care for our daughter and our family every step of the way. The outcome was the one we were hoping for, and we are so grateful for Lynne’s expertise and kindness.

Our daughter worked with Sarah and we are extremely pleased with how the process worked from start to finish. Sarah is extremely knowledgeable, professional, respectful, and patient! She was quick to respond to questions, flexible, and was great to work with all around. These qualities, and the fact that Sarah is very easy to talk to, made the college application process smooth for our daughter and with limited stress. Sarah's depth of experience was invaluable and our daughter's school counselor was also extremely impressed with the support our daughter received, esp with the common app essays.

Collegewise really helped me see beyond the haze of college application anxiety as a high schooler. I was able to center my application on my authenticity and communicate to colleges exactly who I am. I LOVED that they approached my application from an individual perspective by asking about my stories, experiences, passions, and little obsessions I never thought to write about. Super duper big shout out to my #1 cheerleader in this process, Lori Jones! Even after my admission to Cornell, she always regularly checks up on me, catches up while cracking our inside jokes, and reminds me of how far I’ve made it. Her research and attention to detail were also impeccable, and she pointed me towards a ton of programs I may not have considered otherwise. Finally, her ability to let applicants speak through the page with warmth and joy is a unique talent you won’t be able to find elsewhere. I’m endlessly fortunate to have had her as my counselor. I also worked with Matt Ihling for ACT prep and he was a delight. Incredibly patient, knowledgeable, and adaptable to goals that could be set even as an involved high schooler. Collegewise’s counselors truly care about their kids, and it really shows from how they walk every step of the way alongside us. Couldn’t recommend them more to families as they begin such an involved process, it really passes by in a flash with them!