CollegewiseReviews of collegewise.com

We are so lucky to have worked with Sam Joustra during two of our kids' college application processes. Our kids are very different from each other, yet Sam was able to guide both of them to their top choice school. She was invaluable every step of the way by setting achievable goals and timelines and sharing her expertise. We will be signing up for our third child!

The process of applying to college is no joke and can cause a lot of stress if you don't know what you are doing. Prior to finding Collegewise I was driving the college search process, not our daughter. We needed this experience to be hers, so we started interviewing companies to help us. I found most other companies were promising the world and only pushing Ivy leagues. That wasn't for us. When we met with Collegewise they made it about our girl, they spoke about success and failure, they didn't make false promises. They talked about how they match clients to college counselors, their overall process and how this is about the student not the parents. They spoke about how they work to guide the child to find what was right for them. It was what we needed and we knew this was the "fit" for our girl. Starting late in our daughter's Junior year, we were quickly matched with Karen K. and could not be more pleased with the outcome and process. Karen was the perfect project manager. She quickly brought us up to speed, she met with our girl 1:1 to talk about what she wanted, learned who she was and then recommended next steps based on their conversation. The two of them worked through the summer and by the time school started in August Karen had successfully helped our girl figure out what major she wanted, which schools to target and how to formulate personal statements that reflected who she was. Karen double checked applications, and was even online with my daughter as she applied to the schools of choice. Karen has been our guiding light and she took the stress out of the entire process. I can honestly say that I believe Karen will be connected to our family far past just application season, she has made such a positive impact on our family. I look forward to working with her again for our son and recommend Collegewise to anyone going through this process.

The idea of college prep/applications stressed me out so much as I had no clue where to start. Thankfully my mom signed me up for Collgewise. Collgewise (especially my counselor Sam Joustra) has helped me in so many ways, one of the most memorable being their essay writing package. The essay they were able to help me create is the thing I am most proud of in my college application and even was complimented on it in my acceptance letter from Kenyon College! I would definitely recommend Collgewise to any student feeling lost or overwhelmed with the idea of applying to colleges.

My daughter was just accepted into her first choice, highly competitive, college of her dreams. I truly believe this would not have been possible without the help of Sam Joustra at Collegewise. From the moment we were matched with her, we knew it was going to be a positive experience. Sam's guidance over the 1.5 years we worked with her was always spot on. She's incredibly skilled and experienced in this field. She clearly understands every aspect of the college admissions process! But what made her stand out even more was her compassion and care. As an anxious mother who hadn't applied to college since the 1980s, I was overwhelmed with how much the process had changed. I knew I needed guidance and support. Our public high school counselor provided ZERO guidance or direction and I was worried I would give my daughter outdated or incorrect advice. Sam was incredibly responsive to emails and answered all of my questions without ever making me feel silly for asking. She provided an abundance of resources, but never shamed my daughter if she didn't follow through with all of the suggestions. She met my daughter (and me) exactly where we were at in various aspects of this journey. While the college application process is certainly stressful for students, it also stressful as a parent. I can't imagine having gone through this without having Sam's sage counsel available to me every step of the way. Working with Sam was worth every penny of my financial investment and I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I already told Sam I want her to work with my son in 3 years when he's ready to start on this college journey! I also interacted with several people in various other departments at Collegewise from program advisors to billing. In general I had positive experiences. The only negative is that there were several changes in the pricing structure and billing practices over the time we worked with Collegewise and that was confusing and frustrating. I was doing a la carte pricing and the options I was offered when I initially signed up with the first program advisor, were no longer available to me when I wanted to add more services. I couldn't tell if that was due to organizational changes over time or a subpar program advisor (who repeatedly missed our scheduled phone calls and was slow to respond to emails). In sum, Sam is a true gem and an asset to Collegewise. While I can't speak to the other counselors at Collegewise, I can say I recommend Sam wholeheartedly and without hesitation. Thank you Sam!

Todd has been an absolute lifesaver during the grad school application process. He’s incredibly skilled at helping craft a compelling story in my essays, supporting me through brainstorming and outlining by asking insightful questions and guiding the process, bringing out a story I never would've gotten to on my own. His thoughtful feedback and genuine encouragement have ensured that every part of my application reflects my best self. I truly couldn’t have done this without him! Highly recommend!

Express a deep gratitude for College Wise unwavering support and exceptional guidance during our daughter's college application time. The expertise in the college admissions process was invaluable, and the encouragement and personalized advice were instrumental in a successful Early Decision acceptance decision! We appreciated the careful planning and organized approach. The insights on the essay formulation and completion. The regular and genuine encouragement.

My experience with Collegewise was great! Aaron helped me write and edit my personal statement and my supplemental essays, and thanks to him, I got into my top school!

CollegeWise was an incredible platform that made my college application process so much smoother. I initially started with an athletic counselor, Jeff, but when he had to leave, CollegeWise stepped up and made it their priority to ensure I stayed on track. They quickly paired me with Aaron, and we hit it off right away. Aaron struck the perfect balance between professionalism and connection. While he kept things focused on my goals, we also took moments to talk about our lives and built a great bond. :) Aaron really pushed me to do my best, and thanks to his guidance and motivation, I was able to get into my dream school early in the process—what a relief! While I did the work, Aaron was my biggest source of encouragement (and a bit of a persistent cheerleader... in the best way 😂). CollegeWise is an amazing program with fantastic counselors, but a huge shoutout goes to Aaron for being such an incredible part of my journey!