CollegewiseReviews of collegewise.com

I was looking for college counseling options for our daughter, who is a sophomore after a bad experience with the previous company that we were working with.I wanted to make sure we make the right choice this time and had our sessions with multiple other places before deciding to sign up with CollegeWise. I had my 1st meeting with Na'ama Landau and really felt heard.She truly wanted to know more about our daughter and spent quite sometime just getting to know her so she can be placed with a counselor that would be a right fit to make the process as smooth as possible during the application time.I talked about our expectations and some of the concerns that we had.She genuinely wanted our daughter to have a great experience and offered to help her meet with a counselor before we make our decisions.I never felt any pressure or push from college wise to sign up for the services. Na'ama was extremely compassionate and patient with the numerous questions that I had and each time came back with a detailed explanation to all my queries.Thanks so much Na'ama for an exceptional experience and looking forward to our daughter's journey with CollegeWise !

We recently used Allison Lopour from Collegewise to help our daughter, Nikki, navigate preparing for and applying to colleges. She worked with us for the past three years and gave us great guidance and advice. She is alot of fun, gave us great advice, made the experience very enjoyable for us. We would strongly recommend her.

Our colleague referred us to Cortney at CollegeWise. Cortney really made the experience special as she really spent her time listening to us and understanding our expectation. We sent some high level information about our son before the meeting and we could tell she took her time to review the information and prepare for the meeting. Throughout the meeting, she was supportive and cared about the outcome. It was a refreshing experience as we did not walk out the meeting and feel like it’s a sales pitch or whether we can fit in one of the programs based on the price point which we experienced with some of other consulting companies. In addition, since Cortney understood our needs, she aligned us with a counselor who our son felt right immediately in the initial meeting.

The college application process would have been absolutely impossible to manage without the help of Sam Joustra and the Collegewise team! With every essay draft, interview, and random question, I knew I had support. Sam worked so hard to help me tackle the process with proactive tips and motivated me even when I felt unsure about how to proceed. I couldn't be happier with my experience!

Collegewise and Sam Joustra did a wonderful job guiding our youngest daughter during her college application process. She got into her top choice via ED in December. We wish we had used Sam and Collegewise for our older two daughters. I recommend them without reservation. Prompt, caring and very professional, Sam won our confidence early on. Our daughter is very independent and organized but this is such a busy time for high school kids! The extra help really makes a difference. She supplemented my daughter's research into colleges with a lot of valuable suggestions. She was also a coach guiding her on time and stress management. We let our daughter navigate the process mostly on her own with Sam's guidance. Sam was always prompt in giving us email summaries of the meetings and answering my questions or providing additional information.

Holy moly the college process is SO different than when my husband and I did it! Our experiences and knowledge were based on a pre-internet world with a relatively simple application process. Our goal in finding a college counselor was always focused on finding experts who could streamline this very complicated system as much as possible for our daughter. For us, it was not about "the best" school, but the "the best fit." Our daughter knew she wanted to go to college but didn't have any sense of what she wanted to study beyond "nothing to do with math or science." The college process is overwhelming to begin with and much more so for a student without a clear sense of study or destination. We considered a couple programs and landed with Collegewise -- we couldn't have been happier. Their approach and process had logic and deep expertise behind it all. I loved the way our counselor Laura talked with, listened to, and learned about our daughter directly from her. Laura moved the ball forward and narrowed the path. The updates we received assured us that all was on track. This allowed me to just be mom and not have to nag about deadlines or the long list of "shoulds" that exist during these high school years. It allowed me to thoroughly enjoy my role as director of field trips during our college visits knowing we were only visiting places that made sense. By the start of senior year, there was a manageable and strategically curated list of colleges for my daughter to submit applications to. On the list was a college we had never heard of. It was a recommendation Laura had given our daughter and it ended up being the place she decided to attend. She had many good acceptances but Laura's recommendation has been the perfect fit for her. After one semester, she is thriving and I can't imagine her at any other place. The funds we used for Collegewise were dollars well spent. Our daughter's high school didn't have any post-graduation assistance so it would have landed all on our laps to manage it. I'm thankful we could remain mom/dad and not have to be coach/teacher/counselor. Our daughter is thankful too! I can't imagine having gone through that process without Laura and Collegewise. They get 6 stars out of 5. PS: The emails and webinars for parents, along with the Collegewise podcasts, were fabulous bonus items along the way. It often gave me perspective and helped me feel up-to-speed on the current college application process realities.

I got into my top choice college. My advisor, Sam Joustra, provided helpful insight into researching colleges and brainstorming ideas. It would not have been as smooth of a process without her.

We were so impressed with our first introduction to Collegewise, and what would be offered. At first we were very reluctant to "waste" a lot of money on something that didn't initially feel necessary. Our daughter's private school has a built in college advising team, and we are very involved parents who had the time to guide our daughter throughout the process. However, due to the fact that "everyone was hiring a consultant,' according to our daughter, we gave in so she wasn't the "only one" without a consultant. We hit the jackpot when our daughter was assigned to work with Sam Joustra. It took no time to realize that "giving in" to our daughter's request for a consultant was the best thing we could have done! From the beginning we identified that Sam was not only diligent and organized, but genuinely kind and caring. She followed through with everything she promised, and kept our daughter on top of everything throughout the process. In addition, Sam sent summary notes to us after every meeting she had with our daughter. This was so helpful because we didn't have to bother our daughter about all the details of the meeting. When these kids are going through this process, sometime they want to talk all about it and sometimes they don't. Sam was honest, yet encouraging with our daughter when she started to make her college list. During the summer before her senior year, our daughter had already written most of the essays (20+) to the schools she was applying to. Collegewise has an editing team that reviews the essays. When our daughter entered her senior year with a heavy class load of many AP, honors classes and sports, she did not have the added stress of doing college applications. She applied EA to most of her schools and ED to one school. In early December our daughter learned she was accepted at her ED school. We owe Collegewise, and Sam Joustra especially, for helping to pave the way for our daughter to submit a successful application to her top school.