A mom of twins, Erin and Ollie, applied to 12-14 and 20 schools respectively during their college search. She initially chased rankings and prestige but learned fit mattered more. She credits the student portal, essay editor, and counselor Christine for keeping the chaos organized.
Chapters
Yeah, and you've got all the resources on your websites and stuff, so it's super helpful.
Yeah, wonderful. So what was it like having twins go through this process?
It's a lot. You should see my, my pile of folders that I have. And oh, it was kind of crazy, but you know, it was fun too, because when all the acceptances were coming in, it was like one a day at one point, you know, for each of the other ones. So it was really kind of nice. But if I didn't have you guys helping, there's no way. There's no way. Like, your company, fantastic, because it's so well organized. And just to walk through the whole process of all of it with them, because like you said at the beginning, you know, they're not going to listen to me like, it's time to do your essay, it's time to do your activities list, you know what I mean? Like, none of that would have happened in the same form. So It was great.
How many did each of them apply to? How many colleges?
So Erin applied to, I would say, about 12 or 14. She just did the UCs and a few of the Cal States. And then Ollie, he applied to about 20. He got a little crazy. He started just throwing out places. Initially, it was all about— he was going to the mountains, so he was applying Montana, he was applying Vermont. You know, every mountain place you could think of. And then he was kind of like, maybe I should fill in in the middle, but I don't want to go Texas. I don't want to go hot. So there was nothing in the south. So we did a lot of the lakes, like we did a lot of Iowa and things like that, Minnesota and all these kind of places that rank decent for engineering. But the end, he was kind of really stuck on Northeastern. When they went to see Northeastern, he was like, absolutely, that's a really good school. I was kind of surprised that he slipped back to Colorado. I don't know, maybe just because a lot of— there's a lot of talk about it right now. And it's interesting, you know, you look at the ranking systems, you know, it ranks at 19 on the US News thing, which just kind of throws you for a loop. And then Northeastern, I think it's like 32. So I think that's maybe where he's just kind of getting a bit confused about that. But like you say, it's more about the fit, you know, rather than— yeah, and that was really good that you told him about how it looks sort of how it's recognized nationally rather than just in the local Colorado area.
So, right, right. Was the portal helpful? The student portal where it organized everything for the student?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it was super helpful, all of that. And then helping them work through their essay writing and having the essay editor, that was great. And then just, you know, working with their their college-ready counselor was fabulous because she was available all the time. So that was good. Christine, um, yeah, super great. Yeah, I couldn't fault you at all. I would recommend you to everybody. I just wish it started with you in 8th grade. That's my only regret. Like, if we'd only met sooner.
I, I hear that often, but at least we met, and that is the beauty. Both kids have really quality opportunities
