A process with room to think.
Strong decisions do not come from a formula. They come from close attention, clear options, and honest conversation.
The working rhythm
Thoughtful structure, shaped around the student.
Quarterly check-ins in 9th and 10th grade, more often as junior year approaches, and intensifying through senior year. But I don’t restrict my time or count hours. Between meetings I’m available by email, text, or a scheduled call, and when a student needs me, I’m there. Families are never left waiting or rationing their questions.
Where parents fit
You get to go back to being the parent.
Parents are partners, and part of my job is to take the pressure off the relationship. Families should not be fighting with their kids over this. The process is stressful enough and it changes constantly, and what a teenager needs through it is love and support, not another person on their back. So let me be the one who carries the information, the deadlines, and the hard conversations.
When there’s news to share, good or hard, parents hear it from me directly, with full context and no sugarcoating. The student does the work, and what a student tells me stays private unless they give me permission to share it.
On finding the right fit
Fit and match matter far more than names.
The goal is never the most prestigious school. It’s the right outcome for the student in front of me, the school that actually fits and matches who they are, where they’ll thrive and grow. And the planning has to look past the next four years. I’m strategizing for the person this student is becoming and the life beyond college, not just where they land at eighteen. Honest, grounded expectations beat ambition without evidence every time.
I want students to come out of this more self-aware and more confident than when they started, understanding how they learn, what they want, and how to own the process. That’s also what makes an application genuine instead of manufactured.
Working with Tali Levy made the college application process feel much less overwhelming. Her guidance, encouragement, and personalized support helped me feel confident throughout the entire process, and I am so grateful for the role that she played in helping me reach my goals.
Questions families ask
The honest answers.
- When should we start?
- Earlier is calmer. Not because every year of high school is a college application, it isn’t, but because it spreads the work out and lowers the stress. That said, I take students at every stage, seniors included. It’s rarely too late to help.
- Do you guarantee admission to a certain school?
- No, and I’d gently steer you away from anyone who does. No ethical counselor can promise a specific college. What I promise is honest guidance and a real plan built around your student.
- Is it all virtual?
- Yes. Working virtually is what lets me stay fully available to families across the country.
- How involved are the parents?
- As partners. I carry the information, the deadlines, and the hard conversations so you don’t have to fight with your kid over any of it. You get to go back to being the parent.
- Do you write the essays?
- Never. The essays have to sound like your student. I guide the process and I read every one, and my writing editor supports it too, but the words are always theirs.
- Who do you work with?
- The whole range. Gifted, twice-exceptional, and neurodivergent students, high achievers and late bloomers, and families of every income. I don’t turn a student away for being complicated.
- What does it cost?
- I work as one comprehensive package rather than by the hour. We talk about fees on our first call, and I put them in writing before we begin.
- How many families do you take?
- Deliberately few in each grade, so every student gets my full attention. When I’m full, I’m full.
Start with a conversation.
If this sounds like what you have been looking for, I would love to talk.
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