With a list of about 12 schools, my son began the process. Getting through the applications and writing the essays was just one aspect of this stressful journey. My son knew if he was going to apply early anywhere, he had to go see the schools—besides helping to choose which schools to apply to, this is where Janice and Custom College Visits was invaluable.

Janice helped us set up meetings with professors in his field of interest, find students he could spend time with and possibly go to class with and also organized times for him to speak with various student groups on campus. After two trips in the fall, he knew to which schools he wanted to apply to, and even thought he knew which one he really wanted to go to. On Janice’s suggestion, he applied to a few others he hadn’t seen. As time passed, all the applications were in and now he had to wait…

Fast forward to the spring and it was now time to make a decision. My son was very lucky; he had been accepted to a number of schools and had a lot of great choices. His heart was set on the school he had seen in the fall, but some of the other acceptances came with scholarship and honors offers.

Feeling that he should give these other schools and chance, some of them bigger than he had originally wanted, we set out again. Janice planned more meetings with professors, overnights with students, and in-depth campus tours. She even organized a time for us to meet with the director of one of the school’s scholar programs and current students that were in the program.

One by one, he was able to narrow down his choices to two. Ironically they couldn’t have been more different. Elon in North Carolina with 5,000 students and Ohio State with about 45,000.

Who would have ever thought that my son would feel at home in such a big school. However, having had the opportunity to visit he knew that the school may be big, but it felt just right.

Finally after mulling it over with us and spending time talking it over with Janice, who asked him some great questions, he came to his decision. Janice and Custom College Visits had done it again. My son has chosen to attend The Ohio State—a big school that he would have never applied to or fallen in love with, had it not been for the amazing professors and students he had the opportunity to meet.

One more son to go! Thankfully I have a few years before we have to go through this again—but I won’t even think about doing it without the help of Custom College Visits.

Diane B. parent of high school junior, Southern California

She interviewed me first, and then my son and they went to work together finding schools that met his requirements. We left it totally up to them and she emailed me occasionally to let me see the working list and show me where he was in the process.

“College” becomes a nasty word as you get deeper in, and having an independent buffer was very helpful, sort of like not tutoring your own child. She created a timeline and kept my son generally on schedule so I didn’t have to be the task master. She gave him schedules of when the schools on his list were coming to our area so he could attend the local info sessions for a first impression. I loved attending those with him, it was a great mother/son bonding experience and we always went out to lunch or dinner before or after to chat about our impressions. She only called me in if he didn’t respond to something she felt was important. They created a list of must haves and looked for schools that fit.

She encouraged him to include some schools on his list that were not too “reachy” for non-binding early admission applications. Not all schools offer early action, but many do, and spreading out the application deadlines is really helpful. Those should be to places they’d seriously consider going even if it isn’t the top of their list. The idea is, if they get accepted someplace early, a little of the pressure is off for the January round of applications where you can focus on the harder schools to get into. Knowing you are going to college makes that second round a little easier and if your grades are good fall of senior year, those will be factored into the GPA when the January applications go out.

Janice’s true gift is planning the college tour! I am a good planner but she really knows her stuff. Because our school doesn’t have a mid-winter break, we only had spring break and opted to see 6 east coast schools in 6 days. It was a long week, but another GREAT bonding experience! In addition to the standard campus tour and information session all schools offer, Janice arranged for him to meet students involved in his interest areas. We had lunch with them, he attended classes with them, he met professors in his subject areas during office hours, and we got a real up close and personal view of these schools. One of the students even invited him to see his real freshman dorm (not the staged one they show you on the tour) and his fraternity house.

My son’s first target was regional. Based on his grades and test scores he and Janice found three schools that met the criteria of likely, 50/50 and reach. He loved all three and would have been happy at any of them. He applied early where he could and because one school clearly stood out for him, he opted to give a binding early decision bid a try to his first choice school. If that didnt work in his favor, he was ready with several more good options for the January round. Fortunately for us, that early bid paid off and he didnt have to continue the process, but I am certain that he was prepared for whatever came next and would have had great choices in the end.

I find myself staring down the process one more time. My younger son is finishing his sophomore year in high school and we are ready to initiate his college search. Just like other families with more than one child, he is completely different than his brother, and Im certain we will learn lots of new things from his process. Fortunately, we will have Janice by our side!

Lisa L. parent of high school junior, Northern California