College Planning - A Mother's Perspective IV

More Visits and a Well-Timed Introduction

See part I, II, and III.


My husband led the final round of campus tours that summer, taking her to three Ivy League colleges that were definitely inside the “too close to home” circle.

Now she had her reach schools.

She chose one to apply to Early Action, which was non-binding. However, it meant she could not apply anywhere else early. It was as the application deadline approached that I met Stan, from the CollegePlanning Group. At the time I had only heard of the FAFSA. I had no idea what the CSS profile was, nor any clue that it needed to be filed within the next two weeks. Thank heavens for Stan!

Yes, my husband was reluctant at first to work with a college planner, believing that there was no reason we couldn’t do it all ourselves. But that’s exactly why we started working with Stan – as he said to me, “Yes, you can do it yourself but it will take you a lot longer and I’ll do it right the first time.” Even better, my daughter got her essay reviewed with experienced feedback from someone other than me.  All of a sudden, the stress started to fade. Someone else was reminding her of deadlines, letting her know what she needed to get done when. It got a whole lot easier to just be her mom, holding her hand when everyone else started hearing from colleges and the waiting game stretched on and on.

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