Transition to College: Find and Apply to Your Great Fit Schools!

  • Juniors/Class of 2026: Limited availability: Contact me if you are here for Pro-bono or tiered-pricing college counseling or won’t otherwise have access to college counseling. Running Start students — if you can meet at or before 2pm T or Th, I may have room for you, let’s connect.

  • Sophomores/Class of 2027 Available only for returning families or Seattle Public Schools students or students available to start meeting at 3 pm PT or earlier M, T, Th or Friday

  • Open for Students in the Classes of 2028+

So many choices—where do I start?

College students counseling admissions

We’ll work with you and your family to discern what is important to you, what your strengths are, what your possible career directions might be, and what you want to get out of your time at college.

After we do a series of values surveys and personality/career assessments and your family considers its financial values, you’ll have a clearer idea of what you’re looking for and then we’ll do a match process to find likely, target, and reach schools that have what you want and also offer you a chance to contribute and thrive. We’ll take it one step at a time, so it won’t be overwhelming.

College application writing high school student

What should I write about in my essays?

Application essays and activities lists are totally different from any writing we learn about in high school. Schooling Doula has extensive experience and training in the top essay formats with tons of examples to help you create great story-pieces to help colleges see what makes you special and why you’d be a great fit for their campus community. Brynnen has done many hours of counselor training and has supported many students in getting into their first choice schools through essay guidance.

Again, we break essay and application writing down into manageable chunks so it isn’t overwhelming. We know you need to fit it in with school, work, extracurriculars, and family commitments.

Package and Hourly service options

Package prices may rise July 1

Schooling Doula Transition to College Services

  • We use a state-of-the-art, data-rich comprehensive search and app management platforms Counselmore, College Kickstart and college financial planning software College Aid Pro to help build a list that meets your needs and your values. We offer suggestions for schools to start looking at, coaching in how to do college research, a template for organizing information in a shared online platform  (that will come in handy during essay-writing), deadlines for getting it done, coaching for preparing for virtual and in-person visits, listening and consulting as you reflect on your research--what do you like and what do you dislike? What feels like a good fit? Liberal Arts College? HBCU? Big State U? College Promise and then transfer?

  • What do I have to bring? We do a series of short questionnaires and values exercises to help discern what makes you amazing. Clarifying your values and strengths helps with everything from deciding what activities and coursework to pursue in high school to which majors to pursue in college to which colleges are the best fit for you and what you want to write about in your essays. 

  • Should I do Running Start? Which extracurriculars are a good fit for me? What might I do in the summers and on breaks? What are colleges looking for? Should I try to continue my activities or sports in college? 

  • Should I apply Early Action or Early Decision? What’s the difference? How can it fit with my existing workload?

  • You get access to a research-based interest and aptitude assessment to help discern strengths and possible majors/careers. We can support your resume writing and your LinkedIn profile creation.

  • (Great!) Certain schools are better for this than others—we can help guide you.

  • We will help you find a simple way to share who you are, what’s important to you, and what skill, values and qualities you’ll bring with you do college—we’ll do this one step a time so it will feel pretty easy.

  • College essays are a unique genre unlike what we are taught in school. They want to be shown who you are—just tell an authentic piece of you.

  • You have a limited amount of space to fit it all—we will prioritize those activities that help you tell the story of who you are and what you will bring to the college community. We will help package your activities and interests in a format that helps colleges see how much they need you on their campus. 

  • If you have an IEP or a 504, we can support you in finding a good-fit school and in getting the support available once you enroll. We subscribe to College Supports for comprehensive data from each college’s accommodations office so you don’t have to, plus have first-hand experience with schools that are strong for students with learning differences.

  • We will support you and your family in completing the forms and financial aid and/or scholarship applications to help determine what your target schools might be before you create your college application list. This is an important family conversation Brynnen has supported with many families, including two-household families. Our shared subscription software offers Financial Fit and a professional version of CollegeAidPro both of which will help evaluate projected costs to guide college list-building and also help you complete the forms step by step.

  • Should I submit my scores? ‘Depends on which schools you’re targeting; we’ll do the research and make a plan to prepare, test, and submit if that’s what’s needed, or to apply without scores if that’s what’s indicated. Take a practice ACT and SAT and decide which test shows your best result. The shared software has data to compare your performance to currently enrolled students at most colleges so you see “what your chances” are.

  • Many students do this and we can consider whether this is a good fit for you and what you might do with that year. Brynnen has done 10+ hours of training with the Gap Year Association.

  • Coaching is also available to:

    • Prepare for visits with college reps 

    • Prepare for a college interview 

    • Prepare for a virtual or in-person college visit or plan a college visit itinerary 

    • Communicate with college admissions counselors and financial aid officers

    • Review offers and/or aid packages prior to enrollment 

    • Work the waitlist 

    • Support for FAFSA and CSS 

    • Apply as a recruitable athlete—can also refer you to PerfectCollegeMatch.com or rlopezcoaching.com for complete services for aspiring college D1 or D2 athletes. 

    • Answer any other questions/issues. 

We can help you answer:

Brynnen is a trained Ph.D. researcher and loves to learn—she also loves connecting people with resources, so if you’re wondering about something she’ll find the person or place that can get you the answer.

unsplash-image-98Elr-LIvD8.jpg

Schooling Doula

College Admissions Coaching

Are you ready to jump into finding your college home?

Let's Go

Client College Acceptances

Universities

  • Stanford University

  • University of Washington Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Foster School of Business, Biology, Psychology, Social Work, Marine Science + UW Honors College, Presidential Scholarship+

  • University of California — Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara including College of Creative Studies, Santa Cruz Scholars

  • Cal Poly-SLO — Computer Engineering, Engineering, Marine Science, Biology, Communications, Business Administration, Exploratory Studies

  • Carnegie Mellon University

  • American University

  • University of Arizona Honors College — Arizona Tuition Scholarship for Out of State Students + Architecture

  • Arizona State University, Barrett Honors College

  • Baylor University

  • Boston College

  • Boston University

  • University of British Columbia

  • Case Western Reserve University

  • Cal State U -- Long Beach, Monterrey Bay, Cal Poly Humboldt+

  • Chapman University

  • Clarkson University

  • Colorado School of Mines

  • Colorado State University, Fort Collins

  • College of Charleston

  • DePaul University

  • Emory University

  • Fordham University -- Full Tuition Scholarship

  • George Washington University

  • Goldsmith’s University, London

  • Gonzaga University

  • Lehigh University

  • Loyola Marymount University

  • Loyola University Chicago, Honors Program

  • Loyola University New Orleans

  • Indiana University, Luddy School of Data and Computer Science

  • Marquette University

  • McGill University

  • Montana State University, Honors Program

  • University of Montana, Honors Program, Presidential Scholarship

  • New York University

  • Northeastern University

  • North Carolina State University Engineering

  • Oregon State University, Honors College, College of Engineering, Selective WUE Scholarship

  • Penn State University, Schreyer Honors College

  • Purdue University, Engineering, +

  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

  • Saint Louis University

  • Santa Clara University -- Engineering, Psychology+

  • San Diego State University, Aerospace Engineering+

  • Seton Hall University

  • Seattle University — Computer Science, Social Work, Business

  • Stevens Institute of Technology

  • Syracuse University, Film and Computer Science

  • TCU

  • TCNJ

  • Tufts University

  • Tulane University

  • Washington State University -- Full Tuition Scholarship

  • William and Mary

  • Wentworth Institute of Technology

  • Western Washington University + Honors College

  • University of Colorado, Boulder, Honors College and Aerospace Engineering

  • University of Denver — Merit Scholarship

  • University of Durham

  • University of Edinburgh

  • University of Exeter

  • University of Georgia

  • University of Glasgow

  • University of Hull

  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Computer Engineering+

  • University of Maryland Gemstone Scholars

  • University of Manchester

  • University of Massachusetts, Amherst Engineering+, Creative Writing

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  • University of Oregon, Honors College

  • University of Pittsburgh, Honors College

  • University of Redlands

  • University of Saint Andrews

  • University of San Diego

  • University of San Francisco

  • University of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering

  • University of Tennessee Knoxville

  • University of Toronto

  • University of Victoria

  • University of Vermont -- Life Sciences and Business+, Honors College, Presidential Scholarship

  • University of Virginia

  • University of Wisconsin, Madison — CS, Data Science+

  • Bard College — Merit Scholarship

  • Brandeis University — Merit Scholarship

  • Bryn Mawr College

  • Claremont Colleges: Pomona College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Pitzer College

  • Colorado College — Merit Scholarship

  • Colgate University

  • College of Wooster — Merit Scholarship

  • Connecticut College — Merit Scholarship

  • Davidson College

  • Franklin & Marshall College — Merit Scholarship

  • Haverford College

  • Knox College — Merit Scholarship

  • Lafayette College

  • Lewis and Clark College — Merit Scholarship

  • Mt. Holyoke College — Merit Scholarship

  • Macalaster College — Merit Scholarship

  • Oberlin College — Merit Scholarship

  • Occidental College — Merit Scholarship

  • Oxford College of Emory University

  • Pacific Lutheran University — Presidential Scholarship and Music Scholarship

  • Pomona College

  • Pitzer College

  • Reed College

  • Scripps College — Merit Scholarship

  • Simmons College — Merit Scholarship

  • Skidmore College

  • Smith College — Merit Scholarship and SLIDE Research Scholarship

  • St. Olaf College — Merit Scholarship

  • St. Mary’s College of Maryland

  • St. Martin’s University

  • Swarthmore College

  • University of Puget Sound — Merit Scholarship

  • University of Redlands

  • Vassar College

  • Wesleyan University

  • Whitman College — Merit Scholarship

  • Whittier College — Merit Scholarship

  • Willamette University — Merit Scholarship

Liberal Arts Colleges

 

Book an Initial Meet & Greet or an Hour or More for Advice

We support your journey to finding your best fit schools!