What Students and Parents Had To Say About Working With Joanna

“Never mind that you used to counsel college students on how to write personal statements. Never mind that others may still come to you for advice on selecting colleges. You will still need Joanna.

Because they’re your child, they will not listen to you. Because while your child will whine, complain, and doubt, or can’t be bothered to listen to you, they will listen to Joanna.

They will say, “Joanna says this,” so often that you will get tired of your child telling you what Joanna says, which is, of course, almost exactly what you said months ago. You will shut up because you won’t want to be a nag. This is why you need Joanna.

Because she will listen to all their excuses patiently and tell them what to do. And they will do everything she says without you having to nag, whine, complain, or pull out your hair. Let Joanna handle it.

She will help your child figure out what they want, where they want to go, and write down all the reasons why they are brilliant, and a joy to be around. Because you will not be able to see their brilliance during this time.

Joanna will save your sanity and preserve your relationship so that you can go back to preparing for them to leave and never wanting them to leave. This is why you deserve Joanna. ”

“We were incredibly lucky to find Joanna through word of mouth and are deeply appreciative of the work she did with our daughter. Our child wanted to graduate from high school a year early and we were looking for help in designing a gap year that would set her up for college. Joanna dug into the work keying into our daughter’s hopes, fears, and desired outcomes for her gap year. She developed a plan to apply to a mix of schools- small, large, public, and private- all of which allow for a gap year. In this process Joanna helped my daughter narrow her focus as to what would be a good fit and was able to make suggestions and constructive criticism in a way that our daughter was able to embrace. Joanna steered our daughter through multiple essay drafts and application deadlines and kept us apprised of progress and was always deft at handling stressful moments. We really appreciated her skilled approach in managing the technical parts of the application process, keeping us on-task, the intense feelings and expectations around it all , and multiple deadlines. The end result of was multiple college acceptance letters and our daughter leaves for college at the end of this month!”

“Working with Joanna has been an incredibly positive experience. She has guided me through every challenge I’ve faced and every emotion I’ve felt during the college application process. Her personalized approach, along with her genuine care and dedication to helping me, has made me feel confident at every step of the way. She has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and helped me realize how much more capable I am than I thought before starting my applications.”

“My time working with Joanna was exactly what I needed when I needed it most. By the start of the school year, while my friends were wrapping up their essays, I hadn’t even started and was seriously stressed. Her super friendly and easygoing personality made it easy to open up about my essays, which really helped with brainstorming. Joanna listened to me and helped me figure out where to start and how to move forward. Her down-to-earth approach made the whole process feel manageable, even when it felt overwhelming. With her guidance, I went from feeling completely behind to being proud of the essays I submitted. Even when she was on my case about deadlines, working with Joanna was an amazing experience, and honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without her.”