Winning Outcomes for our Clients:

Admit Rate (4x Higher!)
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Recommend
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Admitted to a Top 3 Choice College
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5 Star Google Reviews
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Our Philosophy

We focus on finding a school for students based upon their values and passions.  We believe a team effort is stronger than our individual strengths.

Our Mission 

Reduce the stress in the application process by coaching our families to develop a personal narrative for their student to gain admission to a great fit school.

College Coaches Journey

Season Pass "All In" Journey

The College Coaches - Strategic Path to College Success

✓ 97% Customer Satisfaction • 75% Admit Rate • 86% Admitted to Top 3 Choice

🏆 12 Strategic Meetings + Monthly Check-ins

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STAGE 1 Parent(s) & Student

Establish Milestones

Scheduling/Planning Meeting

Set baseline schedule, review timeline, sign contract, schedule meetings, access client portal

STAGE 2 Parent(s) & Student

Kick-off!

Initial Family Meeting

Get to know your coach, review questionnaires, discuss academics, test strategy, extracurriculars, and summer plans

💭
STAGE 3 Parent(s) & Student

Values-Driven Search

Forget the Rankings Process

Conduct value sort, identify key values, explore what truly matters to your student (12 months access)

📋
STAGE 4 Head Coach (behind the scenes)

1st and 10

Development of College List

Coach creates customized list of 15-25 schools based on 15-45 years of experience visiting 200-400 schools

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STAGE 5 Parent(s) & Student

Huddle Up

College List Review

Discuss likely/target/reach schools, visiting strategies, and total applications recommended

💰
STAGE 6 Parent(s) & Student

Financial Planning

Financial/Merit Aid

Learn about FAFSA, CSS Profile, and merit aid opportunities. Don't leave money on the table!

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STAGE 7 Parent(s) & Student

Game Plan (1st Half)

Initial Application Strategy

How student will be read, discuss acceptance rates, EA/REA/ED/RD strategies, supplemental essays

STAGE 8 Parent(s) & Student

Game Plan (2nd Half)

Finalize Application Strategy

Confirm and finalize strategy 2-3 months after initial planning

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STAGE 9 Parent(s) & Student

1st and Goal

Final Review

Confirm schools and strategies, review remaining actions, finalize supplemental essay schedule

🎉
STAGE 10 Parent(s) & Student

Review Results

Strategy from Initial Results

Review admission decisions and merit aid, waitlist strategy, support final decision

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STAGE 11 Parent(s) & Student

Victory Formation

College Prep & Career Direction

Advice on aligning classes to interests, tips on parent-student communications

📝 10 Tactical Essay & Application Meetings

Parallel to the strategic journey, you'll complete the Common Application, essays, and supplements

Common App Essay (3 meetings)

Brainstorming, talking draft, and collaboration on final essay with 3-6 hours of homework

Common App Completion (2 meetings)

Student-only meetings to complete the Common Application, excluding essay coaching

Resume Development

Work with our career expert with 35 years of experience to develop an initial resume

College Interview Practice

Learn from a pro with top tips so your first interview is a great one

Collaborate on Supplements (3 meetings)

Ensure supplements are aligned to each school and illustrate your unique value

Schedule a Free Introduction Below to Learn More!

Assessment

We conduct a family meeting to understand the student’s aspirations and accomplishments to begin the identification of colleges.

Value-Driven College Search

In this stage, we explain benefits of identifying colleges based upon shared values and leverage tools for self-exploration.

Exploratory College List

Our College Lists leverages our 200+ years of collective experience and our proprietary database to create a customized and balanced list.

Application Strategy

Develop a strategy specifically for you to provide key advice, resulting in significantly higher acceptance rates – 75% to colleges with an average 19% admission rate!

Common Application & Essay

Ensure activity list is strategically arranged, with action verbs and impactful descriptions.  Brainstorm unique essay to reveal something not discoverable from the application alone. 

Career Direction

Develop a strategy specifically for you to provide key advice, resulting in significantly higher acceptance rates – 75% to colleges with an average 19% admission rate!

Resume and Interview Practice

Develop and polish a professional resume to stand out.  Gain confidence from industry veteran.

Deferral/Waitlist Strategy

We offer additional strategic direction and advice to get you accepted when you need it most! 

Transfer Guarantee

We are so confident in our ability identify a great fit school for you that transfer coaching is free. 

Student in a university library sitting on floor with headphones

Season Pass – “All In”

We designed a program to provide all of the strategic advice and tactical essay coaching you need! Our process and proprietary resources ensure a winning outcome! Our Season Pass will help you with: College Selection, Visits, Strategy for Admission, Common App, Essays, Deferral Advice, Resume Development, Interview Practice, and more.

We also offer a 20 hour use as you wish bundle for all services. 

Google Client review

Excellent
The College Coaches4.9
Based on 184 reviews
Mark Morelli
We had a great experience working with Kathleen. She was very helpful through the application and decision process. Kathleen was very positive and reassuring, and our son ended up getting offers from his top two choices!
Lisa VanDeVeer
We had a terrific experience working with The College Coaches during the 2024-2025 school year! My daughter is now in her first year at her top choice college and loving it! We purchased The College Coaches' Season Pass package in my daughter's junior year of high school, when she was just beginning to think about her college journey. Over the next 9 months, my daughter was coached one-on-one by Kathleen Sparrow through all phases of the road-to-college journey. Kathleen immediately connected with my daughter and conveyed that she "got" her personality and desires for her college experience. Kathleen constantly focused on my kid's particular strengths and boosted her confidence. Kathleen understood my anxieties as a parent and helped me to relax and support my daughter without over-controlling every step of the process. As I often told Kathleen, my daughter and I left every coaching session feeling renewed and more relaxed, which was incredibly helpful given the ultra-competitive, high pressure environment of our Northern Virginia community. I'd also like to give a shout out to Becky Bowlby, who Kathleen referred me to for a conversation about financial matters pertaining to college. Becky was great to talk to and knowledgeable about college financing. As a final component of the Season Pass package, my daughter met with Sara Lacombe to discuss her possible college major and career interests. Sara asked great questions, reflected back what my daughter shared with her, and "elevated" the themes she heard from my daughter in a way that really captured my daughter's sense of her unique purpose. Finally, I want to thank George Sparrow for our many communications over the time we worked with The College Coaches. He was unfailingly responsive, kind and helpful in addressing scheduling matters and questions I had along the way. My daughter and I highly recommend The College Coaches for their expertise and support on the college journey!
Ayesha Rahman
I highly recommend Sara Lacombe as a career coach. When I first met her, I felt at ease and impressed with her wealth of knowledge. She has been guiding my teenage daughter in finding various career paths in college. My daughter found Sara easy to talk to, and kind. My daughter felt she could safely discuss any topic with Sara knowing she would be non judgmental. Sara has a gift for finding what motivates a person and then helps them steer them in a positive direction. We look forward to continuing our journey with Sara as my daughter begins College.
Lori Cohen
It was a great experience working with a coach at this company for so many reasons. I loved her gentle but matter of fact advice. She is obviously knowledgeable about all things college admissions but more importantly, able to communicate well with a teenager - not always an easy task! I'm quite sure the coach put my son over the edge with her ability to help him craft his Common App. He ended up getting into one of his top choices. Highly recommend The College Coaches!
Gil Gordon
I felt supported and could reach out for help whenever I needed.
Suzanne Buckhoff
We absolutely loved working with Caroline! Her deep knowledge and thoughtful guidance were invaluable in helping our daughter navigate the college application process. She provided the support and insight our family needed to narrow down the options and ultimately find the perfect school. We are so grateful to Caroline and The College Coaches team—thank you for everything!
Jacqueline Mesa
Kathleen was an excellent college coach. She helped my daughter from start to finish in creating a college list, making sure the common app provided the correct information and helping with essay writing, word count, etc. Kathleen has a kind and positive approach to a difficult process. She never added to the stress! We highly recommend college coaches.
Katherine Kelly
Thanks to Becky Bowlby for all her tremendous help! This is our second child in two years applying to college with Becky’s help and we’re grateful for her calm and knowledgeable guidance. Things have changed so much since we applied to college, so her help was invaluable. We highly recommend her and the College Coaches overall.
Helen Kulstad
We had a fantastic experience working with Kathleen, George, and especially Becky at The College Coaches. Becky’s knowledge and support were invaluable. What initially felt like an overwhelming process quickly became manageable thanks to her calm and reassuring presence. Our son truly enjoyed working with Becky and felt confident under her guidance. She’s not only incredibly knowledgeable and insightful, but also empathetic, a great listener—and genuinely funny!

We’re already looking forward to working with Becky again when it’s our daughter’s turn. We wholeheartedly recommend The College Coaches; their expertise made all the difference, and we can’t imagine navigating the process without them!
Amanda Herndon
All I can say is that The College Coaches are the ABSOLUTE BEST!! They guided us with all three of our children and our experience was great. They kept my children on track and kept my husband and me calm throughout the process. I highly recommend them!!!
S Caff
College coaches is a great organization with caring college professionals. We were very happy with their guidance and support of our son and of us!
Michelle Gutierrez
Great experience with The College Coaches
Mercy Hope
The College Coaches team is very professional and knowledgeable. Our two students have received extremely useful support from The College Coaches and we will forever remain grateful for that. We will highly recommend The College Coaches to families looking for professional coaching for their students during the college application and admission process. Thank you to The College Coaches.
Jessica Garrett
One of the best decisions we made during the summer before senior year was to send our twin daughters to the College Coaches' Essay and Common App class. Our girls completed the Common App in a matter of hours. They thanked us each night for allowing them to take the essay class because they were done with their essay before the school year started. As a result, they started senior year feeling less stressed and confident in their ability to submit strong applications.

Fast forward to spring and both girls were accepted at their first choice colleges: Wake Forest and the United States Naval Academy. Becky's guidance during the service academy application process was key!
Jill Keesbury
Great, personalized service!
Teresa Gido
We would highly recommend The College Coaches! Our daughter had the best experience with her coach and ended up getting admitted to her top school. Her coach’s knowledge, guidance, and expertise proved invaluable!
Tim
Kathleen at the College Coaches was just who our family needed to help us think through an application strategy, to reduce our stress by keeping us on track, and to boost our daughter's spirits throughout the process. Thank you Kathleen!
Sarah Johnson
Kathleen was a tremendous resource throughout the process and George did a great job keeping us on track with payments and scheduling (we were not easy clients due to busy schedules, but he took it all in stride with kindness and understanding). Kathleen helped identify schools we hadn’t thought of, and peeled back the curtain on the college app process, which has changed so much since we went through it. She also provided invaluable structure, feedback and encouragement to help our Senior write and perfect his essay. We are so grateful!
Sondra Wolff
Kathleen was a true professional in every way. She was patient, thoughtful, and wise. A winning combination. Applying to colleges is extremely stressful and confusing, and we could not have done it without Kathleen. My son was admitted into his top choice college. We are grateful for Kathleen’s experience and guidance.
Jared Landau
I had a very positive experience working with Kathleen. She is responsive, honest, and will always point you in the right direction. Because of her, my college process was quick and easy.
Clare Daniels
It was an amazing decision to use College Coaches to help me with my college applications! I had around the clock support, answering any questions I had and helping me build confidence in my applications. Thanks to Kathleen and George Sparrow I was able to get into my top choice and had a pain free application process!
Jessica Browning
Even my jaded teenager enjoyed the essay-writing process! Kathleen and her team know how to get the best out of these kids and turn it into a compelling essay.
Lila Garrett
College coaches reviewed my essay and returning it quickly. It was an amazing experience working with Ms. Kathleen, Mr. George, and Ms. Becky. I have never felt better about my writing because of the atmosphere they created. Any questions about my service academy applications, Ms. Becky answered. I would highly recommend college coaches to anyone looking to get their college writing or applications perfect and fully completed.
Thea Kayne
Fantastic help with our son to extract a great essay! So grateful for this excellent college coaching.
Katherine Stauderman
Great responsiveness and tips, but I felt like I did a lot of the work on my own anyways. The College Coaches give a great head-start for those who haven’t yet found their footing, like myself. Especially if you’re a student who has limited assistance from their parents, the College Coaches will definitely point you in the right direction.

WHY CHOOSE US

WHY CHOOSE US

Quite simply, our results are unmatched.

Working as a team there is no single college counselor who can match our advice.  And the former admissions directors at fancy schools?  They may know what a great application looks like, but we know how to create one!

Results:  86% are admitted to a top 3 choice school, 97% recommend our services

We coach you through the entire application process and help you capitalize on opportunities and avoid mistakes.

Our team includes career coaching for unmatched resume development and interview practice along with aligning passions to college classes.

Our coaches average over 20 years of experience as counselors and admissions directors and work as a team.

Our Season Pass will help you with: College Selection, Visits, Strategy for Admission, Common App, Essays, Deferral Advice, Resume Development, and Interview Practice.

Our boutique size and approach provide the highest level of service at a reasonable cost.  Before investing $200k+ in college, get expert coaching first.