FAQ

Daniella counsels students ranging from those at the top of their class to average students with unrevealed potential. In each case, Daniella highlights each student’s strengths and achievements and helps them fill in the missing pieces needed to make their applications shine.

Daniella begins working with students as early as ninth grade and as late as the fall of their senior year. By starting early, Daniella has more time to assist students with enhancing their college qualifications, including recommending curriculum and courses, a standardized testing schedule, extracurricular activities, work and internships, community service, and summer programs. Many students, however, begin working with Daniella during the end of their junior year of high school.

Daniella provides her students with questionnaires and meets with them and their families to get to know their strengths, weaknesses, interests, talents, preferred majors, goals, personality, coursework, grades, standardized test scores, extracurricular and community service activities, work and internship experiences, and college preferences (e.g., academic rigor, available major, location, size, student life, sports, extracurricular activities, diversity, affordability, etc.). Daniella then researches and proposes a college list with a balance of reach, target, and safety schools that are a strong academic, social, personal, geographic, and financial fit for her students. Daniella works with her students and their families to continue fine-tuning their college lists throughout the application process to maximize her students’ options on decision day.

Daniella meets with her students to explain the dos and don’ts of writing a compelling personal college essay. She then gives them a brainstorming worksheet to complete. Afterward, Daniella meets with her students to identify their most promising personal stories based on their passions, challenges, and unique life experiences. Daniella meets with her students and provides them with detailed feedback and collaborative live editing to hone their personal story, fine-tune organization, and correct word choice, sentence structure, and grammar. The process repeats until her students have written a solid draft. Then, Daniella sends the draft to the students’ parents for input from a fresh set of eyes. With this additional feedback, Daniella works with her students to polish their essays, including reviewing them with grammar software. The essays are not finished until they capture the student’s character, hold the reader’s interest, flow seamlessly from beginning to end, and demonstrate impeccable grammar.

College Together offers a comprehensive college counseling package for unlimited hours of college admissions support for $6,000, payable in two installments. College Together also offers hourly services for freshmen and sophomores, as well as for juniors and seniors seeking targeted support for $250 per hour with a four-hour minimum.

As part of College Together’s comprehensive college counseling package, Daniella will perform the following services:

• Preliminary Review – Daniella evaluates the student’s academics, talents, interests, strengths, and weaknesses based on the student’s transcript, test scores, accommodations, student and parent intake questionnaires, and meetings with the student and parent(s) so that she can begin the college planning process.
• Enhancing College Qualifications – Daniella advises the student on curriculum and course selection, academic enrichment/coursework outside of school, extracurricular activities, community service, summer programs, jobs, and internships to help the student tell a cohesive story, stand out, and optimize the student’s college offers of admission.
• Standardized Testing Strategy – Daniella advises the student on standardized testing for the SAT and/or ACT (including choosing which test(s) to take and when to take them) to maximize the student’s standardized test scores.
• Academic Support – Daniella motivates the student to earn strong grades through pep talks and reminders, and assists the student in troubleshooting academic issues.
• College Major Selection and Career Guidance – Daniella guides the student to select a college major that highlights his/her academic and creative strengths, correlates with his/her passions and career interests, and optimizes their chances of admission.
• Building a College List – Daniella compiles a list of potential U.S. colleges for the student, taking into consideration academic rigor, college rankings, preferred major, acceptance rates, admitted student profiles, location, student-body size, campus life, social scene, sports, special interests, Greek life, diversity, religious preferences, housing options, and financial considerations. Working with the student and parent(s), Daniella guides the student in formulating a final college list that balances reach, target, and safety schools.
• College Application Strategy – Daniella advises the student regarding applying Early Decision, Early Action, Rolling Admission, or Regular Decision to optimize the student’s likelihood of acceptance at his/her preferred colleges. For each college, she analyzes whether the student should submit SAT or ACT scores or apply test-optional, and which AP or IB scores to submit, if any. Daniella also works with the student to strategically select a preferred term, college major, and alternative major for each college.
• Completing College Applications – Daniella helps the student complete his/her college applications on the Common App and other application platforms in a way that showcases his/her “it factor.” She reviews all sections of the applications for completeness and accuracy before submission.
• Stand-Out College Resume/Activity List – Daniella helps the student draft a college resume and a list of extracurricular, work, internship, and community service activities that demonstrate his/her leadership, stick-to-itiveness, passions, service, and the all-important “it factor.”
• Compelling Personal Essay – Daniella assists the student with writing a compelling personal essay that captures the admission committee’s attention, reflects the student’s authentic voice, and demonstrates strong writing skills. The process includes brainstorming topics, outlining the essay, commenting on multiple drafts, editing the essay for content, tone, word choice, and format, and proofreading for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Customized Supplemental Essays – Daniella assists the student in writing customized supplemental college essays that demonstrate the student’s fit and desire to attend his/her preferred colleges (up to 10 colleges).
• Glowing Letters of Recommendation – Daniella advises the student to obtain glowing letters of recommendation from teachers, counselors, and mentors that highlight his/her academic strengths, passions, good character, leadership, and likeability. She works with the student to strategically select recommenders, assemble supporting “brag” materials, and communicate with them to get it done.
• Keeping the Student on Track – Daniella assists the student with meeting college application and supporting documentation deadlines with email and text reminders.
• Timely and Accurate Supporting Documents – Daniella guides the student to ensure each college application is complete and all supporting documents (e.g., letters of recommendation, transcripts, standardized test scores, counselor reports) are submitted on time. Daniella also guides the student with self-reporting grades through the SSAR and on college portals to ensure accuracy where it really matters.
• Troubleshooting – If needed, Daniella assists the student with explaining reasons for any poor grades or academic issues.
• Demonstrating Interest – Daniella guides the student in demonstrating interest in colleges to increase his/her likelihood of acceptance. She also advises the student on how to respond to college communications in a timely, professional manner.
• College Interviews and Visits – Daniella prepares the student to make a great impression during college interviews. She also advises the student as to how to make the most of college visits.
• Deferral and Waitlist Advice – Daniella advises the student to optimize their chances of admission if they are deferred or waitlisted, including writing persuasive letters of continued interest and submitting updated information.
• Enrollment Guidance – Daniella guides the student and the parent(s) in deciding where to enroll.
• Financial Aid Guidance – Daniella guides the student and the parent(s) in completing financial aid forms, including the FAFSA and CSS Profile, to optimize their eligibility for financial and merit aid.
• Accommodations – Daniella guides the student to obtain high school accommodations if needed.