"How often do you meet with my kid and what happens when you do?"
The 10-word answer
Monthly until the summer before senior year, then weekly through December, then monthly again.
Your student gets paired with a college coach for a monthly 1:1 strategy session from the day we start until June 1 of their rising-senior year. At that point we switch into the engine — a weekly call with their coach plus a biweekly call with a dedicated essay coach — and that runs June through December of senior year. That is 12 coaching sessions and 12 essay sessions in the six months that actually decide admissions. After submission, we go back to monthly through May to help with decisions, merit appeals, and the final choice. Every session produces notes, action items, and a preview of what's next — so you, as a parent, never have to guess what's happening.
There are four phases and they run in order. Phase one is the Diagnostic & College Positioning Map — we build a personalized gameplan on the intake call so you leave with a visible plan. Phase two is Profile Development — this is where we deepen activities, design the summer, and reverse-engineer the student's 'why' from career exploration. Phase three is Execution & Accountability — action items session to session, monthly until rising-senior June 1. Phase four is Applications & Essays — that is when we ramp to weekly with the coach plus biweekly with an essay coach, 12 and 12 sessions, June through December. Kickoff calls in May walk everyone through the Common App and the UC App. Summer Monday office hours at 8 pm Eastern are open to the whole family. Every step produces artifacts — notes, the gameplan, the deadline matrix, parent-facing previews — so there are never any surprises.
"After intake, your student is paired with a college coach. You meet monthly on topics that match their grade — college knowledge, college search, academics, activities, the personal story. Every session produces action items the student completes between meetings, a follow-up summary you and your child both receive, and a preview of what the next meeting covers. It's structured enough that you always know what's happening, and personal enough that it actually fits your child."
Five phases. Same framework. Different intensity.
Diagnostic & College Positioning Map. Review academics, activities, hooks, and the family's 'why.' The coach builds a first-pass custom Gameplan on the call so the family leaves with a visible plan — Reach/Target/Safety classification, rigor gaps, activity spikes to develop, and the 12-month calendar.
- Custom Roadmap Gameplan (printable)
- College Positioning Map with Reach/Target/Safety tiers
- Parent One-Pager: 'What we're working on and why'
Automated post-session summary email within 24 hours. Typeform-driven notes with bullets, action items, and next session topics.
Profile Development & Execution. Four-phase framework cycle: (1) Diagnostic & College Positioning Map refresh, (2) Profile Development — activity depth, leadership moves, summer plans, (3) Execution & Accountability — action items tracked session to session, (4) Applications & Essays — staged deliverables as the student approaches senior year.
- Session notes with explicit 'what we covered' and 'what you will do before next session'
- Updated Gameplan showing which recommendations moved from planned → done
- Forward-looking preview: 'Here is what we will cover next month'
Parents can sit in on the first 1–3 sessions to see the coaching style, then typically step back. Coach Seema / Dr. Ros / Coach Zac all open with the same framework so parents experience consistency.
The engine. College list is finalized, Common App and UC App are opened, supplemental essays are drafted, brag sheets go to recommenders, and the ED/REA decision is made. Two live group kickoff calls — one Common App walkthrough, one UC App walkthrough — bookend the summer. Rikki hosts weekly summer group office hours Mondays 8–9 pm ET (June–August).
- Finalized college list with deadlines matrix
- Personal statement v3 by Labor Day
- Every ED/REA supplement drafted by September 15
- Recommender packet (bragsheet, stamps, deadlines) sent by September
Weekly summaries while the engine is running. Parents attend the kickoff calls and the weekly group office hours if they want to.
Submission season. Supplemental essays are polished, applications are submitted on a staggered calendar (ED/REA → EA → RD), FAFSA/CSS is filed, interview prep runs on demand. Goal: every ED/REA submitted by October 15, every EA submitted by November 1, every RD submitted by December 20.
- Submitted applications tracker
- Interview prep decks for each school that offers one
- Financial aid and merit scholarship filings complete
Weekly parent dashboard: what is submitted, what is pending, what is blocking. No surprises in December.
Decision navigation and financial-fit comparison. Merit appeals, waitlist strategy, final choice, and enrollment.
- Side-by-side financial-fit comparison (net price, merit, aid, ROI)
- Waitlist & appeal letter drafts where relevant
- Final-choice decision brief for the family
Monthly decision check-ins. Parents are fully looped in during financial-fit analysis — this is the call where the ROI Report is walked through line by line.
What families can count on in the calendar.
Senior Kickoff Call
Official launch of the senior engine. Framework review, what's due by July 1, and what's due by Labor Day. Two sessions scheduled — one weekday, one weekend — so every family can attend.
Common App Walkthrough
Section-by-section walkthrough of the Common App. Activities list formatting, Additional Info section strategy, the five essay prompts, recommender setup.
UC Application Walkthrough
The UC Personal Insight Questions, activities/awards rubric, and the key differences between the UC app and the Common App.
Summer Group Coaching Office Hours
Weekly drop-in for rising seniors and parents. Bring a question, a draft, or a stuck point — leave with an answer. Recorded for families who can't attend live.
Junior Kickoff Call
Framework overview, the junior-year rhythm, testing calendar, and how to use summer for profile-development artifacts.
Sophomore Kickoff Call
Foundational mindset. Career exploration, activity-alignment thinking, and why starting early beats starting urgent.
The six parent questions that decide the sale.
Monthly 60-minute 1:1 until June 1 of rising-senior year. Then weekly with the coach plus biweekly with an essay coach, June through December. Back to monthly from January through May of senior year.
Every session follows the same four-phase rhythm — Diagnostic, Profile Development, Execution & Accountability, Applications & Essays — and ends with explicit action items and a preview of what the next session will cover.
You receive an automated post-session summary within 24 hours — what we covered, what your student committed to, and what's next. Plus a forward-looking monthly parent view.
Yes — families typically sit in on the first one to three sessions to see how the coach works. After trust is built, most parents prefer to step back and let the student own the relationship. You're always welcome at any session.
That's exactly what the Senior Sprint is designed for. We start with two sessions per month in the summer to catch up on list, essays, and the Common App, then shift to weekly through December. 12 coaching sessions plus 12 essay sessions get every application submitted on time.
The framework is the same for every family because it works — four phases, CDS-grounded gameplan, accountability artifacts. What changes is the content inside each phase: your child's activities, your child's target list, your child's essays. Nothing is templated.