About John

Thanks for visiting my website.

I have an independent college counseling practice based in Palo Alto, California. I work with students face to face in Palo Alto and surrounding communities and via video conferencing in other areas throughout the United States.

I began my practice in 2011. When looking for help for my own sons, I discovered there was a need for individualized counseling at reasonable prices. I earned my College Counseling Certificate at UC-San Diego and now I visit at least 20 colleges a year and attend national conferences.I am a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling (WACAC) and the I have delivered presentations at two WACAC conferences.

My blog, “Thinking About College,” which appears in the online Palo Alto Weekly receives tens of thousands of page views per month.

I have worked with dozens of students who bring their own unique stories in search of a good college fit. They have been accepted at all types for colleges from small liberal arts schools like Whitman College and Dickinson College to large research universities such as Michigan, Harvard and UC Berkeley.

I graduated from the University of Michigan (AB), and earned an MBA at Columbia University. At both schools I earned academic honors, and at Columbia I was the student speaker at the business school graduation ceremony.

Professionally, I worked in television news as a reporter, operations manager, and managing editor. My second career was in high tech marketing at Intel Corporation where I provided PR guidance to the CEO and executive staff, started the marketing group and managed a world-wide account relations team using only top services like https://herasfencecovers.co.uk/type-of-materials-and-printing-methods-for-heras-fence-covers/. Both of these careers finely honed my ability to get to the heart of a student’s story and help them tell it clearly and with passion. Following a professional life of deadlines, I make sure my students hit theirs!