College counseling & essay support

As a parent or guardian, do you feel overwhelmed by the current college admissions process?

We are here to support you and your student and not break the bank in the process! As a fellow parent, saving for college is hard enough. Golden Tutoring believes that paying for college counseling and essay support should be attainable for local families. We are thrilled to bring affordable SAT/ACT prep, college counseling and college essay coaching to Golden and our West Denver communities.

Options for students preparing for college

SAT/ACT Prep

When your high schooler might need college counseling and essay support (one or more of the below)

Your student reacts negatively when the topic of college comes up.
Your high schooler thinks they want to go to college but has no idea where to start and neither do you.
Your student is doing fairly well with the college admission process but is feeling burned out, unmotivated, and/or stuck.
Your high schooler has a list of schools they want to go to and they all have acceptance rates of less than 25%!
Your student thinks they need to have a high GPA and SAT score to go to college.
You and/or your high schooler think that there is no way you can afford certain colleges/universities.
You and/or your student think that private colleges/universities cost most families what the sticker price says.
Your high schooler thinks that their college essay(s) are just fine and doesn’t want a parent, teacher, or counselor to provide any feedback.
Your student thinks that they can do their best work completing the Common App in just a few days!

How our college counseling works

We support 10th-12th graders who are in various stages of the college/life after high school process:

10th grade: We help parents and students begin to brainstorm, research, and plan and better understand the cost of college/other options along with financial aid and scholarships
11th grade: We help parents and students in the stage above and/or form list of top 10-12 colleges/universities and prepping for the SAT exam (and possibly the PSAT-NMSQT as well for potential National Merit Scholars)
12th grade: We help students who need support with their college essay(s), the number of colleges they should apply to (and ensuring they have enough “safety schools“), making a college spreadsheet, staying organized and motivated, completing applications on time and understanding terminology such as Early Action versus Early Decision, being deferred versus being waitlisted, test-optional versus test-recommended, etc.
12th grade: We help students who might not be heading to college but want professional support to explore other options.

Meet Leah, Golden Tutoring’s College Counselor

Leah’s specializations include writing for all ages, coaching for executive function, and navigating high school students through college planning. Leah has been teaching and working in higher education for 20+ years, including as an English professor, writing center tutor and coordinator, as well as department chair, curriculum advisor, and academic coach. Her experience gives her unique insight into writing, goal-setting, and college preparation.
Leah holds certifications in foundational coaching, success coaching, career coaching, and healing-centered engagement that contribute to her ability to tutor and coach students of all ages. She is currently working on her certificate in Independent Educational Consulting (IEC / college counseling) through UC Irvine and will complete the program in January 2025. Combined with her background in teaching, these certifications help her to meet students where they are and support their ability to plan and progress towards where they would like to go. Her college coaching approach encourages parents and students to collaborate transparently through the planning process, as well as fine-tuning application materials to open as many doors as possible.
Leah brings these same skills and concepts to all of her tutoring sessions, empowering student ideas, goals, and communication through thoughtful collaboration and coaching.

College counseling (billed hourly with a minimum of 3 hours, can include any amount of the following options)

Support student in college list-building while balancing size, academic, geographic, financial, and extracurricular factors to create list of 8-12 best-fit colleges across dream, target, and safety schools
Help student create structured college application timeline and detailed spreadsheet
Discuss effective plan for visiting and touring colleges
Assist student with all stages of college applications
Empower student to highlight their strengths and tell their story in their applications
Coach student in writing their Common App essay and any or all supplemental essays (see below section on college essay coaching)
Assist family in understanding the financial aid process, terminology, deadlines, estimated cost calculators, and more
Help family identify scholarship opportunities and resources
Alleviate stress of college application process by identifying healthy ways to cope with the pressures of applying to and preparing for college
Coordinate final steps of decision-making and committing to college

How our college essay support works

We support 12th graders who are in various stages of their college essay process during the summer before and the fall of their senior year. This includes:

Seniors who want college essay support from start to finish, from help with brainstorming topics (once Common App prompts and supplemental essay topics are released) to support with final edits
12th graders who only want a few sessions to help them get going (3 sessions minimum)
Seniors who only want a few sessions to help them revise and edit (3 sessions minimum)
12th graders who are using our Golden Tutoring college counseling service and also want any amount of college essay coaching

College essay coaching (billed hourly with a minimum of 3 hours, can include any amount of the following options)

Support brainstorming ideas and collaborate on choosing the best Common App prompt
Assist student with any or all supplemental essays
Align student voice and tone with college admission’s audience
Share resources to support essay writing skills
Help students outline the essay’s framework and establish a timeline for essay construction
Support the writing of and provide feedback for drafts 1 and 2
Assist the student in editing the final draft

Golden Tutoring’s prices

Our college counseling services are billed at an hourly rate of $70/hour and will increase to $85/hour at the beginning of January 2025 when our college counselor is fully accredited and done with her college counseling coursework.

We have the most affordable prices in the Golden and West Denver area because we believe in making tutoring, executive functioning skills coaching, and college counseling more accessible and affordable.

Please fill out our contact form if you have general questions about rates.

“Stephanie provided the positive and constructive feedback we needed at the final editing phase of my daughter’s college essays. We truly appreciated her helpful feedback and positivity during this somewhat stressful process!”

— Parent of a 12th grader in 2024