Welcome to College Dreams Consulting!
So many college choices. So much college-related jargon to process. So many paths to consider.
Where do you want to go to college? What will you study? Can you afford it? So many questions to answer at this important juncture in your educational journey.
Penny Linsenmayer, founder of College Dreams Consulting, believes that the college search and admissions process can be manageable, affordable, and effective. She can help you cut through the noise and put the puzzle pieces into place.
It doesn't have to be as stressful, expensive, and confusing as it often is for many students and their families.
Penny helps each student identify multiple AAA college choices. AAA colleges is Penny's shorthand for institutions that are affordable (A), a solid fit for academics (A), and accessible and authentic (A) from the standpoint of meeting the student's social, cultural, and emotional needs. Her goal is to demonstrate how many AAA options are available and to find the specific AAA schools that best suit you.
Her mission is to help students adopt an expansive approach to the college search process, focusing on authenticity and affordability. She encourages students and families to avoid outsize fixation on any one single "dream school," the Ivy League, or the national rankings. Instead, Penny believes that each student can find a range of several AAA choices to further their college dreams.
Providing all the information, at a reasonable pace, and communicating clearly about objectives at each step in the process is the key to a successful outcome. The goal is for the student and her family to feel confident that she has a solid list of AAA schools to apply to in fall of senior year, that she is comfortable that she can thrive academically, financially afford, and have a positive emotional and social experience at several AAA schools on her list, and that she and her family have the tools and information necessary to make an ultimate choice for acceptance and enrollment at one of those schools.
Penny encourages her clients to think broadly, both in terms of their career aspirations and the types of colleges that may help them achieve their goals. In the 21st century global economy, students must be prepared to be innovative critical thinkers, and many of them will pursue graduate or professional degrees. Recognizing the high likelihood that her clients will pursue postgraduate studies, Penny works with students and families to identify merit aid and needs-based financial aid opportunities to maximize affordability at the undergraduate level.