Three things about Laurie:
1) She’s the reason my son is going to his first-choice college.
2) she’s the reason he figured out what his first-choice college was in the first place.
3) she’s the reason I didn’t lose my mind during the college application process. Laurie is a tremendous listener and a thoughtful counselor. Her meetings with my son were cheerful and optimistic, while being practical but not pedantic. She broke down the steps for him, made sure every part of the process reflected who he actually is, and was conveyed in a way the school could understand. Laurie spent a huge amount of time giving feedback on the little things, like essay formatting, but also put a lot of thought and gave guidance on the big things, like picking letter writers who knew him as a person, or highlighting activities that were his passion. Meanwhile Laurie was responsive, thoughtful and generous with her time when it came to my questions about the process, and reassuring about it working out in a way where my son would end up matched with the right school, which is exactly what happened.