It’s a high stakes game that consumes high school seniors every Fall: deciding where to go to college and then making sure you do everything right to get accepted. For most, it’s their first adult decision, one that may well shape their enter future.
Over the past few decades, as competition for college admission accelerated, the number of private college admission consults has soared. Students are not just asking where the can or should apply, but also how to make sure they’ll be accepted.
Carol Lemei, a Coronado-based admissions consultant, makes no such assurances. In fact, she’ll be the first to tell you that “most students don’t need [her] services.” By they time they’re ready to start applying for college, most students have met all the academic requirements and have the skills to navigate the process on their own.
What is often missing is confidence, and that is what Lemei delivers.
“She makes every child feel like a million bucks,” said Catherine Wilson, a mother of a client. “She makes them feel like any college would be lucky to have them.”
Lemei guided Wilson’s son and daughter through the application process and made “what seemed impossible, doable,” Wilson said.
Because college is necessary for many students but can also be expensive, students and their parents are driven to find out as much as they can before selecting a college. One year at San Diego State University (including fees, tuition, room and board) costs an estimated $19,200 per year, while a year at Stanford will cost $61,648, according to Money Magazine’s college calculator.
Unfortunately, “the demand for application advice often exceeds the capacities of most public institutions,” Ruth Starkman, a professor at Stanford University wrote in a 2013 Huffington Post article. According to Starkman “public high schools in the United States employ an average of one staff member per 500 students.”
CHS boasts a slightly better ration for kids, offering approximately one counselor per 360 students, according to Kathy Redding the school’s registrar.
“They all do an excellent job, ” Lemei said, noting the many high school English teachers help students with their application essays. Lemei does so much more, her former clients say.
“CHS counselors only help you by telling you what schools you qualify for,” said Ashley Lillegraven, a sophomore at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). “There are some English teachers at school that will help you with your essays, but they don’t work with you the way Mrs. Lemei does.”
Lemei listens to a client’s story and helps them write the critical application essay in a compelling way. “Students often don’t know what’s special about them. I help them find their own voice,” she said.
One student told her about rock hunting with his mother. He talked all about the characters they met and how sharing the experience with his mother brought them closer together. Because the experience was so unique and heartfelt, it caught the eye of an admission offerer at the art school he wanted to attend.
It was something he would perhaps not have thought to mention, but Lemei grasped the poignancy and power of the story.
Lemei started advising students 15 years ago. She was tutoring Spanish and some of her students asked her to help them write their college essays. Around the same time she was helping her son apply to colleges.
Taking what she learned from that experience and her skills as a writer, the former English lit major became a college admissions consultant.
A dedicated, even compulsive researcher, Lemei spends hours reviewing the dozens of college catalogues propped against the fireplace in a corner of her living room, which also serves as her office. During summer breaks, she visits colleges to meet with college administrators.
Besides helping students with their applications, Lemei also helps them find a college that offers the best fit. Her recommendations are program, not campus, driven. “I tell students to look for opportunities outside the box,” she says.
“A group of colleges that are often overlooked are the Jesuit schools, ” Lemei said. “They offer an excellent, affordable education and right now they are competing for top students.”
She counsels about 35 students a year. The majority are from Coronado, through she makes a special effort to reach out to students from Otay Mesa as well. She reached out to that community, not only because there is a need, but also because she doesn’t want to just serve a privileged elite.
Lemei has lived and worked in the community for years. Her husband, Bill, teaches algebra and physics at CHS, and Lemei also works as a lab technician in the school’s ceramics studio. As a part of the school staff, Lemei has the inside scoop on some of the finer points of CHS. “She knows all the teachers, and which ones write the best recommendations,” Wilson said.
Over the years she has seen a change in the students who come to her for help. “Fifteen years ago, Coronado was still a sleepy little town,” she said. “As property values rose, affluent people started moving here with higher expectations for their children.”
Lemei endeavors to do exactly that, all the while putting the needs of the student first.
