Toronto's expert on U.S. / Canadian / Uk universities
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Your child’s post-secondary education is one of the biggest investments you will make as a parent
Help them find the right school
As a parent you want the best for your child. If you are serious about sending your son or daughter to an American university, hiring an educational consultant who specializes in U.S. schools and admissions is a sound investment decision. Here are five compelling reasons:
Reduce stress, confusion, and anxiety
Applying to U.S. schools is a lengthy, complex process for students and parents alike. At any point throughout the process, arguments may erupt and emotions may cloud sound judgment. A consultant can serve as a neutral third party who will help alleviate the enormous pressure on students, streamline the application process itself, and provide parents with peace of mind that tasks will get done on time.
Save time
There are thousands of U.S. schools, and each has something to offer your child. Understanding each school’s advantages and disadvantages, deciphering “admissions speak”, and seeing beyond the slick marketing presents obstacles. A consultant can cut through the noise, freeing up valuable time, so you can spend less time worrying and more time encouraging.
Save money
Attending a U.S. school is a serious financial commitment that can cost over $300,000. A consultant can help identify schools offering merit scholarships or other incentives that reduce this burden. A consultant can also recommend schools where your son or daughter has the best chance of fitting in and therefore greatly avoid the likelihood—and cost—of transferring schools.
Give your child a competitive edge
Good U.S. schools can afford to be selective. While high school guidance counselors are valuable resources, as generalists they seldom have in-depth experience with the American system. A consultant can fill this gap and offer their expertise in the nuanced world of U.S. college admissions—what schools actually look for as opposed to what people think they look for. They can help your child put his or her best foot forward, especially at two critical junctures: personal essay writing and interviews.
Build your child’s self-confidence and self-esteem
A good consultant will take the time to learn about your child’s strengths and will teach him or her how to articulate these qualities effectively. This, along with the support received throughout the application process, will ensure your son or daughter enters university with a positive attitude, ready for this exciting stage in their lives.
this is my passion
My name is Colleen Reed, Founder, American College Consulting, and I am doing what I love. Every day I have the privilege of helping young people get into their dream schools.
My journey started when I was a student at Brown University. I loved the diversity of the student body, the intellectually curious culture on campus, the freedom to explore, and the lifelong friendships I still cherish.
After college, I took a job leading educational tours for high school groups in Washington, D.C. and met thousands of young people from across the U.S. I loved connecting with them as individuals, encouraging them to learn from each other, and challenging them to become engaged students. I realized education is my passion.
Along the way I married my Brown lacrosse-playing boyfriend (a Canadian!) and moved to British Columbia and eventually to Ontario. I became a high school teacher and taught Canadian History and English for several years. Watching students become capable adults who believed in themselves was, without a doubt, my greatest reward.
Throughout this time, I kept my connection to my alma mater active. As an admissions interviewer for Brown, I met hundreds of high school students and listened to them talk about why they wanted to attend the University and what they wanted to do with their lives.
After 20 years of interviewing prospective students and 10 years of teaching high school students, I started American College Consulting in Toronto in 2008.
My commitment to you is twofold: (1) to always have your child’s best interest at heart and (2) to be an empathetic figure with whom your child can have open, honest conversations. As an experienced educational consultant, and as a mother who has sent her own daughters stateside to study, I can help take the worry out of applying to U.S. schools.
—Colleen
this is my teaM
RON REED
Ron is Colleen’s husband and a partner in the business. Before teaming up with Colleen, Ron spent 33 years in the Enterprise Software sector working for companies including J.D. Edwards, Progress Software, Informatica and SAS Institute in Sales and Executive Management roles. Ron is also a life-long sports enthusiast participating competitively in hockey and lacrosse. He was recruited to play Field Lacrosse at Brown University where he enjoyed all the benefits of being an Ivy League athlete while completing a BS in Applied Math and Economics. Ron passed along this love of sports to his two daughters who played competitive soccer in Toronto. In order to stop coaching his kids from the sidelines, Ron completed his certification and coached in Ontario for several years.
Ron’s experience attending Brown University, a Liberal Arts institution in the USA, led him to team up with Colleen to find a similar experience for their daughters. As a result, one ended up attending New York University (New York) and the other Elon University (North Carolina). Ultimately, the enjoyment and satisfaction Ron received mentoring and coaching both professionally in his career and personally as a hobby, led him to transition these skills to work with Student Athletes looking to forge a similar path as an NCAA athlete in the USA or USports in Canada.
Ron is a firm believer that academics are equally as important as athletics so he completed a Certificate in College Counseling at UCLA Extension to ensure a balanced approach to the college search for every student. In addition, Ron has researched Canadian schools and the Canadian application process in great depth so he can take the lead with any students focusing solely on Canadian Universities.
ALLISON SHEA REED
Allison Shea Reed is Colleen’s daughter and she is a theatre/film actor, singer, playwright, and producer. Allison graduated from the New Studio on Broadway's Acting and Musical Theatre program at NYU Tisch with her BFA in Drama. Additionally, she is the Founder and Artistic Director of RedWit Theatre. Her recent performance credits include Emily West in Living with Olivia Cadence Donovan at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Jamie in Timebomb as part of the Artists in Residence Festival, Sabrina Daldry in In the Next Room with RedWit Theatre, and Annie in A-Door Me as part of the New York New Works Festival. Allison brings over ten years of teaching experience ranging from Vocal Coaching to Writer's Craft to ACT/SAT prep and College Essay coaching to the American College Consulting team. She furthered what she has to offer our students by completing her Master's degree in Dramatic Writing at SCAD in June of 2023 and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA where she is pursuing her love of writing and acting.
KATIE GILBERT
Dr. Katie Gilbert is an associate professor of English at Drury University, a small liberal arts college in Missouri. She has taught writing and literature for more than two decades. Her essays, poetry, and articles have appeared in books and magazines in the public humanities and her research on nineteenth-century literature has appeared in academic journals in the fields of British Literature and the law. She teaches college courses on essay writing, women writers, British Literature, literary theory, and poetry.
She began working as a writer with her first internship in 1992 at Portland Monthly Magazine while attending college in Maine. Since then, she has worked in editorial departments in both magazine and book publishing in Boston and Chicago. Katie is currently enrolled in the Copyediting Program at the University of California, San Diego. She received her B.A. in English and Spanish from Bowdoin College, her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia, and her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Katie loves working with teenagers to help them think about who they are, what they value, and how they can tell their stories in writing. Katie currently lives in the Ozarks of Missouri with her two teens and her sweet dog, Cub. She loves to be outdoors as much as possible, write, read, and listen to poetry podcasts.
ELLY GRAFF
Elly is a writer and educator based in Ottawa, Canada. Elly holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University in New York City (2022) and a BA in Writing from the University of Victoria in British Columbia (2017). During her MFA studies at Columbia University, Elly received the Felipe De Alba Fellowship, a merit-based award for excellence in fiction writing. Elly was also awarded a Teaching Fellowship and taught in Columbia University’s Undergraduate Creative Writing Program. Her love for teaching and supporting students grew further when she worked for four years as an Instructor in Columbia University’s Pre-College Creative Writing Program. In 2019, Elly worked as a reader/editor for the 2019 issue of the Columbia Journal.
Elly’s fiction has been featured in PRISM International Magazine, The Fiddlehead, and The New Quarterly. Her fiction has been shortlisted and longlisted for PRISM International’s Short Fiction Contest. Her short story “Marshall Friday” was Fiddlehead Magazine’s nominee for the Journey Prize. Elly received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts (2021, 2020), Alberta Foundation for the Arts (2019, 2018, 2017), and received the Alberta Arts Graduate Scholarship (2019, 2018).
Elly is currently completing the Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA and is excited to be partnering with American College Consulting. She is passionate about supporting people to grow professionally and personally and loves to apply her editing skills to student undergraduate and graduate admission essays and personal statements. When Elly isn’t writing or reading, she can be found visiting her family farm in Ferintosh, Alberta, where she grew up along the wheat fields, gravel roads, and her pet donkey, Murphy.
Professional memberships
these are our services
1. get to know your child
Review transcripts, extracurricular programs, honors, awards and outstanding talents
Recommend ways to emphasize strengths, successes, and achievements
Inventory future priorities
Conduct personality and aptitude tests
2. Build the perfect college list
Explore priorities including programs, location, size, extracurricular opportunities, etc.
Identify special admission opportunities and unique programs
Draft preliminary list of schools that match needs, desires, and aspirations
3. Maximize value of college visits and tours
Suggest college visit itineraries
Provide lists of questions to ask admission officers and tour guides
Discuss strategies to maximize amount of information gleaned from visit
4. Elevate essays and personal statements
Brainstorm essay topics
Suggest ideas for format, structure, and content to demonstrate synergy between the student and the universities
Provide continuous feedback on revisions
Encourage students to showcase strength of character in their own voice
Ensure all essay responses coherently present the student in the best light
5. strategize interviews
Share inside tips about college admission interviews
Provide list of potential interview questions and help prepare answers in advance so students feel comfortable and confident
6. Manage the application process
Collaborate on building effective resume
Select suitable teachers to write letters of recommendation
Decide together whether to apply for Early Decision or Early Action
Map out a timeline to complete all applications and supporting materials
Manage deadlines
Support for athletes
Colleen is a former member of the U.S. Junior World Figure Skating Team and Ron is a former Ivy League Lacrosse player so we understand firsthand the demands of elite athletics.
That is why many of our clients are student-athletes. We have worked with baseball players, basketball players, fencers, hockey players, skiers, soccer players, swimmers, tennis players, track athletes, rowers, volleyball players, and more. For clients who may be looking to play in the NCAA or USports, we provide targeted support:
Craft athletic resume and cover letter geared towards coaches
Identify NCAA Division 1, 2, and 3, NAIA, USports and Junior College options
Prepare for Official Visits
Assist understanding scholarship offers
SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS LOOKING TO STUDY IN CANADA
Canadian universities reliably offer a high-quality education and stable learning environment. If your child wants to attend university in Canada as an international student, we can help ensure you are informed about your options and are leveraging the right strategies to optimize the application process.
RECENT ACCEPTANCES
American University
Babson College
Barnard College
Bentley University
Berklee College of Music
Binghamton SUNY
Boston College
Boston University
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
Bucknell University
Case Western Reserve University
Carleton College
Carnegie Mellon University
Chapman University
Claremont McKenna College
Clark University
Clemson University
Colby College
Colgate University
Columbia University
College of William and Mary
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
DePauw University
Duke University
Elon University
Emerson College
Emory University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hamilton College
Harvard University
Indiana University
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins University
Kenyon College
King’s College London
Lawrence University
Lehigh University
Lewis & Clark College
London School of Economics
Loyola Marymount University (CA)
Lynn University
Macalester College
Middlebury College
New York University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Notre Dame University
Ohio State University
Pitzer College
Pennsylvania State University
Pomona College
Rice University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rollins College
Santa Clara University
Sara Lawrence College
Savannah College of Art and Design
Skidmore College
St. Lawrence University
Stanford University
Syracuse University
Swarthmore College
Tufts University
Tulane University
University College Dublin
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Los Angeles
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Chicago
University of Denver
University of Edinborough
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of Pennsylvania
University of Redlands
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
University of St. Andrews, Scotland
University of Tampa
University of Vermont
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Wake Forest University
Washington University St. Louis
Wesleyan University
Yale University
Satisfied clients
"We could never have navigated the U.S. system without Colleen. It would have been extremely overwhelming without her help and we would not have known where to start."
—Cassandra, Oakville
"It was really nice to have Colleen as a partner in the process other than just my child and the school counselor. She provided an objective perspective, from a position of in-depth knowledge of both the Canadian kid and the U.S. system."
—Sally, Toronto
"She was readily available whenever my son needed her or had a question. She also had information on how to go about getting help/tutoring with the ACT. Also, she has actually been to these colleges, whereas our high school counselors hadn’t even heard of the schools."
—Kathy, Oakville
"Colleen is extremely knowledgeable about a vast number of universities and their acceptance requirements. She narrows the choices down for each student based on their wants and needs. She took the time to work one on one with our daughter to analyze which universities would be the right fit."
—Perri, Toronto
"I want to thank you for all your time and expertise guiding our daughter (and her parents!) through the US application process. You always made sure she was one step ahead of where she needed to be. Although we are very close, I think having us in the background while she was dealing directly with you on all the logistics, drafts, and strategy was incredibly beneficial for all. We were able to discuss without emotion, and without the stress of wondering if we were on top of everything. Our daughter really trusts you and values all your guidance. Thank you for providing such a stable platform."
—Alison, Toronto
"We interviewed other university consultants and found Colleen to be a perfect fit for our daughter. She was approachable, encouraging, and knowledgeable. We would highly recommend her services to anyone looking to send their children to an international school."
—Paul, Toronto
learn more through a free consultation
It is never too early or too late to plan for your child’s college admissions. Please get in touch to learn more about how we can help your family through this exciting process.
Tel: 416-271-9674