'23 Wrapped (What a year!), BIG Plans in '24
Jack here. It’s been a little while since I’ve sent an email. And that’s because I’ve been "heads-down" so-to-speak. You see, we at CollegeConsulting.us have BIG things coming in 2024, big things that have required a lot of planning. And every single one of our updates comes with one thing in mind:
More value to you, our hard working parents of high schoolers who are navigating the complexity of the college planning journey.
But before we dive into the big updates in 2024, let’s complete a brief recap of 2023.
2023, in a few bullets:
It’s now been 15 years since my own college planning journey started: 15 years ago, I was a high school junior, struggling to kickstart my own college planning journey. Here’s what I looked like back then, all 90 pounds of me!
14 years ago, I learned a few things about college applications and gained acceptance into Vanderbilt University. 13 years ago, parents started asking me to help their children with the college planning process. Now, 13 years after that first "Will you help teach us?" request, my team and I (oh yes, it’s a full team now!) have helped thousands of high school students (and their parents!) across the country (and actually, world now!) achieve their dreams…and in so doing, it’s allowed me to feel like I am living my own dream. I get to make a living doing what I love? I get to make a living helping families go from "stressed", "overwhelmed" and "uncertain"...to proactively sending me notes like...
Anyway, safe to say, I feel like I am the one living a dream. Our program is now home to truly some of the most hard-working, motivated, inspiring families I have ever met. And to get to watch their lives change before my eyes…well, safe to say it brings tears (of happiness) to my own eyes. Now, back to some more 2023 updates….
We continued doing what we do best -helping families reach their full potential on the college planning journey. We had many life changing acceptances and scholarships this year…but a few single-digit-acceptance-rate highlights:
Jack gained acceptance to his dream college, Dartmouth, where he is now a freshman
Massimo gained acceptance to his dream college, Cornell, where he is now a freshman
Emily gained acceptance to her dream school, Notre Dame, where she’ll attend next fall
Nolan gained acceptance to his dream school, Georgetown, where he’ll attend next fall
Our longest tenured student, Haley (who had been with us since early in 9th grade!), gained acceptance to her dream school, Northeastern, where she’ll attend next fall.
And we had dozens of life-changing, 6-figure level scholarships…like Julia’s, for example:
We received personalized thank you notes from parents, like this one, from Patricia (mother of Bella):
And most notably, we had 100% of our graduating families self-report in the top 1% of "College Confidence", nationwide. 100%! Check it out!
Our team grew: As demand for our elite-level college coaching continues to grow…we grew as well! It took me 40+ interviews to find a college coach with all the credibility, expertise, thoughtfulness and care I required…but we found him! In early 2023, we welcomed Piotr Dabrowski to the team as Head of College Coaching. Soon after, we brought then-student Jack Beecher onto the team as well to create a mini-program designed exclusively for those striving for Ivy-level schools. Mothers wrote to us in droves saying how much they enjoyed following along with Jack’s journey…as a high school senior. I hope to have Jack back at some point…but for now, it’s important he enjoys his college years!
2024 - What’s ahead
Moving forward in 2024, we at CC.us are committed to delivering more value, more consistently to you, our families. Given that, we’ll be operating in 2024 under the following principles:
We want to provide the best, most robust, most valuable, most life-changing college coaching insights completely, 100% free. We want to provide better FREE resources than others’ paid stuff. WAY better. Seriously. And I know we can do it.
For ~99% of you, our free materials should get you well on your way to elite college confidence levels (like those families in the chart shown above).
For a small, small, small; portion of our followers, you may, perhaps, want more. You may, perhaps, want complete peace of mind, elite level coaching, elite-level motivation…perhaps you want a plan that’s personalized exactly for you and your child so you know no rock goes left unturned. You want to know, with 100% conviction, as a parent, you did absolutely everything you could have for your child to succeed. And you’re willing to pay for it.
For the small portion in this second camp, you’re welcome to apply to our elite level 4-year all-inclusive College Confidence Program. While we have no set-pricing (everything we do is 100% personalized for the individual family–that’s part of the reason our families get such life-changing results), I’ll be up front: we are very expensive. I’ll also be up front: we sadly have to reject most families who apply to join. We are very particular about the families we bring into our inner circle, as it’s critical we establish a true fit. Just as important as you being able to count on us…we need to know we can count on you. After all, that’s the only way we can stand by our ridiculous, crazy, unheard-of-in-the-industry results-based guarantees (both admissions and scholarship guarantees).
Side note: In 2023 our average family…average family in our program quadrupled their chance of admission at their dream school and gained $116,502 in scholarships they never have to pay back…that was our average. (Here’s the real, actual data).
So, what does this all mean?
We’ll be in your inbox more consistently. This was the #1 item we’ve heard time and time again from parents. "Keep sending more amazing college planning insights, tips, case studies!" You asked for it, we’ll bring it.
Value, value, value: Just because we’ll be in your inbox more, doesn’t mean we’ll waste your time. Our goal will be to deliver true value on a consistent basis so you can take the info, pass it along to those who need it, and get back to your busy days.
Less is more: In 2024 we’re doubling down on the notion that "our all-inclusive, start-to-finish College Confidence Program is not a fit for most families". There’s a very particular kind of student and parent who excel in our program. Most parents & students are not a fit. And that’s quite alright! We’ll point you in the right direction no matter what your background or profile. Please just do us a favor and don’t be disappointed if we kindly explain to you we are not a fit to work together.
I will be consistently preaching one single item, over and over again this year: the easiest way to help your high schooler excel with college planning is to start early. I will be stressing this point so often this year, you may get bored of it. I hope you do. It’s that important. 9th grade is not too early to start! 10th grade is not too early to start! In fact, if you wait, you may be costing your child their chance of admission at their dream school…and at the very least, you likely are costing yourself thousands of dollars in missed-scholarship opps. (Here’s the data on this if you want to see).
I am looking forward to a year of delivering tremendous value to your inbox, regardless of where you are in the world.
And on that note, let’s kickstart that value process.
Reply here with one college-planning related item you’d like to learn more about. I’ll read your email, personally. I’ll reply and thank you for your email. I’ll take the most common questions and start answering them, right here, via this email list.
Thanks to you, our parents of high schoolers, for an exceptional 2023 (an exceptional last 13 years, in fact). The sky’s the limit in 2024.
Sincerely,
Jack Delehey
Founder, CollegeConsulting.us
