 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Letters from our Clients Next Page
My College Answers
Strategic Planning for College Admissions & Aid
Strategic Planning for College Admissions & Aid
August 10, 2005
My parents heard about Lori's services from a mutual friend. We enlisted her as my personal
counselor when I was a sophomore. At first I was wary of how exactly she would help me.
After all, I was a cocky teenager who already had a school counselor and thought that I could
handle things on my own. Luckily, my parents encouraged me to continue with her, and I
ultimately enjoyed many benefits that my classmates missed.
The first thing you should know about Lori is that she's pushy - and I mean excruciatingly
pushy. She will not get off your back about anything. After only our first meeting together, she
had planned an organized time table of the upcoming years (10th grade onward) with details
that included when I should visit schools, narrow down my list, take prep classes, etc.
Although I had formed a vague list of schools in my head, Lori helped me reconstruct the list I
was thinking about based on costs, available majors, athletics and other social aspects of the
schools. Lori is completely dedicated to her clients and would travel to Salt Lake City monthly
to meet with me. She is always on top of her email and is always available by phone. I know
that her reliability is one of her best qualities and eased many of my parents' and my tensions.
Lori always forced me to do my best while helping me to complete all my applications on time
(actually early). She is honest to the fullest extent - when I didn't do as well as I had hoped on
my SAT, she told me to re-take it if I intended to keep Columbia University as my "reach"
school. She read each of my application essay drafts, from the horrible first, to the okay
second, to the even worse third, until the final "golden" essay came to fruition.
Lori's help these past years has been invaluable. Her organization in maintaining a strict
timetable helped keep me sane during those crazy times when nothing seems to go right.
Our hard work finally payed off when I was accepted to Columbia University in December of
my senior year! Lori tells me that it was all because of me, but I know in my heart that she and
her staff played a huge part in my success. Even then, Lori still stuck by me - calling
Columbia to negotiate terms of financial aid. She is faithful to her clients to the very end, and
even now my mother corresponds with her to answer any lingering college questions.
The college application process can be extremely difficult. Sure you get through it, as my
classmates did. But it pays to have someone as knowledgeable, helpful, dependable,
forceful and sweet as Lori Warren aiding the process. She definitely kept me on track as well
as my parents, and made everything so much easier. Why not gain the advantage of having
someone who knows how it all works? I think her counseling was the best investment my
parents made in my four years of high school. Even better than my car!
Neha Nimmagudda
Salt Lake City, UT
(reprinted by permission)
June 25, 2005
Lori Warren saved us money, mistakes and misery. She kept us on schedule with all forms
properly filled out in a timely manner. She saved us time and energy...she understands the
process and the deadlines for colleges. She moved us through the application process
relatively smoothly. Having Lori fill out the FAFSA gave us peace of mind that it was done
correctly and that it was ready January of 2005.
The lengthy career counseling that Lori's office provided and the list of potential colleges was
very helpful as a beginning point to start looking at colleges. Lori helped Nancy prepare her
resume and encouraged Nancy to improve areas of her resume to make her a stronger
applicant...i.e. volunteerism. As long as you follow Lori's schedule for taking the standardized
tests and filling out paperwork, there should not be any problems. However, if problems do
occur, Lori does her best to help solve them.
Parents should start early so that you become familiar with the newsletter and the sequence
of testing and so your student can build his or her resume. We started when Nancy was a
sophomore. Lori allowed us to put the workload and responsibility on the student's shoulders
under Lori's guidance. Parents do need to be engaged in the process also...READ THE
NEWSLETTER!
Don't rely on the school counselors. A friend of our daughter found out one week prior to
graduation that she did not have enough credits to graduate. What makes this even more
alarming is that the counselors had previously told her that she would have enough credits
and that she had nothing to worry about. Although the problem did get resolved, it was
traumatic for the student and her family. When this same student asked school counselors
for assistance with applying to colleges, they informed her that they were too busy. Again
when this student requested help with filling out financial aid papers, the counseling office
responded with, "We are too busy to help." We realize school counselors are BUSY, so we
recommend that you sign on with Lori to help you with the college and financial aid questions.
Sincerely,
Joyce & John Eisenmenger
Idaho Falls, ID
(reprinted by permission)
July 30, 2006
We highly recommend the services of Lori Warren. We knew so little about the process of
applying to colleges; and her expertise afforded us such peace of mind. Se made the whole
experience a relatively pain free one. Such knowledge as writing an application resume,
interview training, and career counseling helped our son find the right college, get financial
aid, and, we believe, helped him to receive a marvelous scholarship. Lori aided us so much I
wish we had more kids to benefit from her service.
Curt & Margie Karg
Idaho Falls, Idaho
(reprinted by permission)
September 8, 2006
I am writing this letter to recommend Lori Warren to all parents seeking assistance in the
mind-boggling college application and funding maze.
We had recently moved from another state to Idaho Falls when I noticed an ad in the local
newspaper for a College Prep Workshop to be held at the town library. We thought we’d better
go because our daughter would soon be a junior in high school. We learned so much from
Lori that day. There was no comparison between our prior knowledge about possible college
funding strategies and needs and the amount of information available to us through Lori. It
seemed that our previous savings plans for college, based on recommended decisions we
had made 10-15 years prior to our meeting Lori, had backed us into a corner and were
actually a liability! We paid Lori’s fee (Is it worth it? Can’t we get help from the counselors at
school for free?) and found that Lori could provide us with help that we got nowhere else. Our
local high school counselor provided little if any guidance and seemed disorganized in his
approach, even to the point of not seeming to promote college. Without Lori’s wading through
the FAFSA, letters of recommendation, resume, and application waters with us, I doubt we
would have been as organized and timely. Lori recommended that my older daughter apply to
4-6 colleges. My daughter was accepted to all 5 to which she had applied, but my husband’s
income (at the time) disqualified us from any financial aid. Lori alerted us to two separate
programs that have provided my daughter with ongoing scholarship money each semester.
My daughter is now a junior at the University of Idaho and still receives her scholarship
money. What a blessing to us since my husband has been unemployed since his return from
serving in Iraq 18 months ago!
Our younger daughter is also a part of Lori’s practice. She has excellent grades and high ACT
scores but has not been able to decide what she wants to study at college or which colleges
she might like to attend. Lori has been encouraging and helpful by providing information and
options, and I’m sure that by this time next year, our younger daughter will be enrolled on a
college campus of her choosing, one that we can afford because of merit scholarships and
financial need based assistance from the institutions.
We have to get our financial information to Lori in December and file our taxes later. It’s hard
to think about taxes and net worth in December, but then Lori has that information available to
her to begin filing the FAFSA forms for us at the earliest possible date. She has never missed
a deadline and has kept us on top of the deadlines for application dates and testing dates
and has even made the online applications for the ACT and SAT for us.
I know that some high schools provide excellent college search information, have computers
available in the counseling offices where students can research colleges using programs like
e-choices, and have counselors who encourage and promote post-graduate education for
high school students and who provide scholarship information and promote academic
preparation in high school to help students achieve, apply, and pass those college exams.
Our local high school, however, seems sorely lacking and decidedly unhelpful and
disorganized. “You get what you pay for” is certainly true when it comes to Lori’s practice.
Lori, you are a blessing in our lives. We look forward to working with you throughout our
daughters’ college years!
Dee Ann Lucks
Idaho Falls, Idaho
(reprinted by permission)
October 30, 2006
One of the best decisions we make when our daughter applied to college was to hire the
experience and expertise of Lori Warren - hands down. Of course our daughter had the hefty
responsibility to present her best "face" to the admissions committees. However, it was Lori
who diligently helped her navigate the often tricky waters of the academic resume, the FAFSA,
and the countless other "hoops" that tax one's strength and patience. Her help was
invaluable. In addition, we resided in a school district with limited resources for college
counseling, therefore we felt it imperative to seek outside professional guidance. Lori
conscientiously and consistently provided this each month.
Our daughter, now a freshman at Gonzaga, wholeheartedly believes that she made the best
decision of the life - thatnks in no small part to Lori.
Sincerely,
Dave & Laurie Brauch
(reprinted by permission)
One of the best decisions we make when our daughter applied to college was to hire the
experience and expertise of Lori Warren - hands down. Of course our daughter had the hefty
responsibility to present her best "face" to the admissions committees. However, it was Lori
who diligently helped her navigate the often tricky waters of the academic resume, the FAFSA,
and the countless other "hoops" that tax one's strength and patience. Her help was
invaluable. In addition, we resided in a school district with limited resources for college
counseling, therefore we felt it imperative to seek outside professional guidance. Lori
conscientiously and consistently provided this each month.
Our daughter, now a freshman at Gonzaga, wholeheartedly believes that she made the best
decision of the life - thatnks in no small part to Lori.
Sincerely,
Dave & Laurie Brauch
(reprinted by permission)
September 10, 2006
The advice that, “people will listen to a third party,” proved true, in preparing our son, Grayson
Stoddard, for college. Grayson was struggling with personal tragedies in his life, too smart to
listen to the adults around him and lacked the burning desire to become accomplished in any
one area. We were fortunate to enlist the services of Lori. Lori was able to teach Grayson the
values of responsibility for making and meeting appointments, commitments and
deliverables. Lori fulfilled the role of more than a college advisor, she became a mentor, and
a personal counselor to Grayson and myself.
As a result of three years of association. Grayson is in place, in college. I have learned to let
go, and know that he will be successful.
I would highly recommend Lori Warren’s services to anyone.
Thank you Lori,
Dianne Nishioka
Idaho Falls, Idaho
(reprinted by permission)
The advice that, “people will listen to a third party,” proved true, in preparing our son, Grayson
Stoddard, for college. Grayson was struggling with personal tragedies in his life, too smart to
listen to the adults around him and lacked the burning desire to become accomplished in any
one area. We were fortunate to enlist the services of Lori. Lori was able to teach Grayson the
values of responsibility for making and meeting appointments, commitments and
deliverables. Lori fulfilled the role of more than a college advisor, she became a mentor, and
a personal counselor to Grayson and myself.
As a result of three years of association. Grayson is in place, in college. I have learned to let
go, and know that he will be successful.
I would highly recommend Lori Warren’s services to anyone.
Thank you Lori,
Dianne Nishioka
Idaho Falls, Idaho
(reprinted by permission)