CONCIERGE LEVEL
Every student is unique, and the way we work with our concierge level students meets them where they are and helps them get where they want to go in a personalized, one on one format.
No matter when you join us â 9th grade through 12th â we work with you one on one, creating your customized plan. We help you explore your interests, developing a course of action that is specific, actionable, and effective.
Applications are all about building a case for yourself. If you declare you want to be an astronaut, but your activity list is all about playing soccer or generic smart-kid things like National Honor Society, you wonât be as memorable as possible in the minds of the admissions committees.
If you want to be a math major, can you⌠be a tutor? Do math competitions? Join the math honor society? Sure! But what if you found ways to apply math to real-world calculations? And then wrote a paper or built a website discussing your findings?
If you want to be an astronaut, you wonât get yourself to the moon before applying to college. But rather than just joining a science honor society, maybe you could start a TikTok, blog, or podcast where you interview current and former astronauts. Maybe you speak to childrenâs groups about what it takes to go to space. Maybe you take a college course, or intern with a professor, or build a lab in your basement.
Equally important, if you think you want to be an astronaut and you get into more astronaut-specific activities, you may realize being an astronaut is NOT for you. And thatâs great! Maybe you really want to go into astrophysics, or mechanical engineering, or write movies about space travel.
This experience and exposure helps you create your essays and helps you figure out if you really want to do what you think you want to do. More than that, it makes you stand out. You will present yourself in an authentic, genuine way â and you will be memorable.
You donât need us to tell you to have a great GPA, high standardized test scores, and rigorous courses. You know all that! But getting into school is NOT a math equation: having straight Aâs and a 1600 SAT score doesnât guarantee admission. It takes a focus on what makes you special, exploring and demonstrating your interests. Being thoughtful and strategic in how you spend your time and energy gets you much closer to getting in.
Concierge level is all about amplifying the things that youâre already doing to deepen, broaden, or âunique-ifyâ your activities. We help you build your brand, and that brand is how admissions officers will remember you.
Stop ticking boxes! We help you create your own box.
How do we do this?
By working with you one on one to help you map out your personalized action plan.
- One-on-one Strategy Sessions
- Personalized Action Plan
- Hands-On Support
- Individual Essay Development and Editing
- Searchable College Database and Planning Portal
- College Admissions Insights
- Passion projects: Helping start or grow a club, foundation, business, or blog
- Identifying summer programs and/or relevant internships
- Course selection (we examine what each student needs based on their intended major and interests; the differences between AP, IB, and other programs; and what it all means in the context of your studentâs school and applications)
- Advising about standardized testing (discussing timing; how best to prep; how to select between the ACT or SAT; the differences between test-blind and test-optional and whether those are good choices)
- Suggesting academic and/or research opportunities
Concierge level begins slowly and builds as students advance through high school. For students joining us in 11th grade, it includes everything provided in the earlier grades, just amped up for the high school junior. Joining us in the second half of 11th grade? We'll catch you up! (11th grade is definitely NOT too late.)
No matter when you join, we help create a customized action plan centered around your specific interests and goals. We help students intentionally select the coursework, activities, and opportunities that they enjoy AND that are most impactful on their college application.
Working with Jodi has made my college application process incredibly smooth. I started meeting with her at the end of ninth grade, doing monthly check-ins and setting goals for my high school career. Having a vision of everything I needed to do made it extremely easy to create an incredible application while doing what I loved. Jodi used the things I was already interested in to our advantage. She helped me find projects and volunteer work that were both good for college applications and enjoyable so I wouldnât burn out.
As I got older, Jodi helped me find colleges that suited my interests and programs that fascinated me. She helped me discover my top college pick! She encouraged me to visit, and I fell in love, despite being hesitant at first.
When it was time to apply, Jodi was right there with her excellent team helping me get a headstart before senior year. Her essay reviewers are amazing, providing quality feedback and helping me find the exact words I was looking for. Not only this, but her activities list editor helped me condense four years of activities into 150 words without taking away from the amount of work I did!
Jodi and her team have been an incredible resource that has enabled me to be nearly done with all my applications by mid-September. I have received the best advice and cultivated a list of colleges that will make it hard to choose come April, thanks to them. I am forever grateful for their time and effort, and I highly recommend them.
~ Alexandra M., PA. Class of 2025
We hired College Smart Start for my senior. My daughter saw the stress and uncertainty many of her friends experienced last year, and she felt paralyzed. Jodi and Sarah helped her break tasks into manageable chunks, and sheâs pleasantly surprised by how everything is organically falling into place. Itâs made for a peaceful household, because Iâm not nagging her or critiquing her essays.
~ Jennifer M., PA
Concierge 2025
Jodi Furman is the best! She has been working and been getting to know both my seniors for some time now! We could NOT do anything regarding this process without her and Sarah. All we say is "thank goodness for Jodi!" In addition to her incredible expertise ("Oh, I do have those numbers as a matter of factâŚ" đ) and extensive knowledge, she has taken such an interest in our children and had really taken the time to get to know who they really are.
~ Meredith B., FL
Concierge x 2, 2025
College Smart Start is amazing!! I highly recommend them. Jodi has a wealth of knowledge and an amazing team of people working with her. I did the concierge service and it's worth every penny!!
~ Esther S., FL
Concierge 2025
Just me singing Jodi Furman's praises! You don't need to look elsewhere â she's perfect! But for reals, she's extremely knowledgeable, passionate and I refer her to friends with confidence. My Nole and I love her!
~ Andrea S., FL
Concierge 2023
My senior is using College Smart Start. Jodi is a wealth of information creating a *realistic* college list based on the student's needs, goals, and financial picture, and keeping the student on track so that the process isn't overwhelming.
Sarah assists with brainstorming and editing essays, developing an authentic narrative that is true to the student. She helped my daughter chunk the essays and short answer questions into manageable sections and create a reasonable completion timeline.
My daughter was anxious and wanted to stick her head in the sand because she witnessed the sheer chaos many of her friends experienced. Jodi kept her calm, LISTENED to her, and when necessary communicated with me so that *my* expectations were tempered. It wasn't solely about where to apply and when, it was also about not overburdening my kid or creating unnecessary tasks.
Jodi served as an intermediary between us when we needed it. I could see the long road ahead and the necessary planning from the early days of high school, but my daughter could only see her present experience and pressure. She didn't want to think too far ahead. Jodi struck a balance between forward planning and living in the present. Flash forward to [August before senior year], and my daughter has finished 3/4 of her college applications already. The list itself is a mix of likely, target, and reach schools with the majority being targets. We're full pay, so we consciously avoided the strictly meets needs, uber-reach schools, but Jodi has lots of experience with those schools as well. We actually met Jodi through my sister in-law, who hired Jodi to oversee my niece's college applications a couple of years ago. My niece is a rockstar student with big goals, and she's now at Georgetown.
~ Jen M., PA
Concierge 2025
I canât begin to thank you for all of your support. Your expertise, guidance, and patience â I can go on and on! I still canât believe my twins got accepted to so many incredible universities!!!!
~ Lisa R., NJ
Concierge 2024
Hi Jodi. Just wanted to reach out and say thank you for talking me off the ledge and all your patience and guidance with us!! I felt in a very good head space when we had our last meeting earlier this week. Looking forward to the next step and submitting :)
~ Julie F, AL
Concierge 2025
My daughter is ECSTATIC with how much simpler and manageable the writing and application process has been, thanks to Sarah. She's able to go about her senior year with so much less stress knowing that most of this work is behind her. She should be completely finished by the end of September barring some interviews and anything that crops up in Jan/Feb.
~ Jennifer M., FL
Concierge 2025
