For over a decade, Carrie has helped students and parents with the college search and application process. Carrie started her career working in high schools and has counseled over 1,000 students to find their best-fit colleges. She strives to cultivate each student's unique talents and passions, decrease anxiety, and help students and parents both feel at ease about the entire process. In addition to working as a high school counselor, Carrie spent two years in admissions for UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, reading more than 2,000 application files. Carrie is an expert in college admissions and her combined work in high schools and undergraduate admissions makes her an invaluable resource to families. Carrie understands the importance of effective college counseling and sees the college counselor role as one of the most crucial pieces of the student support puzzle.

‍

Carrie holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, an M.A. in Counseling from the University of San Francisco, and a College Counseling Certificate from UCLA. A Bay Area native, Carrie is originally from Menlo Park and is now based in Lafayette, California where she loves spending time with her husband and their two young sons. Aside from college counseling, Carrie loves rooting for the Giants, traveling, making homemade ice cream, keeping her vegetable garden alive, and enjoying California's sunshine.

‍

Testimonials

“It's hard to describe just how valuable Carrie was to our daughter's college application process. She was our go-to for information on specific schools, application processes, best fits for our daughter, financial aid questions, essay preparation, and just about everything in between. Her oversight of the process and help in meeting deadlines were invaluable. I truly don't think we could have managed such an undertaking without her. Probably above all, Carrie was an advocate for our daughter’s success while providing honest feedback and guidance throughout. She was always in our daughter's corner and I think she was just as excited as we were when we found out that she was accepted by UCLA!” - Parent of college counseling student

‍

“Carrie and ESM Prep were very well-recommended by a professional colleague.  While we spoke with a few other college advisors, our selection of Carrie and ESM was easy. Carrie's professionalism and responsiveness were exemplary. She was also intimately familiar with each of the schools that interested my daughter, even though all were relatively smaller schools. She guided my daughter through the application process, providing helpful pointers regarding the required essays, application approach, logistics, etc. In the end, results matter most - Carrie was a very valuable resource to my daughter, who gained admission to her most-favored university. We strongly recommend Carrie and ESM for other parents who have children entering the college application process.” - Parent of college counseling student

‍

“You organized everything I had to do so well, which is why you were so helpful during my transfer process; I literally couldn't have done it without you. You helped me set timelines for when I had to turn my essays in and set up meetings with the colleges I was transferring to figure out the requirements I needed to be able to move to that school. Especially with UF, you did amazing—they're so picky with my classes and what I needed to transfer. You found both of the classes, and now I am super happy attending a school with a great journalism program!” - Transfer counseling student