College Initiative 835 Runner Oak Street, Celebration, FL 34747

"Every interaction with College Initiative has helped propel my kid's and my readiness to launch him into college and into life"

"Jill was a huge help to our senior (and us)! They brainstormed essay topics and she helped him narrow it down. Then she had him build out an outline and gave him some feedback, and then reviewed his essay. His dad and I had zero involvement and did not read it until the day it was submitted and we were so happy with how it turned out! We had heard about her on Paying for College 101 and then someone local gave me direct feedback on her. I’m so glad we found her!"

"Jill was an amazing resource for our family as we helped our oldest son apply to colleges this past year. We started working with her last summer as he refined the list of schools he wanted to apply to. She read his essays and provided feedback. She also met with him to help him understand what a college interview would be like. Jill responded to questions my wife and I had throughout the process, and was supportive when the process didn't go exactly as we thought it would due to the very unusual application cycle this year. Because of Jill's expertise, we had the support we needed to effectively help our son. He also enjoyed working with her and talking to her. Jill's fees are very reasonable and well worth the peace of mind that comes from working with her."

"When my son was in his junior year in high school, I was super busy running my own business, but I knew it was important to get the college ball rolling for him. I had already sent my first child off to college 5 years before, so I was aware of how time-consuming and complicated and difficult the process is. First we needed to figure out what he wanted to study. Then we needed to answer lots of other questions, such as, what schools matched his grades, testing scores, and potential? Did he want rural, city, big campus, small campus, private, public, close-by, far away, etc…. My son didn’t seem to have those answers, or at least he wasn’t sharing with us. Also, what could we afford? What about scholarship possibilities—how could that change our college list? Then there was the long application process to navigate, and each school has their own essay questions. A student must use his own voice and stand out from the crowd. It takes time to develop good essay responses, and if a student doesn’t plan ahead, he’ll find himself right up against the deadlines, but having to study for his chemistry and physics and calculus tests instead. Then there were the responses from the colleges to consider. What if our son’s first choice college turned him down? What happens if he’s on several waiting lists? How do we know what to do? This paragraph, by the way, is a very abbreviated description of all that needed to be done! Thinking about it all gave me a big headache and I was not willing to face it again without some help. So I called Jill Schwitzgebel of College Initiative, and it’s the best thing I did. Jill is very organized and very knowledgeable. She knows exactly what needs to be done and when. The first thing she did, after our initial call, was to send my son a questionnaire, and then they later went over his answers together over the phone. Jill was professional but still related well to a teenager like him. She helped him discover what things he wanted and didn’t want, which was super valuable (and difficult for us parents to figure out!) She also kept us on track at all times, setting goals and sending reminders. She talked to us about our financial situation and our son’s scholarship potential. She sent personalized college descriptions for us to read and encouraged us to visit some of the campuses, which we did. Together, we narrowed down a list of schools to apply to. She read my son’s essays and made appropriate suggestions without allowing any change to his voice. With Jill onboard, I knew I had a partner to lean on, who really cared about the outcome for us. As we waited for the college responses, I felt like she was waiting right along with us. Finally, our son was accepted to his first choice school and program. We know that Jill was instrumental to his success. And she is worth every penny."