About Hernandez College Consulting:
Brief Biography
| In the News | Testimonials
| For the Press
Endorsements from Michele’s past clients include:
Thousands of top candidates apply to college every year,
tens of thousands have great grades, lots of activities and
superior teacher recommendations, but literally only TWENTY
high school seniors have Michele Hernandez.
Here are three reasons you want your daughter or son to
be one of the 20:
1. Michele will be your "anxiety lightning rod,"
deflecting and absorbing most of the stress that comes with
applying to college. She'll nudge and cajole, coach and inspire,
mentor and cheerlead your student through it all, so you don't
have to. And your child is more apt to respond enthusiastically
to Michele's direction than to yours anyway, so you can also
maintain some semblance of sanity around the house. (Value
of sanity: priceless.)
2. Michele makes the whole process manageable. Whether your
child is shooting to get an application in for Early Decision
in November, or Regular in January, Michele starts your student
way earlier than that. As soon as school lets out after Junior
year, she breaks down the application into bite-sized parts,
so that literally by Labor Day of your student's Senior year,
the applications are done. While everyone else is going nuts
with last-minute mailings, your child can calmly concentrate
on school work and having a life. That alone is worth her
fee.
3. Michele will help your child, regardless of academic
standing or SAT scores, put forth the strongest possible application
for his or her level of ability. Make no mistake, Michele
doesn't claim to "get your child into college";
ultimately, that's your son or daughter's responsibility.
But Michele works one on one with every applicant, getting
each student to articulate those things that make him unique.
And she makes absolutely sure that those strengths ring loud
and clear in the application, even if that means pushing the
student to write and re-write the application until that uniqueness
is showcased (see point #1 above!). By doing so, Michele will
maximize your child's chances of getting into the school of
his choice, which is probably the best reason of all for hiring
her.
Michele started working with our daughter in her sophomore
year. Now, 2 1/2 years later, Michele was the first person
she called to celebrate her Early Decision admission into
an Ivy League school. We (daughter included!) would do it
again in a heartbeat.
-- Proud (and stress-free) parent of Ivy student,
class of 2010
When a friend suggested that we consider Michele to advise
our daughter with regard to her college application process,
we could not have known the value of Michele's inputs with
regard to all aspects of the process. From the moment she
began, Michele's energy and enthusiasm were endless. She was
there for our daughter and us when we were scared, jubilant,
or just nervous. Somehow, Michele figured out what each of
us needed to get through the admission process.
For us, Michele was focused on all aspects of our daughter's
upcoming college admission--course selection, advice on teacher
recommendations, summer and extracurricular activities, application
timing strategies, and of course, the application. Michele
did not try to fit our daughter into a pre-conceived mold.
She recognized a somewhat lopsided candidate (humanities vs.
math and science) and helped her present herself in the best
light. With Michele's guidance, the applications were done
the summer before her senior year of high school without family
input or turmoil. The process was an enjoyable one, an exploration
of what makes our daughter unique. When the application was
complete, she was very satisfied with her submission. With
Michele's help, the essays and activity list had portrayed
a truer picture of who she really was than our daughter would
ever have done on her own.
Working with Michele made the process as painless as it
could have been. She is professional, prompt and knowledgeable.
We can't imagine having done it any other way. In fact, we
have asked Michele to plan on working with our younger daughter
in a couple of years.
-- Mom of Williams student, class of 2010
Michele Hernandez is an invaluable guide who helped us through
the maze of the college admissions process, from helping
our child to decide which standardized tests to take and
when to preparation of the application itself. Michele is
a very smart and knowledgeable consultant who will give you
focused, frank, on target advice. Knowing that we had hired
the best [almost] eliminated our anxiety. Not only was it
a great relief for us, as parents, to be able to delegate
to Michele the role of professional nag but we also made
a new friend in the process. Our child liked Michele too
and respected her judgment. Michele helped our child thoroughly
prepare the college application so as to best emphasize strengths
and accomplishments and to present our child's candidacy
for admission in its best light. When we read our child's
application essays we could hear our child's voice. You can
call Michele any time to ask her any question. She has an
encyclopedic knowledge of colleges and the admissions process.
Michele would be the first to tell you that she does not
replace the high school college counselor but she will advise
you from a perspective that neither a counselor nor a current
admissions officer can offer. Hiring Michele was exactly
the right decision and we feel very lucky that we found her.
We will have Michele on our team again when our next child
applies to college.
-- Very Satisfied Parents of
an Excited Ivy Leaguer, class of 2010
Michele brings not only an in depth knowledge of the admissions
process, but also contributes a professional educator's understanding
of the different strengths and personalities of many American
colleges and universities. Her insights helped our daughter
narrow her focus and concentrate on college programs that
provided a great match for her academic aspirations. Michele
is the scholastic equivalent of a harbor pilot -- an expert
who provides helpful and valuable advice to navigate a safe
and successful course through waters that are new and may
contain hazards not visible to the novice eye.
In sum, Michele is the ultimate counselor: smart, caring,
friendly, and
able to effectively communicate her knowledge to students
and their family. An A++!!
-- Dad of Swarthmore student, class of 2010
Michele Hernandez has the "formula" for successful
college applications. Until the admissions process becomes
transparent, kids need help. Michele is a superstar AND my
daughter respected and responded to her direction. All we
can say is "Michele saved the day" and without her
my daughter would not have been accepted early to the top
university she will attend in the fall.
-- Mom of Ivy student, class of 2010
Michele worked tirelessly with our daughter, helping her
identify the colleges appropriate to her needs and developing
the communications to make her achievements easily understandable
by admissions personnel. As a result, our daughter achieved
her dream and is going to Stanford in the fall.
-- Parents of Stanford student, class of 2010
From writing the essays, advice on school and summer activities,
testing strategy, to putting together awesome college applications,
Michele was a tremendous asset. When we were waiting for the
early decision letters to arrive, we knew one thing for sure;
because we had Michele on our side, we had done all we could
to help our children with their college applications. And
when both of our children got in early to their first choice
schools, we knew something else; Quite simply, Michele is
the best in her field!
-- Dad of two college successes, class of 2007 &
2010
Working with Michele turned out to be a fabulous gift for
all of us. My kids thoroughly enjoyed working with her and
really related to her. She is refreshingly honest and completely
accessible. As parents, we had complete peace of mind that
they were getting the support they needed to make their applications
really stand out. We were not originally planning on seeking
outside help, but in hindsight, Michele's service proved invaluable
and we could not imagine having braved it alone.
-- Parents of Ivy twins, class of 2010
Wow! is what I really have to say about my son making it
into Dartmouth early decision. The more I think about it the
more amazing it is to me. I'm glad I didn't really pay attention
to the stats because I might have discouraged him from even
trying.
When the way leads to a top Ivy school, a place that started
out as a dream, it is hard to describe the feeling of gratitude
and thanks.
-- Mom of Dartmouth student, class of 2010
Not only did Michele offer invaluable knowledge and advice
on every aspect of the college process, but she also made
it far less painful than it could have been. Although I gained
early decision acceptance to my top choice college, Michele's
thorough and efficient plan would have made the process pain-free
whether or not I was accepted early. She helped me spend my
time and energy on the aspects of the applications that mattered
most, and showed me how to complete each task quickly, painlessly,
and effectively. Although the application process seemed daunting
at the outset, after several phone calls with Michele I felt
much better. Her insight and planning made me feel in control
of the process, and helped me lay out a plan early on which
helped me avoid the panic many of my peers experienced. Aside
from helping me strengthen my application and boost my odds
for acceptance, Michele alleviated much of the pain that is
normally associated with the college application process.
-- Top Ivy student, class of 2010
Michele Hernandez provided invaluable advice in the application
process, but her biggest contribution was in guiding and encouraging
my son to pursue in greater depth his academic interests.
Like the best teachers, she subtly but insistently pushed
him beyond the basic classroom requirements. She helped him
uncover his true interests and to focus on them to the exclusion
of other activities.
-- Dad of Ivy student, class of 2010
Michele was extremely helpful to me especially during the
application and essay process. She understands what characteristics
or activities should be highlighted and what cliches to avoid,
which is very valuable when, as a student, you don't have
enough experiencing applying to colleges to make those judgments.
-- Princeton student, class of 2010.
When I started the college search process, I lacked direction
and structure. I didn't know where I wanted to apply and I
definitely didn't have a plan for writing essays and compiling
an activities resume. As far as deciding where to apply, Michele
gave me great ideas for schools to visit based on my interest--everywhere
I went on her recommendation turned out to be a school I could
see myself flourishing at. Then when it came time to prepare
the applications to my top choice schools, Michele had a timetable
set up for me to accomplish specific tasks; she helped me
sort out the good from the bad and talked with me directly
about my ideas for different essays. With her guidance, I
was able to prepare an application that highlighted my enthusiasm
for the schools I was most interested in.
-- Swarthmore student, class of 2010
When my mom told me she was considering hiring a person to
help me with my application, it frustrated me. Throughout
my high school career I had always been very independent and
did not think that the college process should be any different.
By hiring a person I felt that I would no longer be the person
in charge. Michele transcended my expectations. Rather than
taking control of the process, she told me how to show myself
in the best possible light. She helped me edit and brainstorm
my essays, organize my extracurriculars and make my personality
shine through my relatively mediocre SAT scores, securing
me a spot in the Dartmouth class of 2010!
-- Dartmouth student, class of 2010
Click here for testimonials
for Class of 2009
|
