Courtesy Maria Nissi
By Susan E. Campbell
Maria Nissi is an independent college admissions consultant who has started a new business to help high school students find the best fit for their college careers. With 4,000 institutions to choose from and sticker prices that can mean decades of debt, more and more parents are finding guidance like Nissi’s to be invaluable.
“Some people think this is a service only for the rich,” said Nissi. “But it’s a lot less expensive than transferring because the student was not in the right place.”
Nissi is applying her experience in higher education in her new capacity. Her background is as an English teacher working in the SUNY system and later with a community college in Montana. Then Nissi ran a program offering college courses within 70 high schools and helping guidance counselors “point students in the right direction,” she said. “I fell in love with helping those students.”
Returning from Ithaca back to Queensbury a year ago, the time was right to set up her practice.
“I knew I had found a way to give back to the community,” she said.
Her admissions counseling methodology has three components: personal assessment, navigating the application process, and demystifying the financial process.
“Ideally, I like to get started during the summer of the student’s sophomore year,” said Nissi. “We begin with personal assessments and self–reflection to assess what sorts of majors and jobs the student will be suited for and the type of environment that he or she would thrive in.
“Then during the junior year, we have an understanding academically of how selective a school the student could apply to. We spend about an hour together every other week over those 18 months.”
Many parents might ask for a monthly email on their child’s progress while others may want a personal update after every session.
Nissi also helps students and parents through every step of the application process, even overseeing the student’s entrance essays to ensure they are presenting themselves in the best way possible.
“One challenging aspect of my job is getting students to open their eyes to options that may have come out of assessing and questioning,” Nissi said. “Their whole lives they may have pictured going to a certain place, but maybe a smaller place would be better.”
“It is getting harder to predict where students will be accepted,” she said. “Colleges are getting more applicants while still vying for the same number of students. One school that on paper seems easier to get into may not be easy at all.”
So Nissi does the research and the homework to present options and face fewer surprises.
The third aspect of her process is dealing with the finances of paying for college, which can be overwhelming.
“We look beyond the sticker price and see which colleges may, or may not, be more generous,” she said.
Parents can feel confident that their children have focused on their strengths, isolated a suitable career, and selected an environment where they can flourish both academically and socially, Nissi said.
“Parents who approach me know there is a challenge they need to get off their plate because they don’t have the time or the expertise,” said Nissi. “But I have a nurturing personality and I work well with teenagers, so parents feel comfortable entrusting their children to me.”
Nissi offers several packages, or levels of personalized service, and different pricing guidelines. She has done pro bono work for a variety of families and conducts free presentations in her community.
Nissi is a member of IECA, the Independent Educational Consultants Association, the country’s largest and most well-respected organization of educational consultants.
“Anyone looking to go into this growing field should look into IECA,” she said. “There are many legal and ethical considerations, and some try to break into admissions counseling without the appropriate background.”
For more information or to sign up for a free newsletter, visit www.marianissi.com.