Front Page

How to Prep Your Child for College Like a Professional, for college bound families who want top results
Friday, 20 April 2018, at 7:00 PM
Master Class: What it takes to get Accepted at Top Tier Colleges, for families with 8th, 9th, & 10th grade students
Friday, 20 April 2018, at 9:00 PM
It’s Not Too Soon
It’s Not Too Soon Planning for college is a very important step for every individual. A lot of families start saving up and planning for their children’s’ future early on and if you are already in high school, it is time for you to start considering your choices,...
read moreSome Good Advice for your Grown Up Kid
Some Good Advice for your Grown Up Kid For some parents, the idea of a kid finally going off to college can mean they will finally get the chance to enjoy themselves once again. For others, it can be a stressful and sad experience. Either way, all parents want what’s...
read moreCollege Consultants & HS Counselors – Competitors or Collaborators?
Create a College Prep Power Team:Use the services of both a College Consultant AND your HS counselor How the work of a college consultant complements that of the high school counselor Freshman Year Some school counselors give a HS success 101 presentation to teach...
read moreWhy Should I Do Work Study While In College?
Today, economic times are becoming tougher and parents are finding it difficult to care for their families. As a result children are unable to attend school or those who attend have difficulties in paying school fees and meeting their other expenses. In this situation...
read moreThe average length of time to earn a bachelors degree is SIX years!!
Working during HS to set a goal is KEY to graduating in FOUR years I was recently asked by a very experienced, elite tutor if making a goal really makes a difference. Here’s what I told him – and his colleagues… Over the years, I have found it...
read moreCatholic Colleges & Universities
Catholicism itself aims for a deep understanding of all creation in order to bring people closer to Jesus Christ. Hence, intellectual pursuit has been a hallmark of the Church’s existence over the past two millennia. Consequently, many scholars, Catholic as well as...
read moreAn Easier Way
There are a number of situations in life where you will be able to choose between a less crowded path that might mean more effort and a path more common that might mean many have gone through it before you. Then, there will be certain occasions when, while taking to...
read moreNew Financial Aid Rules & SAT date Add STRESS to the Application Season
New Financial Aid Rules & SAT date are Adding Stress to the already Stressful Application Season The Class of 2017 was the first to experience the new FAFSA schedule, with the federal financial aid application being available for the first time on October...
read moreNEW Common App Prompts for 2017/18!
The Common Application just released the main essay prompts for the 2017/2018 applications. There are now SEVEN of them! I’ve done a thorough review of them and feel strongly that applicants should cross off 3 of these prompts right away… There were no...
read moreHow to Prep and Pay for College
Preparing a child for college is no easy task, especially if this is the first time you are sending a child to school. You may feel overwhelmed at filling out college applications or trying to find a way to pay for college. Thankfully, there are ways to find financial...
read moreSchedule A Meeting with Katherine
During your one hour College Readiness Consultation, Katherine will speak with your college bound student about his or her plans and preparations so far. Then she will discuss your financial preparations and the options. There will be time for your questions as well as time to explore our various services. This is a professional consultation. There is a $250 consultation fee which can be paid by check or credit card. Sign up Today!
What People Are Saying
“I felt compelled to write you and let you know how invaluable your assistance has been. It’s just impossible to put a price tag on what you have done for our son, Christopher, a high school senior getting ready to enter college in 2015. You were able to do more for Christopher in three months that I was ever able to do in years of working with his three older siblings, researching the best colleges for just the right fit. There is absolutely no way for even the most involved parent to do anywhere near what you have done in narrowing down the colleges which best fit my son after considering all the factors: academics, athletics, financial aid, majors of interest, post-graduate and career ambitions. I cannot say enough about the value which you bring to this extremely daunting, complicated process of college/scholarship searching. Your efforts have certainly removed a huge load from our shoulders. You are helpful, responsive, and always encouraging throughout the entire process. In short, you are awesome!”
Michael Chavarria“If you’re ready to launch your teen successfully for the lowest costs, then listen to Katherine O’Brien. She tells it like it is and equips you for success!”
James Malinchak“Katherine O’Brien’s assistance has been invaluable – that is…impossible to put a price tag – as she has opened up a world of possibilities for my son, Christopher, a high school senior looking to enter college in 2015. Ms. O’Brien was able to do more for Christopher in three months than I was ever able to do in years working with his three older siblings researching the best colleges for just the right fit. There is absolutely no way for even the most involved parent to do anywhere near what Ms. O’Brien has done in narrowing down the colleges which best fit my son after considering all factors: academics, athletics, financial aid, majors of interest, post-graduate ambitions, career ambitions. I cannot say enough about the value which Ms. Katherine O’Brien brings to this extremely complicated process and pressure-filled task of college (and scholarship) searching. She has removed a huge load from my shoulders. She is worth her weight in gold!”
Mike Chavarria“As our family prepared to send our first child to college, Katherine helped us to unravel the mysteries of college entry. Like any valued professional services provider, she defines duties and timelines for both herself and her client from the outset, making sure that the student, her parents, and Katherine all have a time-sensitive list of action items toward meeting a successful outcome. Our child ended up at a great school and field of study that she feels are made for her. If your family needs a college advisor who is well-informed and who calls it as she sees it, then I recommend you hire Katherine O’Brien.”
Tom Hanson“This past school year my senior son and I have worked closely with Katherine O’Brien of Celtic College Consultants. Katherine has been a tremendous help, offering aid in evaluating career choices, researching universities which previously had not been on our radar, and putting me—a home school mother—at ease in my new role as high school guidance counselor. Katherine’s extensive experience as a college admissions consultant gave our family intimate knowledge of what schools are looking for. Especially as a home schooling family, we were not aware of how transcripts and other supporting documents should be prepared. Katherine was a great help in providing templates and advising us on document preparation. Most importantly, her assistance with my son was priceless. She provided him with timelines for deadlines and weekly “to dos” to meet those deadlines. Additionally, she was a tremendous aid in proof reading essays and offering suggestions to make those essays “pop” off the page. With Katherine’s partnership, my son was accepted at all seven of the schools to which he applied. She made a daunting year-long task into a manageable, step-by-step process, which culminated in a happy ending. For this we are especially grateful.”
Monica Trainor“We use Katherine as a consultant for several reasons. The first is I don’t have the time to manage all the details of college admissions – what tests to take, when to take them; what programs to look at that match my son’s interests; how to proceed with financial aid applications. She knows all the deadlines and timetables and will research which colleges are worth looking at. She will also research programs at schools we want her to look at. She meets with my son routinely to review his admissions process, which motivates him to get the admissions work done….In my world as a physician, I have learned to leave the specialty work to those who know it best and let them do their jobs. …I am pleased Katherine takes the initiative and is very proactive with my son. She is a go getter.”
Dr. Neil Levine, MD“TWhen my daughter was a junior and my son was in community college, I met with Katherine to talk through her services and process. I was very lucky that, at the time, my kids both knew what fields they wanted to pursue, so that part of the process was already taken care of. I figured “I’m a professional project manager. I can do this myself.”
For almost a year now, I have had a second job. That second job has been researching school options, doing campus tours, narrowing the list to 3 for my son (a transfer student) and 5 for my daughter, overseeing the application process (state schools, common app, common app supplements, custom apps – all of them!), financial aid applications, scholarship research and applications, and more. It has entailed developing special spreadsheets to track it all, incessant hounding of two kids at the same time to keep them on track with the deadlines, ridiculous numbers of hours on nights and weekends to gather together information, review essays, upload, download and upload some more. It has been exhausting. The invasion of Normandy comes to mind.
My kids are both accepted into colleges now, with good financial aid packages. However, the process of getting here while managing my job responsibilities, and general daily life has been exhausting. One of my son’s top schools doesn’t make its transfer decisions until the end of June, so we’re still not done!
I will admit at this point that I was penny-wise and pound foolish in not engaging Katherine to do more of this for our family. Her services are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. If you decide to take on the college research and admissions process yourself, you need to be unfailingly organized, ready to nag your kids regularly, and ready to spend hours and hours…and hours of your free time over months. It’s no fun to do this yourself, so if you can find the money, save yourself the grief. If I knew then what I know now, I would have happily signed on the dotted line.”
Valerie Gieseke