How should my family prepare for the first meeting?

Don’t overthink it. The consultation isn’t an audition, and there’s no “right” way to show up. That said, a small amount of preparation can make the conversation more productive.

If you have a résumé, activities list, or transcript handy — even in rough form — bring it. It gives us something concrete to react to instead of working purely from memory. If you have a preliminary school list, share that too. And if there are specific concerns — a late start, a gap in the transcript, a disagreement between parent and student — name them upfront. We’d rather spend the time on what actually matters to you than walk through a generic overview.

One thing that genuinely helps is involving the student, even briefly. Parents often initiate the process, and that’s completely normal. But hearing directly from the student — even for five minutes — gives us signal no secondhand summary can replicate. How they talk about their interests, whether they seem engaged or disengaged, how they frame their own goals — all of that shapes our thinking about fit and what kind of support would actually work.

If none of that is ready, come anyway. Plenty of productive consultations begin with nothing more than “we’re not sure where to start.” That’s a valid starting point — and one we know how to work with.