Explore Our Services
Clarissa Thomas College Planning Services, LLC (CT College Planning) assists high school students and young adults through the important transitions in their lives, whether it is planning for college or entering the workforce. Our services are customized to meet your specific needs and to help guide you through each step of this journey.
College Planning Services
We know planning for college can be overwhelming. Let us guide you through this journey with these college planning steps.
Student Academic Profile Assessment
College List Development Services
Exploration of Various Majors and Programs
Application Completion Process
Application Essay Guidance
Institutional Merit Scholarships
Undergraduate & Graduate Advising
Career Services
Entering the workforce for the first time can be just as daunting as planning for college. We want to help you navigate this transition through our career services.
Transition from College to Workforce
Career Exploration & Identification
Resume Development Services
Interview Preparation Services
Overview
What We Do
CT College Planning assists high school students and young adults achieve their goals for the future as they plan for college and enter the workforce. We will help you discover your voice through introspection, gain independence in determining your ideal college or career environment and build a compelling narrative that demonstrates your unique gifts to admissions officers and employers.
We offer personalized services built to achieve your goals, from developing a college list customized for your ambitions to drafting a resume for your dream job and everything in between.
To achieve this goal, we offer a personalized, concierge-like service to guide families or adult students through the entire application process, from developing a personalized college list to application completion and everything in between.
Who we serve
College Planning Services
Our College Planning Program offers a comprehensive college planning strategy to high school juniors and seniors. These programs are designed to guide you through the entire college planning process and are personalized to each student and family.
We also welcome high school sophomores to start ahead of the structured program through our hourly consultations. These sessions will help students and parents understand how to best prepare for the comprehensive College Planning Program and further develop their academic resume.
Career Services
Our Career Exploration Program offers individual career planning services to college seniors and new graduates on an hourly basis. We are also available to assist any individual who wishes to explore workforce re-entry and career shifts or those who simply need career advice.
Whether you are transitioning into the workforce for the first time or just need resume and interview preparation support, we can help you plan for the future.
Service offerings
College Planning Services
We offer a comprehensive College Planning Program package and hourly consultations for high school students, including:
- Student Academic Profile Assessment
- College List Development Services
- Exploration of Various Majors
- Application Completion Process
- Application Essay Guidance
- Institutional Merit Scholarships
- Academic Undergraduate & Graduate Advising
Students and families may supplement hourly consultations for additional support not traditionally included in the program package. Hourly consultations are also available to high school sophomores or students and families for whom our traditional College Planning Program is not an exact fit.
Career Services
We offer à la carte career planning services for college seniors and new graduates, as well as experienced professionals on an hourly basis. Services include:
- Transition from College to Workforce
- Career Exploration & Identification
- Resume Development Services
- Interview Preparation Services
Steps in the College Planning Process
We work with students and families at all stages in the college planning process. No matter where you are in the journey, we will partner with you to determine which services are best suited to meet your needs.
1. Initial Assessment and Consultation
Students will begin by taking the College and Career Impact Report Assessment. Once completed, students and at least one guardian will have a one-hour meeting with a licensed DISC Certified Behavioral Trainer to discuss the assessment results.
Along with the assessment results, we will review your academic resume (grades, test scores and extracurricular activities) and discuss your dreams and goals. We will also discuss how your educational interests, prior academic performance, accomplishments, skills, financial and geographic considerations impact the search process.
Together, we will identify your educational priorities and objectives and agree upon a comprehensive plan for your college search.
2. College List Development
Once you have confirmed your interest in moving forward with the College Planning Program, we will prepare an initial list of suggested colleges most appropriate for your specific interests and needs.
Families should expect this list to evolve over time as students gain additional information about each school and more clearly define what is most important to them. To aid in this process, students will be responsible for conducting additional research in order to provide feedback regarding their likes and dislikes for each college.
3. Follow-up consultation
We will schedule a one-hour follow-up consultation with students in order to present the initial college list, discuss how to conduct additional research and what information to consider while researching. Example considerations include: academic program offerings, extracurricular activity offerings, location, campus environment, demographics, scholarship or other financial factors.
During this consultation, we will also provide advice on how to approach the application process, help students identify their most distinctive interests and accomplishments and discuss how best to emphasize these items in an application or essay.
4. Application and Essay Review
College application and essay deadlines vary by school, but this process typically begins at the start of a student’s senior year. We will provide a comprehensive review of one completed application and essay of the student’s choice.
Our review will consider both the structure and actual content of information presented. We will provide feedback to help students understand how best to demonstrate their unique talents and accomplishments by submitting a compelling application and essay.
About Clarissa Thomas
Founder and Owner
Clarissa Thomas is a Student Support Specialist with over 10 years of experience as a classroom teacher, academic advisor and admissions professional. Her passion for mentoring students and young adults stems from childhood influences, her academic and professional training, and as a mother of a high school senior transitioning to college.
Clarissa truly enjoys witnessing the self-discovery and growth of her clients during the college planning and career preparation processes. Her father taught her to instill the importance of a strong educational foundation in her own son (and others like him).
Clarissa is passionate about bringing all that she has learned to help families, students and young adults.
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Grateful is not a strong enough word to convey how much I appreciate the time and effort Clarissa has put into helping me realize my professional goals. She encouraged me to believe in my talents and taught me to market my strengths. The rewards of her contributions have increased my confidence and my bank account!
Clarissa’s guidance has been invaluable in helping me navigate my children’s educational path from toddler to teen. She taught my family how to partner with educational institutions to get the outcomes that work best for the student.
Testimonials
When I first realized that I wanted to pursue my maste’rs degree in international relations, I was extremely lost and didn’t have any sense of direction. During my admission process, Clarissa serving as the student affairs officer played as a perfect guide to navigate me through it all. Clarissa even assisted me with the financial bumps in the road as well as welcoming me to the new environment. If it wasn’t for her, I would not be able to call myself successful as I felt a few months prior. Clarissa has undoubtedly been a catalyst in my education and personal growth; the utilization of her services can and will be able to help students just as myself.”
Clarissa’s friendship and mentorship have been invaluable to me. She is someone I can go to anytime I need to make a difficult decision or need the advice of a friend. She is kind and always willing to listen while at the same time sharing her own experiences and wisdom. She’s motivated and pushed me to become a much better version of myself, and I will be forever grateful to her.
I am truly blessed to have met and gone to school with Clarissa. In a Master’s level course on Advising, Clarissa displayed her unique passion and drive for helping others achieve their dreams. Clarissa is a marvelous woman and a person who I would trust advising/mentoring my own children. You simply cannot get better advice and guidance on how to achieve your goals than from Clarissa. If you can dream it, Clarissa can walk you through how to get it.