College Connectors

We highly recommend Julie to any family navigating the college search process. She has a unique ability to connect with teens, helping them uncover and articulate their interests, strengths, and goals—sometimes better than they can themselves! It often felt like she could read our student’s mind and put their thoughts into words. Julie's focus was always on finding the right college fit, and her extensive knowledge of colleges, campus cultures, and merit scholarship opportunities helped our student identify schools that were an excellent match. Julie kept our student organized and on track with a clear plan and reasonable deadlines, making a stressful process feel much more manageable. Even though everything was virtual, she was always responsive, supportive, and available when needed. Thanks to Julie's guidance, our student was accepted to many colleges across a range of selectivity levels, and most importantly, they were excited about every option.

We worked with Julie Ekkers on our daughter's college search and application process and it was a great experience. She helped our daughter explore new schools, build a robust list, and provided insight and wise counsel throughout the process. From list building, to understanding how to approach the application process to making a decision, Julie brought calm, compassion, and wisdom to the process. We look forward to working with Julie again for our younger daughter.

Chuck Erickson was very helpful during our stressful college planning path. His expertise and knowledge of college admissions processes helped us in making informed decisions about best fits between our son and his school choices. We thought Chuck went out of his way to support our family during this process, as well as being very responsive. Our family highly recommends Chuck for those needing guidance during their college search and applications.

Our daughter worked with Julie, and our family had a wonderful experience with her. Julie was encouraging but realistic, guiding our daughter to apply to a good mix of safety, target, and stretch schools that aligned with her interests and priorities. She was accepted at quite a few places, and her ultimate decision was made easy by the work we had put in along the way. Julie did a great job keeping us on track throughout the process, spreading out the work and helping us avoid the extreme stress so many students experience when they procrastinate important tasks. Thanks Julie for making a long, involved process go so smoothly and successfully!

Julie Ekkers was such a pleasure to work with during our daughter's college search and application process. She's an absolute professional in all respects, from helping identify colleges that would be a good fit for our daughter to providing input on accomplishments, activities, and attributes that should be highlighted in the applications. We were grateful for Julie's measured and calm demeanor throughout the application season, and on more than one occasion, she provided insight and perspective that helped our family make some sense of what often seemed nonsensical. In particular, the warm support she gave our daughter was invaluable, and I know that our daughter will miss working with Julie as she became a trusted advisor. We highly recommend Julie and her services and have already reserved a spot with her for our freshman!

Julie is a terrific ally for a student applying for college. She has successfully worked with two of our children (and will work with our third next year). She has a real talent for getting to know the kids, helping them create a list of options and then work through the application process. She is particularly talented at helping the kids meet deadlines, draft essays and push them to present the best possible application. She manages expectations and really helps guide and support the children through the entire process. We were thrilled to have the process work smoothly and for our kids to have great options to decide on after the process was complete. Both our kids found a great fit for them and Julie made the process as easy as possible. We are lucky to have had the opportunity to work with her.

Julie made my college application process so much less stressful. She was super helpful in all aspects of the college application process and was very calm, collected, and grounded in her approach. Aside from helping with the technical aspects of a college application (like essay writing, extracurricular stuff, etc.), she is a very warm person and always made me feel welcomed/genuinely cared for throughout our time together.

We were referred to Julie by a friend for our older daughter's college search and our experience exceeded our expectations. The plan for her college search was well laid out and we were always kept informed on what was happening; either through emails or family meetings. This is our first time through the college process and Julie was considerate of our daughter's needs and strengths, helped set realistic goals for all of us, and was a wonderful resource for all our questions. Julie reduced the stress around the college search for everyone in our family and helped us have informed conversations about our choices. We can't recommend Julie, and College Connectors, enough - we have already referred other friends and will use them again for our younger daughter.

I went into it the process thinking Julie could help us help our daughter find a college. We leave the process knowing: -Our daughter didn't need our help so much as our support. -Exactly what our daughter is looking for in a college. With this knowledge, we were able to understand more clearly why a particular college might not be a good fit or why it could be wonderful for her. Bottom line-->if it doesn't check all the boxes, it's not the right spot, regardless of what we might think, where her friends are going, what the cost is, etc. She had a clear idea of what she wanted and, therefore, so did we. -What the balance of her high school career should include class-wise. -How to research schools and how to narrow down the abundance of information. -When to arrange in person college visits and how to prioritize the list. -When to do what and where to do it throughout the application process. -Our daughter had someone with knowledge about how to write a college essay. -How to effectively show extracurricular activities, skills, job experience, and life experiences in a standard application. -For me personally, it reduced conflict between my daughter and I. We're very alike and can dig our heels in when we're differing in our opinions, even if we have a mutual goal. I was able to defer to Julie's because I trusted her advice and my daughter trusted her guidance. In addition, my daughter did each task thoroughly and on time, without me asking her to do it, because she respected Julie. Now, almost on the other side of this process, we are confident our daughter is going to a school that will be a good fit for her. Thanks you so much, Julie. Go Tigers!

Julie Ekkers worked with both of my sons in their college application process. I know for a fact that their wonderful results could not have happened without her guidance. She helped them select the right high school classes to meet college expectations for their intended majors, helped them determine the best type of college for their success, set deadlines on application work and provided encouragement. She also kept me informed and where appropriate involved. My sons and I appreciate and recommend her very much!