Thanks to an amazing daughter and Ferah Aziz of launchphase2, I am the proud mom of a UPenn student who will be joining the class of 2021.  My daughter attended a high school with a weak college advising department.  We started working with Ferah when my daughter was a rising 10th grader because we felt at sea about how to navigate the very complicated waters of college admissions.  We got so much more from this decision than we were expecting.  Ferah helped my daughter focus on what her goals were, what college environments would be the best for her, and the way to make herself a standout to those colleges.  Ferah managed to keep her grounded in reality while also inspiring her to reach.   One of the amazing things Ferah did was help my daughter begin to build a resume that popped…whether it was advising her on growing the charity my daughter had started in her early teens, to suggesting internships and summer programs, to setting up informational meetings so my daughter could find out about schools or careers from people directly associated with them, Ferah always went the extra mile in a very creative and effective fashion. Most importantly, she listened to my daughter and tailored her advice specifically to her as an individual. My daughter got into several reach schools (though not  every single school she applied to), and a very broad array of schools that provided her with choices to make sure she could select a great fit.  We strongly urge anyone facing the daunting process of college admissions to make use of the helping hand that Ferah offers.  You will not regret it.  Oh, and start much earlier than you think!

My coach was by my side as I applied to eleven very different schools, and helped me through each application, multiple essays (including those for scholarships) and my personal statement….Thank you for all of your brainstorming and proof reading! In the end, I was accepted to ten of the eleven schools, the exception being a reach school. The acceptances came with more good news, as I also received thousands of dollars from multiple merit scholarships. The hard part was choosing which school to attend, because I liked After I chose to enroll in my dream school back East (with $26K in annual scholarships), my coach helped me make the decision to defer my admissions to take a gap year to volunteer in I am very happy that I had someone experienced and knowledgeable to help me through this tricky time. My coach helped me make many decisions, and helped me even more when I made the wrong choices on my own. I am very grateful to launchphase2!

Ferah provided timely guidance, help and enlightenment to our daughter through the college application process. It certainly has been a great learning experience with some great results. We will be ever grateful to Ferah, as this could have been a very difficult journey; the gentle reminders and guidance were a blessing.