Meet Michelle

Before launching Cole College Consulting, I spent 20 years as a high school counselor in southern California and Colorado. During that time, I often counseled 300 high school students a year and while I enjoyed my job, I knew there was no way I could meet each student’s needs. I discovered what I liked best about counseling was helping students figure out where they wanted to attend college. As an independent consultant, I work individually with a small number of students per year. This allows me to really get to know students, a process I truly enjoy, which leads to greater success at finding a fantastic college match.

I’ve had the privilege to work at large, competitive high schools as well as opportunities to focus on neurodiverse students and their college experience.  As more students are taking a non-traditional path in their education, I’ve also supported many homeschool students in the application process over the past several years.    

In our work together, you will find out that I research obsessively, am very detail oriented, and might get a little too excited talking about all things college related. I love watching students learn more about themselves, discern what is important to them, and discover colleges that weren’t even on their radar! It is astounding how fast the college admissions landscape is changing and I keep up to date through several professional organizations including IECA, CCC, and ASCA.  Another way I stay current is through college visits.  In my career, I have visited over 150 college campuses.  Meeting with college admissions officers and getting to know students on campus adds the intangible feel of a campus that you just can’t find anywhere else. I earned my undergraduate degree in psychology from a large, public university and completed a masters in counseling from a small, private university giving me perspective from two very different environments.

When I’m not working with students you’ll find me with my family, hiking, reading, or traveling.  My husband works as an optical engineer and is always figuring out a better way to design something.  My oldest son can answer any car question you might have and is happiest on what I consider really scary mountain bike trails.  My middle child loves math and any sport/game, especially if strategy is involved.  My daughter is always observant, and is an incredible artist.  And just to add to the chaos, we have an Australian Labradoodle named Dexter who is always underfoot!