An independent educational consultant guides a family through the entire college planning process, from choosing majors and exploring future career paths to building a school list, essays, applications, and financial fit. I work with a small number of families each year, no more than 12 per graduating class in the Comprehensive Package, so every student gets real, individualized attention. The goal isn't just an acceptance letter. It's helping your student head into that next chapter with confidence about where they're going.
The CEP credential comes from the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners and is the highest professional certification available to independent educational consultants in the United States. Earning it required visiting more than 100 college campuses in person, completing ongoing continuing education, and passing a peer review process. I'm one of about 18 CEPs in Texas and roughly 272 nationally. When you work with a CEP, you're working with someone who has actually walked those campuses, not someone who read about them online.
School counselors do important work, but they're typically responsible for hundreds of students and have limited time for individual college planning. I keep my roster deliberately small so I can learn who your student actually is, what drives them, and what kind of college environment they'll thrive in. I also stay current on admission trends, testing policy, and financial aid strategy through weekly professional development.
Earlier is better, but it's never too late. I accept students as early as the start of sophomore year, which leaves time for course planning, extracurricular development, and building a thoughtful school list without deadline pressure. Juniors and seniors can absolutely still benefit. If you're not sure where your student stands, a free new family meeting is the right first step.
Yes. I work virtually with families across the country, though I'm based in the Austin area.
I offer the Comprehensive Package: full support from exploring majors and building a college list through submitted applications. It starts with a free new family meeting, so we can make sure it fits your student. Full details, including pricing, are on the Services page.
Yes. Essay support is available on an hourly basis through Chris Sherry, my writing specialist, and additional one-on-one time with me beyond what's included can be booked at $200 per hour, as space allows.
Some services are available by the hour. Inquire about your specific needs.
No, and this is a firm boundary, not a preference. My role is to coach: I help students find their real stories, give feedback on whether a draft answers the prompt, and flag where it needs more clarity or specificity. The words belong to the student.
Parents don't get editing access to student essays. That's intentional. Even well-meaning edits tend to shift the voice toward an adult tone that admissions readers recognize immediately. Protecting your student's authentic voice is part of my job.
Yes, to a degree. Comprehensive students can use meetings to review applications before submission, and I'll walk through the Common Application, supplemental materials, and deadline management with you. Ultimately, you and your student decide how to use the meetings available.
AI can help with research, organizing ideas, and checking grammar. It does not write any part of a student's application. I also use AI in my own practice to build better resources for students, and I'm specific about where it never goes, including student records and anything shared in confidence.
Read my full approach to AI
My Approach to Artificial Intelligence
Last revised: 10-15-26 ยท Kendall Guess, CEP
I use AI in my practice. My view is that it is here to stay. Students are going to use these tools in college and at work. Telling them to avoid AI completely does not prepare them for that. Letting AI do their thinking for them prepares them even less.
I think a lot about the resources needed to fuel AI. I have made the personal decision to limit my AI usage when it is for personal questions. As tempting as it may be to ask about style choices for my home or why my cat acts like it does, I don't. If I am going to use precious water, electricity, and energy, then I want it to go to my work with students and families.
When I use AI, I make a decision: is this for my students and families, or is this just curiosity?
This document explains where I use AI, where I never will, and how I hope students and parents will use it during the college search.
The student's voice comes first
An admissions officer reading an essay wants to meet a 17-year-old. They do not want the most polished version of a teenager a computer can produce. My job is to protect what makes each student's writing sound like them.
That has always shaped how I work, long before AI came along:
- I never write essays for students. I ask questions, point out where a draft gets vague, and flag whether it answers the prompt.
- I cap essay revisions at two or three rounds. More than that sands the personality out of the writing.
- I discourage outside editors (peer reviewers, well-meaning family) because every extra voice in a draft dilutes the student's own.
- My writing specialist, Mrs. Sherry, helps students brainstorm and draft. She coaches; she does not write.
AI does not change any of this. If anything, it makes these rules more important.
How I use AI in my practice
I use AI to build better resources for my students, faster. Because I work with no more than 12 students per graduating class, the time AI saves on research and formatting goes straight back into meetings and feedback.
Here is where it shows up in my work:
- Major and career guides. When a student is exploring a field like biomedical engineering or supply chain management, I use AI to help gather what the major involves, which courses come first, and where graduates end up working. I review every guide and check the facts against university and labor data before a student sees it.
- School research. AI helps me pull together details on programs, admission requirements, and costs across a long list of colleges. It widens the search. It does not decide which schools belong on a student's list.
- Seminars and handouts. My parent seminars, workshop handouts, and checklists are drafted with AI support, then rewritten in my own words.
- Organizing the process. I use AI to help build the tracking tools behind the student portal, so students can see their list, tasks, and deadlines in one place.
- Drafting meeting notes. I use an AI notetaker when I meet with families. Those notes help me draft task lists and meeting recaps. The actual notes from the meeting are deleted within three days, and I keep the recap for my records. If a parent or student ever needs or wants me NOT to use the notetaker, I am happy to turn it off. If we are discussing anything of a sensitive nature, I turn it off.
In every one of these, AI is a tool and I am the counselor. I know the student, the full application, and the conversations we have had. AI does not.
Protecting student privacy
I use a paid business AI account with data protections, not a free public tool. Even so, some information families share with me will never go into it:
- Transcripts, test score reports, Social Security or ID numbers, and identifying details of students or families
- Family financial information or health information, personal disclosures, or anything shared with me in confidence
When I want to think through a student's situation with AI, I describe it in general terms without identifying details. Student files live in my secure Google Drive, and families control what they choose to share with me.
When I do share or compile past students' data (where they applied, where they were accepted), any data I use is anonymized.
A guide for students and families
AI is useful when it helps a student understand information, organize ideas, or practice a skill. It crosses the line when it produces something that is supposed to come from the student.
| How you might use AI | My take | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Explain Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision | Go for it | Understanding the rules is research, not writing. |
| Research what a college says it values | Go for it | Then bring what you find to our meeting so we can check it. |
| Explore what a major or career involves | Go for it | A great starting point. We will verify it together. |
| Practice for an interview and get feedback | Go for it | Practicing out loud builds a real skill. |
| Compare financial aid offers after decisions arrive | Go for it | Helpful for understanding your true cost. Bring the results to our aid conversation. |
| Translate college communications for a family member | Go for it | Every family deserves to understand the process. |
| Check your own writing for spelling and grammar | Go for it | You wrote it. AI is just proofreading. |
| Brainstorm essay topics | Ask me first | Brainstorming should start with your own stories. AI ideas tend to sound like everyone else's. I start every student with a brainstorming questionnaire for this. |
| Suggest colleges to research | Ask me first | It can widen the search, but fit takes more than a formula. |
| Write Common Application activity or honors descriptions | Ask me first | I want you to draft your resume or activity list by yourself. Then, after we have discussed them all, if we need to get help condensing an activity down to the Common App entry, that's okay. |
| Write any draft of the personal statement | Not okay | This is the one place an admissions officer hears you directly. |
| Write supplemental essays like "Why this college?" | Not okay | These need your own reasons and details. |
| Write a brag sheet for a teacher or counselor recommendation | Not okay | Your recommenders want to hear from you. Go back to my brainstorming questionnaire. Use your resume. These two things will generally help you complete a brag sheet. |
| Write emails to admissions officers or to me | Not okay | An email does not need to be perfect. It needs to sound like you. |
Questions I am still working through
AI is changing so fast and there are so many models being built that it is hard to keep up with it all. I am constantly thinking about data privacy. I am also thinking about:
College lists. AI can surface schools a family might never have considered, and I use it that way myself. But student fit is more than GPA, test scores, and acceptance rates. Campus culture, cost, the academic environment, and how a student feels on a visit all matter. I bring what I have learned from campus visits, admissions officers, and past students about how each college actually supports students.
AI feedback on essays. There may be good ways for a student to use AI as a reader, especially for spotting unclear sentences. I am watching this closely, because the same tool that catches a typo can also nudge a 17-year-old toward sounding 40. AI also loves its catchphrases. Good call. Honestly. Genuinely. If X then Y statements. These are clear indicators of AI writing (as of 10/2026).
How colleges respond. Colleges are still writing their own AI policies, and some have very specific rules. I keep up with those changes and will tell you when something affects your student's applications.
What I ask of students and families
I do not expect students to avoid AI. What I ask for is honesty.
- Tell me when you have used AI on something you share with me, whether it was brainstorming, research, or proofreading.
- Bring AI research to our meetings so we can check it together. AI tools still get admissions facts wrong, especially deadlines and requirements.
- Follow any AI rules set by a college, scholarship program, or your high school. Those rules come first.
- When you are not sure whether a use is okay, ask me. That is exactly the conversation I want to have.
The tools will keep changing, and some of my practices will change with them. The principle will not: I want students to use powerful tools wisely, without handing over their judgment, curiosity, or voice.
No, and any consultant who tells you otherwise isn't being straight with you. Admission decisions belong to universities, not consultants. What I can do is help your student put together the strongest, most authentic application possible, and help your family build a list with a realistic range of options.
No, packages are non-refundable. If you're unsure whether a package is the right fit, that's exactly what the free new family meeting is for.
For the Comprehensive Package, I ask for a $2,000 deposit at enrollment, with the final payment due by May of your student's junior year. After that point, payment is upfront. Payment plans and questions about fees can be discussed directly with me.
I'm based in Leander, Texas, in the Austin area. All meetings are held virtually over Zoom, with students logging in from a laptop or desktop since sessions involve screen sharing and working directly in documents together.
Three things: engagement, honesty, and follow-through. I need complete academic records, students who show up ready to work and follow through on what we agree to between meetings, and parents who support the process without taking over their student's essays. Families open to adjusting expectations based on realistic admission data consistently get the best outcomes.
Still have questions?
Start with a free new family meeting on the contact page.
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