"The biggest value to working with Keystone College Counseling was objectivity. As parents, our role changed from trying to enforce a process with our daughter to supporting and encouraging her engagement with Terri. We didn't have to nag or cajole: Terri's objective, expert perspective left our daughter in no doubt about the plan, her responsibilities, and her timeline for success. Terri helped our daughter own the process.Whether we like it or not, the higher education entrance process has changed dramatically since we went to college. With our eldest son, we started that process as naive first-time parents with no ability to advise him effectively. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to work with Keystone College Counseling with our daughter and ratified that gap in our knowledge. Terri's mixture of experience, organization, and objectivity meant our daughter had a viable, focused plan and a resource to hold her accountable. It just worked, and our daughter gained entrance to a University we originally believed was out of her reach." 

 Ruth and Steve B. (Barnard College student, 2019)

“We enlisted the help of Terri to assist our daughter in finding a good mix of colleges to which she should apply.  Terri has a tremendous amount of knowledge about various colleges and did a fantastic job of helping our daughter determine reach, fit and safety schools.  Terri offered very valuable advice and guided our daughter through the college admissions process - from start to finish.  We found her services to be invaluable.  Our daughter was accepted to nearly every college she applied to, including her reach school.  We would highly recommend Terri’s excellent service.”

Barbara and Eric (Clemson University student, 2019)

“Sending your child to college can be overwhelming and trying to decipher what is best for your child both academically and socially is difficult especially when your child is worried about the present.  That is why we looked toward Keystone College Counseling to help guide us.  Terri was very helpful in providing the tools to make better decisions.  She shared an interest survey tool that confirmed our son's interest in Engineering. She helped research universities that would fit our son's profile both academically and socially.   This allowed us to better understand the type of scores our son needed and the financial commitment involved.   From a parent's point of view, I was happy to not be the person reviewing essays and providing feedback.  Having an outside perspective not only provided a quality essay but allowed our family to have a pleasant experience through the entire process.  I would recommend Keystone College Counseling for its personal approach, expertise in the process and peace of mind that everything was done professionally, accurately, and on time.” 

Cindy E. (Ohio State University student, 2018)

 "Terri Allen provided much guidance and information to student and parent alike in the ever confusing college process.  Her investigative assistance and organized documentation kept us current and targeted to the task at hand.  Perhaps more importantly, Terri's direct relationship with our teen and the accountability that Terri required of her eliminated the need for parent tracking of progress and reduced family tension while improving the outcome.  Terri made a dreaded necessity bearable and successful."   

  Jack and Cynthia V. (University of Texas at Austin student, 2020)

I highly recommend Keystone College Counseling and Terri Allen. Terri met with me and my son at length to discuss my sons interests and hopes for college. She was available all along the road to his choosing a college.  Terri helped with locating colleges that would meet my sons needs and wants. She gave my son a goal to work on and was firm in all her counsel. Terri is very methodical and was an asset in guiding us through the college application process and proofread my son’s high school essays and scholarship essays-frequently conferring with him. Financially, Terri encouraged my son to study for and retake the SAT one last time to put him into the highest tier for academic scholarships which he did make! Had Terri not informed us of this number to reach, my son would not have retaken the test.

Thanks, Terri for your compassion and concern for my son finding the right college for him!

Cheryl S. (Franciscan University, 2018)

“Terri Allen was recommended to us as a college counselor by our family pediatrician and we are so grateful he did! From our very first meeting with Terri, she really seemed to have a knack for getting to know her students and suggesting colleges to them that would be a “good fit,” and in my daughter’s situation, the “perfect fit”! Terri’s recommendations for college visits consisted of a variety of colleges and universities my daughter probably wouldn’t have discovered on her own. She opened our eyes to many wonderful small to mid-sized schools with great academic reputations which allowed [our daughter] to get a feel for what schools best suited her and made her most comfortable. We also liked how Terri provided a realistic and honest approach when making her suggestions. She educated us on the importance of finding the “best fit” schools, which we believe is key to academic success and happiness. We started working with Terri between [our daughter’s] sophomore and junior year, which was a life saver because she was able to help [our daughter] plan her class selections for the last two years of high school. Her class recommendations certainly helped strengthen [our daughter’s] academic resume, which made her a more attractive applicant to the colleges she was interested in applying to as a science major. Terri also was a wonderful resource for the SAT and ACT preparation. She helped [our daughter] decide which test was the best fit for her and suggested a test prep course to help boost her scores. Additionally, Terri’s guidance with writing college essays was invaluable. She guided [our daughter] to edit and revise her essays making them as strong as possible, while being completed in a timely manner. Our daughter also found Terri to be a wonderful person to lean on for support and encouragement. Terri motivated her to keep doing her best even when times were challenging. [Our daughter] felt comfortable reaching out to her and she knew Terri always was rooting for her success. Another reason why we enjoyed working with Terri so much was because she was able to keep our daughter on track and well organized. This took much of the pressure off of us as parents and we found [our daughter] was eager to follow Terri’s lead. When it came time to write college essays, resumes, letters of recommendations, and apply to colleges, Terri’s knowledge and guidance was priceless! [Our daughter]always seemed ahead of the game and never overwhelmed. Terri made sure her applications were completed on the early side, which allowed her to get the most out of her senior year with a relatively low amount of stress. [Our daughter’s] college counseling process with Terri was the ultimate success story. She applied early decision to Elon University and was accepted to the school she loved. She is now wrapping up her 1st year at Elon and is confident and happier than ever, while flourishing academically as a biology major with the aspirations of attending medical school. We are so grateful Terri suggested Elon during our first meeting together because it truly was the perfect match! Terri was so helpful and supportive to [our daughter] throughout the entire college counseling process, that when it came time for our son to start his college search, we knew exactly where to turn. We are confident with Terri’s guidance, he too will be well prepared for the college search and application process, and we know he will be applying to colleges that “best fit” him in the fall of 2021.”

Alycia and Don L.  (Elon student, 2019)