You're About to Spend $300,000 on Your Kid's Future.
Do You Have a Plan -- or Just a List of Schools?
The Backwards Strategy That Gets Kids Into Schools Their Guidance Counselor Said Were Out of Reach
Your kid has the grades, scores and solid extracurricular activities. The work ethic you built into them.
Now comes the part where most families blow it.
They do what feels productive: Google "best colleges for business," build a spreadsheet, maybe buy a Fiske Guide.
It feels like progress. It's not. It's the most expensive form of procrastination in parenting.
They ask the guidance counselor -- who has dozens of other students and maybe 15 minutes for yours.
Then they spend $200,000 to $350,000 and hope it all works out in the end.
Hope is not a strategy.
A list of schools is not a strategy, either. And the price of finding that out the hard way is six figures.
I'm Andy Lockwood. Over the past 24 years, our firm has worked with 2,450+ families -- and I can tell you the ones who got into their "dream schools" and paid "wholesale prices" all did the same thing:
They started backwards.
Not with the college list. With their kid.
The Mayor of Roslyn Harbor hired me for both her children on that premise. They each got into their first choice -- one a Top 20.
The Couch family followed the same process and saved $270,000 across two kids.
Louise Barnard from Oregon called her return on investment for working with her two kids "infinity."
And Dennis O'Hara, Superintendent of a Long Island school district, said "A lot of college advisors promise results but don't deliver. In your case, I got REAL results."
The families who work with us start in the same place: a 45-minute strategy session where we diagnose exactly where your kid's application is vulnerable -- and where the leverage is that nobody's told you about.
I'll "buy" it for you. There's no cost, no obligation.
But fair warning: most parents leave angry at their guidance counselor (public or private high school).
How will your child stand out from 50,000 competitors who have the same grades, scores and "passion project"? And/or, How can you pay "wholesale" for college?
That's exactly what we'll discuss. Here's what happens when we meet:
1. Questions
Fire away your "burning" questions on our call! Most calls are about whether Lockwood can help you with: getting into college, paying for college (grants and scholarships) help managing the whole process, i.e. ACT/SAT, what do do when, colleges, extra-curriculars, interviews, applications essays, more.
2. Answers
You'll get answers to each of your questions. And we'll ask you some clarifying questions ourselves. Our discussion will revolve around what type of help you' re looking for, challenges your facing, etc.
3. Good fit?
We will give you the best, candid - advice possible. If we believe that you'd be a good fit for one of our programs, we will make a recommendation. Conversely, and if we do NOT think that our services will be valuable to you, we'll tell you that as well so you don't waste money or time hiring us for something we cannot do.
Our approach to college planning is different than the typical guidance counselor's advice, different than other college advisors, and be contradictory to what you've heard from them, other parents or read on the Internet.
Our "P4" system is a backward approach to creating a college plan, integrating four separate disciplines. We're the only game in town when it comes to this approach - to our knowledge, no public high school guidance counselor, private school advisor or any other college planner addresses the following critical elements in a comprehensive, integrated way.
That means we're not right for everybody. And tuition for our coaching is not for the faint of heart.
We only work with families, including students, who are COMMITTED to achieving success.
Here's how we approach college planning and advising, in our proprietary, "P4" program. However please understand that every client is unique, has their own strengths, challenges and goals. This means that we take a personal, customized approach to coaching our clients -- our program is the opposite of a one-size-fits-all approach.
Our college advising covers the following areas:
1. Plan. Explore your child's "wiring" and what that translates into in terms of where they can fit into the world AND make a living (i.e. getting off Mom and Dad's payroll. :).
2. Path. Build a strategic and balanced college list that includes schools reputable across the cluster of best fit majors and careers, as well as "best fit" for other, more traditional college planning considerations.
3. Position. Reverse engineering what will resonate with admissions officers: uncovering the unique qualities of each child to position them to stand from thousands of competitor-applicants. This includes resume-building, essay writing, test prep and tutoring, visits, interviews, and more. We start this work as early as 8th grade.
4. Produce. Scholarships, financial aid advice, FAFSA, CSS Profile and other financial aid applications preparation, and creative funding strategies that frequently involve tax-related advice for high earning business owners. We are experts at negotiating scholarship and financial aid awards, also.
College Advising Fees and Return on Investment
We're not an el-cheapo operation.
But the investment to work with us is commensurate with the value we provide in terms of scholarships and financial aid we're able to help clients obtain...
...not to mention clarity about which colleges to apply to, what to write on essays and applications, which courses and extracurricular activities to pursue, college visits and interviews, holding your child accountable through the entire process so you don't have to scream at them and similar concerns and more...
...which ALL equates to a huge reduction of uncertainty and stress that, frankly, is impossible to quantify.
We're a small shop and have limited capacity for new clients. Andy personally takes on 18 select students per graduation class and plans to cut that number in the near future.
Current college advisory fees can be $12,000-30,000 for college advising, or more (subject to change, without notice).
The range depends on when families start to work with us, whether enrolled in our comprehensive college advisory program (above), if they work with Andy privately or one of our associate college planners (supervised by Andy) and other factors.
Lockwood College Prep also offers standalone SAT and ACT prep.
Questions?
If you have ANY questions about booking a meeting or other topics, call 516.882.5464 or email [email protected]. Either Andy or someone on his team will get back to you as soon as possible.
"We think of you often, and our ROI on our investment in YOU is infinity."
-Louise Barnard
P.S. This just in: this is an example of the lovely, positive comments we receive from EX-clients. In this case, Louise Barnard, real estate entrepreneur and her husband, Mark Barnard, head coach for the Oregon State Women's Volleyball Team and Australian National Team.
Frankly, comments (and client results) like these are what gets me and Pearl up and out of bed every morning. :)
Work With Lockwood
Complete and submit this short application, we'll review it and you can book a time to chat on the next page.
Andy and Pearl are an exceptional team, guiding families through the entire college application process. Their dedication, expertise, and genuine care for both students and parents have significantly impacted our college application journey for both of our children (Jack and Kaitlyn). From the outset, Andy and his outstanding team took the time to understand our goals for each child. They provided personalized guidance and support, making the complex college application process manageable. Their extensive knowledge of various colleges and programs is invaluable, and their relatable approach stems from their own experiences. They transform a daunting process into a manageable one, allowing families to maintain a calm and healthy relationship with their children. Andy and Pearl's realistic and informative approach, combined with their comforting sense of humor, ensures support from test preparation, financial aid through securing college admission. We are incredibly grateful for their support and highly recommend them to any student seeking dedicated and knowledgeable college advisors.
-Flora McKiernan, New York, NY
Andy was extremely helpful during the college selection and application process. I signed up for the soup to nuts, entire package so he and Pearl were my go-to for everything college planning related. They even filled out the CSS and FAFSA for me. My child worked mostly with Andy and then with his team for the essays. ALL I NEED TO SAY IS.... WE ARE 2/2!! Both of my children got into their first choice school. I fully believe my son got into his dream Top 20 based on Andy's advice. Thank you so much Andy and team!
Sandy Quentzel, Mayor of Roslyn Harbor, NY
We cannot say enough about how great an experience we had with Andy & Pearl and how lucky we were to find them. We have two seventeen year old boys who will be attending college in the fall. To be perfectly honest, we were quite skeptical about a lot of the things Andy presented in the beginning as far as what his company would be able to do. We figured we might have a couple of the things he mentioned in his presentation happen, but not all of them. Their service is not cheap, but he indicates the money that is saved in the first year tuition on one kid will cover what he costs. Sounds great....but come on really? Well it turns out he was wrong, we saved enough on tuition through merit aid in one year on one kid to pay his fee two and a half times over for both boys. We are sending our boys to two excellent small liberal arts colleges, Loyola and Holy Cross, at discounts of $38,500 and $29,000 from sticker price per year. You can do the math, that's a savings of $270,000 over their four years of college. I know without Andy's guidance there is no way we would have found the right schools for our boys much less get any kind of discounts like these. We went from being complete novices about finding Colleges to being experts with Andy's guidance. I have to say the things that Andy educates you on and the information he provides you will not find anyplace else. We can honestly say that at this point we know about ten times more than the boys' school guidance counselor about this process. Sad, but true. Their process addressed every aspect of the college process including the boys taking tests to evaluate their personality to find their best fits as far as majors/careers to their own exclusively designed computer software that realistically predicts ability to get in to schools. We really could go on all day about how great our Lockwood College Prep experience was. If you are very serious about this process, willing to put the time and effort as a family required, able to have an open mind, and listen to the guidance given, we know you will not be disappointed with their service. Andy doesn't sugar coat things and you need to leave your ego at the door, but you will come away from this process with the best college for your student at a fair price. You additionally will come away knowing more than 99% of the parents going through this process. We are actually surprised on a daily basis in speaking to other parents, the lack of knowledge there is and how they came to their decisions. You will come to find in the end that this whole process is a game and if you choose to use their service, you will put yourself in a winning position. Guru Nation 4 Life, Team Couch
-Kristina Couch, Mattituck, NY
