Our Mission - Our Ethics
Adhering to the highest industry and ethical standards is something our consulting practice takes very seriously. As college advisors, we join many other conscientious, principled colleagues in the college admissions field in our concern over unethical practices. We are trained and certified professionals, and therefore adhere to the highest ethical standards and strongly support the guidelines set by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
We are grateful to be able to work with families that also similarly and deeply value integrity and honesty. Together, we will show our students how hard work, tenacity, and a sense of vision for their future can help them cultivate meaningful lives of consequence.
There is a lot of pressure to succeed—both within and outside of high school. It’s also not uncommon for a student’s sense of identity to become wrapped up in the colleges they are—or are not—admitted to. The loss of a college opportunity can feel like losing a version of themselves or erasing a picture of the life they had always imagined. We discuss these tensions with our students and remind them that, though there will always be ways to "cheat the system," it is a path that leaves a person without a soul and a world without integrity.
But the truth is, there are over 4,500 outstanding colleges across the US, not just the handful of well-known schools at the very tip of the pyramid. We encourage students to remember that where they go to college does not ultimately define them or determine their future. Life is full of change and surprises. They will forge their own path in the world and create a life that is most meaningful to them.
At Compass to College, we affirm our commitment to the following mission:
We inspire students to reflect on and clarify their passions, values and life goals, and in doing so, build important self-knowledge. We engage students in discussing their life themes and assist them in translating these into career objectives.
We guide students to develop a personal, purposeful education plan from the diverse courses offered at their school and other educational arenas that genuinely align with their interests and goals.
We energize our students to think deeply about their interests and talents and introduce them to projects, internships, and other experiences that allow them to develop an informed “working hypothesis” of what they may want to study in college and contribute to society.
We advise students in seeking admission to institutions of higher learning where they will grow, thrive, and be enlivened by diversity in thought and people.
We strive to help our students remember that life is made up of many parts, and academics is only one of them. Their values, ideas, and experiences are all of huge significance to the life they will build, and no one school or degree can fully encapsulate that.
We affirm that there is no such thing as the perfect school or a perfect future. We believe an individual's potential is only limited by what they can imagine it to be, what resources they can marshal to support it, and most importantly, what life force they give it.
