Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Gerrato-Greenhaus.
Hi Gina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I originally wanted to work with young children and planned to pursue elementary education. As I explored the field I became increasingly interested in understanding what makes children and adolescent learn, develop and thrive. I decided to major in psychology and eventually earned a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology. I worked in the mental health field for several years before transitioning into educational counseling. That background ultimately shaped my trajectory into my chosen career. I became passionate about helping students understand their strengths, identifying their goals and find the equational pathway that is the right fit for who they are which goes beyond applying to college. I continued onto post graduate training at University of California Irvine and learned everything I could about the how students are perceived by colleges and what it takes to stand out. I also did an internship with a non profit and enjoyed my work with first generation students. Working with first generation students was my entrance into the academic side of counseling.
My holistic background accompanied with my desire to make a difference helped me to identify with educational counseling focused on academic, college and career advising. Initially my specialty was working with students with anxiety, depression, learning issues and other mental and physical challenges. Eventually I began working with students with lofty goals of applying and getting accepted to the most selective colleges in the country. Eventually I launched my business in 2012.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
All along it has been a pretty smooth process. Initially I worked pro bono with non profits and in my local neighborhood. I was the go to person for applying to college and writing college essays. Eventually students and families started coming in grades 9 and 10 and put some curriculum in place for how to prepare for the junior and senior year of high school. As my students were successful and reporting many college acceptances my phone started ringing and my practice grew each year. Keeping up with the demand was the challenge. Eventually I hired several counselors and essay coaches to join our team. This has been most gratifying to collaborate with others and share my knowledge.
We’ve been impressed with Greenhaus College Consulting , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Greenhaus College Consulting is an educational consulting business specializing in working with high school students and young adults planning for college and a career path. We help students starting in the ninth grade throughout high school and also work with college students who want to transfer to other private colleges and apply to graduate school. Our services include Academic Planning, helping students to choose coursework and build a strong academic profile, College Planning which incudes developing a strategic college list and application timeline. Career Exploration including career assessments and helping students connect their interests to majors and careers. Essay Coaching including brainstorming, writing an outline, and developing their unique story.
We have been assisting families for 14 years. Greenhaus has a strong expertise in Uc Admissions, applying, and essay writing support. My former work as a UC admissions reader has helped me understand the depth and nuances of the UC admissions process and we articulate this to students when choosing campuses, majors and presenting their student profile in the application. We also work with a lot of engineering, pre med and STEM majors. Our philosophy is to start early and help students to turn their strengths, interests and expertness into a strategic college to career plan and an authentic compelling college application. Because we have a team of experts we are able to work with a wide variety of students including athletes, learning disabilities, ADHD, arts students, and gifted students who are seeking the highly selective colleges including UC Admissions. We are a group of counselors who truly understand teenagers and we collaborate behind the scenes so that we can draw on the experience of the broader team. We just don’t help students apply to college We brig together the right expertise to help each student find their path. While we are proud of our student acceptances we are most proud of the relationships we have with our students and their families and the long term impact we have made on so many young people.
Each year or students are accepted to top colleges and earn scholarships. Some of our acceptances in the past few years have included UCLA, Berkeley, Georgetown, Duke, NYU, John Hopkins, Brown, Cornell, Princeton, University of Michigan, U of Georgia, University of Southern California, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Illinois. We keep in contact with our families and love hearing about their first year in college.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most is having happy students and families and educating them in the process. At the same time we want to work with families that share our philosophy. Applying to college can be a very stressful process and there is a lot of confusing information in the public and in social media. We want to make the high school years and applying to college filled with excitement and wonder and to help inspire our students to develop self knowledge ad confident and a sense a direction. At the same time we want to work with students who are willing to engage and be coached and grow through the process
Our goal is to help students to discover who they are and to build a strong path forward and confidently navigating the process. We care about the student behind the application and this differentiates us from a consultant who is narrowly focuses on grades and SAT scores. As the founder and president of Greenhaus College Consulting we stand by our principles and core values. These include understanding the strengths and interests of each student. Our values help us to connect with families who share our overall philosophy on college admissions. “We help students to understand themselves, find the right path and present their most authentic selves to colleges. This is our foundation for : Why Greenhaus” We are selective about the students and families we work and we have a strong belief that college counseling should not be a one size fits all process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.greenhauscollegeconsulting.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=greenhaus%20college%20consulting
