Find your path to the perfect college match.


At College Connect, our goal is to make the admissions journey more meaningful and productive for the student and less stressful for the entire family.


We recognize that the college application process can be daunting and want to alleviate the burden during what should be an exciting time in every student’s life!

We firmly believe that by focusing on the student from the outset, we can help articulate goals, identify a list of schools across varying selectivity levels that fit these objectives, and develop strong applications.

About Me

Find your path to the perfect college match.


At College Connect, our goal is to make the admissions journey more meaningful and productive for the student and less stressful for the entire family.


We recognize that the college application process can be daunting and want to alleviate the burden during what should be an exciting time in every student’s life!

We firmly believe that by focusing on the student from the outset, we can help articulate goals, identify a list of schools across varying selectivity levels that fit these objectives, and develop strong applications.

Yes, we guide students to write the best possible personal essay, but we will also strive to connect them to their true best matches. Every student deserves to find an ideal fit, and we help make it happen.

Our process begins with student-counselor conversations to invite thoughtful introspection about preferences and values. College Connect encourages students to pinpoint priorities and discern a unifying theme that highlights their unique strengths and aims, leading to a clear, compelling application. We then help students make the most informed and data-driven choices by diving deep into research and providing the most current and detailed information available.

Throughout, College Connect provides personalized and step-by-step guidance that includes:

Tailored college list-building focusing on best-match schools
Researching and hand-harvesting of pertinent college data
Brainstorming and editing of personal and supplemental essays
Assisting with the Common App (Activities Section, Additional Information, and more), SRAR, and school-specific applications
Advising on Application Strategy (ED1, ED2, EA, Regular Decision, and Rolling)
Keeping applicants on track with deadlines

We will collaborate as partners, forming a team with parents and student, to determine the best path forward.


Our Story:
Maria Colbert and Kerrie Lineweaver have known each other for almost 20 years. While our backgrounds are different, we have always shared a passion for education and for helping students navigate their individualized academic career.

We are launching College Connect in 2025 because we have seen students we care about get lost in the college process. Too often, applications (or worse: courses, activities, life choices!) are adapted to the admissions process of a particular college when students should instead be searching which colleges are the best matches for them. It is crucial for students to tune out the noise and concentrate on the schools that align with their priorities.

To the student we say: “Ask not only what you can do for your college – ask, too, what your college can do for you.”


Biographies:
Maria Colbert: BA, MA, PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University
-Independent College Consultant since 2023
-Over 10 years teaching experience at Harvard University and Colby College
-4 years as Fellowships Advisor for competitive postgraduate awards (including Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, etc) at Harvard
-10 years homeschool teacher
-Co-author of high school and college textbooks
-Enjoys reading, coaching basketball, walking the dogs, and cheering on her kids from the sidelines and in the theater

Specialty Areas

General Ed Counseling

Students Enrolled