About Me

Marisa Gonzales Silverstein has had a varied career — teacher, counselor, after-school program leader, and artist — that shapes how she approaches college counseling today. She holds a BA in Art History from Yale and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School, where she first got a look inside the admissions world by serving on Kellogg's Admissions Committee. About seven years ago, she began volunteering with Yonkers Partners in Education, coaching teens on essays and the college process, and that work crystallized her real passion: helping teenagers find the right college while easing the stress the whole family feels along the way.

Marisa has completed the IECA Summer Training Institute and the IEC certificate program at UC Irvine, and successfully guided her own two daughters through admissions (Washington University in St. Louis and Carleton College). As a WOW Certified Essay Coach and a Strong Interest Inventory practitioner, she helps students find their own voice in their essays and applications — she'll coach, but she'll never write a word of a student's essay for them.

Specialty Areas

Students Enrolled

Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY -- Purchase College, University of Rochester, Roger Williams University, University of Denver, Oregon State University, University of Dayton, Loyola University New Orleans, University of Colorado Boulder, Manhattanville College, Wofford College, The University of Alabama, Auburn University, Furman University, University of Mississippi, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Rhodes College, Adelphi University, Southern Connecticut State University, Merrimack College, Clark University, Ithaca College, Southern New Hampshire University, Goucher College, Champlain College, Dean College, Cornell University, Clarkson University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Colorado School of Mines, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, Grinnell College, Wellesley College, Carnegie Mellon University, Loyola Marymount University, Lafayette College, Occidental College, Carleton College, McDaniel College, Lawrence University, The Ohio State University -- Columbus, Virginia Tech, University of Washington, Seattle, Brandeis University, Binghamton University, The State University of New York, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire.

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