| Since our daughter is our oldest child and we grew up and went to college abroad, we did not have a clue about the whole college admission process. We had thought our daughter’s application was complete until we approached Dr. Handlin for college counseling, in which we had heard he had expertise. Although our daughter had submitted her high school teachers’ letters of recommendation to her colleges, receiving Jim’s counseling services was the best thing we did throughout the entire process! When Jim looked over her application, he instantly saw what was missing. Yes, the teachers’ required letters of recommendation were there, but they were merely portraying our daughter’s academic strengths. Jim said that her application needed to show her character. He told us that college admissions officers were going to see her academic achievements through her transcript but would have no idea about who she really was. Baffled, my husband and I looked at each other and did not know what to do. Jim told us not to worry because he was going to help us with this missing component of the application, which would be a determining factor in the decision. He said the best way to fix this would be to write a “character essay” to recommend our daughter to the colleges. Then, he made an appointment with our daughter to get to know her “character” in more detail. When we met the next time, we thought he would be having a casual conversation with her to pinpoint her character traits, but what he did was far beyond that. He had a huge list of “formal interview questions”, which he asked her. He wrote down all her answers, not skipping any detail. The interview took 1 hour. In the days to follow, Jim wrote a 2-page “character essay” about our daughter. It was amazing to see how accurate his character analysis was. That letter showed a lot about Jim’s background and experience in education, counseling, and one-on-one work with high school students.
Jim was also very helpful and knowledgeable about colleges. He helped our daughter finalize her college list. His great insight about the college application process helped our daughter polish her application and select the absolutely best colleges for her. We had thought everything was complete before consulting Jim. We only recently received great news that our daughter has been offered admission into her top college, which is also one of the top film schools in the nation! This would not have been possible without Jim’s expertise, dedication, and wisdom. Thank you, Jim, for all you have done for our daughter! – Denise & Ozzie Cakir |