…your one stop shop for college admissions planning
Comprehensive College Planning with the Rooted Method
Step-by-step guidance for high school juniors and their parents who don't know where to start, so they can get college acceptances they're genuinely excited about.
Junior year moves fast. And if you're still trying to figure out where to start six months from now, you'll be staring down application deadlines without knowing the cost of college, without a testing plan, and without a clear sense of whether your kid is even applying to the right schools.
Parents who've been through this will tell you the same thing: by the time it felt urgent, there wasn't enough time to do it right.
The late nights Googling "how to apply to college" won't get easier. The tension at the dinner table when you bring it up won't go away on its own. And that fear you're missing something important will just keep getting louder.
Most parents assume the college admissions process is something their kid figures out with the help of their school counselor and some Googling.
But the average school counselor is managing hundreds of kids, and Google doesn’t know who your kid is.
The difference with Rooted College Planning and the Rooted Method is that every action step is built around your teenager: their strengths, their goals, and your family's financial reality.
Instead of stressing about deadlines, be ahead of them.
Instead of not knowing what to do first, I can tell you.
You'll have a personalized plan with Zoom support for both your kid and for family check-ins, so you're not just successful, but happy knowing you're doing as much as possible for your kid's future.
We knew the basics; get good grades, take SAT/ACT, advanced classes, and apply. But the narrowing down of which schools were the best fit and why was not something we had thought about. Carly's structured timeline helped my son and our family break down the daunting steps of applying to college. I would not hesitate to recommend Carly to a friend.
— Jennifer, ‘24 Parent
Two years from now, your child can be walking through the doors of their perfect fit college. But we’ve got to start NOW.
Picture your kid walking onto a campus move-in day knowing (really knowing) they're in the right place, because they did the research and your family made the decision with confidence.
That's what this process looks like when you have the right support.
Waiting until senior year means starting without breathing room. The families who get the most out of this process start early in junior year — when there's still time to be thoughtful, do the research, and make decisions without the pressure of deadlines and senior year work.
I'm Carly, the founder of Rooted College Planning and a Certified Educational Planner. Before starting Rooted College Planning, I spent my career working inside college admissions and enrollment offices, which means I understand how colleges make decisions, how financial aid works, and what families need to know that nobody's telling them.
I created Rooted because I kept seeing the same thing: smart, involved parents who felt completely lost — not because they weren't trying, but because the process is genuinely complicated and nobody hands you a roadmap. So I built one.
If you're ready to stop guessing and start planning, you're in the right place.
The Rooted Method is a proven process to help teenagers leverage their strengths, make confident decisions about college, and send in strong applications to 6+ great fit schools.
We’ll make sure nothing falls through the cracks, from finding the right colleges all the way through submitting applications and making a final decision.
Every year, Rooted families move through the same proven framework, customized to their kid's strengths, timeline, and financial reality.
The result is a family that walks away with a college their kid truly wants to attend instead of one they settled for.
I was very pleased with the way Carly spoke to us on our initial call. She provided us with documentation on the process and explained her overall approach, which calmed us immensely. She was very accessible and accommodating to our busy schedules. I also admired how she gave my son clear and concise deliverables and deadlines, which he greatly needed! The cost is well worth it. He didn’t miss any deliverables or due dates. From what I saw, Carly has a great rapport with college bound teenagers.
— Doug, ‘25 Parent
Here's how the Rooted Method works!
We start with a College Clarity Call to ensure I can help you and your child meet their goals. Then, we dive in:
Phase 1: Building the College List
So your child can stop guessing which schools are a good fit and start researching with purpose.
Phase 2: Admissions Planning & Early Application Progress
So your child can narrow the college list with confidence, get ahead of deadlines, and walk into senior year with a plan in place.
Phase 3: Essay Development & Application Prep
So your child has essays they’re proud of, written on time, and their applications are making progress.
Phase 4: Applying, Making Decisions & Transitioning to Enrollment
So your child can open those acceptance letters, you can understand the financial aid offers, and you both can make a decision your whole family feels good about.
Bonus: College Planning Workbook
A customized, data-rich spreadsheet that tracks your kid's college list, application progress, and deadlines — all in one place, always up to date.
“The college spreadsheet Carly uses is AMAZING. The amount of detail and facts presented is beyond useful! This lays out each school perfectly, often resulting in additions we never thought of, or eliminations for reasons we never expected.”
Amy, ‘23, ‘25, and ‘26 Parent
With comprehensive college planning, everything you need — the tools, the resources, and the support — is already built and waiting for you so you don’t have to spend time figuring out the process.
Rooted College Planning students and families get all of this:
🌿 Unlimited 1:1 Zoom calls with student to make progress on action items and deadlines
🌿 Personalized online College Planning Workbook - a customized, data-rich spreadsheet - for student to keep track of colleges, deadlines, application progress, action items, resources, and more
🌿 Personalized Parent Companion Workbook, complementing the student workbook so you can keep track of their progress along the way
🌿 Resource library to cover topics like campus visits, college readiness, and email expectations
🌿 Email and text message access to Carly throughout the process
A personalized plan for your child to nail their applications and for you to feel confident in the process.
The Investment
Comprehensive College Planning: $7,800
This includes everything — every meeting, every essay review, every application, every question — from wherever you're starting in junior year through June 15 following senior year.
There are many payment options available we can discuss on your College Clarity Call.
A College Clarity Call is the first step to working together. It helps me understand your child’s goals and helps you understand how I can guide your family to college decisions.
This is for you and your family if…
🌿 Your child is a high school junior who plans to go to college and you're ready to stop putting this off
🌿 Your child is willing to show up, do the work, and trust the process, and you’re willing to support them every step of the way
🌿 You want your kid to find a college that's genuinely the right fit, not just a recognizable name
This isn't for you if…
🌿 You're looking for someone to do it all for your kid (this process requires an engaged student)
🌿 You've already made up your mind about where your child is going and just want someone to help them get in
🌿 Your child is a senior (at that point, our timeline together would be too compressed to do this work well)
This is one of the biggest decisions your family will make, and you don't have to navigate the process alone. Let's take the next step together and get your kid on the path to the right college.