Deep-Fit College Counseling: An Investment for Life

Eliza Yuen and I have spent more than 45 years working directly with students on college campuses, as professors, academic advisors, and deans. We have guided thousands of students through the full arc of their college years and seen what actually shapes whether they thrive. That campus-level experience is the foundation of our work and genuinely uncommon in the field of college counseling.

I hold a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and spent 21 years at Wellesley College, first as a professor of computer science and then as a class dean who read for the Board of Admissions. I currently serve as Dean of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies in the School of Engineering at Tufts University. Eliza spent six years as a first-year engineering advisor on my Tufts team, working with undecided students and those navigating the internal transfer process into engineering, before returning to Canada, where she holds an advising role at Carleton University.

Lantern’s Deep-Fit™ Framework, which I developed, approaches the college search not through rankings or selectivity but through the question of where a student is genuinely positioned to thrive. Eliza and I function as a team throughout, collaborating at every key stage, working with a limited number of families each year by design. Our work is high-touch, deeply personalized, and shaped by more than four decades of watching how college experiences actually unfold. Our fees reflect that.

Should You Hire a College Counselor?

College is one of the most consequential decisions a family makes, and most families make it with limited information and no prior experience navigating the process. Students apply once. Counselors who have guided hundreds of families through the college search process see patterns most families cannot.

The case for working with a counselor is not just about application support. It is about perspective. An experienced counselor has seen which colleges actually deliver on their promises for students like yours, which application strategies work at which schools, and what attending a given college is actually like for different kinds of students. That knowledge takes years to build. We have spent decades building it.

At Lantern, what we bring is specific. Our guidance is shaped not only by admissions experience but by over forty years spent deep in the work of college students: teaching them, advising them, and supporting them through both failure and success. We know the difference between a college that looks right on a list and one where a particular student will actually be well-served, because we have lived that difference alongside students for more than 45 years. That is what Deep-Fit means in practice, and it is what you are hiring when you work with us.

What Are the Benefits of Hiring a College Counselor?

One reason students struggle in college is that they enroll in institutions that are not a strong fit for how they learn, grow, and engage. Working with an experienced college counselor can lead to more thoughtful college choices, increasing the likelihood that a student will thrive academically and personally and graduate on time.

In addition, families often express an interest in their child’s earning merit scholarships to reduce college costs. Most merit scholarships come directly from universities and colleges themselves. Some schools offer significant merit aid, while others provide none, including those in the Ivy League and many other highly selective institutions. An experienced college counselor can help your child build a college list that fits your family’s financial needs and goals. 

A college counselor will help you navigate the emotional and psychological aspects of the college search, provide personalized attention, structure and organize your child’s application process (see our complete college admissions timeline guide), and be a go-to source of expertise, all leading to stronger applications and less stress.

I explain to families that when we support them, we guide them in the driver’s seat, customizing their child’s college application journey with their input. We anticipate forks, turns, opportunities, and hazards. Our structured yet flexible, highly individualized, and high-touch process meets each family where they are and makes what could be an overwhelming process manageable. Our balanced approach ensures that students have options they are proud of. Our expertise helps students make their strongest applications while developing through activities that help them learn and stand out. We play many roles as needed—a go-to voice of calm, expertise, and perspective. We enable parents to be parents, not their child’s college taskmaster, and we absorb stress to prevent families from spiraling up together. In sum, a college counselor can make the college search more manageable and less stressful, yielding better results and a happier final chapter of high school at home.

Our families say our work and “organizational wizardry” “reduces the stress for parents and the students,” makes the process “so much easier and more authentic,” and “makes the complex process manageable.”  A parent writes about Lantern college counselor Eliza, “Eliza has done a wonderful job motivating and organizing our son, and keeping him on task.” One mother shares that we have made her daughter’s college search process “stress free and enjoyable for a very anxious girl!” Another writes, “As parents, you made our job a lot easier.” And another parent says the process “would have been impossible to navigate without (us).” A mother who did not use a college counselor for her older son shares that her “stress level was so much lower” than when her older child applied to college. Lastly, a mother writes, “Eliza has helped me off of the edge many times. ; ) Our daughter is always uplifted and happy after talking with Eliza.“

For more on two aspects of our approach, see From Wellesley to MIT and Olin: Insider College Admissions Counseling From a Former Admissions Officer for an inside look at selective admissions, and College Admissions Counseling at Lantern: A Team-Based Approach to Student Success for details about how Eliza and I work together.

Learn more about our College Admissions Counseling services.

Lantern’s CS, Engineering, and STEM Expertise

Lantern Founder Jennifer Stephan, PhD is an electrical and computer engineer educated at Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. Her work sits at the intersection of admissions, undergraduate education, and long-term student success.

This integrated, whole-student perspective actively shapes Jennifer’s work inside higher education. As Dean of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies in the School of Engineering at Tufts University, Jennifer guides curriculum, advising structures, and student support practices that influence how engineering students learn, navigate challenges, and engage with their education over time.

Jennifer is regularly invited to contribute to national conversations about college advising and student outcomes. In July 2025, she spoke at The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Virtual Forum on College Advising, reaching an audience of more than 3,000 registrants.

Jennifer’s approach to student development has also drawn the attention of leading universities. She was recently interviewed by Carnegie Mellon University and featured as an accomplished alum for her work developing the Deep-Fit™ Admissions Approach and guiding students through the college search and college success process. Her perspective reflects decades of experience supporting students not only through admission, but through the academic, developmental, and institutional challenges they encounter after enrollment.

Together, Jennifer and Eliza bring deep, practical knowledge of engineering disciplines and the developmental pathways students follow within them, allowing them to guide both directed and undecided students with clarity and confidence.

Fun fact: Eliza was Jennifer’s daughter’s academic advisor when she was an undecided first-year student considering engineering at Tufts (while Jennifer was still working at Wellesley College), encouragingly guiding her through the internal transfer process and welcoming her into the School of Engineering! As a mother, Jennifer was so grateful to hear her daughter excitedly chatter about her caring advisor, Eliza, during her first year at Tufts.

Lantern’s Expertise in College Success

Beyond STEM, we are experts on college thriving, as evidenced by our 45 years of supporting and educating students on college campuses and our Deep-Fit Admissions Approach—experience that applies broadly to all academic disciplines. In fact, over half of our students do not plan to study STEM in college! We are deeply experienced in supporting undecided students.

We’ve developed a roadmap for college success, including over 70 action items in five main areas: wellness, academic success, know and use your resources, build your community, and create your future (career readiness) to help your student make the most of their college experience. We also advise enrolled college students who need support finding their academic direction, are experiencing difficulty, or are considering transferring, see our College Success Coaching and College Crisis Support services.

Deep-Fit College Counseling: Preparing Students for College—and Beyond

The college application process is about more than just getting into college. The steps and practices that build a strong application extend into college and beyond. For instance, we encourage our high school students to build relationships with teachers and mentors since doing so can help them make their strongest college applications and create their college future. Likewise, we teach them that relationships with college professors and mentors are among the most important impactful experiences they should seek in college and can help them create their post-college future. As adults, we call relationship building “networking,” a key to career success. 

Similarly, through a Deep-Fit college search, students gain confidence and learn to be active agents in their college search, in college, and beyond. We challenge students to see what they can create for themselves and equip them with the skills and experiences to do so thoughtfully and powerfully. When we help students make their college choice, we know they are positioned to keep creating their future in college because they choose a Deep-Fit school that will likewise empower them. And, of course, they take the skills and lessons they’ve learned through our work not just to college but forward from college.

As our practice has grown, demand for our work has increased while our capacity has remained intentionally limited. Our pricing reflects not only the expertise we bring, but the care, responsiveness, and continuity required to support students meaningfully over time.

We believe deeply in long-term relationships. Returning families are always welcome, and we strive to make our work accessible to families in education, higher education, and public service whenever possible. These conversations happen individually, with care and transparency, as part of a thoughtful consultation process.

Deep-Fit College Admissions Counseling prepares students for success in the college application process, college, and life. It is an investment in your child’s future — one grounded in helping students thrive long after admission. To see how we continue supporting students once they’re on campus, explore College Success Coaching: Personalized Support to Help Students Thrive.