🎓 College Counseling

I provide free college counseling to public school students in Salem, Massachusetts.

I’m the parent of a Salem High School student (applying to colleges now) and a Salem Academy Charter School graduate (currently in college). Over the past few years, I’ve toured dozens of schools and learned volumes about the college admissions process. Along the way, the research evolved into a passion project.

I’m incredibly grateful for the Salem public education my children have received. To pay it forward, I share what I’ve learned with local students and their families to offer guidance on their college journeys.

How can I help?

I can guide a student’s college process or focus on specific needs. Services may include …

Getting to know the student and their interests toward finding college fit
Helping families estimate college costs and establish a budget to frame the college search
Reviewing transcripts, classes, activities, and test scores
Identifying colleges to explore toward building a balanced list and understanding chances of admission
Supervising college applications: Common App, essays, activities, etc
Exploring sources of financial aid: federal aid, institutional need-based aid, merit scholarships, etc
Guiding families through financial aid applications (FAFSA and CSS Profile)
Reviewing acceptances and financial award letters to choose a college

Interested?

If you’re a public high school student or family member in Salem and would like help with your college search, I’d love to hear from you: rich@thornett.com

And if you’d like to learn more about me and my background as it relates to college counseling, keep reading …

Why I do this

While exploring colleges with my son a few years back, I grew fascinated with higher education and the admissions landscape. My adventures through the collegeverse–then, and now with my daughter–have been filled with travel, books, campus tours, podcasts, websites, Common Data Sets, forums, spreadsheets, financial planning, game theory, and more. I’ve enjoyed all of it. 🤓

I’m also passionate about working with families to create opportunities for students and excited to put what I‘ve learned to use. Guidance through the college process can be invaluable, so much so that an entire independent educational consultant (IEC) industry has emerged. Unfortunately, these consultants tend to be expensive and accessible only to wealthier families.

Public school counselors work hard to support their students, but large caseloads and broad responsibilities mean they can’t always provide deep, individualized college guidance. I hope to complement their efforts by advising students who seek additional support.

Why is this free? What’s the catch?

My mission is to serve Salem public school families, regardless of ability to pay. Selling a business several years ago has given me the financial flexibility to do this work pro bono. No catch, I promise.

Experience

You can glimpse my professional background on my homepage and at LinkedIn. Below is my work with youth, public schools, and colleges:

Coaching. I’ve spent the last decade-plus coaching youth softball and high school basketball, the latter at Salem High. I love coaching, teaching, and building connections with kids.
Volunteering. I’ve served in a variety of capacities for Salem Public Schools, including: data analysis, improving hiring systems, fundraising, and alumni engagement. I joined Salem High staff in Arizona at the 2025 NGLC Innovative Schools Learning Excursion and chair the Salem Public Schools Athletics Advisory Committee to the Superintendent for which I authored the committee’s Strategic Vision and launched Witch City Athletics.
Counseling. In 2024-25, I served as a college coach with ScholarMatch, an organization which helps make college possible for underserved youth. After completing their comprehensive training program, I advised a student in Texas on his college process. The engagement emphasized building a balanced list, assessing the feasibility of out-of-state schools given a limited budget, exploring options for financial aid, and evaluating financial aid award letters.
Research. I attended the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC) Annual Conference in 2024. (Where I heard about a teacher who used AI to write a college recommendation. Ethical?!) I’m a regular listener of the Your College Bound Kid podcast (the best source of college knowledge IMO); a follower of Jeffrey Selingo, the man behind the excellent Who Gets In and Why, the Next newsletter, the Buyers and Sellers List, and the Future U podcast; a subscriber to the Chronicle of Higher Education; and I’ve spent far too much time reading school profiles in the Fiske Guide to Colleges and Princeton Review, poring through Common Data Set files, scrolling the forums at College Confidential, reading reviews at Niche and threads at Reddit, and reviewing Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges and College Financial Grades and the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.
Finance. Having sold a business, managed the proceeds, and overseen estates for several relatives, I have ample financial planning experience. Specific to college pricing and financing, I’ve read How to Pay for College by Ann Garcia, an excellent overview of college costs and sources of aid, and A Problem of Fit by Wellesley economist Philip Levine, a deep dive on the economics of college pricing. I’ve also built financial models to break down college costs and financing scenarios. And I’ve saved (via 529 plan) and paid for college for my own child.
Education. I attended the oldest public college (undergrad) and the first public college (grad school) in the United States. Quiz: What schools are they and why are they different?!

Campus Tours & Visits

I love to travel and have been fortunate to visit a number of colleges over the years. The following is a list of colleges where I’ve spent time on campus. Most of these visits have taken place in the last five years.