What Fits:  College, Community College, or Trade School?

I'm here to help find the ideal fit.

 

What is your son or daughter’s perfect path?  I love helping plan for and uncovering this answer alongside my students and then arming them with the tools and confidence to transition successfully out of high school.  I find that young people are eager to talk about their situation and stresses with an adult outside of the family – especially one who has felt many of their same feelings as a young person – and this freedom for expression is part of what helps get things moving in a positive way.

While of course this mentoring helps the students, it honestly eases parents through what I know is often a gripping, exciting, and yet inherently stressful time.

College

To be a trusted guide for my clients, I am constantly educating myself. 

I continually investigate and tour post-high school options with an eye for students with learning differences.  I keep my finger on the pulse of college applications as a past admission reader for UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego and University of San Francisco. I attend national and state-level conferences specifically around college admissions.  My lens is always focused on whether a student will have the support system academically, emotionally, and socially to be successful in their college of choice.

DISCLOSURE: Working with an educational consultant does not guarantee admission to any university.

Community College

Some students aren’t ready for college right after high school. Simply put, they need time to figure it out. Community college provides a perfect first step to work on general education requirements and explore career options.  Students can earn certificates or an associate degree. After two years of community college, they can transfer to a four-year university in California. After one year they can transfer to a community college in Nevada or Oregon.

Trade Schools

Learning a trade – whether it’s plumbing, electrical, auto/diesel mechanics, sheet metal, air conditioning repair, or a whole host of other in-demand skills – is often a great path that my students consider. Trade schools offer paid apprenticeships with hands-on experience from day one, which gives the kind of immediate and positive feedback that really serve tactile and visual learners. Some offer health care and union memberships. 

“Elisa Romero has been invaluable in helping both of my sons find the right college and major for their skills and interest. My older son was a junior in high school in 2020 when he was diagnosed with ADHD. I was referred to Elisa as an educational therapist to help with his executive functioning. A few weeks into working with him, Covid hit - and focusing on executive functioning seemed pointless with school shifting to online learning and academic norms turned upside down. I knew Elisa also did college placement and asked if she could instead pivot to help him with college counseling and focus on his future. The results were immediate: she asked the right questions, listened carefully and had a great depth of knowledge about a huge variety of colleges and majors. He was very engaged in working with her, and he happily built out his college research spreadsheet that I had tried and failed to get him to do. He graduated from Marquette University in May 2025 and landed a job as a Marketing Specialist just 2 months after graduation. My younger son also has ADHD and Elisa helped him with both executive functioning and college counseling the past few years. He just started his freshman year at University of Nevada, Reno and couldn't be happier there. Elisa's ability to work with neurodivergent kids to engage and focus them on their educational goals and future made her the perfect person to work with my boys. I'm eternally grateful for her expertise and positivity.”