Students and families generally have more choices for college than they think. But it’s a big job to wade through the large list of available institutions to find the ones that serve a student’s goals, meet a family’s budget, and can give a student the rewarding experience that each student deserves–what experts in the College Consulting field call “fit.” Fortunately, families in North County (and anywhere in the United States) have a new resource to help them make these important decisions and navigate the application process.
Future InSight College Consulting began operations in southern California in September 2022.
It is the joint business of Vista residents Kristi Harlig, her husband Jeff Harlig, and their sister-in-law Jackie Ealy. They provide a full range of services for students and their families beginning as early as middle school to help maximize options so that students can put their best foot forward in the college application process. Some of these services include advice for selecting courses through senior year, choosing co-curricular activities, narrowing down a list of suitable colleges, meeting admissions and testing deadlines, and guidance for writing revealing application essays. (Watch for more explanation of the college selection process and the benefits of college consulting in the NC Daily Star in the coming weeks.) Kristi Harlig is the driving force behind Future InSight. She was a K-12 educator for most of her career. She was a public secondary school counselor for many years, including time as a dedicated college counselor at a magnet high school in Los Angeles. Most recently, she was in service to North County as a counselor in the San Marcos Unified School District. Kristi is certified by, and a member of, several college consulting associations for both school-based and independent counselors. She regularly attends conferences and workshops put on by these groups to learn how continuous changes in financial aid and testing requirements affect prospective students. Being an Independent Educational Consultant for college-bound students has been a dream of hers for years. She says, “This is what I love to do. I know it’s what I’m good at.” Jackie Ealy came from a background in human resources, including employee development. She sees this experience as crucial to helping high school students identify their career and educational goals. Anyone who meets Jackie is immediately struck by her dedication and enthusiasm, and these traits motivate Future InSight students to push forward with preparing for and applying to college. She is certified by, and a member of, national and regional independent college counseling associations. Like Kristi, Jackie stays up-to-date on national college trends through seminars, workshops, and visits to colleges. Kristi and Jackie can often be found side-by-side at conferences, happily absorbing details about colleges and their application processes that the rest of us would find overwhelming.
Jeff Harlig had a long career in higher education, as both a professor and an administrator of student academic support services. He has always been dedicated to making sure students are ready to succeed in both undergraduate and graduate education. His main focus is students who are the first in their families to go to college. Jeff supervised support services at UC Santa Barbara, CSU San Marcos, and most recently San Diego State University, especially in the area of writing. He helped hundreds of students one-on-one with their writing, including scholarship essays and research papers. This makes him ideally suited to provide application essay help to prospective college students.
Kristi, Jackie, and Jeff emphasize that they want their service to be a complement to the work done by middle school and high school counselors. These dedicated staff members provide irreplaceable services to their college-going students, but have large caseloads and multiple responsibilities, especially in the ongoing COVID era of stress and confusion for students. Future InSight consultants can concentrate solely on a student’s path to college and believe they form part of a supportive team that includes the student, their family, and the school counselor.
Future InSight can be reached through their website, www.futureinsight101.com, by email at info@futureinsight101.com, or by telephone at (760) 237-8274.
