About Spotlight College Consulting

Carol's commitment

Carol Koletsky is an independent educational consultant who founded Spotlight College Consulting based on her passion for mentoring high school students in how to navigate college admissions and find the path that’s right for each of them. Through constant encouragement and support, she makes a high-pressure process manageable, enjoyable, exciting, and above all, rewarding.


As a former litigation attorney who also has held leadership positions in various education-focused non-profit work, Carol spent a decade helping high school students of friends and family find excellent college matches. She then decided to begin transitioning to a new career in college counseling, and enrolled in UCLA’s Certificate in College Counseling Program, widely considered one of the top programs in the country. The program culminated in doing several months of field work in the College Office of a local private high school.

Carol found College Counseling to be a natural and logical path, as her passions have always been at the intersection of mentoring students and higher education. Both of her parents were educators, and as her father was a medical school professor, the University was the cornerstone of her family’s life growing up. In addition, visiting college campuses all over the U.S. on annual summer trips was a family hobby. To this day, Carol loves visiting college campuses and gaining up-to-date knowledge about the wide variety of postsecondary opportunities.


Carol has boy-girl twins who graduated from college in 2017, her son from Williams College in the Berkshires, and her daughter from Northwestern University. Spending time on their college campuses and watching their exponential growth and maturity over those four years reinvigorated her lifelong passion to positively impact the student experience in Higher Education.

Why Hire Carol?

Carol is a seasoned professional who holds herself to the highest standards of excellence, both personally, and as an IECA member. To gain as much knowledge and experience as she could, and before holding herself out as a qualified expert, she returned to graduate school through UCLA to pursue a Certificate in College Counseling. However, Carol’s passion for Higher Education began much earlier. 


As an IEC-Credentialed Professional Consultant, Carol Also Brings Invaluable Personal Experience and Perspective to Higher Education

Carol was heavily influenced growing up the daughter of a medical school professor in a home in which her parents instilled a "college-going culture." The expectation that she and her siblings would go to college was subtle, not intentional or outspoken. For Carol and her siblings, the University was like an extension of their backyard. Her parents were dedicated to enhancing the student experience on and off campus, from her father’s pivotal role in improving the medical school curriculum to her mother’s support of the medical faculty and her insistence that any student who was unable to go home for the holidays be invited to spend that time at the home of Carol’s family. Both parents were compassionate, talented mentors who were highly respected by students and faculty alike. Through their example, Carol developed special insight into the value of higher education and how positively transformative it can be. 


Carol Visits College Campuses Regularly 

Carol brings to her practice a broad knowledge of colleges and universities across the U.S., developed from spending time visiting (and often revisiting) college campuses since childhood. On campus, she not only seeks first-hand information about a school’s newest buildings and programs, but also takes the time to talk with students, professors, and admissions "reps" to get that intangible "vibe" that is unique to each school. Carol considers actual campus visits to be one of the most important factors helping to identify best college "matches" specific to each of her students, based on academic, personal, social, and community preferences. 


Carol Has Been Recognized for her Exceptional Writing Skills (an Essential Consideration When Hiring an IEC)

Carol believes that among the personal skills she brings to the table in guiding college applicants, writing is among the most important. Carol began authoring original stories in the 3rd grade, and continued to develop her natural writing abilities throughout college. In both her junior and senior years at the University of Michigan, she won multiple nationally prestigious and University-wide writing awards. 


The College Essay today is more important than it has EVER been, and therefore it is crucial to hire an IEC who excels in mentoring students in the College Essay writing. Carol guides her students through an interactive process of self-discovery that enables them to choose and craft a well written compelling essay that showcases their uniqueness, values, and experiences they will share with their future college community.

Carols Education

  • Certificate in College Counseling, with Distinction, UCLAext.
  • Bachelor's Degree in English, University of Michigan Honors College, High Honors
  • University's first Honors Concentration in Children’s Literature.
  • Two time consecutive Winner of the Hopwood Award for Creative Writing
  • Virginia Voss Senior Women's Writing Award. 
  • Case Western Reserve University School of Law
  • The Law Review
  • Judicial Clerk, Ohio Court of Appeals
  • Litigation Attorney, national law firm
  • Education-focused nonprofit work

Ethics are crucial to Carol

In the wake of the "Operations Varsity Blues" in 2019 scandal, a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions at several elite universities, it is imperative that both the general public, and, in particular, parents and students looking to hire an IEC, understand that the field of college counseling does, in fact, have professional national organizations that publish detailed standards of "Principles of Good Practice," in other words, codes of ethics are required and adhered to by the vast majority of college counselors (both school counselors and IECs). There is nothing Carol takes more seriously than acting with honesty, transparency, and integrity in everything she does, every day.

Memberships & Afflilations

We'll find the right path for you.

With stress-free guidance, we find colleges that meet your personal preferences and needs.

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