We enlisted the help of Riley Baker Educational Consulting during my daughter's freshman year in high school. From the beginning, we were so impressed with how thorough both Matt and Stacey were, and, their ability to communicate all of their knowledge about many colleges and universities. Because of my daughter's interest in journalism, she gravitated toward Stacey, and worked with her for the next 3+ years. Stacey was extremely thorough in her discussions, and was genuinely interested in my daughter's interests and concerns. Stacey's personality is warm, caring and kind. As my daughter began to narrow her search, Stacey was tremendous in helping her edit her essays as needed, while still allowing my daughter to convey her own thoughts and ideas. Overall, we had a very positive experience with Riley Baker and would highly recommend them.

We started working with Riley Baker after my daughter's freshman year of high school. After meeting with them, my husband, my daughter and I were immediately impressed with their organized strategy and individual care. We worked more with Matt, however Stacy was also extremely helpful reading and editing my daughter's essays. Matt pointed us in directions that we never would have gone and encouraged my daughter to spread her horizons and become more involved in programs. He helped her find ways that she could take on leadership roles and distinguish herself when it came time to apply. He was always honest about where he could see her, which was invaluable. Further, Matt is such a warm person. He is calm and never seems to be stressed out, which makes the entire process much more enjoyable. He managed to calm my daughter down, even though she was going through an extremely stressful and busy time. They read each of her essays numerous times, and were meticulous in their corrections, and brought out some of her best writing. Matt is realistic and never withholds his true opinion. My daughter was accepted early decision to her first choice school, and we could not have done it without Matt and Stacy's help.

We used Riley Baker as college counselors for our son, who is graduating from New Trier in May. I can not say enough about how great Matt Baker was. My son has been accepted to all of the colleges that he applied to. The essay writing and application help, along with the gentle encouragement that our son received throughout this process was invaluable. My husband and I were completely out of the equation. If we had relied solely on the counselors at NT, there is no way that our son would have been accepted to his first choice school. Riley Baker definitely knows how to make the most out of each applicant. They are responsive and proactive. We will be using them again for our other children.