The overview
Trent and Heffernan, who were formerly educators in the Austin area, started CollegePros in 2023 to provide a range of services for students in selecting a career path, successfully finding and applying to colleges as well as receiving financial aid.
The Central Texas-based business helps alleviate pressure for families who may not have the time or resources to navigate the increasingly complicated college application process, Trent said.
The details
CollegePros supports high school students with:
- Student assessment for future academic or career path
- Strategic college match, exploration and analysis
- College essays
- College applications
- Academic resume
- SAT/ACT preparation
- Affordability and financial aid
- Scholarships
- College decision
Answers may have been edited or cut for style and clarity.
How should students get started in determining their future academic or career path?
If they've got the choice to take that math or a couple of foreign languages while they're in middle school, great, because it's going to give them more freedom ... to continue in some other classes that they might want that should be offered at the high school. One of the things that colleges like is longevity of an [extracurricular or academic] activity. Those volunteer hours [and] the community service are pretty big for the colleges. Looking for leadership is important. Let's talk about the difference between being a band member and a section leader, because there is going to be a scholarship question about leadership.
What are the most important components of a successful college application?
Making sure that everything is complete is extremely important on the applications, and making sure that you have expressed as many sides of you as you can in your essays. Show them what you value. Show them some of your identities. Are you a collaborator? Do you value honesty? Where did that come from? Let them know.
What factors should students consider when choosing a college?
Going to visit is a big deal. Do they want big, small or medium? Do they want rural or urban? Do they want an Ivy League? A lot of what we have to do on those is manage the expectations because the percentage is so small for getting into those schools. Do you want a place that's got great weekend activities on campus? There's so many different aspects that our students have to think about, and they haven't ever had to think about those things because they've been busy in high school. Then, what do you want to study?
How do you assist students who don't know what they want to pursue as a career?
We take a look at broad-based careers. They can go in undecided to several schools, so we take that into consideration when we're looking at their college list. Who's going to let them come in and experiment a little bit? When they're looking for a college, we really say, go visit the school. College fit is pretty important if you're going to be stuck there for four years.
What advice would you give to students who are in the class of 2026?
Colleges let you come in at different times. They have an early decision, which we never recommend. It's a binding contract. Early action is usually what we suggest. You want to get in when those admissions officers are still fresh, because they read thousands of these over the time period. So if you get your stuff in on Dec. 1 or Jan. 1, those poor admissions officers have been looking at stuff for a long time. They're fresher at the beginning. For some of our schools, it's important to get in early action if you want to have your best shot at getting a spot.
