College
Consulting

Barbara Sarullo has presented workshops on a variety of college counseling issues with senior admission officers from all eight Ivy League schools, as well as representatives from Big Ten schools and colleges and state universities at every level of selectivity from across the country. She conducts workshops at the state and local level as well, served for many years as a delegate to the College Board, and is a past-president of the Westchester/Putnam/Rockland Counseling Association.

After 23 years at Scarsdale High School, working as Director of Counseling after serving as a Dean of Students, she became the Director of College Counseling at the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester.

Through her years in counseling, she has formed close relationships with countless college admission professionals.

Her intimate knowledge of high schools serves as a conduit for ushering students to higher education.

While employed as an administrator in public and
private high schools, Barbara also worked privately
with a small number of college-bound students each year. She now works exclusively as an independent educational consultant, primarily with high school students but also with those seeking transfer and graduate admission.

She has helped thousands of students find the right college and has worked with families locally, nationally, and as far away as Taiwan and New Zealand. Barbara
has been quoted in articles related to college admission in such publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic Monthly and the Gannett newspapers. She was also featured in a PBS special,
Japan in America.

Nick Kourabas has been helping students navigate the college admission process for over thirty years. As a counselor and department chair at Mamaroneck High School, Associate Director (working alongside Barbara Sarullo) and then Director of College Counseling at Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, as well as an international affiliation, Nick has aided over a thousand students with every aspect of the college application process.  He has been associated with Future Step College Consulting almost from its inception.

Nick has presented workshops at national and local counseling events and has served as a consultant to the counseling departments of several Westchester, NY, school districts, to assist them in developing and enriching their college counseling programs.  He has also mentored many counselors throughout his career, refining their skills and knowledge base about college counseling.This included teaching group counseling techniques to graduate students at the College of New Rochelle for four years.

Nick keeps abreast with trends and relationships in the college admission field through several professional organizations of which he is a member.

Above all, Nick enjoys connecting with students and supporting them as they tackle all the tasks associated with applying to college. From list making, to strategizing, to essay writing and editing, Nick helps students create a logical plan and execute it at every step along the way.  He is also adept at reducing the stress associated with applying to college and allowing students and their families to discover the joy in the process.  Nick acknowledges that the college application process can be stressful, but that it can also be a time for students to engage in real self-discovery and for students and parents to connect with each other in new ways.

Nick holds dual NYS certifications in English and School Counseling.

A college education is a passport to a brighter future and Future Step helps students get there. Every student who has worked with Future Step has been accepted to college.

College placement is often described as about “fit,” but what exactly does that mean? Future Step sees “fit” as embracing an array of schools where students will not only be accepted, but will flourish.

Fit has to do with matching students’ accomplishments, interests, talents, needs and desires with schools that match the criteria they are seeking.

Future Step provides real information about opportunities available and maximizes students’ success in college placement.

There is much hype surrounding the admission
process, media-driven and intensified by the
competitive atmosphere of the high schools students attend. This hype ratchets up the stress level and often puts unrealistic expectations on students, making
college application harder than it should be. Future Step demystifies the process, untangles the myths and helps students make all of their dreams come true.