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About Me

Circa 2016-- Where do I start? It's been a loooooooonnnnnnggg time since I went to college and so much has changed. How do I best help my kids? I don't want to do everything for them, but the risk of making a bad decision is massive and could severely impact their future employment and personal options. And by the way, how am I going to handle three kids in high school simultaneously? Ack!!!

Does any of this sound familiar?

If so, welcome to Uncommon College Guide and the College Bound Foundations course, designed to inform and inspire parents to team with their kids through the college admissions process.

First, a bit about me...

I was born and raised in Baltimore, but have lived in Minnesota for more than 25 years, where I have raised three pretty cool young adults. My day jobs have included officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy, public school teacher, stay-at-home mom, medical device corporate worker, and U.S. government contractor. 

The most important thing you need to know is I have a huge heart for service, and this website and associated products and services are a natural extension of my desire to serve others and share what I have learned helping my kids through the college admissions process.

My three 21-24 year olds have very different aptitudes and interests, so I was fortunate to enjoy a variety of adult friends through the kids' school activities. Pre-Covid, in many conversations in school lobbies, auditoriums, and stadiums, the most common responses when talking to parents about college admissions process experiences with their kids are eye rolls, shrugs, head shakes, or big sighs. Sometimes all at once!

My 15 minute claim to fame as a helicopter pilot came in 1991 helping evacuate Kurdish refugees from Northern Iraq. This picture was taken by Air Force Staff SGT John K. Goss and was on the inside front cover of the September, 1991 All Hands magazine, published by the U.S. Navy.

I believe I avoided most of the stress of college admissions with my kids because I was determined to focus on making the process a time to bond and to help each find great schools to continue their education, but decidedly NOT to do everything for them. By providing them autonomy and allowing for the natural transition of roles, they each owned their process and ultimate decision. I provided the support, encouragement, guardrails, and hopefully a little wisdom.

It has not always been easy, but without a doubt worth it as my oldest two are now gainfully employed recent college graduates with no student debt. They each ended up at a terrific private college in the midwest at around 2/3s the cost of an in-state public university after scholarships and grants. Yes, they ended up at the same school, but came at it from entirely different means and processes. A story for another time…


Meanwhile, my youngest, after a gap year interrupted, like everyone else, by Covid, is currently in her sophomore year at the U.S. Naval Academy. 

Uncommon College Guide was created to make your life easier during one of the most challenging times in the life of your family. I firmly believe that families can not only survive this stage, but thrive through it, and I believe in almost all cases parents are in the best position to help their kids through the process to select a great fit school. The site contents and products offered have morphed over the past few years, but I recently created and released the College Bound Foundations course to answer the age-old question- Where do I start?. The course takes a deep dive into the three pillars of a successful college admissions process: Conversations, The Search, and Covering the Costs, and helps parents and teens work together to identify great fit schools. Great fits academically, culturally, AND financially. It's the course I wish I had when my oldest started the process several years ago, and it's the result of hard-won wisdom after shepherding three very different kids to finding their great fit schools. Find out more HERE.

I wish you all the best as you take this journey with your teen.

Thanks for trusting me to help.

Margie Binder

margie@uncommoncollegeguide.com

If you'd like to know the story behind Why Uncommon? Please check out this page here.

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