Personalized college counseling services for dreamers.

Maximizing Potential, Minimizing Stress

Lodestar’s premier all-in-one counseling helps students optimize their high school years, stand out to colleges, and set up a successful future.

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Comprehensive Counseling 9-11

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Senior Year College Applications

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College Essay Development and Review

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Comprehensive Counseling 9-11 | Senior Year College Applications | College Essay Development and Review |

Hello,

I’m Maia, Lodestar’s Founder.

My name is Maia. I am a Stanford University graduate. I have a Ph.D. in English from UC Irvine and a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA. My former students attend Ivy Leagues, highly ranked private universities, top liberal arts colleges, UCs, and other public and private universities across the United States and Canada.

More About Maia

Relax. You Can Do This.

Lodestar will simplify the college admissions process, elevate your applications, and empower you along the path to college.

Eliminate Worry

Replace everyday anxiety for you and your family with structured, all-encompassing support.

Dedicated Attention

Your college admissions journey is unique. Receive the dedicated, in-depth support you deserve.

Adaptable Support

Lodestar considers every budget, aspiration, and personal need to provide premium counseling services.

UC Expertise

Benefit from working with a former UC application reader and seasoned college counselor.

Why Lodestar?

“Maia was a guiding light during a very stressful experience, and I am so grateful I had her to help me. Maia was super encouraging and kind, very honest, and knew what she was doing. I got the experience of a phenomenal and professional college counselor, while also having someone who cared about me to guide me through a stressful experience.”

Lindsay R.
"I absolutely loved my experience with Maia. She helped me throughout the application process ensuring that everything I needed to be successful was available for me. I genuinely felt as if she was involved and cared for my success and I am incredibly grateful for the support that I received along the way."

Kevin Z.
"Working with Maia has not only been helpful but also enjoyable. Her expertise and experiences in the whole process really put me at ease as she guided me through the whole process. In addition to Maia's excellent college essay feedback and brainstorming, her affable personality made going through the whole college application process less daunting and intimidating."

Tim C.
“I first discovered Maia through her videos on drafting, writing, and editing UC Essays. I was blown away by how she broke down the process of writing UC Essays into simple steps that anyone could understand and follow. All the counsellors I’d encountered until then had made the process so complex. Using her guidelines, my daughter selected four questions to answer and wrote her essays, but we decided that we really wanted Maia to edit them as we valued her perspective. We weren’t disappointed. At the end my daughter had a set of essays that reflected her talents and personality as well as possible. But more importantly, thanks to Maia’s sensitive and positive encouragement, the whole process helped build my daughter’s confidence and faith in her own abilities. I’m so grateful that we found Maia in the sea of overwhelming college application information.”

Jane P.
"Maia is an experienced college counselor; she is well organized and reliable with timely followups which most counselors lack. She quickly established a good rapport with my son and earned his trust. He is not someone who can be pleased easily and will look up to only those who have deep knowledge and experience to guide him, so this was a big relief for me as a parent. Maia brainstormed the essay topics with my son and made him a confident essay writer. Thank you, Maia, for all your help."

Nandhini S.

Subscribe to Maia’s YouTube channel today for free college admissions advice and information on all things college admission. With 52,000+ views, Lodestar’s YouTube has become a go-to source for expert admissions help with videos on the University of California Personal Insight Questions, the Common App essays, college research, list building, and more!