NextStep: School Selection, LLC

We have two children, spaced four years apart, each with their own learning style, social needs and extracurricular interests. Since our public school would require a 40-​minute one-​way commute, we had ruled public schools out for our oldest child. But Christine knew of a public school (in our district) located closer to us with a wonderful international baccalaureate program that suited our daughter, and she was able to transfer into that school instead. Without Christine, we would never have known about this option. Christine took the time to get to know each of our children and us as a family. Four years later, when our youngest reached high school age, Christine helped us to consider high school options (both public and private) that were suitable for him. I was impressed with how well she listened to our son, carefully hearing what was important to him. Our son ended up applying to only two schools: the public school where our daughter attended, and a private boys’ school which was his first choice. Christine stays on top of all of the schools in the area. She is professional, kind, competent and thorough. I highly recommend her.

We had an excellent experience working with Christine on high school placement for our daughter. She was insightful, informative and very organized. Fantastic all around!

We had a wonderful experience working with Christine during the high school selection process. Christine is extremely knowledgeable about high school options and the independent school admissions process, and she puts in significant time and effort to stay current and connected in her field. She is very personable, supportive, and responsive and takes the time to get to know each student and family. She listens closely and directly addresses the individual needs and interests of each child. She provides practical advice based on her extensive knowledge and years of experience and helped us to navigate several situations specific to our circumstances. I totally disagree with the reviewer who said that Christine tries to sell families on boarding school. Within the first 10 minutes of meeting with her she recognized that boarding school would not be a good option for our child and it was never mentioned again. I cannot recommend Christine highly enough and only wish that she also consulted on college admissions!

We were extremely pleased with the service offered by Christine Southgate in our search for a private high school this past year. Her knowledge is extensive and she was so helpful in guiding our navigation of this stressful process. The competition for a place in a private high school, in the Bay Area, is fierce and she is great at calming your fears and steering you in the right direction. I suggest going in prepared. We had spent some time visiting the open houses a year earlier than required. We were able to give her the names of the schools that our son was interested in visiting. She asked about public school and boarding school at our initial meeting. We made it clear that we did not want to look at either option. She suggested a few more schools that did not initially interest us. We told her why we were not interested and she convinced us to consider two of the three. We did let him try out at two of them. He only agreed to applying to one of the two. She gave great feedback on his essays. She helped him with practicing for his interviews. She is good at pinpointing your child’s talents and gives advice on how to present your child to the school to make the most of highlighting your child’s talent. We felt we knew about each school but her years of dealing with the various admissions departments have given her insight into the nuances of each school’s admission process and the schools in general. We were thrilled when our son was admitted to more than just his first choice and wait listed at his bottom two choices. In the fall he will be starting high school at his first choice school. We are grateful for her assistance.

I have the utmost respect for Christine Southgate and I highly recommend her professional services! The private high school search in the Bay Area can be emotionally overwhelming and I’m deeply grateful to have had Christine as a resource for both of our kids. She’s not only familiar with the Bay Area schools as a professional consultant but she has personal experience as a parent of 3 children. (Her kids attended Keys School, Menlo School, Woodside Priory and Castilleja.)She has served on school committees as a reader for school applications and she has professional and personal relationships with many of the schools in the Bay Area. We found there wasn’t anything we couldn’t ask about our options.
Christine knows first hand what it’s like to be on the other end of the application process and her valuable insights really helped my daughter and son to better represent themselves and to help find the best school options depending on their interests, pursuits, priorities and temperament. She is a deep listener and really pays attention to how your child and family would be better served in finding the best fit.
Since Bay Area private schools are very competitive, Christine provides a comprehensive set of recommendations to all private, public and boarding schools to support any type of student. Christine is a huge supporter of each and every kid and provides objective and honest feedback to increase each student’s chances of success. I know that our experience with Christine has been shared by many of our friends who have also benefited from Christine’s valuable services. If you’re looking for guidance in your child’s private school search then Christine is the person to call!

As a middle school administrator, I have had the pleasure of working with Christine Southgate for over eight years. She is an impeccable professional who works tirelessly to provide the best information to families and help them make the right fit school selection. She has counseled numerous families on the best options for their children and works closely with both public and independent day and boarding schools to help families learn about and find the right match for them.
When I made a career transition and temporarily stepped out of school administration, I knew of no one better to continue guiding families through this difficult journey than Christine. She brought a deep knowledge of the school counseling process and a professional, honest and caring approach to the experience. She raised the level of service and guidance to new heights and provided families with all the support and information necessary.
Having recently returned to school administration, she was the first person I looked to for counsel and support and continues to provide balanced, thoughtful and clear guidance to me and all the families she works with.
I cannot recommend her highly enough for her professionalism, poise, and personal approach to the school selection process.

If you are considering any other school for your child but a boarding school you better stay away from this aggressive boarding schools sales person. Your time, money and effort would be wasted if you don’t. If you want you child to go exclusively to a boarding school Christina Southgate possibly is a go to person.
In an hour long individual meeting with me and my kid Ms. Southgate discussed what schools we are interested in. From the very start both me and my child were very clear that boarding schools were completely out of question. She still kept bringing up boarding schools as an option to look at. We had to repeatedly ask her to focus on what we need and what we came to see her for instead of promoting her agenda.
When after the meeting she sent a «follow up» email I was appalled to learn that in Ms. Southgate’s opinion we were still considering boarding schools. She suggested to prepare for a test that is accepted at boarding schools instead of a regular test for day schools and strongly encouraged us to come for a presentation made by an East Coast boarding school. In the end of this follow up email there was a list that included 5 recommended boarding schools.
This was Ms. Southgate’s takeaway from an hour long meeting and how NextStep LLC «helped» us to find a school.
When asked what she meant by this sales pitch for boarding schools Ms. Southgate responded saying that we got confused her during the meeting.
I consider this highly disrespectful to a client to spend an hour of client’s time to ignore everything she has been told during an hour long meeting and instead go on with pushing her boarding schools agenda.
I am still at a loss how an educational consultant that claims she has a degree in psychology after an hour of individual meeting with a family where she has been told many times what schools we considered and what schools were out of question (and that included boarding schools for sure) could have remained so «confused».
Again if boarding school is what you are looking for your kid NextStep LLC could be a place to go (but I am not making this representation), but if you consider any other type of schools go elsewhere or even better do your own research, it is easy these days with so much info available on the internet. This would be better use of your time, would cost less money and, last but not the least, would spare you of having to deal with another situation of unwanted, unsolicited and really annoying sales pressure.