Nate Reineke (00:12)
Hello, physician moms and dads. I'm Nate Renneke, Certified Financial Planner and Primary Advisor.
W. Ben Utley (00:18)
And I'm Ben Ali, Certified Financial Planner and the Service Team Leader here at Physician Family Financial Advisors. Today we have a special guest. Her name is Lori Crone. She is of Anderson and Crone College Admissions Advising. Now, before we get into it with her, I want to tell you my own personal story about my beloved children and their experience going to college. So I have two daughters. One's older, one's younger. My older daughter, β
chose a college admissions counselor and had a great experience. It was formative to her ability to get into the school that she want, to match the school, and to just to get all the support that went through the process of coming on board. A couple years later, my younger daughter went and saw that same college admissions counselor and had a dreadful experience. Because college admission counselors are different, and the fit between the college admissions counselor and the child is important.
Most parents, myself was included, think that, you you hire a college admissions advisor and you're going to be working with them. But that's wrong. When it works well, it's the college admissions advisor working with your child slash student. So β we found another college admissions advisor that was a perfect match for my younger daughter. And that is the woman who's on the show today. Lori, welcome.
Lorry Krone (01:43)
Thank you. Glad to be here.
Nate Reineke (01:46)
So Lori, I've heard about β you for years now, because Ben always refers to his experience with you. Can you tell β the listeners just a little bit more about yourself, maybe your background and how you got to where you are today?
Lorry Krone (01:59)
β I actually went to school and have a degree, a master's degree in psychology. My degree is community psychology and counseling. β I have 33 at least years of experience in child welfare. I was a family therapist. My identified client was usually a teenager and I worked with their families, did a lot of family therapy. β And that was in New York, a lot of it. Some of it, then I moved to California and when I moved here,
In child welfare, still have a child welfare job and I love my job, but in my particular job, I don't have one-to-one β contact with teenagers and families anymore. It's a little bit more behind the scenes and I really miss that. And at that same time, my good friend, Anderson of Anderson and Crone was getting certified to be a college admission counselor. And we would talk a lot about fit and,
how wonderful it is to help a family and a kid through the college admission process and finding the fit, the right school. β It just checked a lot of boxes off for me, so I went back to Berkeley and got certified to be a college admission counselor.
Nate Reineke (03:05)
Mm-hmm.
Wow, how long ago was that?
Lorry Krone (03:17)
Um, I believe my certification was in 2012 or 2013. Yeah. So it's been a couple years, a lot of Yeah.
Nate Reineke (03:22)
Wow, that's great. Yeah, that's fantastic. Okay, well, β we have some questions for you
W. Ben Utley (03:23)
Mm hmm.
Nate Reineke (03:32)
and β I am already getting the college questions and we're almost in August. β I'm already getting college questions from physician families. They β tend to feel a bit lost, much like anybody going through this experience for the first time.
And β I tend to get questions β or really β what I would describe as feeling defeated before they've started. And I think that is because they just think, you know, I'm a physician, I make a really great salary, we kind of just need to apply. I feel and hearing Ben's stories, I think that they are sorely mistaken. So I'm hoping to clear some of that up today. β
W. Ben Utley (04:02)
Okay.
Lorry Krone (04:17)
Sounds great.
Nate Reineke (04:19)
So my first question, what are some key strategies that physician families can employ really early on β for their child's college admission, β even if they maybe can't spend a ton of time on it? So first is what can they do and when should they start doing it?
Lorry Krone (04:37)
Okay. β in some ways it's never too early to start. So I always recommend, β that you read to your kids from a really young age, make them readers. It's the key to success in a lot of careers. It's going to be helpful in school, no matter what grade they're in. β so read to them when they're babies, read with them when they get older and work on reading comprehension.
W. Ben Utley (04:40)
Okay.
Nate Reineke (04:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Lorry Krone (05:06)
understanding what they're reading. So that's just some like super duper basic stuff. β Other things are encouraging their passions, let them explore what interests them. So parents sometimes get freaked out that their kids are jumping from one thing to another. It's okay. I mean, their head is sort of in the right way because a lot of... β
Nate Reineke (05:12)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (05:31)
Colleges are looking for kids who want to be involved in things and add something to their campus. So they're looking for kids who have a passion, right? And that's an overused word these days. It's about depth, not breadth. So while jumping and finding the thing that you're interested in is useful, letting a kid go down a path, something you think may not be the best thing for college admissions is useful.
Nate Reineke (05:59)
Hmm.
Lorry Krone (05:59)
that
showing that passion that they're really interested in and making them talk about why they love it so much, whether it's ballet or learning a second language or traveling, doesn't matter, soccer, but encouraging the passions. β Making them enjoy learning in general, I think is super helpful. So those are basic, super basic things.
W. Ben Utley (06:01)
So, thank
Nate Reineke (06:12)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (06:25)
I would say when kids get older, if they have an affinity towards the STEM
area, keeping them on track in math is super helpful β and sciences, obviously, and maybe looking for outside β ways to fulfill, you know, their want for knowledge. So camps β in high school opportunities to shadow people doing a job they think they might want to do.
Nate Reineke (06:52)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (06:55)
taking when you're getting into high school dual enrollment in college courses, all of those kinds of things.
W. Ben Utley (06:59)
So,
Lorry Krone (07:00)
Super helpful.
Nate Reineke (07:01)
Mm-hmm. Wow.
W. Ben Utley (07:03)
Micro micro story here. β My wife has read the entirety of the Harry Potter series three times. The first time for her own pleasure. The second time for my first daughter and the third time for my second daughter. And they're both avid readers and pro tip for reading acquisition. You don't have to read your kids Dick and Jane. You can read them your medical
β your medical stuff that you're reading you can read them anything because language acquisition is language acquisition they're learn from you talking and they'll learn from what you read so as long as you're reading out loud or even listening to an audio book set them down in your lap and and get rolling because they're they're listening even if they're not quite grasping everything
Nate Reineke (07:46)
Hmm.
Lorry Krone (07:49)
Absolutely. And the other on the flip side of that is if your child is interested in books, even my husband always tells the story his mom would get angry when he read comic books. It's still beating. It's still gaining knowledge and, you know, listening to a story from beginning to end.
W. Ben Utley (08:00)
Yeah.
Nate Reineke (08:01)
Mm-hmm.
W. Ben Utley (08:07)
Is comic books are the gateway to the STEM field, know, the gateway book. Yeah. Yeah.
Nate Reineke (08:10)
Thanks
Lorry Krone (08:11)
Well that makes sense.
Nate Reineke (08:14)
You
know, so I have young children, five and seven, and my seven-year-old has some audio books. And I sort of felt like, man, when are we going to start reading real books? So we would read, you know, I'd read to him and I'd try to get him to read his own books. It was a little intimidating a couple of years ago. And I walk by his room now and sometimes he's reading, sometimes he's listening, sometimes he's reading and listening. So I thought, man, I was putting all this pressure on myself to actually,
W. Ben Utley (08:38)
β
Nate Reineke (08:42)
read the old-fashioned way and it's working itself out.
W. Ben Utley (08:46)
So,
Nate, that last question you asked about like what to do and when to do it was the was the original gist of that kind of like around college admissions or do we have like a do we have a question like that coming up?
Nate Reineke (08:58)
β It was actually around college admissions, although I loved Lori's answer. β moving forward a little bit, Lori, like when we get into high school, β how early should you start preparing for actual β college admissions?
W. Ben Utley (09:03)
Same. β
Lorry Krone (09:13)
I feel like the answer to that is really like you're sort of always applying, you're sort of always working towards it. More in, like I talked about the math, like you have to stay on track for certain things, or you should try to stay on track, especially if you want to go in the STEM field or engineering, you know, it's STEM. you, but actually doing the work with a college admission counselor, I don't love to take freshmen, honestly. I feel like freshman year, you should be being a freshman.
W. Ben Utley (09:28)
So, I'm going to start the first
Nate Reineke (09:30)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (09:41)
β And even my sophomores, I meet with them one time. β I meet with them one time, we go over what I call their activities list. β And it's all everything they do when they're not in school or doing schoolwork. β I kind of try to see if I see any holes. A big thing I think that's helpful for college admissions is giving back to the community. β That goes back to what else you can do to prepare. I think you should be modeling that for your kids.
giving back to the community and that could be any community. It could be your church community. It could be your family community. It could be your school community. It could be the state, the county, whatever you wanna give back to. β so anyway, high school kids, I'm looking at their resume, their activities listed and seeing if I see holes, know, hey, is there a way you could give back? Are you interested in fixing a problem that you see somewhere in school, at your church, you know, in the community, the greater community? β
Nate Reineke (10:38)
Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (10:39)
So maybe
maybe another way to look at this would be like when are you bordering on too late?
Lorry Krone (10:46)
β well, too late. β
W. Ben Utley (10:50)
Would that be like Christmas of their junior year as you're bordering on too late? No, okay
Lorry Krone (10:53)
No, no,
for sure not. Senior year is late. We can't make many changes, right? We can't add anything. So it's still gonna be helpful. I just took a senior yesterday, happy to help that kid do essays and that kind of stuff. But I can't say, hey, you I wish you did a little more giving back to the community or it's too late to fill in those things. So I like to say, you know,
W. Ben Utley (11:10)
Mm-hmm.
Nate Reineke (11:15)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (11:18)
After sophomore year, you're kind of shutting doors, you're closing off opportunities, but it's not even too late up to senior year. There's still going to be some benefit to working with somebody, but you have more options if you start earlier. And I start really, really working with my students actually January of their junior year.
W. Ben Utley (11:24)
Mm-hmm
Nate Reineke (11:26)
Mm-hmm.
W. Ben Utley (11:39)
Nice. So I, you know, I had an experience with this with both of my kids, β of course, going, going all the way through and they wound up, okay. You know, they went up on a school, but you know, if we went to LA, we would drive through the UCLA campus. You know, if we went to Texas, we might walk the TCU campus. Right. So, β this may not be true for all parents, but most of our listeners, parents are driven.
Just driven. mean, they're doctors, right? You have to be driven to get to where you got. β I'm driven too. And what I found is that I kind of burned my kids out on the college conversation, β talked about it too much, too early, too intensely, too often. I have a lot of regrets around that. β did a little damage to my, β relationship with them such that when it came time for college in earnest, my kids were a little bit like, golly, I can't believe I still got to do this.
So do you see that very often or is this just a Ben Utley screw up?
Lorry Krone (12:41)
No, I do totally see that happen, especially with the more type A parent, let's say. And some of it just comes from excitement and enthusiasm, right? You don't want to mess it up for them, right? So taking them to visit schools lightly and just discussing it isn't the worst thing in the world, honestly. I I really encourage families and kids to get on all kinds of campuses, and that just takes a lot of time. So sometimes,
W. Ben Utley (12:47)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Lorry Krone (13:11)
it's better received by the student if I say it. Like I want you to start getting on some big public school campuses, some small liberal arts campuses, just anywhere, you know? β Yeah. but I will, you know, talking about college all the time in the house, they're getting a lot of, hearing a lot of chatter at school often. I do think sometimes it adds to the stress. β And it's one of the things I always tell parents too is,
W. Ben Utley (13:14)
Mm-hmm.
Nate Reineke (13:14)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
That's good.
W. Ben Utley (13:33)
Yeah.
Lorry Krone (13:40)
Unfortunately, I think parents spread a lot of misinformation. β It's all well-meaning, but you hear things that cause anxiety and then you end up passing that anxiety on. So checking it past somebody, you know, like a certified college admission counselor, I think is always a pretty decent idea.
W. Ben Utley (13:52)
Yep.
Good.
Nate Reineke (14:01)
Yeah, okay. I want to talk about that misinformation in a bit. before I do, you... So beyond GPA and test scores, which you can imagine physician families are very... They're thinking about that a lot. What is the most impactful type of extracurricular activity that colleges value?
Lorry Krone (14:27)
Yeah, I mentioned some of them before. think shadowing or doing an internship. β If a student has a career they might possibly be interested in and they have the ability to do an internship or shadow, even if it turns out they don't like it, it's still information, right? Good information. β Even if...
Nate Reineke (14:47)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (14:51)
They're not sure it's a career they want to go into. That kind of stuff is awesome. And sometimes you can get those opportunities through your high school. Sometimes you have to just go find them yourself. I had a student two years ago now who really wanted to be a business major and she knew it was competitive. And she literally just cold called businesses. She wanted to do some marketing in San Francisco and got a place to take her on.
W. Ben Utley (15:12)
wow.
Lorry Krone (15:16)
And it started as like a couple hours a week internship and she was driving 40 minutes from
where she lives there β once a week after school. And she was a softball player too. β And she did that. And then it became a paid part-time position before she went to college. She had a paid part-time position in marketing. She did that all herself, no connections, anything. So that kind of stuff is awesome. β Dual enrollment.
W. Ben Utley (15:34)
Wow
Lorry Krone (15:44)
I think is super, super helpful. β That's showing a college that you already can do college level work. Take a community college class while you're in high school, over the summer, or even during the school year, in anything, pretty much. Just whatever you think you might be interested in. That kind of stuff shows them you can handle college level work. I know parents, if they have access to APs and regents classes and stuff like that, they think it's...
equal. It's not always considered equal by colleges. It just depends on the college, your major, but dual enrollment is college level work. So those are some things I think that are super helpful giving back to your community. Right. If you see a problem out there as a student or, you know, I had another student who noticed that a lot of elderly people in the
Nate Reineke (16:23)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (16:42)
rest home across the street from his high school seemed lonely, like they would sit outside and just wave across the street. So he created a volunteer program in his high school to go over there and visit and read books with them and do puzzles and stuff like that. He saw a problem, he went out and he fixed it in his community. Yeah.
Nate Reineke (16:47)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
W. Ben Utley (16:59)
Wow.
Nate Reineke (16:59)
Laurie, let
me ask you.
Is it the actual, β when they're seeing this problem, they're going to fix it or they're serving their community, is it to check a box somewhere or is it so that you can β experience it and be able to talk about it, like what you really went through?
Lorry Krone (17:17)
Right.
I mean, what do I see? I see a little of both. I see parents who definitely know that that's going to be something that's asked, so they have their kid do it. And it's obvious sort of on most applications if you did it just to check a box, because there are questions around it. Like, in what context did you see this problem? And what did you learn from it? That insight piece?
Nate Reineke (17:31)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (17:43)
And that's why I always encourage you to talk to your kids about what they're getting out of any activity they're doing. That insight is kind of the secret sauce.
Nate Reineke (17:46)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (17:52)
They can I can I jump in for a second? I
have a feeling I'm going to be the experience portion of today's show. My kid was interested in plants. Like plants like house plants, going to volunteering at the garden. These are things that she did of her own accord. I mean, I walked into her room one day and she gave me a tour of plants and she had 80 house plants in her room.
Nate Reineke (17:57)
Hehe.
Lorry Krone (18:04)
you
W. Ben Utley (18:15)
Some from cutting, some from seed, some from friends, some from, you know, Saturday market. They come from everywhere. And she could tell me the story of all those plants and, know, she had volunteered at the community garden, growing organic food. β so did she have something to tell the school about community activity? Absolutely. But, but when it came time to write the essays, the really important essays, β did she have the material? Huge, huge book.
Nate Reineke (18:38)
Yeah.
Right.
W. Ben Utley (18:44)
She had lessons that she had learned as a captain of her volleyball group. And she played volleyball for, I don't know, four or five years or something like that had really gone into the things that she loved that she was just crazy about. And we didn't push her, you know, we didn't push her to volleyball. β we didn't push her into plants. just, the best way I've heard it is sad is, β when Michelangelo carved the David and he selected this piece of career marble, he didn't say I'm going to carve that marble into David.
He said, in that stone is David. And I'm going to carve away everything that's not David until David emerges. And I'm, my philosophy about parenting is that if we're, if we're parenting correctly, we are uncovering the child that's in there rather than shaping the child just by letting them do what they're interested in and, β to pursue those making air quotes passions, you know, but, do the thing that they love. Cause there's going to be a place for someone in this world.
Nate Reineke (19:38)
Mm-hmm.
W. Ben Utley (19:42)
who is crazy about something and goes all the way into it and helps other people.
Nate Reineke (19:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay.
Lorry Krone (19:48)
It is, it's
about finding the thing that they're passionate about because that is what they're going to be able to write about. And sometimes parents really try to guide that passion to something they think is going to be useful and it doesn't work. You've got to let the kid find their thing and it honestly doesn't matter what it is.
W. Ben Utley (19:53)
You bet.
Nate Reineke (20:01)
Mm.
That's important. Okay, so we're gonna get to these misconceptions. So what are some common misconceptions or pitfalls that these high achieving families, like the families we serve are all physicians, what are some of the mistakes that they make and ideas that they have that you have said β may not be true as misinformation?
Lorry Krone (20:30)
β I think just really thinking a kid isn't going to be successful unless they go to a brand name or prestigious school is a big one. I like to remind parents, kids, there are 4,000 schools in the United States. There, first of all, is not just one perfect school for you. There is way more than one perfect school for you because we talk a lot about fit and I don't want them to think that fit is one school.
Nate Reineke (20:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Lorry Krone (20:58)
When it comes to brand and prestige too, β you know, it's not where you go, it's what you do with your education. There's gonna be opportunities at pretty much any school. You have to find a place that you're gonna learn and grow at, that you're gonna be happy. β Also, it's not carved in stone that you stay at a school. So if you do find a school that you like and you end up going there and... β
It doesn't work out. You can always transfer. So it doesn't have to be this high pressure. got to find the right place. I think another pitfall is either is standardized test scores and how they're treated. This can be a lot of pressure to get like that perfect score and retesting and spending a lot of time, you know, with a tutor over and over and over again. And
Nate Reineke (21:43)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (21:49)
In general, I don't find that to be super important. If you do want to go to some prestigious schools or schools in certain states, you do have to have a test score. We're moving away from that. It still is necessary. So I recommend kids take one or two standardized tests, but not spend a ton of time trying to get a better score on that test.
Nate Reineke (22:11)
Okay, you mentioned β kind of there could be a lot of good matches. How many schools do you have it narrowed down to by let's say junior year? Like how many, I get this all the time where I'm talking, I'm planning for college with a family and they have like two schools in their mind. And I'm thinking let's times that by 10, but what's the real number? what, yeah, right. Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (22:34)
And their kids in the first grade. not hashtag not kidding. Yeah.
Lorry Krone (22:36)
β It's one of my
least favorite kind of families is when they come to me and go, we all went to University of Michigan, my grandparents, my great grandparents. So they're going to go to University of I'm like, God, I hope so.
W. Ben Utley (22:50)
And these are the same,
these are the same households where there are two or three kids and they will tell you, my kids are so different, but they're all going to the same dang school. Right? mean, really.
Nate Reineke (22:58)
Yeah.
Lorry Krone (23:02)
So I always tell my kids, my students, a list for me is nine to 12 schools. And some parents laugh at me because they're like, oh no, they're applying to 20, 25. And I have to kinda, you know, I'm in California, I have a lot of kids who apply to the California system. And if two UCs end up on your list, but then when we're actually filling out the application, you check the box so the application goes to three more, okay. But I'm not counting them all in there.
Nate Reineke (23:14)
Mm.
W. Ben Utley (23:14)
Yes.
Nate Reineke (23:29)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (23:32)
But you should have nine to 12 schools. And that's how many my own, I have two kids who went through college, my own kids, my son applied to nine, my daughter maybe 10. β But the list should be, and this is what we work a lot on, β it should be broad. So I always say apply broadly. So don't just think just California. should look in some other places. You should look at...
Private schools, you should look at public schools. Money is a whole thing. Another misconception is that your local state school is always going to be the cheapest. Might be, might not be. Nine to 12 schools, and I'd say two schools that you're 75 % or more likely to get into. We used to call them safeties. We don't call them that anymore. They're likely schools.
Nate Reineke (24:20)
Hmm.
W. Ben Utley (24:20)
Okay.
Lorry Krone (24:21)
Two to
three reach schools, that's 25 % or less likely to get into.
And the rest, the five or six in the middle, are targets.
W. Ben Utley (24:32)
Yeah.
Nate Reineke (24:34)
So tell me
why, why 10 plus schools?
Lorry Krone (24:39)
β Options. So you have some options. There can be some years are horrible. We had a year, two years ago, where a lot of the public schools were kind of inundated with applications. It was during COVID actually. β And it seemed like nobody was getting in. I just want you to have options, options in terms of money, options in terms of major. So, you know, if you apply to, let's say 10 schools and you get into seven, you got some options out there.
W. Ben Utley (25:06)
Nate, I
Nate Reineke (25:07)
Good.
Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (25:07)
want to chime in here for a second.
You might begin this process with your child when they are starting their junior year, where you, you know, you get your college admissions counselor, you start to make your list, that kind of thing. But what I found as a parent and I've, I've had other parents that are in my cohort, tell me the same thing is that the junior year is a critical year for kind of the maturation or development of that student. Okay. Laurie, have you seen that where.
From the beginning of the junior year until the end of the junior years, there's this amazing change in that student. Incredible change. Right? So you, you start thinking, I'm going to have my kid go to a big state school or I'm going have my kid go to a small private liberal arts college. That may fit that kid at that moment, but nine months later, you're going to be dealing with an entirely different kid. And I've seen this over and over again. It's like, if you don't believe me, you know, think about your kid when they were in the first grade.
Lorry Krone (25:42)
Incredible change.
Nate Reineke (25:59)
Mm-hmm.
W. Ben Utley (26:06)
And then how they were in the third grade is the way I look at it. It's like, I had two kids, but I had 14 children. Cause they, they changed like seven times and there's a huge change in that junior year, such that by the time you, the money's on the table and you're, literally comparing side by side and you visited these schools. It may be a whole different kid. Right. So if you're just looking at two schools and they're both big state schools, you're not going to have a lot of options.
Nate Reineke (26:10)
Ha
Lorry Krone (26:10)
You
Nate Reineke (26:13)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Lorry Krone (26:32)
I
can tell my own story about this, parenting story. I did not do my own kids college admission counseling, and Anderson did my kids, I did her kids. We switched. Great way to do it, because I could text her all the time and say, hey, are you talking to them about this?
Nate Reineke (26:41)
Hehehe.
Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (26:46)
Will you tell them this thing that they won't hear from me?
Lorry Krone (26:48)
Exactly. So
Nate Reineke (26:48)
hehe
Lorry Krone (26:50)
my older, my first one, wanted to go to school for writing, whatever. She kept telling me she would go pretty much anywhere in the United States, but she wasn't really into a six hour plane ride. So even though New York is really, the East Coast is really familiar to her because we're from New York, she was like, I just don't want that big plane ride between me every time there's a vacation. Okay. So she builds her list.
W. Ben Utley (27:03)
Mm hmm.
Lorry Krone (27:17)
But I text Ann and I'm like, there's two schools I think are so good for her. One's in New York, one's in Boston. Please, please, please encourage her to put them on. So she did because Ann wanted her to. They were two of her like 10 schools. She said, no, no, I don't want, you know, to go to them. And I was fine with all that. We visited all schools and stuff. And then she got in to all of her colleges and you decide on May 1st of your senior year where you're going. Right.
have to decide by May 1st. In April, right before spring break, she said, I'm only considering two schools, one in New York and one in Boston. The two schools that I've, I was like, you're kidding me. And we hadn't done formal tours of those schools. So we had to get there in the
Nate Reineke (27:56)
You
W. Ben Utley (27:57)
Wow.
Nate Reineke (28:00)
You
Lorry Krone (28:05)
one week and go to both schools and check them out over spring break. I mean, it all worked out. She ended up going to school in Boston. She was super happy. And I have since told her the story that I
made those schools beyond her.
Nate Reineke (28:16)
haha
W. Ben Utley (28:17)
Okay,
so I want to jump in right now and tell a totally different story, but it's going to tie with what you just said. So my first child, we did the college admissions thing, like I said. My second kid was looking at some state schools and I was like, yeah, maybe we can.
Maybe we can do this. You know, I don't, I don't know if we need a college admissions counselor. This is where we had stumbled and realized that the first one wasn't a good fit. And we were really kind of like, what do do now? Right. β and so my daughter sat us down literally at our kitchen table and she said, mom and dad, you know, I know we can do this. I know you can do this. I know you can help me figure out how to get to college, but she says, when you come up the stairs and you approach my door, she said, I want to know that you're coming in as my mom and dad.
And you're checking on me and then it's not, you, have you done your college thing yet? She said, I don't want the entirety of the rest of our relationship during the time that I'm at home to be all about college. And that's why I want a college admissions counselor. She cared enough about our relationship that she knew that this could be disruptive. And, know, we have type A parents who are third generation college goers, some of them to Ivy leagues, they know how to work the system, but there's still, there's still value.
and having a college admissions counselor for the sake of that relationship. know, and even, you you clearly, you could do this on your own, but you had a friend do it for you. And, β you know, the results you got were the results that you needed. sometimes you can't tell your kids where to go or what to do or when to fill out the application. And it just takes another, another adult to do so.
Nate Reineke (29:40)
Yeah.
Good. Okay. I had a bunch more things I wanted to talk to you about, Laurie, but, maybe I'll have have you back on, but I have two burning questions. All right. These are straight from physicians' mouths. Okay. So first question, I want them to hear from you and not from me. All right. Just like, just like you were talking about. Should a physician family who makes, you know, a really great income, let's say $500,000 plus per year, should they fill out a FAFSA?
Lorry Krone (30:30)
I unequivocally say yes. So for two reasons. β There are times where that might not necessarily, but they're so small and few between. First of all, some schools will give out merit aid, aid just because they want your kid there, because they seem like a fabulous person based with they have to have the FAFSA. And there's some schools that just flat out require it.
Nate Reineke (30:43)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (30:59)
regardless of whether you're gonna get money or not. The second thing is I have seen situations go south for families, bad things happen, β like a parent pass away and a whole income being lost during the school year, and the school can't make an adjustment for you if that paperwork wasn't filled out before. So why not? So why not? It can.
W. Ben Utley (31:13)
Wow
Nate Reineke (31:19)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
W. Ben Utley (31:19)
wow. Wow.
Lorry Krone (31:24)
sadly in some ways help you. So some schools are need aware, some colleges are need aware, and you're more likely to get in if they have like five spaces left, you know, and they're need aware, they're going to give it to the family, they don't have to give any money to, they're going to admit that they don't have, you know, to pay out for. β
Nate Reineke (31:35)
Mm-hmm.
W. Ben Utley (31:39)
And it. β Yeah,
I want to jump in here and say for those folks that are maybe thinking I'll skip the FASA. I think the FASA has a bad brand because it has been such a pain in the butt to fill one those out over the years. But last year when we did it, it was.
Easy. was so slick. Easy. You know, just it's gotten better and better over time. And my experience with it has improved. So, β don't think people who hate paperwork should not fear the FAFSA. Yeah.
Lorry Krone (32:11)
Right. I agree with that.
And not only that, they're making it more focused towards the student filling it out. I definitely have students who are the ones filling it out. They used to do it in some of the high schools together, like as a group, kind of. And I recommend, you know, your kids should know some of that stuff. They have to learn about money, too.
W. Ben Utley (32:17)
Mm-hmm.
Nate Reineke (32:23)
Hmm.
W. Ben Utley (32:24)
Yeah.
Nate Reineke (32:32)
Okay.
W. Ben Utley (32:32)
And
woe to that family where this is their first financial conversation. Nate and Chelsea can help you out with that. You can start talking about money very early with your kiddos before they get their credit cards in college like I did. That's where I started to learn about the financial system. Yeah.
Nate Reineke (32:43)
You
Yeah,
Lorry Krone (32:48)
Me too, and my first purchase was a dog.
Nate Reineke (32:48)
we are.
W. Ben Utley (32:50)
β wow,
I cashed out an IRA to buy one so I'm right there with you.
Nate Reineke (32:56)
That's great. I got a credit card as well. think I think I was boring. got like gasoline or something
Okay, I have one more question and to be honest, Lori, I don't know if this is something you help with at all. if not, it's totally fine. But I got this question this week. The question was, is strategic asset placement still a thing?
W. Ben Utley (33:18)
β
Lorry Krone (33:18)
I don't do the financials at all, I have to admit. Yeah, I refer, there are people who specialize in college admissions and financials and I refer to them, yeah.
Nate Reineke (33:20)
Okay, no financials. Alright, that's on me then.
W. Ben Utley (33:21)
Okay.
Nate Reineke (33:29)
Okay, perfect. That's fine. All right, then I got one more.
W. Ben Utley (33:31)
Yeah, I think
the way they reshape the FAFSA, think it's not really all that necessary anymore. Yeah. Well, but she didn't say it. So, you know, the other thing to remember is that a lot of college admissions counselor, not college finance counselor, right? All the college admissions counselor I use, like we touched on money, like how much does the school cost? But in terms of paying for it, I mean,
Nate Reineke (33:37)
But Ben, I wanted Laurie to say it. β
Yes, yes.
W. Ben Utley (33:58)
I've never seen the College Admission Council this really giving a lot of guidance about that.
Nate Reineke (34:00)
Yeah.
Lorry Krone (34:02)
Yeah, there are people who specialize in that. And again, you
can have one session with some of them and they'll give you all the.
W. Ben Utley (34:10)
Maybe we've got to see if we can get some of them on the show. Okay, okay. We'll be making our guest roster out of these resources. Perfect.
Lorry Krone (34:13)
Yeah, I mean, have names for you if you want.
Nate Reineke (34:13)
Yeah.
Nice. All right, well then I have a backup question, Laurie. If you were at a dinner party and someone asked you about your job, what is one thing you'd want everyone to know?
Lorry Krone (34:31)
β One thing, I love it. I love helping kids feel less stressed about the college admission process, helping families, guide them through the process. And then along with that, I like everybody to know it's not a straight path always. It can be a different path, right? There's gap years. You can go to community college and then transfer to another college. It doesn't have to be a straight path. Also,
Nate Reineke (34:58)
Mm-hmm.
Lorry Krone (35:00)
for your college doesn't have to be for everybody. There's plenty of other things in the world that you can do. We all want our kids to be happy and be able to support themselves. I tell parents, keep that in your head. That's your goal for life, honestly. Yeah.
Nate Reineke (35:14)
Mm-hmm. That's great.
Well, thank you, Laurie. How can people reach you if they wanted to get in touch?
Lorry Krone (35:20)
Sure. Website β Anderson, A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N plus crone, Andersonandcrone.com or email me, lorichrone.com and it's L-O-R-R-Y-K-R-O-N-E at gmail.com.
W. Ben Utley (35:38)
And of course, we'll have that information in our show notes. guest today has been Laurie Crone of Anderson and Crone College Admissions Advising.
She's located in the Bay area of California. Of course, she serves clients all over the country. So if you are looking for that, reach out to Lori to touch base. If you're looking for a financial advisor, we're raising our hands. Visit physicianfamily.com. Click on get started and you'll get to interview with us. β If you're not ready for take that step, send us an email, send it to podcast at physicianfamily.com. Questions about college, questions about paying for college, questions about taxes, whatever you got, send it on to us.
Until next time, folks, remember, you're not just making a living, you're making a life.
