About Mary and Stella Maris Education
Mary Whitcomb is the founder of Stella Maris Education. She has worked in college admissions counseling since 2009 and offers her clients the guidance, insight, and support necessary to navigate the college selection and application process. Mary is also an attorney with extensive writing and editing experience, as well as a meticulous eye for detail. She brings excellent Alternative Dispute Resolution skills to the admissions process, which helps her bridge the gaps and resolve the issues that can arise between students and parents. She provides this expertise to every student she works with.
While she was in law school in 2009, Mary began working for an educational services company in Boston’s Metro-West that specialized in college admissions counseling. In addition to general humanities tutoring, Mary focused on standardized test prep, college applications, and a LOT of admissions essay writing and editing.
In 2013, after a heartbreaking stint in indigent family law, Mary accepted a position as Director of Programming at the company she had tutored for. In this role, she built an executive functioning coaching program that is still used today and developed the company’s essay strategy and test prep study plans and lessons. She climbed the ladder to become second in command at the company, managing its day-to-day business operations and supervising a staff of roughly thirty tutors, in addition to working as a college consultant and essay editor. In 2015, Mary moved back to Vermont with her husband and founded Stella Maris Education.
Mary believes that education, regardless of its form, is an essential aspect of the human experience. Education allows people to expand their horizons and challenge their perspectives; it fosters confidence and encourages us to work toward a better tomorrow.
Education is less about where we go and more – much more – about challenging ourselves to keep learning, no matter where we are in life.
At Stella Maris Education, we focus on identifying the right academic and social fit for each student and family. Our goal is to ensure that our students find the schools that meet their own unique priorities and aspirations, including specific majors, athletic opportunities, campus amenities, merit aid offers, and more. Our calling is to help our clients discover the ideal direction for the next chapters of their lives.
“Thank you for your incredible insight and guidance over the year. We will forever be grateful for all that you did for Frankie (and for her stressed out parents!). ”
