About College Labyrinth
Real labyrinths have one route and contain no wrong turns; they aren’t mazes to be navigated, they are meditations to be contemplated. The journey is a personal one and everyone gets something different out of the winding walk.
Both Jenifer Vigilante and Maine Park believe that students should embrace their high school experience and bring a thoughtful approach to their college search. College Labyrinth provides a highly personalized framework for students to pursue genuine interests, enriching the journey to college while finding the right next step. Jenifer and Maine work as a team one-on-one with a limited number of students to ensure that each client receives the time and attention necessary to foster their academic and co-curricular growth. We prepare students to take advantage of what lies ahead, on campus and beyond.
Maine Park
Maine Park began her career on Wall Street as an Analyst in Corporate Finance at Merrill Lynch, then continued her banking career at Financo, where she became an Associate and later was promoted to a Vice President in Mergers & Acquisitions. Maine has been involved as both a parent board member and volunteer for her children’s classes at The Lawrenceville School, the Brunswick School, and Greenwich Academy. In those schools, she co-chaired many cornerstone events which brought the community together and raised funds for school initiatives. She has also dedicated her volunteer efforts to her high school alma mater, The Lawrenceville School, where she was a member of the inaugural co-educational class. Maine volunteered for her college alma mater, Wellesley, as an alumni interviewer for several years. She currently serves as a U.S. Figure Skating Gold Level judge, giving feedback to skaters and coaches after tests and competitions.
During her own children’s college application processes, Maine recognized the incredible value in reassuring and steering parents and students through an often difficult period. “Every child, including my own, has such different interests and strengths. It can feel overwhelming to try and find the right school, the right word, the right deadline! By starting College Labyrinth, I became the guide I wish I had when going through this process. My goal is for College Labyrinth to help students achieve more than just an acceptance letter, but an honest and healthy understanding of who they are and who they might become in the future.”
She launched College Labyrinth to help other families along their journeys, guiding highly-motivated young people to show up as their best and authentic selves for the past four admissions cycles. Maine works with students either on their own, or with their parents as partners.
Maine is an associate member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association.
Jenifer Vigilante spent the past decade working in the Princeton University Undergraduate Admission Office, where she was an Associate Dean primarily responsible for the New York City schools, evaluating more than 2,000 applications each year. As a chair for admission committees, she oversaw the selection process in several domestic regions. She worked as a liaison to academic departments to shepherd creative supplemental portfolios through the application process. During her time in the office she also read applications from schools around the country with oversight of New Mexico, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Prior to her career in higher education, Jenifer was a professional writer for national and regional newspapers and magazines, covering a wide array of subject matter, from travel to the arts in publications such as Town & Country, New Canaan Darien Magazine and The Greenwich Time. She has volunteered with various schools, churches, and national organizations and worked with students in both residential summer camps and as a K-12 educator. She began her career at the book publishing house Scribner, where she was a publicist for award-winning authors such as Frank McCourt and Meg Wolitzer.
Having helped her own children through the college admission process, Jenifer now brings together her background in admissions, writing, and education in service to students searching for their own voice and path. “There is no greater joy than reading college essays that paint a distinct picture of a student. Many topics can be successful and I can help students find their voice and speak to their unique experiences.” Jenifer attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges and earned a degree in English. She completed the Teachers College, Columbia University College Advising Program, and has done coursework in the MFA program in fiction and poetry at Sarah Lawrence College.
Jenifer is a member of the New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling.
Jenifer Vigilante
