Kelly Queijo, owner and founder of Smart College Visit, has the dubious honor of being my first College Helper. (Apologies to Kelly for putting her face in a humiliating elf suit…BUT…it did fit the theme!)

Kelly is awesome beyond awesome. If you’re a parent of a college-bound teen, you want to become her friend on Twitter and Facebook. In my mind she’s the authority on college visits. Not only does her website highlight various colleges in Smart See, Smart Do (giving you inside information and little known facts), but her Parent-to-Parent section offers real life parent experiences related to the college visit itself. You can even search for hotels near the college and make your reservations right on her site.

If that isn’t enough, Kelly hosts #CampusChat on Twitter every Wednesday night at 9PM EST. She has a variety of guests that help parents and students learn more about the college admissions process and also often hosts Open Mic nights around a specific topic of conversation. On Wednesday, she posts recaps of those chats and if you missed it, you can get the key points.

SmartCollegeVisit.com is every parent’s friend–bookmark the site, get to know Kelly, and spend some time reading her parent-to-parent articles. They are packed full of experience (the good and the bad) related to the college search.

Thanks Kelly for making college visits your forte and helping parents understand the importance of this part of the college admissions process!