Photo by Erin Nelson.
Meredith Robinson, left, and Ginger Mayfield at the office of Mayfield College Advising, which started in 2018. The pair work with students in grades 9-12 to guide them through the college advising process.
College admissions are competitive, and many families struggle to navigate the best way to support their children’s academic future. Mayfield College Advising, a Mountain Brook-based company, provides services intended to help both parents and students during this transitional time.
Ginger Mayfield and Meredith Robinson, along with Katie Morris, make up the staff at MCA to help minimize the stress of preparing students for college testing and admissions while in high school.
Mayfield has a master’s in counseling from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has been an independent private college advisor since 2018. Her father, Cleve Latham, and a college advisor and mentor, Dr. Kim Crockard, influenced Mayfield to open up a business full time.
Her roles at MCA are based primarily on the student and family, assessment of academic background, college lists, summer plans and package choices. She works to answer questions for anything students need.
“The students get to tell me a story about themselves [during this time] — that’s where the magic happens,” Mayfield said.
In 2022, Robinson came on as the director of operations and as an essay specialist at MCA. She assists with business operations, growth and strategy as well as developing a curriculum with essays to help students become better communicators.
Mayfield and Robinson say that 20 years ago, for major cities along the East and West Coasts, private college advisors were mainstream, but now the demand is continuing to grow because of the competitiveness and the nuances of the application process. That demand created a need for the service in the Birmingham area.
“Many parents do not have the time management or energy to deal with the application process,” they said.
As a parent in the Mountain Brook High School system, Mayfield knows that the school has two on-site counselors who do a great job and are amazing professionals, while some high schools have none.
“Unfortunately, there are situations where people fall beneath the cracks and we are advocating beneath the cracks [at MCA],” Mayfield said.
MCA’s main goal is to help students choose the best fit for college and to make the application process less stressful. While most students begin private tutoring at MCA during their sophomore and junior years, some students begin as early as eighth grade for their academic work.
“Just like in a school setting, I like to give individualized attention to families and students as an independent college advisor,” Mayfield said. “Per graduating class, there are between 18 to 22 kids, with 20 seniors per year on average.”
“We give them more attention so that with every step it is very validating for them to show their authentic selves on their application and find the right fit for them,” Robinson said.
The staff recognizes how much the college admissions process gets in the way of families enjoying the last year at home with their students, and MCA can be useful during this time.
“We can make their senior year more pragmatic, positive and peaceful,” Mayfield said. “When families are equipped with those resources, they can lean into the season with more excitement.”
“Equal parts advising and project management,” Robinson added. “A good process is a good outcome.”
Mayfield observes that most students have stress about standardized testing data, course selection in high school, project management before senior year and the main college essay.
On the other hand, Robinson notices that parents do not often understand balance in a realistic college list. She knows too many lists are emotionally driven by families.
“We help to open lines of communication that are closed in families, often unintentionally,” Robinson said. “We know how to avoid certain types of roadblocks in the admission process for students.”
The current senior class at Mayfield College Advising is full, but there are openings for 2025 and 2026 seniors.
Visit mayfieldcollegeadvising.com for more information.
