About Us
We work with students and families at every stage of education, from early learning through the college process. Combining our experience in preschool–high school guidance and college consulting, we work together so every family gets the full benefit of our team.
DR. JOANNE CARRIS
Director of Preschool - High School Support
For almost thirty years, Dr. Joanne Carris has helped families confidently address educational challenges and transitions. By integrating her carefully cultivated knowledge as a learning specialist and naturopath, Dr. Carris provides families with specialized guidance that maintains an eye for the big picture within a strengths-based approach, always considering the full context of a child’s learning experience. When necessary, she also draws on her comprehensive network of practitioners to refer families for integrated support.
Dr. Carris has extensive experience guiding families through admissions from preschool all the way through college, and she understands how overwhelming the process can be for families of both neurotypical and neurodiverse children. With her extensive knowledge of the New York City independent school landscape, she helps parents navigate the complexities of the admissions process and meet their short- and long-term hopes and goals. In admissions counseling with older students, especially college applicants, Dr. Carris roots the process in self-discovery, helping each student arrive with confidence and enthusiasm at a school where they will thrive.
Prior to founding Map the Path, Dr. Carris spent more than a decade as an in-school learning specialist, where she designed curriculum and was director of professional development programs for teachers. After attaining her Doctorate in Education, Dr. Carris founded and directed Premier Tutors, which provided tutoring, homeschooling services, and college application consulting to children throughout the East Coast and California. For over fifteen years, the organization was the trusted referral partner to independent schools throughout New York City, collaborating with teachers, administrators, and psychologists to meet each student's needs. Premier Tutors brought Dr. Carris and Map the Path's Director of College Support, Kiran Rikhye, together in 2014, as they shared a passion for supporting children and teens through every stage of their education.
Dr. Carris earned her PhD in Education and an MA in Philosophy of Education from the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as an MA in Bilingual Special Education from the Bank Street College of Education. She received her BA from the University of Michigan. Her book The Ghosts of No Child Left Behind, which critiqued how policy reforms were undermining effective reading instruction, received a Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award and predicted many of the systemic breakdowns we are confronting in education today.
Early in her teaching career, Dr. Carris trained and studied extensively with the Light Harmonics Institute, an Energy Medicine Clinic and Education Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to understand students' learning and school challenges through a physiological lens as well as an academic one.
During her own PreK-12 days, Dr. Carris attended the Town School and Trinity School in New York.
KIRAN RIKHYE, MA
Director of College Support
Kiran Rikhye has been guiding students and families through the transition from high school to college for over twenty years. As an independent college consultant in New York City and surrounding areas, she has worked with students from independent schools, public schools, and homeschool settings, helping college applicants with diverse strengths and temperaments launch the next stage of their education.
Combining a deep familiarity with New York’s independent schools and applicants with long-term knowledge of the college landscape, Ms. Rikhye helps families navigate the admissions process effectively and with a sense of calm. With an ability to understand each student—who they are, what they care about, and how they learn—she helps applicants choose colleges that are the right academic, social, and personal fit and craft applications that are strategically savvy, authentic, and cohesive. Her clear-eyed and compassionate approach allows families to move through this stressful time in a way that prioritizes both success and sanity.
Having spent many years as a tutor in academic subjects, test prep, and executive function, and as an English and French teacher for students of all ages, Ms.Rikhye understands how students’ past learning experiences, as well as their academic strengths and challenges, can influence their college process. She has also designed interdisciplinary homeschool curricula and Individualized Home Instruction Plans (IHIPs) and has extensive experience working with applicants who have taken alternative educational paths or who have non-traditional transcripts.
From academic planning to essay writing to school selection, she meets students where they are while simultaneously helping them rise to new challenges. Through the college process, students strengthen the academic, intellectual, and personal skills necessary to complete exceptional applications and thrive in college. The result is an application process that feels manageable and meaningful.
Ms. Rikhye was previously the director of the College Prep Writing Program at Premier Tutors. This one-on-one writing program, which Ms. Rikhye created in 2015 and oversaw for six years, helped students develop their writing voices in preparation for college application essays while simultaneously helping them hone technical and organizational skills that served and strengthened their future academic work.
Her own college admissions path brought her from The Dalton School in New York to Swarthmore College, where she received her BA in English Literature and Theatre Studies. She received her MA in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University.