Ivy Coach College Admissions Experts

Chad Faber served as an admissions officer in the Harvard College Admissions Office.

Over the course of five years in the Harvard undergraduate admissions office, Chad served on the full undergraduate admissions committee and developed and oversaw recruitment strategies in his assigned territories, which included New England, Pennsylvania, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon. During his tenure at Harvard, Chad reviewed thousands of applications and served as the liaison between the Harvard College Admissions Office and various undergraduate special interest groups. Additionally, Chad ran West Coast recruiting within Northwestern University’s undergraduate admissions office for nine years.

Chad holds a master’s degree in history from Brown University and an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.

Jose Magana served as an admissions officer in Stanford University’s Office of Undergraduate Admission.

At Stanford, Jose reviewed thousands of undergraduate applications for admission, primarily from New York City, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Upstate New York, Utah, and Arizona, and he served as a voting member for several admission committees. He brings extensive experience and deep insights into both domestic and international applicant pools.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Yale University.

Hannah Skaran served as an admissions officer at the University of Chicago Office of College Admissions. Over her years in the UChicago admissions office, Hannah reviewed 2,500+ applications for the undergraduate College at the University of Chicago and evaluated applicants originating around the world, from the Washington D.C. metro and the Bay Area to Japan, South Korea, and India.

In addition to advocating for students on the admissions committee, Hannah also sat on the committee to write and select the infamous UChicago Supplemental Essay prompts.

Hannah is an outspoken thought leader on the elite college admissions process. Have a gander at recent quotes she offered to Bloomberg on racial diversity on college campuses after the fall of Affirmative Action, to Town & Country on how summer enrichment programs do not confer an advantage, and to Chron on application record tallies.

Hannah holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Humanities from the University of Chicago.

Jayson Weingarten served as an admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania. Within the University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Jayson rose through the ranks from Admissions Counselor to Regional Director of Admission to Assistant Director of Admission over the course of four years.

Jayson cuts through the perceived complexity and simplifies the admissions process for students and families. Jayson has been quoted in The New York Times Magazine on how Affirmative Action is still in effect — for men, in The Washington Times on college rankings, and in US News & World Report on pre-law programs. He’s discussed how America’s elite colleges are backtracking on test-optional admissions with EducationWeek and how a potential looming recession can impact applicant pools with Bloomberg.

He’s made solo and roundtable media appearances discussing the elite college admissions process on NewsNation, Scripps News, Newsy, and many more. He proposed this fun idea for an SAT question with Penn’s Dean of Admissions in The New York Times. And he is credited with coining the term “ED 0” in reference to the University of Chicago’s Summer Student Early Notification policy.

Jayson holds an MBA from The Wharton School as well as a Master’s in Education from the Graduate School of Education in addition to a Bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania.

Susan Chan Shifflett served as an admissions officer at Yale University in the Yale College Undergraduate Admissions Office. During her time in the Yale admissions office, she read and evaluated over 2,500 college applications.

Susan has been interviewed about college admissions on programs ranging from Good Morning America to CNBC. She’s also authored op-eds on the admissions process, including in Inside Higher Ed.

Susan received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Yale University.

Ben Schwartz served for three years as an Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth College. In the Dartmouth admissions office, Ben was responsible for evaluating applications and recruitment for applicants from the mid-Atlantic, the Midwest, sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to other regions. During his time in the Dartmouth admissions office, Ben read and evaluated over 3,000 applications for admission.

Ben holds an undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College as well as an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Charis Ralko served as an associate director of admissions at Washington University in St. Louis.

During her time at WashU, she reviewed over 8,000 applications and oversaw admissions decisions within regional subcommittees. Charis also served as a supervisor for the auxiliary application reading team, providing a second review of the applications completed by the team.

Charis graduated summa cum laude from WashU with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Molly Siegel served as an admissions officer in Brown University’s Office of College Admission.

Over the course of three years, Molly evaluated roughly 9,000 applications through first and second reads, including candidates for Brown’s highly selective Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME). She served as an admissions liaison for varsity athletics and Jewish day schools while managing recruitment and application review across several of the nation’s most competitive educational markets, including Westchester County, Long Island, Connecticut, Silicon Valley, and the greater Midwest.

Molly brings an insider’s perspective on holistic review at one of the nation’s leading universities, along with a nuanced understanding of the distinct educational landscapes that shape applicant experiences across the United States.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in public health and international and public affairs from Brown University and her Master of Public Health from the Brown University School of Public Health.

Bethany Hewett served as a senior admissions officer in Duke University’s Undergraduate Office of Admissions.

During her tenure, Bethany evaluated over 3,500 applications and spearheaded recruitment initiatives, particularly focusing on Houston, TX. She played a pivotal role in the office by leading one of Duke’s largest yield programs and managing key recruitment partnerships.

Bethany is a graduate of Duke University.

Jen Duran served as an admissions officer at Columbia University.

Over the course of three years, Jen reviewed thousands of undergraduate applications for both Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering from across the United States and Latin America.

Jen received her bachelor’s degree in history and sociology from Columbia University.

For more than two decades, Brian Taylor, the author of the most widely read admissions blog, has been a tell-it-like-it-is thought leader in college admissions. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he has debunked commonly held misconceptions about the admissions process and used the platform to speak truth to power, issuing a clarion call for a more transparent process.

Brian’s insights have been featured inThe New York Times on the male advantage at many top schools, Le Monde on how great grades aren’t enough, The Harvard Crimson on the waitlist, The Yale Daily News on the role of private college counselors, among many others. He has appeared on television programs ranging from Nightline to Morning in America, addressing issues from the Varsity Blues scandal to college enrollment trends. He has also joined Malcolm Gladwell in conversation on the donor door at elite universities.

Brian knows how to shape great stories, which underpins Ivy Coach’s approach to college counseling. He won a Peabody Award for producing Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird, a series featuring a Golden Globe-nominated performance that the American Film Institute deemed one of America’s greatest screen stories for its “contributions to America’s cultural legacy.”

Each year, Brian also works with America’s veterans on a pro bono basis to help them earn admission to the colleges of their dreams.

Bev Taylor’s name is synonymous with helping students beat colleges at their own game and earn admission to the colleges of their dreams. A trailblazer in private college counseling, she’s debunked the myth of need-blind policies, called for an end to Asian American discrimination in admissions, and demystified so many other hot topics in elite college admissions. Over the last 30 years, there has been no more outspoken, ubiquitous, and candid voice in highly selective college admissions.

Bev is a former longtime high school college counselor on Long Island. She regularly conducts workshops on college admissions — presenting seminars to school counselors, admissions officers, students, and parents at Columbia University, the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, NACAC, Peterson’s, NYSACAC, NJACAC, College Week Live, and more.