College Admissions Counseling

At Ivy Coach, we provide college counseling to students seeking admission to Ivy League colleges and other highly selective universities. Through Zoom, phone, and email, we work with students from across the United States and worldwide.

To get into a highly selective college, applicants must stand out from the tens of thousands of applications elite colleges receive each year. It’s no wonder many parents have been seeking assistance from college counselors for years.

  • Overall admission rates for the Class of 2026 at the Ivy League schools ranged from 3.19% (Harvard College) to 6.91% (Cornell University).
  • High SAT/ACT scores and grades alone don’t suffice, as these are mere table stakes.
  • Well-rounded students who excel in sports, music, and community service are not what highly selective colleges seek.

Free 20-Minute Consultation

Ivy Coach offers a free 20-minute consultation to parents and students via phone (or Zoom audio for international families) to learn about our college counseling services. 

Students are not required to join the preliminary call. This consultation is about how Ivy Coach can help navigate the highly selective college admissions process. 

To sign up, please complete our free consultation form. Once the form is received, we will email you a delineation of our service and the corresponding fee, asking you to respond if you’re interested in scheduling a call.

Strategy Session

For students who first come to us as middle schoolers or as ninth, tenth, or eleventh graders, we begin with Ivy Coach’s Strategy Session with a former Ivy League admissions officer. During this Strategy Session, we:

Brainstorm a compelling extracurricular hook, so your child presents as singularly talented rather than well-rounded in activities.

 

 

 

Create a plan so your child cannot only max out on a school’s courses but also go beyond their high school curriculum.

 

 

 

Identify which exams to take and when to take them. Students with great SAT/ACT and AP scores will always have an advantage over students with no scores.

 

 

 

Discuss how to demonstrate interest to colleges properly. For students later on in high school, we will also help identify which colleges should be in their sights.

Sugar is being poured with a notice that Ivy Coach does not believe in sugarcoating. The company tells it like it is.

PreMortem™

For students who first come to us in twelfth grade before college application deadlines, we conduct Ivy Coach’s PreMortem™.

What is Ivy Coach’s PreMortem™?

It’s a one-hour strategy session with a former Ivy League admissions officer to correct mistakes and reposition your child’s narrative to avoid deferrals and denials.

We understand your child’s priority is completing outstanding applications and essays. But we must first create a strategy for your child’s candidacy and figure out what can make them interesting before we can work on applications and essays.

During the PreMortem™, we:

Brainstorm a compelling extracurricular hook to present as singularly talented rather than well-rounded in activities and essays.

 

 

 

Correct mistakes in essay positioning, coursework, testing, extracurriculars, and plans for recommendations.

 

 

 

Compose an appropriate list of colleges, including a wise Early strategy.

 

 

 

Sugar is being poured with a notice that Ivy Coach does not believe in sugarcoating. The company tells it like it is.

PostMortem™

For students who first come to us in twelfth grade after receiving a deferral or denial in the Early round, we conduct Ivy Coach’s PostMortem™.

What is Ivy Coach’s PostMortem™?

It’s a one-hour strategy session to correct mistakes and reposition your child’s narrative for Regular Decision to avoid making the same mistakes made in the Early round.

We understand your child’s priority is completing outstanding applications and essays. But we must first create a strategy for your child’s candidacy and figure out what can make them interesting, so they face different results in Regular Decision.

During the PostMortem™, we:

Offer feedback on up to three college applications. We go through every section of each application, including the essays.

 

 

 

Brainstorm a compelling extracurricular hook to present as singularly talented rather than well-rounded in activities and essays.

 

 

 

Correct mistakes on the seemingly insignificant but super important non-essay portions of applications.

 

 

 

Compose an appropriate list of colleges for Regular Decision.

 

 

 

Sugar is being poured with a notice that Ivy Coach does not believe in sugarcoating. The company tells it like it is.

Letter of Continued Interest

For students who have been either deferred in the Early round or waitlisted in the Regular Decision round, we help them craft a powerful Letter of Continued Interest (a.k.a. Letter of Enthusiasm) that offers them the best chance of ultimately earning admission. After completing the Postmortem™, we then brainstorm and revise a powerful letter.

Our students’ letters contain no brags or updates. They are persuasive love letters showing how students will contribute their singular hook to that institution. It’s a big reason why they’re so effective.

 

An auburn dog looks out a window of a yellow-painted house with overlayed text that reads: "Deferred?!? Waitlisted?! You need Ivy Coach's help with a Letter of Continued Interest. No updates. No brags. No ordinary letter."

Assistance with College Applications

Most applicants to highly selective colleges submit applications that hurt their chances. They write cliché essays about sports, community service, grandparents, trips, and violin playing. They write supplemental essays that don’t convey why they want to attend a specific university. With our help, our students show rather than tell admissions officers why they wish to attend.

Ivy Coach’s packages, which include brainstorming and revising essays, assistance with letters of recommendation, interview prep, activity presentation, and more, depend on the number of schools you seek our help with — be it three, five, ten, or twenty colleges.

Whether a student works with us on three applications, including to an Early school, or up to twenty applications, we will help that student showcase their angle.

Helping students tell their stories distinctively is a big part of Ivy Coach’s secret sauce. It’s also a big part of why our students tend overwhelmingly to gain admission to their dream colleges.