Students and parents often approach us to inquire about our college consulting service. Sometimes they want to get to know how our services work and ask us questions about how we operate. That’s pretty normal and we back it! We always encourage students and parents to peruse the thousands of pages of our website, to comb through our press articles to see how we’re cited as the experts in the field of highly selective college admissions, to read all of the content that we’ve created over the many years we’ve been in business. And we encourage students and parents to research any other private college counselor they’re considering. Are they cited as experts in the press? Have they offered tons and tons of advice to applicants? Do they have a background in highly selective college admissions as we do or are they parents of successful applicants? Oy vey! Or former successful applicants? Oy vey again! Also, can they even write well? Great writing matters if you’re seeking out assistance with college admissions essays. Our fun and colloquial writing is on display every day. Our expertise is on display every day.

When parents and students write to us inquiring about our services, it sometimes surprises them to know that we are interviewing them just as they are interviewing us. We’ve been in this business long enough to know when a student or parent wouldn’t be a good fit for us to work with. Maybe they ask questions demanding if we can guarantee admission for their child. Maybe they come across as know-it-alls about the highly selective college admissions process and we just listen silently as most of the stuff they’re saying is completely inaccurate. Maybe, like yesterday, we realize in the course of communications that the person reaching out to us is trying to start a private college counseling business and is writing us to find out our fees. Before we even realized the person reaching out to us had ulterior motives, his emails were so rude that we very subtly told him good luck with the admissions process. He didn’t take the hint so we had to make expressly clear that we weren’t interested in working with him or his imaginary sister.

We don’t work with just anyone. If a parent or student has unreasonable expectations, we won’t take on the business. Over the last 20 years, 100% of our students have gained admission to one of their top three college choices. 93% have gained admission to their top college choice. But does this mean that if a student with ‘D’ grades and subpar SAT scores says he wants to go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton that we’ll take this student on as a client? Absolutely not. We only offer our college consulting service to folks who are reasonable. And nice. Because that matters…in highly selective college admissions and in life. After all, life’s too short to do it any other way.