Founder

I advise students on defining success for themselves and then planning its attainment.

In most cases, this means I’m guiding ambitious, talented high schoolers through the challenge of applying to college. My unique background in standardized test preparation, college and life counseling, and writing and editing gives me the ideal skill set to guide students to exceptional fit colleges and success beyond. My students have gone on to essentially all competitive undergraduate programs – Stanford, Northwestern, Vassar, Harvard, Barnard, Amherst, Wellesley, Rice, Yale, Olin, Swarthmore…all of them – a wide range of graduate programs – PharmD at Michigan, MBA at MIT, PhD at Columbia, MD at the University of Washington, PhD at Emory, and many more – as well as a number of international institutions – from the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia to Durham University and Oxford University. My professional memberships include NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling), IECA (Independent Educational Consultants Association), and MACAC (Minnesota Association for College Admission Counseling). I recently completed a three-year term as Co-Chair of the Admissions Practices committee and am currently MACAC’s President-elect, the first of a three-year term in MACAC’s Presidential cycle. I also serve on the Inclusion, Access, and Success committee.

I look on my work as much more than utilitarian admissions advice. Education is a piece of life, and guiding students on self-awareness, critical thinking skills, and the development of a value system is really my goal. Serving as a mentor in these areas is both exciting and an honor.

I limit myself to working with a small number of select students, ensuring a personal working relationship from start to finish.

Education
• The University of Chicago, M.A. – December 2008
• Claremont School of Theology, M.Div. – May 2007
• Northwestern University, B.A. – June 2003

Experience
• Thirteen years guiding roughly 500 students to on their education journey
• Four years as undergraduate alumni admissions interviewer for UChicago and Northwestern
• Eight years teaching SAT and GRE standardized tests
• Informal editing of three novels, including two New York Times bestsellers
• Member of NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling), IECA (Independent Educational Consultant Association), and MACAC (Minnesota Association for College Admission Counseling)
• MACAC President-elect, 2020-2021

Statistics
Of my qualified students (3.8 GPA + 1540 SAT, 34 ACT or 2250 old SAT, applying to 10 or more schools):
• 92% have been admitted to a Top 10 ranked US News school, their ED school choice, or an IvyPlus* school

*It’s very important that I note that I’m very critical of what I’d call superficial constructs of school prestige. References to the Ivy League sports conference, not as a sports conference, but as a collection of some vague definition of “elite” schools, is problematic. So is the inclusion of select other institutions into a grouping of “elite” schools. But I understand how the competitiveness of admission that defines these schools could be interpreted as illustrative of a very strong application, and thus I’m including this statistic for your reference. These are the 15 schools I’m including in the term “IvyPlus” for the purposes of this statistic: Brown University, California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University