What strategic advising looks like in practice.

Four-Year Concierge

Aarav

→ Oxford (PPE)

SAT

1540

GPA

3.95 UW

Engagement

9th–12th grade

Started working with us in 9th grade. His public school didn't have the international programs or name recognition of elite prep schools, but he was serious about philosophy and politics. Over four years we built an independent research project that got published, founded a Model UN club, and placed him at two Oxford/LSE summer programs. Admitted to Oxford PPE on full financial aid.

Other admits: LSE, UCL, Warwick

Three-Year Concierge

Emily

→ MIT (CS + Molecular Biology)

SAT

1580

GPA

4.0 UW

Engagement

10th–12th grade

Spotless transcript, thin extracurriculars, and no idea how to talk about her own research. Joined us in 10th grade. We connected her with a computational biology mentor, turned her GitHub projects into a publishable project, and got her to regional science fairs (Best in Category). Admitted to MIT with a $15K/yr merit scholarship.

Other admits: Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley

Concierge

Brandon

→ Wharton (UPenn)

SAT

1520

GPA

3.85 UW

Engagement

11th–12th grade

Ran a sneaker resale business out of his basement and taught himself financial modeling on YouTube. Assumed top business schools would dismiss all of it. We helped him formalize the operation, track real revenue ($50K+/yr), and enter DECA (International finalist). Admitted to Wharton and a Huntsman Program finalist.

Other admits: NYU Stern, USC Marshall, Georgetown McDonough

Elite App Assembly

Meera

→ Vanderbilt ED (Pre-Med)

SAT

1510

GPA

3.92 UW

Engagement

Senior year only

Came to us in July before senior year. Strong GPA, but pre-med pools are brutal and she didn't have an angle. Four months to build one around cultural health literacy, the free clinic where she had 200+ volunteer hours, and her family's immigration story. 30+ essays in three months. Admitted to Vanderbilt ED with full financial aid.

Other admits: Presidential scholarship finalist, 2 schools

Two-Year Foundations + Insider

Leo

→ Carnegie Mellon SCS

SAT

1560

GPA

3.88 UW

Engagement

11th–12th grade

Strong test scores at a STEM magnet where everyone had strong test scores. His AI side project was good, but he'd been told it wasn't enough to stand out. We pushed him to rebuild it as an accessibility tool, open-source it, and write about the tradeoffs. It hit 1,000+ GitHub stars and his blog posts found 10,000+ readers. Admitted to CMU SCS with merit aid from three schools.

Other admits: Georgia Tech CS, UIUC, UT Austin, UW Madison