We’re a multifaceted team of high achievers who like to earn extra credit with our clients—when that means earning points for heart, humor, accessibility, and personal integrity.
The only thing we’re doing the same as everyone else is saying we’re different.
World Class Test Preparation
We’ve been students’ secret weapon for success for over 20 years—since before most of them were born.
We offer SAT & ACT prep and college application and essay development and holistic, soup-to-nuts high school coaching that achieves extraordinary results—all in a flexible, lively online environment. We’re focused on personal development and education, not kowtowing to the Ivy League. Lucky for all of us, the Ivy League just happens to love that sort of thing.
We’re adept at dealing with the dire (last minute? unexplained low-scores?), the exceptional (bring us your profoundly gifted or profoundly anxious child), and everyone in between.
Independent Counseling & College Admissions Advising
Like mavericks with ethics? You’ll like us.
It’s been a fairly well-kept secret that Elizabeth fell into independent counseling & developing college applications out of necessity, not because of “the industry.” Frankly, more in spite of it.
Given her fairly legendary ability to draw out even the trickiest teenagers and willingness to flat-out tell-it-like-it-is, Elizabeth’s college counseling, personal development, and creative essay and application services–along with resumé building, interview preparation, and career mentoring– are services our students use every year.
Our Clientele: A Global Community of Discerning Families
From New York City to Kuwait City and Buenos Aires to Los Angeles, we’re the discerning family’s choice because we, too, expect excellence. While we use data to drive our conversations, we make human decisions with an individual student in mind.
We’re a match for you probably for the same reasons everyone who works here has been personal friends for decades: we prize cracking each other up, we find each other deeply challenging, and we relentlessly tell the truth.
Are we a fit? We work with:
The profoundly gifted kid…
who struggles to be understood.
who’s thriving and simply needs like-minded mentors who can keep up.
who challenges Every Single Thing. (No problem. We can hang.)
The student who wrestles with the ADHD “Ferrari brain” and its notorious “bicycle brakes.”
The major underachiever who needs someone to grab him by the metaphorical ear.
The Type A wunderkind who needs some creativity and relevance breathed into her over-packed schedule.
Athletes in the recruitment process by Division I and Division II schools.
People with post-concussive disorder, processing differences, dyslexia, dyscalculia, you name it.
Oddballs Non-traditional students: early-matriculaters; globetrotters; already-professional actors, athletes, and musicians; post-gap-year high school graduates; undergraduates aiming for grad school.
Nice people.
“Elizabeth changed my life’s trajectory. She instilled in me the importance of the never-ending quest for growth and knowledge that empowered me to rise to the top of my industry.”
Chef Zev Bennett: Gaggan, Morimoto Bordeaux, Food Network
We offer scores that open doors via education that opens minds.
SAT & ACT Preparation
Elizabeth literally wrote the books on SAT and ACT prep: Outsmarting the SAT (Ten Speed Press ‘08) and Acing the ACT (Ten Speed Press ‘15). We can significantly improve your score—often 4 to 6 times the national average—all while better preparing you for the elite university you likely want to attend. That’s the point here, anyway, right?
College Admissions Advising & Application Development
Students around the world rave about our tough love and creative approaches that reinvent what it means to prepare for and apply to college—and their results show it. We urge you to find “fit” at the top. Sometimes that sounds like an insinuation that you’re not the best. Instead, we want to optimize your chance of getting in where you’ll do the best, where you’ll find the best resources, and where you’ll have a fulfilling college experience.
Our Own Ivy League Mascot
Here’s our loyal family dog Stevie as she prepared to walk through the Van Wickle Gates at Brown University’s Commencement. She makes us happy. We’d like to make you happy. Hear more about that on the testimonials page.
Want Forms & Worksheets? Maybe Look Elsewhere
If you’ve read this far, you know that following an imaginary, single-variable formula purely to get into an elite institution will not end well: the educational planning process is not a “do this, say this, and this will happen” affair–and if you think it is, you’ll be DOA. If you only like internal algorithms, worksheets, and print-outs, we might not be for you.
You’re not a cookie, and we’re not a piece of tin in the shape of Handsome Dan or Roar-ee the Lion or John the Pilgrim.
Integrity is Where It’s At
When you’re in the casino the top-tier college admissions game, you need to trust the people leading you–and hang on to your integrity. When you work with us, we build a map for you that starts where you are right now–a place no one else in the world is–and takes you all the way to where you want to be… where you belong.