Our program of Advantage Positioning through the WIN™ model can guide your child through the steps of an easy, yet powerful, process that will bump their candidacy up by roughly forty-to-eighty percent.

With only a slight degree of engagement, plus the deepened insight as shown in the essays, our students are gaining that advantage. “Over-achievers” are no longer the most sought-after candidates. Who among us wants to compete with 29,000 valedictorians, 29,000 salutatorians, 29,000 student body presidents and 29,000 editors in chief of school newspapers? No thanks!

In order to get accepted to one’s dream schools, it’s imperative for your child to stand out. His positioning and strategizing efforts combined with intelligent essays dramatically increase his odds at getting into his dream school. Almost every day, we hear stories of the way that our program is changing lives.

Your child holds within her the very talents and abilities that are most desirable to today’s colleges. She will simply need to recognize her most unique talent and then create and implement a small-scale personal project or initiative. Once a plan has been developed, most students relish the idea and move quickly to realize their own vision.

Admissions readers and committees WANT this sense of purpose.

Once that purpose is located, the writing process is easily directed. We guide students through a series of brainstorming sessions designed to bring forth each student’s intellectual and deep-thinking abilities. With our professional guidance, teenagers are easily able to access their personal voice and reveal the purpose that colleges recruit.

It may seem like a big hurdle at first, but remember that an effective application is not built in one full-on-attack in the month of November of senior year; but rather, it is carefully crafted over the months leading up to application season. The beauty of the process is shown in each small success.

Rachel: When I started College Prep Consulting LLC as an application development group twenty-two years ago, I hadn’t yet joined the admissions teams at Berkeley and Stanford. We knew that 29,000 high schools in America meant 29,000 Valedictorians, which meant 29,000 salutatorians, which meant 29,000 chief-editor of the school newspaper.

We believed we were in the business of helping students to improve their college applications and essays to somehow compete with everyone else. That made sense. That’s what everyone was doing… and they still are.

But now, it is abundantly clear to me that there is something very different at play in admissions. We are helping students take full advantage of this change and realize their dreams.

I would estimate that roughly 95% of the general population is continuing to submit applications using strategies that are based on a variety of misconceptions left over from the 20th century. Students, families, school counselors and communities continue to operate under a set of admissions rules that no longer apply.

We’ve all heard that schools have sought the Renaissance student. Yet, it has become abundantly clear to me that this 20th century pursuit no longer applies at any top-tier school. It is a concept that is dated. At the same time, I have found that universities want a renaissance class – with each student bringing a unique and fiery specialty.
What I discovered is the way in which one key “point of excellence” can hold more weight than all other elements combined. That singular specialty is 100% within your child’s control.

In the same way that schools recruit students solely for their athletic skills, so too; do schools look for students with a point of excellence. In most cases, schools will overlook somewhat weaker grades and test scores in order to recruit students for a wide range of singular talents, abilities, and/or intensity-of-purpose.

Through arduous research, I have determined that 21st century college admissions have morphed into an entirely new kind of animal. My research took me through the stacks of libraries and through the internet. But most importantly, I interviewed colleagues from across the Ivy League and other top-tier schools.
From Harvard, I learned their admissions department seeks students who show even a long-shot possibility that this student could go on to start something like Facebook. From Columbia, I learned that they scroll heatedly through the myriad applicants in search of a student who might find a cure for the common cold. From Yale, I learned they are continually focused on landing the next winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (or perhaps just your average up-and-coming Meryl Streep.)

I am puzzled by the fact that no one has yet fully analyzed the way these tight-lipped committee decisions have changed. Perhaps it is because admissions departments are so secretive; perhaps it is because they too believe that students are powerless when it comes to creating their own candidacy.

Yet, your child holds within her the ability to focus and take action toward one singular passion. This simple effort increases her odds of acceptance at top schools at least five-times-over.

Ignore those who claim she should spend all her free time participating in school activities; ignore those who tell you she doesn’t have enough “safety” schools; ignore those who tell you she doesn’t have the necessary grades and test scores. She has worked hard. Now it’s time for her to focus on setting herself apart and gaining the success she deserves.