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The Importance of Working With A National College Counseling Firm for Ivies & Other Top Schools

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Following the go-it-alone method when it comes to applying to any of the schools that make up the Ivy League can present many unexpected obstacles or, worse yet, lead to some unintended mistakes that could affect your odds of getting accepted. Working with a national college counseling firm like IvySelect can help maximize your competitive stature in the admissions process to the Ivies and other top universities.

Local and National Perspectives

Although our home office is in Los Angeles, our focus and knowledge extends to top schools throughout the United States. As Los Angeles college counselors, we’re familiar with top schools within our area along with the admissions processes for each of those schools. But we’re also specialists in Ivy League and top-tier admissions, so we definitely have a national perspective. We research top schools extensively by visiting them, reading about them and interacting with admissions professionals to develop a solid understanding of what students should be emphasizing in their applications and essays.

A Thorough Understanding of College Admissions Trends

We make it a habit to attend USC College Counselor Conferences and the University of California College Counselor Conferences based here. During these visits, we frequently interact with admissions officers from those schools to remain “in the know” when it comes to admissions trends. We also routinely visit elite schools throughout the United States, including top schools like Princeton, Duke, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn, Brown, UChicago, MIT, and Stanford as well as around the globe, as evidenced by a recent trip to the London School of Economics.

Why Work with a Private College Admissions Counselor?

While high school guidance counselors can provide some basic information, the fact is that the ratio of counselors to students is often high, meaning that getting the personalized attention you require will be limited. We can help you make your best case to top schools, including distinguished Ivy League schools, in line with your interests and qualifications. One-on-one college counseling typically includes:

  • Advice on standardized exams
  • Developing your college list
  • Positioning strategies to help you stand out from the competition
  • Application strategies, including whether to apply to a school early and which school to choose
  • Application assistance
  • Essay help with your main Common App essay as well as ALL your supplemental essays
  • Letter of recommendation guidance
  • Interview practice
  • Unique Strategies and Personalized Plans

At IvySelect, we don’t have any set formula for advising students; instead, we help students put together an individualized and comprehensive admissions plan based on individual passions and strengths. Our college admissions consultants work one-on-one with you to provide assistance throughout the process. We provide guidance and answer questions to help eliminate the stress that often goes along with the process of applying to schools. Our college counselors take the mystery out of the admissions process.

As Southern California college consultants, we can add a perspective for students coming from other regions because we live here. However, unlike college counselors with a narrow regional perspective, we actively maintain comprehensive knowledge about schools throughout the country to better serve the needs of the national and international pool of students coming to us for guidance. As an independent counseling firm, our focus is solely on you. Unlike your guidance counselor who represents the interests of the school and all its students, our loyalty is solely to you. We will provide you with the guidance you need so that you can stand out from other students in the highly selective admissions process at the Ivy League and other top-tier schools.

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