ElevatEd College Consulting
Unlike other agencies, every one of our consultants has recently undergone the college admissions process and is uniquely positioned to help your student get into the college of their dreams!
We believe in quality over quantity, which is why each of our consultants just takes a handful of students each application season. Get started today before all our slots fill up!
THE MISSION OF COLLEGE CONSULTING AT ELEVATED is to enable students to present their best selves for college admissions. Not only does the modern education system fail to teach students critical life skills, but it also inadequately prepares them for the competitive and complex college application process.
Schools train students to produce academic, analytical works, but don't teach how to write successful, creative applications. Society encourages students to participate in extracurriculars, yet it doesn’t teach them how to tell their story through moving narratives.
Our Founder and Director of College Counseling, Jeffrey Yu, at Yale in 2016 (left) vs as a sophomore at Yale in 2018 (right)
But wait, there's more! Recommendation letters are critical for highlighting underlooked aspects of a student’s personality... yet students don’t know how to cultivate superior relationships with teachers outside the classroom. Preparing college application components requires incredible amounts of work, but the norm is to procrastinate and panic when a structured plan created just a few months (or even weeks!) earlier could have saved much pain.
While college consulting is targeted primarily towards juniors and seniors focused more on making the most of what they have rather than actively building it up with life coaching, there are still a number of critical skills they can learn.
From learning how to cultivate personal relationships with teachers, to preparing unique components like portfolios, to systematically learning how to craft award-winning essays, we guide students through the entire application process to make it as organized, simple, and stress-free as possible! Let us help you!
Live Zoom College Counseling
Off Peak Season (Feb - Aug): $300 USD/50 minutes
Peak Season (Sep - Jan): $400 USD/50 minutes
Ideal for Juniors and Seniors
Our synchronous consulting is the perfect option for students who prefer in-depth feedback and assistance with brainstorming for essays, interviews, and other college application materials. It favors students who prefer brainstorming ideas and want a chance to ask personalized questions with one of our consultants.
We have a standardized college consulting curriculum (i.e. ElevatEd Junior Summer Sprint) for longer-term plans, but can also customize sessions to fit students' immediate needs (e.g. standardized exam strategy, course selection, mock interviews, drafting resumes, reviewing activities list). Students can choose amongst our ElevatEd consultants (Kevin, Jeffrey, Nicole, etc.), and timing will be arranged based on the consultant and student’s schedules.
In general, within a one hour synchronous session, we can get through a common app essay (650 words) and one long response question (250 words). How quickly we move through material depends on the student and the situation though. For students to complete college apps, it will take between 15-25 sessions (if they are starting completely from scratch), or 10-15 sessions (if they already have some essay drafts).
Offline College Essay Editing
Low Season (From Feb - Aug): 30 cents per word
Busy Season (Sep - Jan) : 44 cents per word
Ideal for Juniors and Seniors
When it is difficult to coordinate schedules for synchronous meetings, or there is a large volume of essays to edit, or students are working on a very short time frame, offline editing is the recommended option for college applicants.
Our team reviews 1200 words in at most 50 minutes (common app + 2 long response supplemental questions + some quick one or two sentence short response ones). Our standard turnaround time is <3 days, with options for expedited (<2 day) and express (<1 day) feedback.
Feedback will take place in the form of a detailed email with overall insights and takeaways, along with document in-line comments. Furthermore, our commentary is both topical (surface-level changes: e.g. grammar mistakes, word choice) and intensive (deep-level changes: e.g. structural rehauls, new content ideas). If you prefer us to focus on one particular dimension or have specific questions related to your essay, just let us know and we'll share our thoughts! You can submit your essays at elevated.school/editmyessay.
UK & EU Counseling
Off-Peak Season (Feb - Aug): $300 USD/50 minutes
Peak Season (Sep - Jan): $400 USD/50 minutes
Ideal for Juniors and Seniors
Europe is rising in popularity as an option for college undergrads, both because of its lower cost and because of its unique location. Beyond beautiful campuses, European institutions such as ETH Zurich and the London School of Economics have also been rising in world university rankings.
Interested in applying abroad? Let's do it! Several of our team members are from the EU and have studied there.
We will help you craft a CV/portfolio of achievements, prepare for standardised tests, craft a university selection strategy, provide admission interview assistance and more!
Let us guide you through the EU application process and get accepted to your dream European college!
Interview Preparation
Interview preparation is one of our favorite parts of the process!
Every member of the ElevatEd team has not only participated in college application interviews, but many have also interviewed prospective applicants. Given the fact that we've been on both sides of the table, rest assured that after just 2 sessions, you will learn everything there is to know about how to ace your college interview.
Many students are not aware that interviews can only help students, not hurt them. To help make the most of this golden opportunity, our consultants will assist with:
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Preparing for the most common questions such as "Tell Us About Yourself" and "Why X School?"
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Composing a list of specialized questions you can ask your interviewer to impress them
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Perfecting your articulation and learning the art of improvisation so you are prepared for all questions that come your way
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Developing backup responses and anecdotes to rely on in every situation
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Boosting your confidence through mock interview prep
Resume Feedback
Some universities nowadays may ask for a resume in addition to a list of honors, activities and awards. To help you craft the perfect resume that will blow admission officers away, our workshop provides detailed explanations, as well step-by-step processes, for creating an effective résumé. Feedback can take place either via Zoom or offline. We are flexible and open to either option!
What you will learn:
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The different parts of a resume and their purpose
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Types of resumes and discover the one best suited to develop your own individual resume
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Resume formatting rules and how they affect the development of a resume
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Discover your own unique features and benefits, and articulate your competitive "edge"/advantage
ElevatEd College Consulting FAQs
Do I need to have prior writing experience?
No! While having prior experience in creative writing or academic writing competition is helpful, the truth is that every student goes through this process with no prior background, Kevin and Jeff included. That being said, we at ElevatEd are well-versed in helping students understand the most important strategies and points in the shortest amount of time, in order to help make this process as painless as possible.
What stage in the process do I need to be at for joining?
Any stage! Whether you’ve never touched or read a personal essay in your life until this year or are already well-into editing developed essays, we can help you. From brainstorming the right ideas to hooking your reader at the start to working on word-by-word diction, prose, and flow for matured essays, we’ll craft our feedback to fit exactly what you need.
Why should I sign up for college consulting with ElevatEd?
There’s a ton of college admissions advice and content out there. A ton. But just because there’s a lot of information doesn’t mean it’s useful. Intermingled in all of that sheer volume is loads of terrible essays, unorganized tips, and just plain bad advice.
That’s exactly why we’re here! While managing the process alone is certainly possible, why not join our college consulting program where we guide you through each step and address your questions along the way? Let an experienced consultant who has navigated this process dozens of times ensure you’re taking the best approach at every stage!
Don’t get us wrong, we love our YouTube channel. It’s helped hundreds of thousands of students upgrade their writing and learn all the theory needed to succeed. But it’s in private lessons that we take it and apply it best to your personal story, and transform it into an amazing narrative that is unique to you.
What makes ElevatEd consultants so unique?
First and foremost, we set ourselves apart from other consultants. We don’t see ourselves in that traditional role, and neither do our students or their parents. Instead, we consider ourselves as supportive older siblings who run our business with a familial approach.
As ABCs (American-born Chinese) ourselves, we have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by Asian-American students. Many of our clients share this background, and we are well-versed in bridging the gap between parents and their children.
However, our commitment to social enterprise extends beyond just our community. We work with a diverse range of students, including low-income youths from India, boarding school students from the Northeast, first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students from Florida, and public school students from California.
No matter the background, we use our experiences as top students to help others reach their full potential, particularly in the area of personal essay editing. Many students who just used our asynchronous essay editing service 2-3 times were accepted to their dream school!
Ultimately, our goal is to humanize the often stressful and confusing college admissions process. Here at ElevatEd, we are wholly dedicated to helping each student uncover and convey their unique qualities through their applications.
I’m from a low-income family and background and can’t afford these services. What can I do?
At ElevatEd, we believe in our “North Star” kids – students from underprivileged and underserved communities who, upon receiving some dedicated support, can flourish and reach their full potential.
We understand this firsthand because we've experienced it ourselves. Kevin, as a first-generation, low-income student from Miami, and Jeff, as a student from a rural public high school that hadn’t sent a student to Yale in over a decade, both understand on a personal level how challenging it can be to navigate this process from scratch, especially when facing significant obstacles.
That’s why we offer scholarships to a select few overachieving students each year to invest our time in … for absolutely free. If you are ambitious, hardworking, positive, and know you will make the absolute most of our services, contact us using the “Speak With a Founder” button below so we can chat!
Where else can I look for more help?
We provide a wealth of free content and resources on our YouTube channel, TikTok, and blog! We are committed to making the college application process as transparent as possible by offering extensive free materials. Our goal is to give every student the opportunity to gain admission to their dream school.