Working with Los Angeles families
Los Angeles students arrive with more genuine creative work than almost anywhere else we operate. Films, music, design portfolios, a following built on a platform. The question is rarely whether a student has done something interesting. It is whether the thing has been built into something an admissions committee will treat as serious rather than as a hobby.
Harvard-Westlake, Marlborough, Brentwood, Crossroads, Polytechnic, Campbell Hall and Buckley are well known to American admissions offices, as are the magnet programmes at North Hollywood and Granada Hills. Committees read those transcripts accurately, which means the differentiation has to come from somewhere else.
That is a real distinction and it turns on evidence. A short film with a festival selection reads differently from a short film. A clothing line with revenue reads differently from a clothing line. Our work is usually to take something the student already cares about and give it the outside recognition that makes a committee count it.
The UC system, and why early strategy still matters
California families often build a list weighted towards the UCs and treat private applications as an afterthought. The UCs are superb and extremely difficult, they read their own personal insight questions, and they do not consider demonstrated interest or early decision at all.
Private universities do, heavily. A student with no early-round plan has given away the part of the process where the odds are best. We build the list around that first.
What an engagement includes
Families work with us on a single end-to-end package rather than buying hours. One team, one plan, from the first strategy session through to the acceptance letter.
- Strategy and school list built around early-round positioning.
- Personal statement and supplements, developed with former admission officers.
- The Hook Program, in which a student builds an original project with real users or real recognition.
- Independent academic research with a Ph.D. or professor, published in an academic journal.
- Summer programs and internships drawn from our own database and partner companies.
- Admissions Roundtable review before the application is submitted.
Pricing sits in two tiers, Standard and Premium, each quoted after a private consultation. See how the tiers differ, or read how we work.
Where else we work
Alongside Los Angeles, we work with families in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok.