College Application Advising – Maximize Your Acceptance Chances

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The Benefits Of Our Professional Program​

College Application Consulting Services

Gaining the Competitive Edge

Over the past decade, top colleges have continued to become more competitive. Every step in preparation counts, including an improved personal essay, revised common application, and well-practiced interview.

Top Expertise

Our advisors and editors have been the top performers at their institutions, served on admissions committees at elite programs, and have revised hundreds of successful applications.

editing and review that makes the difference

Our admissions expertise can make a significant difference – many of our applicants have been accepted to some of the worlds top universities.

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Will Best Fit Your Needs?

Personal Essay Editing

An amazing personal statement can be the decisive factor in acceptance​ at top universities. Our editing by college advisors and admissions experts helps you optimize the center-piece of your application through multiple rounds of detailed edits.

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Secondary Essay Editing

The secondary essays are an exceptionally important part of the application that should not be overlooked. Our advisors assist applicants in guiding essay structure and content to prepare for submission to their programs of choice.

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Detailed Application Review

With several factors that go into the college application that can determine success, a comprehensive review ensures that all sections of the application including essays and experiences are fully prepared for submission.

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Interview Preparation

Programs may have multiple different interview formats, and preparing for the most common and difficult college interview questions with an experienced team can make the difference between rejection and acceptance at top institutions.

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Resume and C.V. Editing

Resume editing is crucial in the application process, and allows you to concisely highlight your most important achievements effectively. Our expert advisors offer exceptional C.V. and resume editing to optimize your application for committee review.

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Hourly Applicant Advising

If you are planning your application in advance and are wondering what experiences will be most helpful or advantageous, we offer individual advising sessions for college applicants in order to plan their journey carefully for success upon submission.

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Looking for a package of the above items?

Our Team

Prior Admissions Expertise

With inside knowledge of how the admissions committee process works, our advisors can help gear your application to be as visible and attractive to committees as possible.
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Elite Preparation

Having graduated from some of the most competitive programs in the country, our advisors know what it takes to get there – and how to prepare you for success.
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Experienced Editing

Our editors have spent years reviewing applications, identifying mistakes and pitfalls to avoid, and enhancing each element of an application to shine once submitted. 
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Tradition of Excellence

Many of our students have achieved acceptance to their top-choice programs, and some of the most competitive universities around the globe. 
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Elite Advising For Comprehensive Preparation

Whether you are pursuing a degree in business, engineering, education, healthcare administration, or additional degrees, our admissions specialists have helped numerous students gain acceptance to their programs of choice. Pursuing a masters or PhD program is an exciting journey, and also one that requires significant commitment and time to complete.

Our advisors will review your application, help edit essays, optimize your C.V., and assist with interview preparation so that you can attend the graduate program that best suits your goals and ideas for the future. With a team that has completed a Masters in Business Administration, Masters in Education, and Masters in Public Health, and several doctorates at some of the nations top universities, our admissions experts know what it takes to get you to the next level in your education.

College Application Consulting Services
Individual Intership and job Advising

It is no secret that over the past 10 years, admission to college has become even more competitive with national and international applicants all aiming for limited spots at top universities. Yet, on average over the United States, the ratio of number of students to one guidance counselor is 408 to 1. Even at high schools with excellent resources, a guidance counselor may be in charge of dozens of student applications at the same time.

Exceptional Grad aims to help students and parents navigate this process with a personalized approach to application preparation, which helps students succeed in applying to their top choices by carefully reviewing their resume and C.V., personal essay, and entire application prior to submission. Our team of admissions experts will assist in brainstorming ideas that are unique to the student and colleges they are applying to, and provide editing by advisors with extensive experience in the college application process.

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Have you qualified for an application fee waiver?

For students who have qualified for a full application fee waiver and can provide a copy of their fee waiver documentation, we are committed to providing services to applicants with financial need and provide discounts for both individual services and comprehensive application packages. Believe you may qualify? Contact us below!

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Meet Our Expert Team of College Admissions Advisors

Mia Ellis, MS

Admissions Advisor, M.S. – Tufts University

Mia Ellis graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University with a B.S. in quantitative economics and mathematics. She received highest honors for her senior thesis and multiple academic awards in economics, having mentored hundreds of students applying to undergraduate math, engineering and economics programs. Following her Master’s degree, Mia has had extensive experience in helping students apply to top northeast universities including Harvard, Tufts, MIT, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, and Amherst College, and Colgate College among others with an incredible track record of successful applications and  acceptances.

Artem Osherov, BS

Admissions Advisor, BS – Yale University

Artem completed his undergraduate training at Yale University with a B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and a B.A. in English as a double major in a highly competitive environment. e has worked at Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions and spent time advising students as a graduate affiliate at one of Yale’s residential colleges, helping hundreds of prior students achieve acceptance at Ivy league and Ivy+ institutions including Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Duke, and John’s Hopkins. In addition to top acceptances, Artem has helped several applicants gain maximum scholarship offers for merit-based aid.

James Liao, BA

Admissions Advisor, BA – Duke University

James graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy and Philosophy. He founded and helped run a non-profit organization that has provided mentorship on college applications and academics to hundreds of high school students. He has specialized experience in helping students from all backgrounds gain admission to their dream school, with dozens of recent acceptances to Ivy+ colleges and top universities across the US which have ranged from full-ride acceptances at Duke and UNC to that of early admission offers at Stanford, Georgetown, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania among other top colleges across the US.

Kelly Song, M.Ed

Admissions Advisor, M.Ed – Harvard University 

Kelly Song holds an M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, with a specialized skillset for undergraduate admissions at one of the world’s top universities. Raised between Vancouver, Canada and Beijing, China, she is bilingual in English and Chinese. With a passion for cross-cultural communication, she has presented at various conferences across Harvard, MIT, and Oxford University as a well known name in the admissions space having helped applicants achieve acceptances from Caltech, MIT, UC-Berkeley, Washington University in St. Louis and all the way to Oxford and Cambridge University in the UK. 

Emily Rodriguez, BA

Admissions Advisor, BA – Yale University 

Emily graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Film and Media Studies and was awarded Yale’s Lamar Prize for Outstanding Work in Film for her thesis film ‘Incoherence’. As an expert in framing applications, she has helped hundreds of applicants draft and personalize their applications for success. She has advised students in a variety of fields from storytelling to resume building/career exploration at the very top of their fields. Emily specializes in building a cohesive narrative, and it has shown in the incredible acceptances and scholarships her students have been offered including those at Yale, Stanford, Cornell, and Brown.

Dr. Amani Marshall, PhD, EdM

Admissions Advisor, Ed.M – Harvard University

Dr. Amani Marshall holds a B.A. in History from Florida A&M University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in History which have allowed him to mentor and advise thousands of former clients in the admissions process at the Ivy League level. Dr. Marshall is a historian of the African American experience and an award-winning educator with over 15 years’ of advising and admissions expertise. With previous Ivy league traning and admissions experience, his students have received offers from the majority of top 30 colleges across the nation which have included acceptances at Princeton, Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins University.

Elizabeth Kechejian, MFA

Admissions Advisor, BA, MFA – Boston University

Elizabeth Kechejian graduated Boston University with a degree in Psychology before earning an MFA in Creative Writing, with a concentration in Poetry, from the University of Florida, one of the country’s top MFA programs that accepts only 6 applicants per year. In graduate school, she taught a range of undergraduate writing classes, and has since helped students achieve incredible results in their college applications as an admissions expert from multiple high-level east coast universities with tailored reviews and scholarship offers far above the national average. Elizabeth is a leader in both undergraduate and graduate admissions advising.

Dr. Akhil Surapaneni, PhD

Admissions Advisor,  Ph.D.,  University of Texas – Austin

Akhil hails from Rice University with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, after which he completed his doctorate at the University of Texas – Austin in biomedical sciences with an extensive focus on research and numerous publications. He has had over a decade of experience mentoring students from under-served high schools and communities through science courses in order to increase access to STEM fields across the country and has overseen dozens of successful applications to STEM undergraduate admissions programs at UT-Austin, Rice University, UC-Berkeley, Duke, Sanford, and Carnegie Mellon.

Micah Secor, MS

Admissions Advisor, MBE, MS – University of Iowa

Micah Secor completed her bachelor’s degrees in neuroscience and physiology from the University of Arizona, where she has mentored hundreds of successful applicants in undergraduate admissions. Micah’s students and mentees have earned acceptances to Princeton, Yale, Colombia, Duke, Stanford, and UCLA to name a few institutions, many of them with significant scholarship offers and financial aid packages that wholly cover tuition. She is passionate about helping students receive both acceptance offers and large scholarship awards for attendance that have regularly amounted to tens of thousands of dollars in yearly tuition. 

Claire Hong, MPH

Admissions Advisor, BA, MPH – Columbia University

Claire Hong holds a B.A. in psychology from Pitzer College and completed her MPH at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She has mentored both high school and college applicants throughout their admissions process, helping students achieve admissions offers at Colombia, NYU, Georgetown, and many other top northeast universities. She is the recipient of Columbia Mailman’s Wyman Scholarship, the school’s largest merit-based scholarship awarded to applicants with high scholastic achievement, and has been instrumental in helping students gain thousands of dollars in merit-based scholarship awards. 

Dr. Mark Hoffman, PhD

Admissions Advisor, Ph.D. – University of Minnesota

With over 20 years of experience guiding students to academic success, Dr. Mark Hoffman has helped hundreds of applicants gain admission to top colleges over his tenure as professor at several universities with acceptance offers from Yale, Duke and many additional programs. He has advised at Vassar College, Macalester College, the University of Minnesota, and currently teaches Political Science at Saint Xavier University. With extensive admissions experiences across a variety of undergraduate institutions, he has achieved incredible success in helping students gain admission at top 30 programs across the US.

Dr. Taylor McCabe, PhD

Admissions Advisor, Ph.D. – University of California Irvine

Dr. Taylor McCabe completed her training at the University of Rochester, where graduated magna cum laude with BAs in English Literature and French, spent years in admissions reviewing applications for the UC-system with extensive experience assisting applicants with California and west-coast based university applications. She completed her master’s and PhD in English Literature at the University of California – Irvine, where she focused on nineteenth-century American literature and has since mentored dozens of students in the UC-system with acceptances to UCLA, UCSD, USC, Stanford, and a broad array of California universities.

Sebastian Boensch, MFA

Admissions Advisor, BA, MFA – University of Virgina 

Sebastian Boensch graduated from the University of Virginia with dual bachelors degrees in Economics and German Literature. As a current professor and admissions committee member at the University of Florida, he has extensive experience in graduate and undergraduate admissions for both public universities and small liberal arts colleges. At the University of Virginia, he won the Walter Sokel essay prize and continues to optimize applicant essays and applications with exceptional Ivy+ admissions results including student acceptances to Brown, Princeton, Georgetown, Northwestern, Boston University, and the University of Chicago.

Susan Comninos, MFA

Admissions Advisor, BA, MFA – Cornell University

Susan Comninos is a widely published writer and author of a recent book of poems, “Out of Nowhere” (Stephen F. Austin Univ. Press/Texas A&M, 2022) which has received national acclaim. Her writing and editing has received numerous recognitions over and extensive career. Since earning her BA in English from Cornell University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, she’s taught writing to undergraduates at Siena College and SUNY Albany, helping hundreds of students apply to their programs of choice and mentoring high school students for admissions applications at top northeast universities.

Trey Dodson, BA, MBA

Admissions Advisor, BA, MBA – Stanford University

Trey Dodson graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Human and Organizational Development, excelling with high honors in his degree studies prior to his graduate and MBA training at Stanford. Trey received a full ride academic scholarship to attend Vanderbilt, after which he did his graduate school training at Stanford University where he delved deeply into undergraduate and graduate admissions at one of the most competitive universities in the world. He has helped dozens of students gain acceptance into Stanford, CalTech, UCLA, Vanderbilt, UT-Austin and Rice University among other excellent schools.

Marisa A. Werner, JD, MBA

Admissions Advisor, BA, JD/ MBA – Cornell University 

Marisa Werner completed her undergraduate degree as magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in French, Italian, and Spanish. Marisa worked as a legal assistant at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City prior to attending Cornell for her JD/MBA. During her time in graduate school, Marisa was elected president of her class, going on to mentor high school and college students for their applications and advise them for internships at highly competitive companies and programs including EY-Parthenon along with acceptances at Dartmouth, Cornell and other top institutions.

Richard White, BA, JD

Admissions Advisor, BA, JD – Columbia University

Richard graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies & History through the Wharton School as one of the top of his class of graduates. He then completed his law school training at Columbia Law School where he has received academic honors and was heavily involved in admissions at both the graduate and undergraduate admissions level. As an admissions expert, he has helped hundreds of students receive offer letters at Ivy league institutions over his tenure which have included applications to Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Applicants Most Often Receive Offer Letters To Attend

UCLA college application
University of Pennsylvania
New York University
Colombia University
University of Texas at Austin
Cornell University college application
Duke University
Harvard University college application
Johns Hopkins college application
Stanford University college application
University of Colorado college application

Successful Applicants Choose ExceptionalGrad

College admissions consulting that delivers results 

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Receive Acceptance to Their Top 5 School Choices

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Overall Acceptance Rate

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More Likely To Get A Scholarship

Still Deciding?

Your next step will require years of commitment with future opportunities at stake depending on the program type and reputation of the institution. It is worth the initial investment in your application to make sure that you receive the acceptance that is right for you, and one that fully realizes your goals for the future. Reach out with any questions below if you are still deciding which service will most serve your application needs.

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