Watch This If Your Teen
Wants a Head Start
For younger students who are still exploring their interests, building skills, and want a clear direction before high school gets more competitive.
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VIP Admissions
Partnership
Private admissions strategy for families who want a healthier, smarter path to the colleges that matter most.
A closer look
Inside the VIP
Admissions Partnership
Watch This If Your Teen
Watch This If Your Teen Is
Already Building Their Application
For students who already have interests, activities, or achievements—but need help connecting them into a stronger, more focused application story.
Trusted by families pursuing
exceptional opportunities.
Featured in
A better way
to prepare.
The students who stand out at the most selective colleges are not the ones who did the most.
They are the ones who knew who they were, cared deeply about something real, and built a high school experience around that.
Steve’s approach starts where almost no other college counselor starts: with your student’s core values.
Before essays, activities, or college lists, Steve helps your student uncover:
the problems that make them angry
the work that energizes them
the person they want to become
That clarity becomes the foundation for everything else: the activities they choose, the impact project they build, the story they tell in their application, and the colleges they target.
All of it flows from a single, honest answer to the question admissions officers are actually asking:
“Who is this student, and why does it matter?”
Students who go through this process do not just get into better colleges. They arrive at college knowing who they are—calmer, more confident, and more purposeful than their peers.
Parents consistently describe Steve’s work not as college prep,
but as life-changing.
What This Partnership Is
A private, ongoing admissions partnership
The VIP Admissions Partnership is a private, ongoing advisory relationship between Steve and your family. It is a sustained, high-touch partnership that begins with understanding your student deeply and continues through every major decision in the admissions journey.
Steve works closely with your student to clarify their core values, identify the work they are most genuinely drawn to, and develop an impact project that reflects who they actually are - something meaningful, memorable, and impossible to replicate. He also works with your family to ensure that parents are informed, aligned, and supporting their student in the right ways at the right moments.
Throughout the partnership, Steve will help your teen:
01
Identify their core values and build their high school experience around them
02
Develop an impact project that reflects genuine curiosity, initiative, and purpose
03
Understand what selective admissions officers are actually looking for - and what they are not
04
Build a personal narrative that is coherent, compelling, and authentically theirs
05
Make smart decisions about courses, activities, and how they spend their time and energy
06
Develop an essay strategy grounded in who they are, not what they have done
07
Approach the admissions process from a place of clarity and confidence rather than anxiety and overwhelm
Steve also pays close attention to something most college counselors ignore entirely: your student's health, sleep, and overall well-being. A student who is burned out, sleep-deprived, and stretched across a dozen activities they do not care about is not a competitive applicant. A student who is rested, focused, and genuinely engaged in work that matters to them is. Steve builds this into the work from the beginning.
Sign up for VIP →How We Get Started: The Roadmap Process
Every partnership begins with the creation of a personalized admissions roadmap - a clear, strategic picture of where your student is today and exactly what they need to do to get where they want to go.
Step 1 - Strategic Intake
Your student completes a detailed planning worksheet covering academics, test scores, activities, interests, and the subjects and problems they are most drawn to. Then Steve meets with your student for a strategy conversation to explore their strengths, values, and possible directions. This is where Steve begins helping your student identify their theme, which becomes the through-line that will connect every part of their application into a single, memorable story.
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Step 2 - Private Strategy Session
Ongoing sessions focus on implementing and refining the roadmap as your student grows, their interests evolve, and new opportunities emerge. Steve works with your student on their impact project, essay strategy, course selection, and activity decisions, all grounded in the values and theme established in the roadmap. This work makes your student stand out from the hundreds of thousands of other qualified candidates.
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Step 3 - Roadmap Development
Students who go through this process do not just get into better colleges. They arrive at college knowing who they are. They are more focused, more confident, and more purposeful than their peers. Parents consistently describe Steve's work not as college prep, but as life-changing.
DISCOVER MOREFrom there, ongoing sessions focus on implementing and refining the roadmap as your student grows, their interests evolve, and new opportunities emerge.
What's Included
01
Private strategy sessions with Steve
02
Preparation before major admissions milestones and decisions
03
Review and evaluation of the student’s academic performance, course selection, and commitments
04
Ongoing guidance as interests, priorities, and timelines evolve
05
Support with positioning, narrative development, and overall admissions strategy
06
Access to call recordings and written notes after each session
07
Development and refinement of an impact project aligned with the student’s interests and values
08
A centralized system for tracking decisions, insights, and next steps
09
Essay strategy support and draft feedback
What families say
after the process.
Student story · Dartmouth
“
Before working with Steve, I thought getting into a top college meant taking the hardest classes, joining the most impressive clubs, and constantly doing more. Instead, Steve helped me identify my core values, stop chasing activities just to look impressive, and start building a life and application that actually reflected who I was.
I honestly don’t think I would have gotten into Dartmouth if I hadn’t gone through that process.
Erica Chemmanoor
Dartmouth College, Class of 2028
Read Erica’s story →
Student story · Cornell
“
Before the Ivy League Challenge, I thought getting into a top college was just about having the highest GPA, SAT score, and leadership titles. Steve completely changed the way I approached high school by helping me identify my core values, build a meaningful impact project, and write essays that revealed who I really was underneath the accomplishments.
I truly believe that process played a significant role in helping me get into Cornell.
Matthew Kim
Incoming Cornell Engineering Student
Read Matthew’s story →
Student story · Yale
“
Instead of trying to reverse-engineer a version of myself that colleges wanted to see, Steve helped me start from square one and build outward from who I actually am.
The process gave me permission to be more honest, more intentional, and more confident about the path I was building.
Isabella Kim
Yale, Class of 2030
Read Isabella’s story →
Parent story · Stanford
“
Before working with Steve, my son was stuck in what Steve calls the “impressiveness trap”—constantly doing more, sleeping less, and burning himself out trying to look competitive for top colleges. Steve helped him stop chasing endless accomplishments and instead build a compelling, human story around who he really was.
More importantly, Steve helped my son become himself again.
Shiva Rajagopalan
Parent of Rohan, Incoming Stanford Engineering Student
Read Rohan’s story →
If you want individualized support through your college prep process, the VIP program is right for you.
Sign up for VIP →