You guys have grown a lot over the past five years. Are the founders still involved in editing applications?
You bet we are. Our founders are involved in EVERY application that the company works on. That’s what makes us so fierce—our collaborative, team approach.
Holy sweet G*d damn. Why are you guys so good looking?
Minimum daily recommendation of Vitamin D. Superlative taste in hair stylists. And a pat of Vaseline on the teeth.
Yeah but does it work? Do you keep statistics on acceptance rates for your clients?
This is a magnificent and very popular question. And the answer is an emphatic no. Turns out, it isn’t a very useful or meaningful statistic (and any professional worth his salt will tell you the same). Here’s why.
Once we finish our work with our clients on their essays, it’s up to them to convert interviews into acceptances. And while some clients elect to work with us on interview prep, most simply don’t. Once the applicant is in the room with an interviewer—there’s nothing more we can do to help!
Secondly, we know that sometimes folks will want to apply to stretch programs; that is, schools where their odds of acceptance are not great (i.e., anyone applying to Stanford). We of course let these clients know how we view their chances—and we are very blunt about our opinions! After all, we are rarely surprised by Adcom decisions.
But we are up for taking such occasional chances with applicants. If we were obsessed with managing our “yield” of accepted students, we would never agree to do a single Stanford application…
And finally, not everyone keeps in touch! See? The statistic is garbage. Those who “keep track” are either lying, hand-picking clients, or forcing their poor existing clients to apply to exclusively safe schools. If a company advertises such a statistic, it is a red flag. Big time.