A Historic Breakthrough
In 2012, we won development funding from the University of Southern California to develop results-oriented college counseling methodology. After innovating methods that ethically lifted students with lower grades and SAT/ACT scores into highly selective colleges—and gave all students a measurable advantage—we became the only independent college consultants USC has ever invited to present a series of workshops alongside its admissions office.
How We Decoded College Admissions
We studied “Miracle students.” They have lower grades, test scores, no outwardly special hooks, and still get into their dream colleges over peers with better academic qualifications. While classmates describe them as “only average,” one admissions officer described their applications as "too good of a fit to turn away."
Expert Analysis Provided For:
How We Influence Outcomes
Using our proprietary version of the most demanding evaluation rubrics that admissions officers use to grade applications, we can perform a baseline diagnosis of your candidacy and address vulnerabilities before you apply. We've spoken with admissions deans and conduct proprietary research to develop smarter strategies. For example, 4 years before Harvard's Turning the Tide study on the future of college admissions, we'd already predicted and were applying its recommendations. In 2019, we successfully lobbied the University of California to enable bullet point formatting in the activity summary of its UC application. We're ahead of trends; at times we set them.
Our Team
15 Years in Service
"In 2009, my original business plan for College Zoom envisioned a team of former admissions officers driving our success. However, I quickly learned that admissions office pedigree doesn't indicate persuasive writing or teaching ability. As it turns out, a former admissions officer has yet to pass our first-round interview.
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College admissions isn't a random lottery, it's a poker game. You can beat players with equal or better cards than you if you have a competitive enough hand and play it right. We help students ethically change the cards in their hands. Admissions offices don't teach that, nor do creative writing programs.
I initially rose from obscurity in a saturated market by leading young but talented employees to outperform the top admissions consultants who were many years our senior. That formative leadership experience inspired our method of leading young students to achieve similar stand out success by conquering the challenges of youth in their own way.
Today, my employees' age distribution reflects that of a typical admissions office, and we've been honing our ability to guide teenagers in overcoming the instincts that compel them to fit in for longer than our high school freshmen students have been alive. Our history of success is your success, and vice versa."
— David Reynaldo, Founder
A’Lira Underwood
David Reynaldo
Aisa Castro
Jackson Burgess
Adam Kronenberger
Wendy Liu
Ezra Li
Riley Darrough
Claire Rowland
Julia Haffie
Luryn John-Miller
Preston Walker
Griffin Damron
Adya Mohanty
The Perfect Bridge Between Generations
Rapport ⬩ Role-modeling ⬩ Trust ⬩ Skill
For the highest levels of internal quality control, we're all in-house, W2 employees of College Zoom. We never outsource any part of your counseling to contractors.