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College Zoom's Mission & Team
An Admissions Science Funded by USC
After we cracked admissions office rubrics,
we cracked the entire application.
Smarter Decisions, Smarter Outcomes
Miracle Acceptances, Reverse-Engineered
When "More" Stops Mattering
Our industry tells students to “do more.” We asked a better question: when does more stop mattering, even for the Ivy League? By analyzing data from: high schools, unexpected acceptance cases, and top universities, we identified the thresholds beyond which effort stops improving admissions odds at each college—and the critical blind spots strong applicants overlook in the pursuit of "more."
Data Breakthrough to Admissions Science
After we reproduced miracle acceptances in 1-on-1 practice, the University of Southern California funded College Zoom to advance admissions equity in 2012. Working with public schools, we developed and refined a methodology, forced into a science by systemic constraints—streamlined, measurable, and repeatable. Our third program achieved a 100% top-3 choice outcome rate.
That Science, Now Perfected for Your Family
We continued the methodology in our private, 1-on-1 practice. It's been perfected into hyper-personalized, admissions coaching for your unique strengths, high school context, and desired colleges. Combined with a whole-application strategy: it's achieved a 96.5% Top-3 Choice Success Rate.

Exceptionally Fast: Not the Admissions Consulting Experience You Were Expecting
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“My expectations were very low. I said, really, what are you going to do that the college counselor at my daughter's private high school could not? [Editor's note: Windward School is currently ranked #2 in Los Angeles by Niche]. But you presented a novel point of view, one that had not occurred to the other professionals. Then you accomplished two years worth of therapy in an hour, pulling everything out of her and getting it onto the page. I was impressed!”
— Gita Rosenwald, Daughter rescued from Vassar College's waitlist, Class of 2016
5% waitlist admit rate★★★★★
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“We did more in 2 hours than I did in 40 meetings with a college consultant who charges $200/hr.”
— Jessica G., USC Appellant
★★★★★
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“I paid [a well known college consultancy in New York] $1,000 for a one hour session and nothing was produced from that meeting. It was clear to me that they were doing a formulaic job. What they were offering was search engine optimization for college admissions: taking well-known facts about me, spinning and positioning them throughout the application. When I approached College Zoom, I thought they’d help me come up with some essay topics, potentially edit and proof read them, and say, “Thank you very much, here’s your invoice.” Instead, the service I got demonstrated more attention to detail, care, and concern about me, and my application, than I ever could have imagined…”
— Steve, Claremont McKenna College, Class of 2014
9.4% acceptance rate★★★★★
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“You strengthened the skills that all parents want to see in our 18 year olds, especially the maturity — and it appeared to be in a fun and enjoyable way. That’s something I didn’t expect at all when I placed the call to you. Even I was inspired.”
— Lauren White, Parent, Son attended USC, Class of 2017
★★★★★
Expert Opinions Provided For:
Exceptionally Effective: Our Admissions Science, Inspired by Miracle Underdogs, Is Even More Effective for Top Students
"Miracle students" have lower grades, test scores, no outwardly special stand out qualities and still get into their dream colleges over peers with better academic qualifications. While their classmates describe them as "only average," one top-20 college admissions director described them as "too good of a fit to turn away." Everyone roots for the underdog, including admissions officers. High achiever? Everyone has underdog moments that define their potential.
How Miracle Underdogs and Top Achievers Win in College Admissions
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Exceptionally Strategic: Researcher-Practitioners, Not Just Admissions Consultants
Ahead of Admissions Trends—At Times, We've Even Set Them.
Our approach has consistently kept us ahead of industry shifts. Years before Harvard’s Turning the Tide report on college admissions in 2016, we were already applying its core principles. We’ve presented admissions strategies to hundreds of counselors at USC’s Counselor Conference and successfully got the current University of California (UC) Application to enable bullet-point formatting for its activity summary after its public launch. A decade before the 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, we were helping Asian and minority students succeed with unique lived-experience essays rather than cultural-identity ones.
Avoid False Trends and Wrong Conventional Wisdom
We guided a student to write about her ex-boyfriend—a topic passionated ridiculed as the “absolute worst topic ever” by her regional admissions officer in a live presentation the student attended. Despite the reader's bias, our methodology identified that the narrative’s underlying substance would override the surface-level taboo. The student submitted the essay along with a 27 ACT (1200 SAT equivalent)—a score significantly below the university's competitive threshold. She was accepted. Two years later at a NACAC conference, that very same officer confirmed she not only remembered the essay, but had been moved to tears by it.
Our Team

A’Lira Underwood

David Reynaldo
College Zoom is Los Angele's #1 ranked college counseling service (Yelp). We're experts in elite college admissions throughout the U.S. and our success rate is the best nationwide. Smarter decisions, smarter outcomes.™ More.
Aisa Castro

Jackson Burgess

Adam Kronenberger

Wendy Liu

Ezra Li

Riley Darrough

Julia Haffie

Preston Walker

Griffin Damron

Adya Mohanty
The Perfect Bridge Between Generations
Magnetism ⬩ Rapport ⬩ Role-modeling ⬩ Skill
87 Years of Combined College Admissions Expertise
In 2009, my business plan for College Zoom - Admissions Consulting envisioned a team of former, elite college admissions officers driving our success. However, I quickly learned that admissions office experience doesn't equate to mentoring talent, persuasive writing ability, or a magnetic personality—the qualities that maximize a student’s potential. Sixteen years later, a former admissions officer has yet to pass our first-round interview. Still, College Zoom maintains one of the industry's best success rates thanks to our relations with admissions officers, directors, and deans through NACAC and WACAC, where it matters, and our emphasis on proven practitioner talent, where it counts.
Our students have outperformed those guided by more expensive firms. While they were solely focused on earning more titles and honors, we dually mastered the intrinsic journey—benchmarking student growth and intellectual depth as rigorously as other firms track awards. By quantifying the elusive but equally compelling 'holistic' qualities, we give underdogs more pathways to victory and help top performers break the tie against equally qualified peers.
This is holistic consulting for holistic admissions.
— David Reynaldo, Founder









