We’ve worked with numerous students from a variety of backgrounds, including public and private school students, homeschoolers, transfers, internationals, and gap year students. Our students have earned admission to every Top 20 college, among many others. They’ve also had success with admission to special scholarships or programs such as Dean’s/President’s/Regent’s scholarships, honors colleges, Penn M&T/Huntsman, John Jay National Scholars, etc.
Our results speak for themselves. Every year top colleges report that it was the most selective year in their admissions history. Our students’ admit rates to top colleges are consistently 5x-15x higher than the overall average at a given college. In recent years, our consultation clients who apply to colleges like Yale, Penn, Duke, and UChicago have been admitted at rates over 70% despite overall admit rates around 5%. In the last three years, over 80% of our applicants to UCLA and UC Berkeley were admitted. Over 95% of our consultation clients have been admitted to one or more top twenty ranked college.
Below we’ve listed some of the colleges our students have been admitted to and shared some of the many emails, texts, and messages we’ve received from students and parents over the years.
- Amherst
- Barnard
- Bowdoin
- Boston University
- Brown
- Carnegie Mellon
- Colgate
- Columbia
- Cooper Union
- Cornell
- Dartmouth
- Duke
- Emory
- Georgia Tech
- Grinnell
- Harvard
- Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Johns Hopkins
- Michigan
- MIT
- Northeastern
- UNC Chapel Hill
- NYU
- Occidental
- Penn
- Pomona
- Princeton
- Purdue
- Rice
- UC Berkeley, UCLA, and every other UC
- UChicago
- USC
- UT Austin
- UVA
- Stanford
- Swarthmore
- Tufts
- Washington & Lee
- WashU
- Yale
“After reading Allen’s new community essay, I would like to thank you again for your excellent advice that helped him to write such a good narrative. The second version is way better than the first one. Your instructions gave his inspiration and methodology to write a good essay. We appreciate it and thanks!”
–Allen’s father, Jordan W, after completing the Essential Application Review. Jordan went on to purchase six additional services.
“So far my application season, until today, was quite a success. I got into WashU, all 4 UCs, Johns Hopkins, CMU, and Emory. Today, it got even better. I was admitted to Yale and Harvard!! I’m still in shock, but I just want to say thank you SOOOOO much. I never expected anything like this and I don’t believe this would’ve been possible without your awesome feedback and edits. I will definitely be recommending you to my junior friends! Again, thank you so much, this is insane!”
–Allen W, (Jordan’s son) admitted to ten Top 30 colleges
“This was one of the best decisions I ever made. Your feedback and guidance were really detailed and helpful. Thanks!”
–Erin Y, a transfer student admitted to Rice, WashU, and Columbia
“Wow, thank you so much for your time and effort in revising my PIQ’s for me! I felt so nervous looking over your notes/corrections and noticing the insane amount of mistakes I’ve been making. I’ll make sure to go over the notes that you’ve linked in order to help me with some of my PIQ’s.”
–Ari R, after receiving feedback on her UC application.
“As an international, I initially felt a bit lost in the essay-writing process, and hiring a professional at a competitive cost was the confidence boost I needed in order to be bold and showcase my values as a person in the application. This process is especially difficult for international students, and I’d say your greatest asset was making the mental battle easier. This was overwhelmingly positive and I thoroughly enjoyed working with you.”
–Arpan K, an international student who was admitted to five T20 schools with aid
“Better College Apps was the best investment my parents and I made into the college application process by far. Working with y’all truly made me a better writer and helped me learn more about myself on top of getting into highly selective schools.”
–James P.
“If anyone asks where to find someone to help them with their college applications, I’ll know who to refer them to. Thanks again for everything! The advice I received was so far beyond my expectations. My application came out better than I could’ve imagined.”
–Isaac N, a student who purchased the Complete Application Consult
“We still can not believe that so many elite schools accepted Tina. She got in her childhood dream school, and her dream got even bigger. This kind of success is way beyond our expectations. It could not have been possible without your guidance along the way. You inspired Tina with your professionalism, and most importantly fostered her confidence and endurance in the long process. No word could describe how appreciative we are, and we, from the bottom of our heart, would like to say THANK YOU!”
–Tina’s mother, Emily G.
“This was some of the best advice I’ve ever received. Columbia is my dream school — thank you so much!”
–Jake G, a transfer student admitted to Columbia
“Yoooooooo, Mark!
I managed to get into Colgate University with a full-ride with our essay, and I honestly can’t believe it, because I would never even dream about such an amazing school! You guys helped me improve my essay so, so much, and I honestly have no clue what I would’ve done if I didn’t have your support and your tips! I’m so incredibly lucky that I managed to find you!
I don’t feel like you need to improve anything. You literally came back with the proofread essay within several days and gave it back to me before the ED deadlines. That’s pretty awesome. Thank you so much!”
–Thomas C, admitted ED to Colgate.
“I was really pleased with the ways my essays turned out! Unfortunately, I didn’t get into the true reaches, but I’m pretty sure that had more to do with my 3.6 GPA. Overall, the process was very smooth, and you were a big help. Thank you!”
–Chris R, admitted to NYU, UT Austin, Northeastern, and UT Dallas with a full ride
“Your help was so comprehensive! I was relieved that you were able to keep Lisa interested and focused through the whole process. You made it so easy and took all the guesswork out.”
–Proud parent of Lisa S.
“I really appreciate your comments; they were all very constructive. Thanks for helping me put my personality into my essay just in time for the deadline. It needed major help and fast, and you came through better than I would have thought possible.”
–Hassan B.
“Thanks for putting so. much. time. into helping me. I was so lost with how to even get started. You’re so knowledgeable and give such wonderful advice. Your explanations took away so much of the stress from this.”
–Miley D.
“…I just wanted to let you know that I got in to my ED College, Bowdoin! I’m so so happy and I still can’t believe it. I wanted to thank you for all your help…I wouldn’t have gotten in had you not helped me. Thank you thank you thank you! :)”
–Amrita K, who was rejected from Bowdoin the prior year
“I wanted to tell you that I got accepted into Tufts! I can’t thank you enough for all of your help with my essays. Your feedback helped me considerably throughout this whole process, and without it, I wouldn’t have gotten in! Thank you again!.”
–Ravi P, admitted RD to Tufts
“It was a great decision on our part to work with you. I believe Corey came up with a nice basic idea for his common app essay, but his drafts were really unpolished, and they did not bring out much of his character that the AOs would have liked to see. After he worked on the essay based on your feedback, it got elevated to a completely different level. I believe the essay was one of the primary reasons to get him admitted to so many great colleges. It’s true that a couple of these colleges did not use Common App, so he did not use the essay “as is” for them, but he still used a custom variation of it to respond to their specific prompts.
I think where you excelled was the feedback you provided. They were very thorough and helped him look into the essay from the AO’s perspective. The criticism was very constructive and to the point. It really helped him to see the shortcomings and the ways to improve the essay. Another area that I liked is the reasonable cost of the service provided. I believe the fair price would allow many middle-class families like us to afford the service and have a level playing field to compete with much more affluent kids.
I don’t really have much to say about the areas of improvement. Thanks again for all your help. We have also much appreciated and benefited from your contribution to the A2C Reddit community.”
–Devlin, a parent who purchased several Essential Essay Reviews for his son, Corey.
“I purchased the essay reviews, and was blown away because the value being offered was incomparable. (I got my Common App essay reviewed, as well as some supplements to some very selective schools). The feedback I got was extremely detailed, very thorough, addressed things that I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed, and also suggested multiple ways to improve the essay without dictating what I should do exactly. Here’s an excerpt that stuck with me:
Like I said, he was able to explain not only where I could improve, but how I could improve without pushing me in a specific direction, and letting me write in my own voice. He even looked over my activities and awards list, and gave some constructive criticism on how to creatively use the space. THAT kind of detailed feedback on is the value that you get when you work with them. “
–JP, admitted to seven colleges including UVA, Washington & Lee, Emory, and Tufts.
“I thought the feedback and criticism on my essays were very detailed and specific so I knew exactly what I needed to fix in my essays. Also, the feedback was given back to me very punctually. Overall, I thought it was great! I appreciate your advice and feedback on my essays during my college admissions!”
–Anette B.
“Thank you so much Mark and Bethany. Your feedback is great and just what I needed. It will take me time to go through each and re-write parts of the essay as you suggested, but I can see how much work it needs.”
–Clark E, after receiving essay feedback
“I just got a call telling me I’m a finalist for the scholarship!!! Thank you so much for helping me with this. They will let me know when the interview is. My essays were so much better after you helped me with them :). THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
–Kelly S, after learning she was a finalist for a major scholarship
“Hello Mark and Wyn,
I’m Parker’s dad, and as Parker might have already updated you, we are happy to share that he has been accepted into UPenn (School of Engineering and Science). We would like to take this opportunity to thank you both for your guidance, feedback and for constantly pushing Parker to bring out the best in his essays. Your guidance was invaluable to Parker and we are very happy with the support provided.
Definitely we plan to use your services for our younger child as well and will refer you to other friends too. If you need a reference or want us to share feedback in the future to any other families, please let us know, and we would be very glad to provide them. Thank you once again for patiently providing guidance to Parker and making his goal of getting into Ivy League a possibility.
Best,
Jack D.“
“Hello Mark,
I have some great news to share. I’ve been accepted Early Decision into UPenn! I got the news a week ago but due to finals I’ve only been able to settle in now!
I wanted to extend greatest thanks to you and Better College Apps for helping me navigate this admissions process. It’s always been my goal from a young age to get into an Ivy League caliber school, and I’m thrilled to be able to live that reality. Contrary to what I expected going in, I truly believe that the essays (for Penn) were the strongest part of my application. Now that I’m reading my personal statement again for the first time in a while, I honestly really enjoy it and I can say that my admissions reader probably did a lot too.
More specifically, I wanted to thank you Mark for coming in at a time when I was frankly struggling with my personal statement. For the first month or so I did not have much going for me, but you kept reassuring me that my writing was headed in the right direction. Your advice honestly changed the game. The feedback and confidence you gave me really went a long way. I’m very thankful for your willingness to help me when things weren’t going how I’d hoped with my first attempt. It showed me your commitment and dedication to your business and helping students get admitted into these top universities. I honestly believe my final essay really is one of the most proudest pieces of work I’ve produced.
I cannot really describe my excitement via email alone. Now that I’m done with college admissions my life moving forward feels different. Ideally, I’d like to call you once whenever you’re free. It’s the holidays for me now so I’m available whenever, so let me know if that is a possibility.
Thanks again for everything Mark.
Merry Christmas,
Parker”
–Parker D, admitted Early Decision to Penn
“Hi Mark,
Hope you are doing well and getting ready for the holidays. Our family wanted to thank you for all your help in getting Anima into her dream school despite the fierce competition of this application cycle. During the last few stressful months, Anima has learned a lot from you and she was also deeply appreciative of your immense knowledge of the process and how you helped her lean in and find her voice in the essays. Above all, I’m very grateful for your upbeat and positive guidance for her, which really helped her whenever she was worried. We have had many dinner time conversations starting with “Mr. Boerkel always says…”
Thank you so much for everything! I hope all your students get into their dream schools. Enjoy the holidays with your family. If you’re ever in the northern [state] area, we would love to meet you and thank you in person.
Take care,”
–Nithya B, whose daughter was admitted to Duke
“Dear Wyn-
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thrilled about Liam’s admission to UChicago. Acknowledging that college admissions is an absolute gamble- and this absolutely could have gone the other way even with his fabulously curated application- we are thrilled with your guidance and expertise.
Liam’s application truly reflected who he is and his voice came through loud and clear. Your steady hand guided him down his personal path as he chose how to represent his interests and accomplishments with personal authenticity.
We are thrilled! Hoping your other students are having success in this process. I am happy to write or record a review for you if you might find that helpful.
Please extend our gratitude to your team as well. Liam is thrilled! We are thrilled! And, added bonus, he can stop writing application essays and move on to looking for scholarships.
Hope you have a great weekend!”
–Rebecca N, whose son, Liam, was admitted ED to UChicago
“I’m so excited to share that I’ve committed to Barnard College of Columbia University, my dream school, under Early Decision! Thank you so much for editing and giving advice on my personal statement.
I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season!
Sincerely,
–Tatiana L.”
“Hi Emily,
I just wanted to let you know that I got into Cornell ED earlier today! Thank you so so much for all of your help throughout the process. I know that my common app and Dyson supplemental would not have been as good without your suggestions and guidance.
Thanks again!
–Allison G.”
“Hi Wyn:
I just got into Yale this evening!! Thank you so much for your guidance during the essay and admissions process. I appreciated your wisdom along every step of the journey and you really helped me craft my story in my essays. Again, thank you soo much 🙂
Best,
–Andy C.“
“YALE said YES! Just wanted to share this fantastic news with you!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support! I couldn’t have done it without you and all your incredible feedback on my essays.”
–Francis E, who was ultimately admitted to ten T20 colleges including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford
“Hi Emily,
Just wanted to let you know that I was admitted to Stanford. Thanks so much for your help!”
–Li X
“Hi Mark,
I got into HARVARDDD!!!! I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much for everything!!!!
So I don’t know really know what to do now. Cancelling tonight’s meeting. I’ll let you know if I plan on applying anywhere else. I’ll get back to you soon with my plans.
THANK YOUUU!!!”
–Roshni V, admitted REA to Harvard