Find the college that best suits your needs and personality.
Who We Are
Determining which of the hundreds of colleges will best meet a student’s needs and abilities has become a highly complex, costly, and often stressful process for many families.
Selecting the right academic courses, taking the appropriate entrance exams, developing interesting activities and skills, planning summer experiences, and writing outstanding essays can make a major difference in gaining admission to the institution of a student’s dreams.
Academic Advisors help students and their parents through the entire process and enable them to achieve their dreams.
We are proud of our record of guiding hundreds of young women and men into schools that have resulted in successful, fulfilling experiences.
We have an excellent record of appropriate college placements for our clients, including the most selective schools.
Our team
Ellen Weinstein
FOUNDING PARTNER
Ellen has been advising students in the Orange County area for eighteen years. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in English. Following graduation, Ellen taught school in New York City, Maryland, San Diego, and Lexington, Massachusetts, where she was a “master teacher,” helping new educators to hone their skills. After attending classes at UCLA, Ellen received her college counseling certificate in 1996 and interned at Foothill High School. Having worked with several hundred students, she has helped each of them to find their “home” after high school.
Ellen has visited over one hundred and fifty universities and regularly attends meetings both through professional organizations and on various college campuses.
She is frequently invited to speak at area high schools and charitable organizations and also mentors new counselors in the area. She was the founder of the CollegeBound program at Girls Inc. in Costa Mesa.
Lauren Weinstein
MANAGING PARTNER
Lauren graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Political Science and also holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University.
She has a certificate in College Counseling from UC San Diego. Her forte is coaching students to find their strengths and achieve success. Lauren’s ultimate goal is to help underclassmen select appropriate classes and extracurricular activities to maximize their outcomes in the admissions process.
She has developed her own methodology for helping students with their college admission essays, which is designed to allow students to find their own voices throughout the application process.
Lauren served as a mentor at the Fulfillment Fund, a nonprofit organization that empowers students through education and mentorship, paving the way for them to be the first in their families to go to college.