College Advising
Scholarship, Leadership & Service
Our college advising developed through the experience of guiding our older son, a 3-sport varsity athlete who graduated from North Springs High School Math, Science, Visual, and Performing Arts Magnet Program. Byy intentionally guiding our son in developing his body or work across the 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service, he was offered admission to Amherst College, the top ranked liberal arts college at the time. He has received his BA in English, will be publishing his first book and is a certified college adviser with an expertise in essay writing.Amherst College - BA English
Kimberly graduated from the Paulding County High School Academy of Science, Research, and Medicine in Dallas, Georgia and participated in our Atlanta-area Cohort. She was offered 6 full scholarships: Amherst College, Duke University, Princeton University, Vanderbilt University, Washington & Lee University, and Williams College. She was also selected as a UMBC-Meyerhoff Scholar. She has received her undergraduate degree and is a Ford Foundation Fellow pursuing her PhD in math. Williams College - BA Math and Chemistry/Iowa State PhD Candidate
Juliana graduated from Lake City High School in Lake City, South Carolina and participated in our FSD3 Cohort. She graduated as the 2022 Class Valedictorian and became the first student in the history of her school district to be offered admission to Williams College. Williams College - Chemistry
Jayla graduated from Lake City High School in Lake City, South Carolina and participated in our FSD3 Cohort. She graduated as the 2023 Class Valedictorian and became the second student in the history of her school district to be offered admission to Williams College. Williams College - Africana Studies
Josiah will graduate from Boca Ciega High School in Gulport, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. He attended our college planning boot camp as a rising 8th grader and continued in our program throughout high school serving on our youth leadership board and starting a College Cohort Club at his high school. He was selected as a QuestBridge College Scholar and College Match Finalist. He was offered 5 full scholarships: Boston College, Macalester College, Northeastern University, Washington & Lee University, and Williams College.Williams College - Economics
Tiffani graduated from Northampton High School in Northampton, Pennsylvania. She was introduced to our program through her aunt, a Georgia-resident. Tiffani was introduced to Vassar College through our program.Vassar College - Chemistry
Justin graduated from Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia and participated in our Atlanta-area Cohort. He received a $50,000 MC Lyte Hip Hop Sisters Saving our Men Scholarship to Dillard University, together with an academic scholarship from Dillard. He went on to receive a BS in Physics from Dillard and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech.Dillard University - BA Physics/Georgia Tech MS Electrical Engineering
Taylar will graduate from Kennesaw Mountain High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. She joined our program as a rising 9th grader and developed her high school plan across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service. She returned to our program as a rising high school senior to finalize her college list and fine-tune her essays. She as offered full scholarships to Spelman College and Xavier University of Louisiana.Spelman College - Biology
Kristen graduated from Southwest Guilford High School in High Point, North Carolina and participated in our Guilford County Schools Cohort. She was offered 6 full scholarships: Amherst College, Duke University, Tuskegee University, University of Richmond, Wake Forest University, and Williams College. Kristen attending the University of Richmond as a Richmond Scholar. She received a BS in Biology from the University of Richmond and a BSN from Duke University.University of Richmond - BS Biology/Duke University BSN
Sydney graduated from the Early Middle College at GTCC in Greensboro, North Carolina and participated in our Guilford County Schools Cohort. She is one of several siblings to participate in our program (Kristen). She was offered full scholarships to Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Carlton College, and Williams College. She received her BA Psychology from Bowdoin College.Bowdoin College - BA Psychology
Arshia will graduate from Palm Harbor University High School in St. Petersburg, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. He attended our college planning boot camp as a rising 7th grader and affirmed MIT as his dream school. Continuing in our program and embracing our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service resulted in his being offered 4 full scholarships: Brown University, Dartmouth College, Georgia Tech, and his dream school, "MIT."MIT - Math and Astronomy
Tyra graduated from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia and participated in our Atlanta-area Cohort. She joined our program as a rising 9th grader and developed a 4-year plan across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service. Her college essay in which she shared her passion for entrepreneurship and founding a gently worn sneaker company caught the attention of Georgia Tech admissions officers resulting in a full scholarship as a Georgia Tech A. James Clark Scholar.Georgia Tech - Mechanical Engineering
Caleb with whom we worked 1-on-1, was a varsity basketball player at Creekside Christian Academy in Hampton, Georgia. After suffering an injury during his junior year, he refocused his energy on developing a leadership and community service profile in agriculture. He was selected as a Dowdy Scholar and received a full scholarship to the North Carolina A&T State University Honors College and was selected as a USDA/1890 Scholar.North Carolina A&T - Computer Engineering
Sydney graduated from the IB Program at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. Having experienced periods of homelessness, Sydney's story of triumph and personal resilience, as told through her essays, made her a perfect fit for the University of Chicago where she received a full scholarship as an Odyssey Scholar. She has earned a BS in Neuroscience and is in the process of applying to medical school.University Chicago - BS Neuroscience
Omar graduated from the Paulding County High School Academy of Science, Research, and Medicine in Dallas, Georgia and participated in our Atlanta-area Cohort. He joined our program as a rising 9th grader, served on our youth leadership board, was selected as a Yale Young Global Scholar and LEDA Scholar. He received a full scholarship to Brown University and was selected as a Jack Kent Cooke College Scholar.Brown University - Computer Science
Tuyen graduated from the IB Program at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. After joining our program as a high school junior, she quickly increased her leadership and community service profiles. She was selected as a QuestBridge College Scholar and College Match Finalist. She matched to Caltech where she received a full scholarship.Caltech - Computer Engineering
Damian graduated from Lake City High School in Lake City, South Carolina and participated in our FSD3 Cohort. He received a full scholarship to Northeastern University as a Torch Scholar where he received a BA in Political Science and Africana Studies. He received a $25,000 SallieMae "Bridging the Dream" Scholarship and a full graduate fellowship as a Northeastern University Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Graduate Fellow.Northeastern University - BA in Political Science and Africana Studies
Brenna graduated from Greensboro Middle College High School and participated in our Guilford County Schools Cohort. After landing an invitation to the Amherst College fly-in program, Brenna knew that Amherst College was the perfect fit. She received a BA in Psychology and is now attending graduated school at Amherst College.Amherst College - BA in Psychology
Joanne graduated from the IB Program at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. After joining our program as a high school sophomore, she increased her leadership and community service profiles. She received a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University and was selected as a Jack Kent Cooke College Scholar.Johns Hopkins University - Biology
Jocelyne will graduate from the IB Program at St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Florida and participated in our Pinellas County Schools Cohort. She attended our college planning boot camp as a rising 6th grader and continued in our program throughout high school serving on our youth leadership board and starting a College Cohort Club at her high school. As a middle school student, she convinced her older sister (Joanne) to join our program. She received a full scholarship to Brown University. Brown University - Computer Science
Research-based Advising
Applying to colleges and hoping for the best is not a plan. Paying application fees, writing essays, and completing the Common Application is a significant investment of time and money to simply hope for the best. College planning should be deliberate and intentional. Ideally, college planning should begin by the time a student makes the transition into the 6th grade and certainly no later than the transition into the 9th grade.
The Brandeis University college admissions process presented in the video provides insight into the attributes being evaluated beyond grades and test scores—leadership, community service, extracurricular activity involvement, honors and awards, gifts and talents, and essays. However, for most colleges and universities, we are able to assist students in developing a strategic approach to their college planning in grades 6 – 11 and when writing essays and packaging their college applications as high school seniors with additional data presented through each college’s Common Data Set. As illustration below, the Brandeis University Common Data Set identifies the relative importance of each element of a student’s application. The wide variation among the elements that are considered as very important between colleges is what is reflected in the term ‘College Match.’ Consequently, how these attributes are presented through a student’s essays and body of work tell a story—their story—and why the student would be a good fit for a college’s freshman class.
Since 2006, we have been providing comprehensive college-planning guidance to students across socioeconomic, cultural, geographical backgrounds, and type of school (i.e., public, private, charter, boarding, parochial, magnet, early college, etc.). Colleges want to understand a student’s background, how they have maximized their opportunities, and what they will contribute to classrooms and campus community. With this understanding, we have successfully guided thousands of students onto pathways into careers, military, 2-year, and 4-year colleges and universities. Our advising is developed around students’ aspirations and families’ financial need. The college admissions process is anything but transparent. With college applications at an all-time high, as well as college costs, it takes more than grades and test scores to land a seat in the freshman class of any college or university. It does not matter if a student aspires to attend MIT, Duke, Williams, Spelman, or Morehouse—competing for admissions and for scholarships requires a carefully constructed plan.
In the following video, one of our students explains the difference, from his perspective, between the college awareness/readiness focus of AVID and the holistic college planning focus of our College Planning Cohort program.
Research-based advising is driven by ever changing data pertaining to college admissions in such areas as:
- College acceptance rates and what colleges are looking for beyond grades and test scores
- Percentage of students using student loans to pay for college
- Likelihood of being awarded a scholarship (or being recruited for athletes)
- How students match to specialized college and scholarship programs
- Likelihood of a college awarding course credit for AP, IB, and dual enrollment classes
- What colleges are looking for in essays
Students enrolled in private schools with low student-counselor ratios or those whose parents can afford private college advising, which can cost $10,000 to over $1 million, have a huge advantage in this process. To level the playing field, we developed 5 layers of support for students and families:
- Books: Mychal Wynn has written a comprehensive series of college, career, and scholarship planning books
- Online Curriculum: Mr. Wynn, and his son, Mychal-David Wynn have written a comprehensive online curriculum providing step-by-step guidance, which includes examples of actual students, course schedules, résumés, financial aid award letters, and essays that resulted in offers of admission and being awarded high dollar scholarships
- Monthly Presentations: Available to all registered students, during which Mr. Wynn or a guest speaker discusses the important month-to-month actions that should be taken by grade level (i.e., 9 – 12)
- College Planning Cohorts: College advising provided to students in grades 8- 12 who receive 24/7 access to our online curriculum and brought together from throughout the United States via monthly virtual meetings to develop and discuss month-to-month college planning actions.
- 1-on-1 Advising: Personalized 1-on-1 advising for students unable to participate in our college planning cohort program or who otherwise require more personalized guidance in their year-to-year college planning actions across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service throughout their 7-year middle school through high school trajectory.
Our goal is to make this information accessible to as many students as possible by:
- Any student or parent may register for any of our programs
- Schools or organizations my purchase any of our books or request a site-license for access to our online curriculum
- Schools or organizations may request a pricing quote to register individual students or a cohort of students
- We also offer discounted pricing to other CBOs, Scout Troops, mentoring programs, fraternities, and sororities who may register students or purchase a site-license for for access to our online curriculum
Any student, parent, school, or organization deliberating the importance of engaging in college planning need only consider federal student loan data reported by the U.S. Department of Education.
Visit our College Cohort YouTube Channel to learn more about our work through the experiences of students and parents.