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. Collectively these attributes present a story—your story—and why you 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, and geographical backgrounds. Colleges want to understand your background, how you have maximized your opportunities, and what you will contribute to classrooms and their 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 student aspirations and financial needs. 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.

Research-based advising is driven by ever changing data pertaining to college admissions pertaining to 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 awarded 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:

  1. Books: Mychal Wynn has written a comprehensive series of college, career, and scholarship planning books 
  2. 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
  3. 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)
  4. Summer Boot Camps: Presented virtually and in-person, for students in grades 6- 12 providing career/college planning, planning for athletes, and essay writing support for high school seniors. 
  5. 1-on-1 Advising: We provide 1-on-1 advising for families who can afford personalized guidance, which is most appropriate for students pursuing admission to highly selective colleges or who have unique needs

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
  • Students or parents may receive a pricing discount by registering multiple students, who may reflect siblings, friends, or neighbors
  • 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

Any student, parent, school, or organization deliberating the importance of engaging in college planning is important need only consider federal student loan data reported by the U.S. Department of Education.