Top Tier Admissions Review

Top Tier Admissions was founded in 2005 by former Dartmouth admissions officer, Dr. Michele Hernández, and parenting guide author, Mimi Doe. The company offers a comprehensive Application Boot Camp for fleshing out applications and private counseling starting as early as 7th grade. In this comprehensive Top Tier Admissions review, we’ll score them along five key metrics so that you have a full picture of whether Top Tier Admissions is a good fit for you.

Top Tier Admissions features ten Senior Private Counselors, including the company’s founders, according to their site. The staff includes former admissions officers, authors, and educators formerly employed at institutions like Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, and Pomona. Many of their counselors attended the same universities in which they were subsequently employed and all seem to have worked within the educational sphere for at least a few years before joining the team. 

Top Tier Admissions offers a fairly traditional admissions consulting approach, which starts with a 30-minute consultation to discuss options and answer families’ questions. After students have completed a questionnaire and participated in a handful of subsequent conversations, they are paired with a counselor who will work with them throughout the private counseling process. All programs are conducted virtually, using video chat, phone calls, or email.

Private Counseling

Price: $85,000 – $95,000+ (depending on year of the student)

Starts as early as 7th grade, and involves working directly with one of their Senior Private Counselors over the course of a student’s primary educational career. 

The program includes: 

• Unlimited counseling hours
• Reading list
• Full review of students’ background and current academic trajectory
• Recommended testing schedule and application strategies
• Guidance on coursework, extracurriculars, etc. 

Application Bootcamp

Price: $22,000

A four day event held virtually each August, includes: 

• Essay review and strategic guidance
• Assistance with completing all aspects of the Common Application
• Personalized Admissions Report (an assessment of a student’s current standing)
• One pre-Bootcamp meeting with one of the founders
• Access to their members-only site and Teleseminars

Top Tier Admissions also offers a private Application Bootcamp service. Scheduled at a student’s convenience, this three day program is conducted one-on-one with a Senior Counselor. 

Finding a truly qualified consultant is half the battle. Some consultants have not gone to top-tier schools themselves, and repeat advice they hear from others. Also, some firms have a qualified “face” of the company, but then bait and switch you with a less experienced consultant after you’ve paid. That’s why we always start each review by doing full due diligence on the company’s consultants.

Top Tier Admissions only shares the professional and academic backgrounds of their core staff and Senior Private Counselors. Students are likely to interact with some staff not directly mentioned on their website during the traditional Application Bootcamp. 

We like that many of their counselors attended prestigious universities, like Harvard, Dartmouth, University of Virginia, Stanford, Princeton, Penn, and the University of California, Berkeley. Many of these counselors worked in the admissions offices of these very same Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, Cornell, and Dartmouth. 

The founders participate in brief personal consultations as part of the Application Boot Camp and seem to have more limited involvement in counseling than other counselors.

We like that most of the staff worked within higher education for many years and that many have backgrounds in specific yet varied fields, like art history and STEM publishing. The breadth and depth of their experience could certainly benefit students with similar interests.

The biggest risk when applying to college is following bad advice. You only have one shot, so you need to make it count, and choosing the right admissions service can make a big difference. We use a 50-point evaluation system to determine the likelihood a service will help a student get into their desired college.

We like that their Senior Private Counselors have extensive experience in university admissions and that many of them attended prestigious universities. With that said, we do have some concerns regarding the Boot Camp. While overseen by the founders, the Application Boot Camp seems to be managed by a different group of people than their counselors, which raises questions regarding the experience and expertise of those involved in the program. 

While we would normally be concerned by this lower level of founder involvement, given their age and the maturity of the company it seems appropriate that they would have delegated some of the day-to-day counseling responsibilities to others.

College is already expensive. College consultants shouldn’t be more expensive than they need to be. We want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth, and that your investment is translating into real improvements in your outcomes.

College admissions consulting prices and offerings vary. Top Tier Admissions only offer an application bootcamp ($22,000) or comprehensive consulting ($85,000 – $95,000+).

While there are upsides to Top Tier Admissions’ services, the cost is substantial compared to similar services from competitors.

College applications are already stressful enough. So any admissions service should be thoughtfully designed and easy to use. We consider factors such as customer support responsiveness, accountability, time commitment, and scheduling constraints.

Overall, Top Tier Admissions was easy to connect with and quick to respond to any inquiries. On their website, you can either submit contact information to solicit email support or schedule a meeting to learn more—both of which garnered quick responses. 

For an application review, families and students must fill out a thorough questionnaire that is used for an initial counselor match. Those seeking private counseling participate in multiple rounds of meetings with counselors before selecting the perfect match.

College admissions is a complex process, with many moving parts. And with the stakes so high, mediocre consultants simply won’t cut it. You really want to find the “best,” but it can be hard to differentiate one firm from another. In this section, we take a look at what makes this service stand out, for better or worse.

We appreciate that all of their counselors assist with counseling services, creating a collective brain trust to hone a student’s credentials and materials. More eyes and more opinions could benefit students and ensure they’re getting quality guidance. 

We also like that they have historically partnered with a few New England-based organizations to provide their services at no cost for underprivileged and first-generation applicants.