The most important qualities of a good admissions consultant are being smart and strategic, being good writers, and having recent familiarity with elite institutions and their admissions process through personal experience. On all three of these criteria, our consultants, who are Ivy League graduates, have former high school counselors, admissions officers and current college students beat. It’s important to work with the best and the brightest since admissions consulting requires strategic decision-making and sharp editing. In addition, admissions consulting is about advocacy, not about evaluation – it requires a completely different skillset from being an admissions officer. Admissions officers may be good with evaluating applicants, but from our experience, most are poor advocates for their students. In addition, you want to work with a recent graduate as opposed to a current college student as the difference in maturity, professionalism and writing ability will be night and day.