A Historic Breakthrough Inspired by Miracle Students
In 2012, we won development funding from the University of Southern California to create a special program based on our approach to college applications.
We had previously studied why some students with lower grades got into top colleges, while others with high grades didn't. Our innovative methods ethically lifted students with lower grades and SAT/ACT scores to success while increasing certainty for higher-achievers. However, because we knew the whole application matters, the 1-on-1 coaching hours per student could get extensive. The formalized curriculum enabled by USC began a 10+ year process of achieving our outcomes in one third of the time. We went onto became the first and only independent college consultants invited by USC to present workshops to prospective applicants and educate school counselors in tandem with its admissions office. Year after year, we've continued refining our 1-on-1 methodology, achieving successful outcomes faster.
Clarity That Accelerates Your Success
“My expectations were very low. I said, really, what are you going to do that the college counselor at my daughter's private high school could not? But you presented a novel point of view, one that had not occurred to the other professionals. Then you accomplished two years worth of therapy in an hour, pulling everything out of her and getting it onto the page. I was impressed!”
— Gita Rosenwald, Daughter matriculated to Vassar College, Class of 2016
★★★★★
“We did more in 2 hours than I did in 40 meetings with a college consultant who charges $200/hr.”
— Jessica G., USC Appellant
★★★★★
“I paid [a well known college consultancy in New York] $1,000 for a one hour session and nothing was produced from that meeting. It was clear to me that they were doing a formulaic job. What they were offering was search engine optimization for college admissions: taking well-known facts about me, spinning and positioning them throughout the application. When I approached College Zoom, I thought they’d help me come up with some essay topics, potentially edit and proof read them, and say, “Thank you very much, here’s your invoice.” Instead, the service I got demonstrated more attention to detail, care, and concern about me, and my application, than I ever could have imagined…”
— Steve, Claremont McKenna College, Class of 2014
9.4% acceptance rate★★★★★
“You strengthened the skills that all parents want to see in our 18 year olds, especially the maturity — and it appeared to be in a fun and enjoyable way. That’s something I didn’t expect at all when I placed the call to you. Even I was inspired.”
— Lauren White, Parent, Son attended USC, Class of 2017
★★★★★
Everybody Roots For the Underdog, Including Admissions Officers.
"Miracle students" have lower grades, test scores, no outwardly special stand out qualities, and still get into their dream colleges over peers with better academic qualifications. While their classmates describe them as "only average," one admissions officer described them as "too good of a fit to turn away."
Expert Opinions Provided For:
Hitting Unseen Targets with Unmatched Speed
We Know Your Audience (Better Than They Sometimes Know Themselves)
We've engaged extensively with admissions professionals, recognizing biases and contradictions that often confuse applicants. For instance, an admissions officer at a highly selective university once emphatically warned against writing about romantic relationships, citing a "boyfriend essay" as the worst she'd read. Yet, using our approach, one of our students wrote about her ex-boyfriend and not only gained admission but moved that same officer to tears. Our method quickly identified this story as the student's best opportunity for her essay to score high on the admissions rubric, despite conventional wisdom and the officer's advice suggesting otherwise.
We achieve unexpected acceptances because we critically examine and evaluate, rather than echo, conventional wisdom circulated amongst college admissions officers and consultants. Four years before Harvard's Turning the Tide (2016) study on the future of college admissions, we had already predicted and were applying its recommendations. At USC's Counselor Conference of 2014, we were invited to educate 300 school counselors and independent consultants on our strategy for an overlooked part of students' college applications. In 2019, we successfully requested a change to the University of California application, enabling bullet point formatting in its activities section. In the decade before the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action in 2023, we already had our students revealing their substantive lived experiences (the current legal standard) instead of over-emphasizing racial clichés in essays. This led Asian American students to win Harvard acceptances as Harvard's Asian admit rate hit historic lows. We're ahead of trends; at times, we've set them.
Our Team
16 Years of Magic
In 2009, my business plan for College Zoom envisioned a team of former admissions officers driving our success. I quickly learned that admissions office pedigree isn't equivalent to impressive teaching or persuasive writing ability. As it turns out, a former admissions officer has yet to pass our first-round, skills based interview.
Guided by admissions directors early on, I studied their decisions after being awed by students who didn't satisfy their expressed standards yet still got accepted. After exhaustive research and analysis of statistics, I identified the lowest competitive thresholds for key admission criteria, specific to each university. Below these thresholds, students became non-viable—but, above them, they could still compete and be accepted despite having below-average credentials. By reinterpreting the evaluation rubrics used by admissions offices with this data, I constructed a model that explained—and then accurately predicted—miracle acceptances, top student rejections, and all outcomes in between.
This unprecedented insight made our personalized admissions strategies highly actionable for any student. By using the answer key, we made the process of bridging their gaps clear and unambiguous. Our precise, targeted goals avoided burnout while leading families past unclear and inconsistent advice they'd gotten from official sources. We also perfected an entire college application writing methodology and system—covering essays and all application materials—for holistically maximizing evaluation scores. Our students surpassed students guided by more expensive competitors; we even achieved breakthroughs with students others deemed hopeless.
Nevertheless, our expertise has only ever been as effective as a student's commitment to follow through. That's why our 96.5% success rate has been powered equally by our ability to mentor teenagers to reach heights they never thought possible. Our 16-year history of success is your success. We help students adopt the mindsets necessary to unlock their inner heroes and achieve standout successes in their own ways.
Beyond admissions coaching, we activate greater successes in life.
— David Reynaldo, Founder

A’Lira Underwood

David Reynaldo


Aisa Castro

Jackson Burgess

Adam Kronenberger

Wendy Liu

Ezra Li

Riley Darrough

Julia Haffie

Luryn John-Miller

Preston Walker

Griffin Damron

Adya Mohanty
The Perfect Bridge Between Generations
Rapport ⬩ Role-modeling ⬩ Trust ⬩ Skill

To uphold our highest standards, we're all in-house employees of College Zoom. We never outsource any part of your counseling to contractors.