Our team of experts provides personalized and high-touch support at every stage of the college application process.
These formative years are important for building a strong foundation for success. We will assess a student’s unique strengths, passions, and goals and will design a personalized, strategic roadmap. This roadmap will cover all aspects of a student’s high school journey and we will provide guidance for executing each step of that plan.
During this critical year, we provide holistic support as a student prepares to apply to college. We provide advice on leadership building, extracurricular development, summer planning, college list building, and more. We also offer work closely with students through all aspects of preparing their applications.
Regardless of where you are with preparing your applications, we are ready to jump in! Our team are experts at identifying a student’s strengths and crafting their compelling narrative. We offer tailored suggestions and work with you to execute them, ensuring a refined application.
Through this stand alone, virtual research program, we match high school students with PhD candidates from top research universities. Students will complete the valuable process of selecting a research topic, collecting and analyzing data, and producing a final paper or project as they dive deeper into their passions.
Our team of tutors support students in preparation for the SAT and the ACT as well as all academic areas. They have the expertise to effectively guide students through all standardized testing, including AP exams, ensuring that students are maintaining their academic profiles.
Applying to graduate school is competitive so don’t leave your application to chance. We have the expertise across a wide range of graduate programs and we will work with you to discover the best programs for your goals and to craft tailored applications, geared towards each of your individual schools.
93% of our students are admitted to one of their top 3 college choices.
Working with Oriel Admissions was the best decision that I made for my son’s college applications! Rona and her team went above and beyond, offering comprehensive support that exceeded my expectations. Their holistic counseling approach empowered my son to achieve his dream of being admitted to an Ivy League college. I highly recommend Oriel Admissions!
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The earlier that you begin your engagement with Oriel Admissions, the greater impact that we can have on your child’s admissions chances. A student’s curriculum in middle school will often determine their academic profile in high school. Starting as early as 8th grade can allow us to set your student on the path for academic success.
For our long-term counseling engagements, we create a Strategic Roadmap that is personalized to each student and is designed to provide guidance for how a student spends their time in high school. We can build this roadmap for our students as early as 8th grade up to as late as the first portion of 11th grade.
However, we can also support students in the later stages of their high school experience and often engage with students who are rising into their senior year or who may need assistance improving their applications while in their senior year.
Our unique 360-degree approach to counseling is how we provide students and families with the most comprehensive level of support, allowing students to develop the skills that they need to be successful in high school, in college, and beyond.
The student will have a primary college counselor who will meet with them on a regular basis for advising sessions (8th, 9th, and 10th grade) or who will work directly with them on their application (11th and 12th grade).
In addition to their college counselor, the student will be supported by academic tutors, SAT/ACT tutors, a career coach, a writing coach, and project mentors, as needed.
Rona Aydin, the founder of Oriel Admissions, is involved with every family as well. Rona will meet quarterly with the student to check on their progress and is always available to provide support and strategic direction as needed.
We offer comprehensive advising and planning services beginning as early as 8th grade, helping students navigate every stage of their academic and personal development.
As students transition into the college application process in their junior and senior years, we provide:
Our students come from all over the country and from all around the world. Our students attend public high schools, charter high schools, and private high schools. Additionally, we are well-versed in the educational systems of the countries that commonly send their students to study in the US.
Even if we have not worked with a student from your district before, we will quickly familiarize ourselves with your school and what makes it unique. After all, there are over 20,000 institutions providing a high school education in the US and we have not yet had the opportunity to work with students from all of them!
We guide students with diverse academic backgrounds. Our students are incredibly diverse in their interests and passions. They are creative thinkers, aspiring designers, and artists eager to explore innovative fields.
Many of our students are drawn to the humanities, seeking a broad and interdisciplinary education that fosters critical thinking and a deeper understanding of the world around them. We also work with students who are passionate about STEM subjects and are driven to build quantitative skills in fields like engineering, computer science, and medicine.
What sets many of our students apart is their desire to pursue dual interests. We encourage them to use their time in high school to explore these parallel passions, crafting a unique academic narrative that reflects their individuality.
Our students apply to a wide variety of colleges and programs. From Ivy League universities and small liberal arts colleges to large public flagship institutions, they seek out schools that align with their goals and aspirations. They apply to specialized programs such as arts and design schools, engineering and computer science departments, business programs, and even competitive BS/MD programs. No matter the path, we help our students present their best selves and achieve success across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines.
Our students apply to every imaginable college in the US, Canada, the UK, and other countries throughout the world. Many of our students are targeting Ivy League and other highly selective colleges. We are equally prepared to support students with diverse goals and college preferences, tailoring our guidance to meet their unique aspirations.
We recognize that no two students are the same, and we are equally prepared to support those pursuing a variety of goals and college preferences. Our team tailors guidance to each student's unique aspirations, ensuring they find the best-fit schools where they will thrive both academically and personally.
TLDR: Colleges are using AI to pre-screen and score your child’s application essays before a human reader ever sees them. UNC Chapel Hill confirmed in January 2025 that it has used AI essay scoring since at least 2020 (The Daily Tar Heel, January 2025), and admissions professionals expect the practice to expand across selective schools. … Continued
TLDR: The June 2023 Supreme Court ruling in SFFA v. Harvard eliminated race-conscious admissions at all U.S. colleges. Two full admissions cycles later, the data shows significant demographic shifts – Harvard’s Class of 2029 is 41% Asian American (up from 29% pre-SFFA) and 11.5% African American (down from 14%), per Harvard Magazine (October 2025). For … Continued
TLDR: Harvard (4.2% acceptance rate, Class of 2029) and Stanford (3.95%) are the two most sought-after undergraduate destinations in the country, but they produce fundamentally different experiences (sources: Harvard Magazine, The Stanford Daily). Harvard offers unmatched East Coast networks, a 400-year institutional legacy, and free tuition for families earning under $200,000. Stanford offers Silicon Valley … Continued
TLDR: Penn’s ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was estimated at roughly 13% (Penn does not officially disclose the ED rate; ~9,500 ED applications received, 51% of the enrolled class admitted through ED per Penn Admissions). Cornell’s ED rate was estimated at approximately 22% (~8,380 ED applicants per secondary source estimates), and Columbia … Continued
TLDR: A 3.7 unweighted GPA is below the median for admitted students at every Ivy League school – Yale’s CDS 2024-2025 reports that 96% of enrolled students graduated in the top 10% of their high school class. But a 3.7 does not disqualify your child. Context matters enormously: a 3.7 in an all-AP curriculum at … Continued
TLDR: Harvard’s 2025-26 financial aid expansion provides free tuition for families earning $200,000 or less and full cost coverage (tuition, housing, food) for families earning $100,000 or less (source: Harvard Gazette, March 17, 2025). Above $200,000, Harvard provides “Tailored Financial Aid” based on individual circumstances, and the university confirms that “many students with family incomes … Continued
TLDR: Williams (7.4%), Swarthmore (7.4%), and Amherst (6.78%) set record-low Class of 2030 acceptance rates in March 2026 (sources: The Williams Record, Swarthmore College News, The Amherst Student), placing all three among the most selective undergraduate institutions in the country with admit rates comparable to Cornell. For affluent families choosing among them: Williams offers a … Continued
TL;DR: By April of junior year, Ivy-bound students should have a 3.9+ unweighted GPA with 4-6 AP courses, an SAT score of 1500+ or ACT of 34+, a clearly identified extracurricular spike with measurable impact, strong relationships with two academic teachers, and a concrete summer plan with research, internship, or program already confirmed. Students who … Continued