IvyWise Review: College Admissions Counseling with a Team Approach

If you’re looking for help navigating the college landscape or getting into a top school, you may be considering a college admissions counselor. Counselors can help you optimize your application for acceptance at your desired college or university, from local state universities to the best of the Ivy League.

IvyWise is an online college admissions counseling service aimed at connecting students and parents with experienced counselors. Learn more about how IvyWise works in this IvyWise review.

What Is IvyWise?

IvyWise is a college admissions counseling service that connects students and parents with high-end college counselors. IvyWise advertises admission rates far above average for clients applying to elite colleges and universities.

Counselors on the IvyWise marketplace have at least three years of experience in the college admissions industry. However, to work with these highly experienced counselors, expect a high price tag. More on the sticker shock below.

While college counseling is the main focus, IvyWise also offers services focused on admissions to private schools, boarding schools, graduate programs, and tutoring for college entrance exams. If you can afford to pay thousands of dollars for a leg up in academic admissions, IvyWise results are impressive.

How Does IvyWise Work?

We’re focused on the college admissions counseling service, though you’ll find a somewhat similar experience using its counseling services for grad school, elite K-12 programs, college transfers, and other academic admissions.

Free Informational Call

IvyWise services start with a free informational call or online form. This is the only free experience you’ll get from IvyWise. If you’re already sold on the service, you can skip the informational call and go right to the paid consultation. But if you’re unsure about signing up and want to learn more about how it works and what it offers, the free call can be helpful.

You can schedule your initial consultation on your free call, which is, in many ways, a sales call. Alternatively, you can complete a short online form to schedule your initial consultation.

Paid Initial Consultation

Next, you’re paired with an admissions counselor. IvyWise doesn’t match you with a single counselor. Instead, you’re given a list of suggested counselors based on your needs and the counselors’ experience. From the list, you can choose the college admissions counselor you believe is the best fit for your needs and goals.

Counselors charge varying rates that are not shared until you prepare to set your first appointment. The 90-minute initial consultation reportedly starts at $1,350. Depending on your desired counselor, it could cost more.

The counseling session includes a review of your student profile and research prepared to help you better understand your options and what you may need to do to reach your desired schools. If you like the counselor and want to continue working together, you’ll pay either hourly rates or per-service rates as you move forward.

Admissions Counseling

If you’re happy with your counselor and want to keep working together, you can sign up for additional sessions or chart out a long-term plan to help you get into one of your top-choice schools. The IvyWise system is generally an excellent, best-in-class experience. But again, you’ll pay a lot for IvyWise.

Counseling includes services such as application reviews, essay assessments, mock interviews, and more. If you want to work with multiple counselors, you can opt for a team of providers with different focuses and skill sets.

According to IvyWise, more than 90% of clients get into one of their top three schools. That’s an impressive success rate. Here’s a snapshot of reported results over the last five years.

You’re much more likely to get in with IvyWise’s help than the average student for these elite schools. Of course, there’s no guarantee. But if you can afford it, the results are impressive.

Tutoring

IvyWise can’t take your SAT or ACT tests for you. Outside of your counseling, you can sign up for test prep through IvyWise. You’ll get a more affordable experience from self-guided test preparation books or nationwide providers like Kaplan or Princeton Review. But again, the results speak for themselves.

You can also get general academic tutoring and help preparing for graduate school tests, such as the GRE, GMAT, and MCAT, among others.

Are There Any Fees?

We’ve already discussed that IvyWise isn’t cheap. While pricing isn’t published by IvyWise, we did some research to find out what you can expect to pay. Here’s a brief look at costs to set your expectations.

• Initial consultation: $1,350 and up
• Hourly consulting: $1,000 to $3,000 per hour
• Median cost of long-term counseling: $25,000
• Comprehensive college admission program: Six figures!

Depending on the options you choose, you could spend more than some state colleges cost for a four-year degree, more than a fancy new car, and more than a cheap home in some parts of the country.

Results are generally very good but don’t come cheap. With these numbers in mind, you can go into your initial consultation with your eyes wide open to the long-term costs.

How Does IvyWise Compare?

IvyWise isn’t the only college admissions consulting company. You can find plenty of competitors.

One competitor is CollegeAdvisor, a similar company offering help with essays and applications. It’s a subsidiary of U.S. News and World Report. There’s a free program for low-income students, but most should expect to pay for one-on-one coaching, essay editing, and its online application organization system.

Ivy Coach is another competitor who offers similar services and charges high fees, but gets results for their customers. They have a 100% acceptance rate to the following schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Stanford, and Duke. Ivy Coach offers free services to military members on a limited basis. 

How Do I Join IvyWise?

Most students start with an informational call or introductory consultation. Students and parents can complete the email form here or call 212-262-3500 to get started. At the bottom of the email form page, you can download additional informational brochures corresponding to the service you’re interested in.

Remember that the informational call is free, but the first consultation is a paid service with a price tag above $1,000.

IvyWise offers free webinars which are informative and help you learn more about the company as well.

How Do I Contact IvyWise?

The best way to reach IvyWise online is through the email contact form, which can also get you on track for an informational call and initial consultation.

If you prefer phone, you can call the company at 212-262-3500. You can also call toll-free at 877-489-9473 or send an email to inquiries@ivywise.com.

Is IvyWise Worth It?

The college admissions and other academic offerings from IvyWise are tough to beat. Students who sign up for help are extremely likely to do better than they would independently. However, IvyWise programs are very costly.

Spending tens of thousands to compete could be worth it a degree from an elite college is important to you and your career path. The ROI may make IvyWise worthwhile if you can afford the price tag.

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