Admissionado College Admissions Review

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Table of Contents:

• Our Verdict on Admissionado’s College Consulting
• How I Evaluated This Service
• What Is Admissionado’s Admissions Service?
• What Services Does Admissionado Offer for College Applicants?
• How Much Does Admissionado’s College Consulting Cost?
• Admissionado Standout Feature: Two-Specialist Team Approach
• Who Is Admissionado Best For?
• Pros and Cons of Admissionado
• Alternatives to Admissionado
• What Do Real Students Say About Admissionado?
• Final Verdict: Is Admissionado Worth It?
• Admissionado FAQ

As this is a pretty lengthy review that covers a number of topics, you’ll find a helpful jump-to table of contents above for your convenience.

Our Verdict on Admissionado’s College Consulting

• We recommend Admissionado for organized students targeting competitive, selective schools where strong stats aren’t enough – you need memorable essays to stand out. 
• Students get two specialists instead of one person doing everything – they pair a strategist for narrative direction with a professional editor. Admissionado finds authentic angles in conventional profiles rather than pushing manufactured activities.
• What works: transparent pricing and consultant bios online, boutique hands on service, and a focus on finding unusual fixations that make genuine essay material. Ideal for paper-perfect students, STEM applicants who struggle with writing, and parents who want someone to honestly say “this essay isn’t good enough yet.”
• The biggest drawbacks: low-tech workflow with no student portal (requires organized students), some families may view middle to upper packages as pricey, no former admissions officers on staff, and consultant responsiveness can vary.

How I Evaluated This Service

As a parent with a high schooler approaching college applications, I wanted to understand what Admissionado actually delivers beyond their “Strategy with Soul” tagline. I spent several months talking with their team, digging into how their two-person system actually works, reviewing their packages and pricing, and reading through parent feedback from families who’ve used the service. Note that while Admissionado also offers grad school consulting, this review focuses exclusively on their undergraduate college admissions service.

What Is Admissionado’s Admissions Service?

Admissionado has been in the admissions consulting business for nearly 20 years, offering services for college, MBA, medical school, and law school applicants under one roof. For undergraduate admissions specifically, they employ about 20 consultants. What stands out is that most consultants work part-time while holding full-time jobs in fields like management consulting, finance, tech, or writing. Very few are former admissions officers – instead, Admissionado hires for strong writing skills, the ability to connect with students, and degrees from prestigious universities. 

How It Works: Admissionado uses a consultant plus editor model. You get matched with one primary consultant who handles strategy and high-level feedback. A separate essay editor provides detailed line-by-line revisions behind the scenes. 

Format: The service is fully remote. You meet with your consultant via video, and work happens through shared Google Drive folders. There’s no proprietary student portal or dashboard at this point.

Onboarding: After you purchase, Admissionado matches you with a consultant based on personality fit rather than academic background. You can review consultant bios publicly on their website before purchasing, which is uncommon – many competitors hide this until after you sign up. If the match doesn’t work, another option is available (happens in less than 5% of cases).

Kickoff & Strategy: Once matched, the real work begins. Students fill out a detailed questionnaire designed to uncover motivations, passions, hobbies, personal stories, strengths, and weaknesses (I had a look, and it’s lengthy). This isn’t just busy work; your consultant uses these answers to develop a strategy before your first brainstorming session.

What You Get After Purchase: I reviewed their onboarding materials – you receive a comprehensive guidebook, personalized Action Plan with branding exercises, profile assessment worksheets, school list guidance, and essay brainstorming frameworks. The documents are thorough but dense – expect homework before your first meeting.

Tools and Resources: Their website includes helpful tools like insider breakdowns of top schools and a trajectory calculator that compares your profile with other applicants and projects where you might land.

Offerings: Admissionado offers Mentorship packages for 9th-11th graders focused on building your profile early, and Application Services for late junior/seniors covering everything from essay strategy to final submission.

The Pricing: Packages range from around $4,400 to over $21,000, putting them at the higher end of mid-market.

Philosophy & Target Schools: Admissionado isn’t Ivy-exclusive. Their sweet spot is competitive schools where essays matter as much as grades – top 50 privates (NYU, USC, Tufts, Georgetown), Ivies (Princeton, Yale), elite publics (UCLA, Berkeley, Michigan), and top liberal arts colleges (Williams, Amherst). If you’re applying to formula-driven schools (GPA + test scores = admit), they’re likely overkill. According to Admissionado, their students are accepted at rates approximately 10x higher than these schools’ overall acceptance rates.

What Services Does Admissionado Offer for College Applicants?

Admissionado offers two main programs – Application Services and Mentorship – with three tiers of pricing. Application Services is where the two-specialist team approach and comprehensive application support come into play.

Application Services (2nd Semester Juniors and 1st Semester Seniors)

Students work with their matched consultant and essay editor through the entire application cycle, typically meeting every week or two depending on deadlines. 

What’s included across all tiers:

• Strategy phase with positioning and “action plan” worksheets
• Essay support (Consultant + Editor) for personal statements and supplements
• Standard 72-hour turnaround on feedback (calendar days, including weekends)

Silver Package: The most basic option covers strategy and essay support, it’s definitely a leaner experience. You get the two-person team but no interview prep or recommendation letter support – you’d pay extra for those.

Gold Package: The most popular tier for families. This is the comprehensive experience that includes the critical support, like interview prep and waitlist coaching, that Silver leaves out. It feels less like a service and more like a partnership.

Platinum Package: The “insurance policy” and all-inclusive option. The real value here isn’t just more hours; it’s the full application scan before submission and the “AdCom Simulator.” Having a separate team of consultants blind-review your application to simulate a real committee vote is a brilliant way to pressure-test your application before you hit submit.

Which tier is right for you? Silver packages are ideal for students already strong in most areas who need targeted essay help. Platinum suits families without budget constraints who want comprehensive end-to-end service with all the bells and whistles. Gold offers a balance between the two. 

Application Services Summary

Feature	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Strategy & Positioning	✅	✅	✅
Essay Support (Consultant + Editor)	✅	✅	✅
Detailed Target School List Report	❌	❌	✅
Activities List Review	❌	✅	✅
Letter of Rec Development	❌	✅	✅
Interview Prep	❌	✅ (Standard)	✅ (Premium)
Waitlist Coaching	❌	✅	✅
Post-Admit / Deferral Support	❌	✅	✅
Phone Support	❌	✅	✅
AdCom Simulator (Blind Review)	❌	❌	✅
Final Application Scan	❌	❌	✅
Bonus Consultation Hours	Pay-as-you-go	Pay-as-you-go	3 Hours Included

What’s not standard: CSS Profile, FAFSA, scholarship applications, and financial aid appeals all require separate pricing. Some competitors include this in standard packages.

Mentorship Program (9th-11th Graders)

For families starting early, Admissionado offers mentorship focused on building a strong profile before application season. Students meet regularly with their consultant for planning around course selection, extracurricular development, summer opportunities, and testing strategy (limited SAT/ACT tutoring vs structured test prep programs). 

In my mind, if budget permits, there is an advantage to starting early: a consultant can help shape your profile in real-time – course selection, extracurricular choices, summer opportunities – rather than working with what’s already set in stone when you hit senior year. Unlike some competitors who require multi-year commitments, Admissionado offers Mentorship and Application services as separate modules.

À La Carte Services

For families not needing full packages, Admissionado offers many options targeted for specific needs: school list reports, application audits, recommendation letter help, interview prep, activities list reviews, and waitlist support. I like having this menu for families who just need help in specific areas. Rush service is also available for 24-hour turnaround instead of the standard 72 hours.

How Much Does Admissionado’s College Consulting Cost?

Admissionado lists their pricing on their website, which I appreciate since many competitors make you schedule a call first. The pricing structure is based on two factors – which package tier you choose (Silver, Gold, or Platinum) and how many schools you’re applying to. For Application Services, pricing ranges from around $4,400 to $21,000, while Mentorship runs around $2,000 to $5,400. 

Pricing Overview

One thing to note: Platinum availability typically closes on October 31st of each year since it requires coordinating multiple consultants for the blind reviews.

Don’t overlook the add-ons. Silver appears cheaper, but once you pay à la carte for standard features like interview prep, the total cost often exceeds bundled rates elsewhere.

For Mentorship, pricing is based on consultation hours – Silver includes 5 hours, Gold includes 10 hours, and Platinum includes 20 hours of consultation time with your consultant. Packages are valid for one year.

À La Carte Services Pricing

If you only need targeted help, here’s what some individual services cost:

• Interview Prep: $650
• Letter of Recommendation Support: $780
• Waitlist Support: $460
• Additional Consultation Time (3 hours): $920
• Detailed Target School List Report: $330

Free Onboarding Consultation Call

I recommend starting with Admissionado’s complimentary 30-minute consultation. This session allows their team to review your student’s academic background and goals in order to recommend the most cost-effective package for your situation. While this isn’t a working session for essay review, it provides a valuable opportunity to understand their matching process and ensure you select the right level of support without overspending.

Payment Terms

Payment is typically made as one lump sum upfront. Admissionado can accommodate installment plans when needed, though the overall cost will be higher than paying in full upfront. The pricing is all-inclusive for what’s listed in your package – there are no hidden fees beyond optional add-ons.

Refund Policy

If your student gets accepted Early Decision, refunds aren’t typical since students usually must begin work on additional schools before ED results are released. However, Admissionado works with families case-by-case to find fair solutions, often transferring unused package value toward scholarship applications or early career counseling. Admissionado does not offer a trial period.

Admissionado Standout Feature: Two-Specialist Team Approach

What I think sets Admissionado apart is how they split strategy from editing. Most college admissions consultants assign a single advisor who tries to do both. Admissionado gives every student a consultant (the strategist) and a separate essay editor.

The consultant owns your overall application strategy and knows you best, having graduated from an elite university themselves. They provide feedback to the editor on direction and positioning. The consultant also acts as a filter – they read the editor’s line-by-line feedback first, then decide how to frame it based on your personality. Some students want direct critique. Others need encouragement wrapped around constructive feedback.

The team provides combined feedback within 72 hours (calendar hours, not business hours – they work weekends and most holidays). The typical essay goes through about four revision rounds, though some take more if the story is challenging. 

When students get stuck, the consultant leans in to diagnose. If it’s anxiety – a student spinning their wheels emotionally versus struggling with words – they shift to phone calls. They talk through the mental block, help the student articulate what they’re actually trying to say, then the writing flows. The editor never sees this part.

The advantage is you’re not getting feedback from multiple advisors. The consultant owns your strategic narrative across all essays – which stories go where, what themes you’re building, how each piece fits your overall application. The editor strengthens each essay on the page but doesn’t second-guess your positioning. Personally, I like this approach – one person owns the story, the other makes it sing on the page. Clean roles, no mixed messages.

An example really stuck with me: Admissionado helped one student with a low GPA and a resume empty except for tutoring. Instead of fluffing up weak activities, her consultant dug for ‘surprises’ and uncovered a genuine obsession with the fourth dimension. They took that niche interest into a deep essay connecting physics to her personal worldview. That story did what her GPA couldn’t – it proved she was intellectually curious and capable. The result? Acceptance to a highly selective liberal arts college.

Who Is Admissionado Best For?

After digging into how Admissionado works, I think they’re the right fit for specific types of families.

Applicants to holistic review schools (Top 50 privates & elite publics). Best for students targeting elite universities where high stats are just the entry ticket, not the guarantee. Schools like Brown, USC, and Yale reject thousands of perfect-stat applicants who seem generic. Admissionado’s storytelling approach helps capture the authentic, quirky voice that serves as the tie-breaker at these highly selective colleges.

The “paper-perfect” student. Students with the 4.0 and 1550 SAT , just like everyone else in the applicant pool. Their extracurriculars are standard – debate, tennis, volunteering. Admissionado finds unexpected profile angles to turn generic high-achievers into memorable applicants.

STEM and quant-focused students. Ideally suited for engineers, coders, or math-focused students who struggle to write about their feelings. The consultants – often writers and journalists – help analytical students articulate vulnerability, a critical piece for top-tier programs like MIT.

Parents who want an editor-in-chief. This isn’t paying for deadline management, it’s paying for an expert to ensure elite quality. For parents who know they can’t be objective about their own child’s writing and want a professional to say “This essay isn’t good enough yet.”

Organized students who roll up their sleeves and do the work. Because Admissionado lacks a portal or automated deadline trackers, students must manage their own Google Drive and email. This works best for students who can handle their own scheduling but need expert help on essay content. 

Pros and Cons of Admissionado

What I Like About Admissionado

The consultant plus editor model delivers results. Unlike large firms where one consultant handles everything, you get a strategist who owns your narrative arc and an editor who strengthens each piece – some students need tough love, others need encouragement.

Consultant transparency and limited scale. You can review consultant bios publicly on their website before purchasing, which is uncommon – many competitors hide this information until after you sign up. Admissionado intentionally stays small and limits consultants to approximately 6 active students at a time to maintain quality.

They find authentic stories, not manufactured activities. No pushing students to start nonprofits or fake STEM interests. Admissionado finds the unusual fixations and unexpected interests that make genuine essay material, not packaging students into what admissions officers supposedly want. They really go deep for those surprises. 

Clear pricing on their website. You don’t have to schedule a sales call just to see what packages cost. The pricing structure is clear – you pick a tier, count your schools, and see the number. Many competitors force you through their intake process before revealing anything.

Boutique hands-on service. Admissionado keeps operations small enough that their CEO gets involved when there are consultant mismatches or service problems. You’re not disappearing into a call center or dealing with layers of account managers.

Flexible Mentorship option. They can help shape student profiles in real-time during 9th-11th grade. Unlike competitors who lock families into multi-year engagements, you can choose Mentorship, Application Services, or both.

What Could Be Better

The “Silver Tier” risk. There’s a distinct satisfaction drop between Gold/Platinum clients and Silver clients given the gap in services included. Lower tier often feel rushed compared to the deep dives of comprehensive packages.

The “prestige gap” – no former admissions officers. Admissionado hires for writing ability and student connection, not admissions committee experience. You’re paying for storytelling strategy, not insider connections. If having someone who sat on an elite admissions committee matters, this may be a dealbreaker.

Consultant roulette. Admissionado’s consultants vary markedly in style, approach, and personality – they take matching seriously and report they get it right ~95% of the time. That said, responsiveness can vary even with a good personality match. Request a switch early if you sense minimal engagement in the first week.

Low-tech workflow – no student portal. Everything happens through Google Drive folders. There’s no proprietary platform to track deadlines or see feedback history. 

Alternatives to Admissionado

Crimson Education

Best for: Families seeking team-based support with former admissions officers

Crimson assigns students a full team of strategists, essay coaches, and former AOs. Packages are not cheap – they typically run $20,000 to $40,000+. Crimson is the corporate prestige firm with formal processes and emphasis on AO credentials. Admissionado is the boutique storyteller with casual mentorship and focus on writing ability over former AO status.

IvyWise

Best for: Unlimited budgets seeking former Dean exclusivity

IvyWise employs primarily former Deans and admissions officers who evaluate applications as committees would. Packages start at $30,000+, putting them in the ultra premium category. They also include comprehensive financial aid negotiation that Admissionado doesn’t offer.

PrepScholar

Best for: Mid market pricing with one consultant managing everything

PrepScholar uses a single consultant who handles both strategy and writing. Packages range from $7,000 to $13,000 based on number of schools (not service tier). Everyone gets comprehensive support including financial aid guidance. Their pricing is simpler and they include services Admissionado charges extra for, but you get one consultant. 

CollegeVine

Best for: Budget-conscious families comfortable with self-directed work

CollegeVine is a tech-first platform with AI tools, application success calculators, and peer forums. Paid packages with some advisor time run $500 to $3,000. You get data and tools to work yourself rather than hands on guidance. 

Summary Comparison

What Do Real Students Say About Admissionado?

I reviewed feedback across Reddit, College Confidential, and third-party review sites. Overall sentiment is positive, with clear patterns.

What Students Praise

The storytelling approach. Consultants push beyond grammar fixes to find authentic voices. One Harvard admit’s parent credited the consultant with uncovering a unique story that became the acceptance tipping point.

The “cool older cousin” vibe is real. Reviews describe consultants as mentors and cheerleaders rather than stuffy academics. The casual approach resonates with students, though some parents prefer former admissions officers.

The consultant plus editor model works. Students appreciate having a strategist for big-picture direction and a separate editor for polish, preventing tunnel vision.

What Students Complain About

Lower-tier packages feel bare bones. Silver clients report rushed feedback and superficial edits compared to the deep strategic work Gold and Platinum clients describe.

Consultant engagement varies. While many are praised as transformative, some are less responsive. 

The Bottom Line From Reviews

Students rave about acceptances to top schools. Silver doesn’t include much support, so consider the Gold tier for the full service experience that reviews praise.

Final Verdict: Is Admissionado Worth It?

Admissionado is worth it for families seeking hands-on college consulting focused on authentic storytelling and essay development. They report acceptance rates far higher than these schools’ averages, with nearly all families staying with their matched consultant. There are some things parents should note – they are priced at the higher mid-tier range as their entry package is on the light side. They also don’t employ former admissions officers, but it really comes down to what you are looking for. 

If your student is targeting colleges where perfect stats are common but great essays are rare – Admissionado makes a lot of sense. Their sweet spot is competitive universities where your high schooler’s story actually matters. Admissionado’s consultant plus editor setup works particularly well for students who need help finding their angle, STEM kids who struggle writing, and parents who want someone to honestly say “this essay isn’t good enough yet”. If you care more about deep essay work than having an ex-Dean review your file, Admissionado delivers.

👉Schedule a free consultation call with Admissionado