Private College Admissions Consultants in Philadelphia, PA

Karla holds a PhD from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. She has over a decade of admissions experience and has served on multiple admissions committees and scholarship review committees. Karla has helped students earn acceptances to institutions such as Stanford, UCLA, UT Austin, and Texas A&M.

Karla currently serves as Director of Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives at the University of Arizona, where she previously held the role of Associate Director. Her work focuses on improving access and equity in higher education, and she has led initiatives for immigrant, refugee, and DACA students. She has also worked with TRIO Student Support Services, served as a mentoring program coordinator for first-generation high schoolers, and conducted research on PhD pathways for Latino/a students at Penn’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions. 

Karla is passionate about college admissions coaching because she sees education as a powerful tool for creating opportunities and shaping futures. She knows how transformative education can be for students, especially first-generation, low-income, or underrepresented students, to have someone believe in them, guide them, and help them navigate the complex application process. For her, this work is not just about getting students into college; it’s about affirming their stories, strengths, and aspirations. She helps students recognize their potential, find the language to express their experiences, and develop the confidence to share their unique journeys.

As a coach, Karla is known for her storytelling and communication expertise, her empathy and patience, and her ability to foster trust with students and families. Her strengths include building strong relationships, guiding students through challenges with resilience, and offering lived experience and cultural awareness in her support. Karla strongly believes that when students feel seen and supported, they are more likely to thrive, not just in the admissions process, but throughout college and beyond. Her goal is to contribute to educational equity by ensuring every student she works with has the chance to succeed.

In her free time, Karla enjoys hiking, reading fiction, traveling, trying new foods, and spending quality time with friends and family. She’s also active in her community, serving on boards that address education, youth leadership, and immigration advocacy.

Kerry holds a Master’s from Columbia University and a Master’s from Carnegie Mellon University. She has served as an international admissions consultant with multiple global companies, especially those that only hire Ivy League alumni. Kerry has worked on all aspects of admissions consulting, shepherding students through admissions season or working with special cases for over a decade. She has personally coached students accepted into prestigious institutions, such as the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, Rice University, Cambridge University, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, and more!

After working as an adjunct professor throughout her PhD years, sometimes teaching three-hour lectures to 80 students, Kerry realized that her one-on-one work in private tutoring and admissions consulting was her greatest passion, with real-life results always visible. She loves getting to know each student as an individual, helping them figure out how to stand out and their brand, who they are, and who they want to be. Kerry loves leading students through the process, helping make it fun, alleviating anxiety, and watching their admission acceptances roll in.

Kerry excels as a coach due to her ability to navigate substantial work and pivotal life plans with a blend of humor, infusing the admissions process with genuine enjoyment and excitement. Her strengths lie in authenticity, characterized by honesty and diplomacy when offering advice and openly sharing her successes and setbacks in admissions consulting. Thanks to a rich tapestry of life experiences in academia, journalism, diverse careers, and extensive travel, Kerry possesses a unique perspective that enriches her coaching approach. She also excels in her ability to read students well for what makes them unique and how to make them stand out in the admissions process.

Furthermore, Kerry's expertise extends to a comprehensive knowledge of various schools, programs, admissions intricacies, and effective strategies. Over her years as a private admissions consultant, Kerry has learned the intricacies of the systems of the various schools. She has also learned how best to help students depending on their personalities, profiles, goals, and strengths and to let them take a lead role in their own admissions process so that they can grow into the best versions of themselves.

Moreover, as an international writer with over sixty publications in both scholarly and popular outlets, Kerry offers students an unusual opportunity to collaborate and edit with a working writer. 

As a journalist and digital nomad who has lived around the world, Kerry has an immense amount of knowledge to share about places, schools, degrees, and just about anything else, too. When she’s not working, Kerry enjoys studying languages and art. Kerry is extremely into fitness and training, and the gym is her happy place for stress relief.