University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Admissions Counseling

Demi has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science & Policy with a Minor in Political Science from Duke University. She has also earned a JD from The University of North Carolina School of Law. Professionally, Demi has worked closely with the Academic Advising office at Emory School of Law. Her most significant learning from this experience is that there is no perfect candidate alone; each candidate comes together with the incoming student body to form a great class. Some candidates had more experience while others had a better academic record, but the incoming class was always whole.

Demi's passion for coaching stemmed from the help she received when applying to college herself. Based on her environment and situation, she did not have the resources to go to college. However, she had mentors who helped her at every step; they encouraged her to participate in pre-college programs she wasn't sure she qualified for, and they encouraged her to sign up for competitions she never dreamed of. Most importantly, her mentors believed there was no limit to what she could do and were willing to get her where she needed to go. Demi understands the difficulties of applying to college, and her goal is to help applicants have options on where they go to college and beyond.

Demi's greatest strengths as a coach include helping Quad applicants look through their experiences in a non-intrusive way to see the best version of themselves and articulate it in their application materials. She is also a great listener and takes extra steps to ensure the entire family feels involved and comfortable during the process.

When Demi isn't coaching, she enjoys drinking international teas, gardening, hiking, and spending time with her husband and cat.

Dominique earned a BA in anthropology with a minor in Hispanic studies from Dartmouth College, while completing STEM coursework required for the pre-medical track. After completing her undergraduate studies, she was selected for the prestigious Teach for America program. She then completed a Master of Arts in teaching with a concentration on special education from Relay Graduate School of Education. She has four years of teaching experience and many years of admissions consulting experience.

Dominique served as an interviewer for Dartmouth, submitting reports about students’ character, academic and extracurricular engagement, and overall professionalism as part of the admissions committee's assessments. She advised a group of students throughout their four years of high school, assisting with class and extracurricular selection, SAT prep, essay editing, and scholarship applications. She also mentored them on how to choose the best schools to attend based on award letters, prestige, major-specific programming, and school culture fit. 

Over the years, she has helped students get into top institutions such as UCLA, UC Berkeley,  Emory University, Rice University, Northwestern University, and more. She has also guided students to achieve remarkable milestones, such as earning spots in the US Presidential Scholars Program, becoming National Merit Scholarship semifinalists, participating in UC Davis Pre-Med Programs, and securing positions as counselors at Sunrise Day Camp.

As a first-generation college student and former teacher and advisor in the public high school setting, Dominique understands the immense value of having a dedicated guide through the complexities of the college admissions process. Aware of the anxiety that often accompanies this journey, she enjoys helping students and families break it down into manageable steps.  She believes every student has a story that can bring their application to life and loves helping them craft compelling and authentic narratives to complement their test scores and grades. She has extensive experience mentoring students who are interested in STEM-focused careers, such as medicine. 

Dominique excels at providing personalized support to each student. She begins by understanding their family’s background and experience with the college admissions process and identifying their specific concerns. From there, she develops a tailored plan that aligns with the student’s and family’s expectations and goals, and she continually checks in to ensure they’re receiving the precise help they need. As a coach, her greatest strengths lie in helping students refine their stories through multiple rounds of editing and feedback on their essays. She guides students from brainstorming to the final draft, dedicating significant time to this process. Her detail-oriented and direct feedback is always accompanied by explanations to help students improve with each essay they write.

Outside of coaching, Dominique enjoys weight lifting, hiking, running, snowboarding, traveling, and attending concerts in her free time. She also likes listening to indie pop/rock music, classic rock, or electronic music and spending time with her family, friends, and golden retriever, Norma. 

Dominique’s Pro Tip?

Telling a compelling story in your personal statement is very important! There are certain notes your essay must hit to score highly in all of the different buckets that admissions committees use to score it. 

Ruth’s excitement for unlocking the creative potential within each of her students and crafting compelling stories drive her love for working with high school students on their college applications. Throughout her life, Ruth has learned the importance of a growth mindset and is excited to help others realize how far they can go.

As an undergrad at Yale, Ruth followed her love for Japanese culture all the way to Japan, and she studied and worked in (and ate her way through) the country for a year after winning the prestigious Light Fellowship. After graduating with her BA in Political Science, she moved to Washington D.C. to work with a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contractor, where she helped manage multimillion dollar projects in Tanzania, Malawi, and Kenya.

Desiring to uplevel her skillset through an MBA, Ruth attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Diane V.S. and Robert M. Levy Endowed Fellowship and interned at a digital media company in New York on their strategy and business development team. During her second year, she started working on her own business idea-–Fudena, which was a successful fast-casual West African restaurant pop-up.

When she’s not helping students or thinking about her next business idea, Ruth enjoys teaching herself guitar, exploring different spiritual traditions, and improving her Rubik’s cube solve times (she’s currently averaging 1 minute and 30 seconds).