Knowledgeable UPenn Admissions Counselors Who Get You Accepted

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.

Kenny holds a degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Professionally, he has worked as a teacher, school leader, and as Director of College Counseling, where he built a guidance department from the ground up and led a first graduating class to college outcomes that outperformed every other high school in the city. He also served as an admissions ambassador and recruitment fellow at Dartmouth College. Students he has worked with have been accepted to numerous prestigious schools, including Dartmouth, Yale, UPenn, UMichigan, and others. 

In his role as an admissions ambassador and recruitment fellow at Dartmouth College, Kenny engaged with prospective students throughout the admissions cycle, building relationships, supporting top candidates, and guiding them through application and enrollment. He was trained in holistic application review using real applicant files, learning how to assess academic rigor, intellectual curiosity, extracurricular depth, and narrative coherence. Kenny also played a key role in yield and matriculation efforts, offering mentorship and insight to admitted students and helping them envision themselves as part of the Dartmouth community. This role gave Kenny a full view of the admissions process from early recruitment through evaluation, decision-making, and matriculation support.

Kenny’s professional background in storytelling, including six years working in Hollywood as a professional storyteller, adds another powerful dimension to his coaching. He also worked in policy on Capitol Hill, and credits these experiences with teaching him how systems work, how narratives move people, and how identity shapes opportunity.

Kenny helps students move beyond surface-level descriptions of achievement and uncover the deeper “what else” that sets them apart. He teaches them how to communicate their identity, synthesize their experiences into a coherent voice, and tell their stories with authenticity, clarity, and purpose. In Kenny’s view, it’s this narrative confidence that often distinguishes one exceptional applicant from another in highly selective admissions.

Kenny believes the college process, when done well, is not just about rankings or prestige. It is a critical moment of identity formation and self-authorship. His goal is never to turn students into someone they’re not, but to help them better understand who they already are and articulate it with confidence and intention. He brings calm, steadiness, and perspective to a process that is often emotional for students and families, helping students grow not just as applicants but as self-aware, resilient young adults.

Kenny’s greatest strength as a coach is his ability to blend structured strategy with deep human connection. He brings a long-range, intentional mindset to every student’s journey, helping them align academics, activities, leadership, testing, and summer experiences into a cohesive and meaningful arc. He helps families replace stress with clarity and empowers students with clear planning and thoughtful pacing. At the same time, he invests deeply in understanding students as people, including their values, motivations, fears, and hopes, to create space for honesty, reflection, and bold personal growth. 

Kenny’s passion for education is rooted in his own life story. His mother left the Puerto Rican countryside to secure a better future for her children, and Kenny’s journey through higher education has been shaped by that legacy. From a young age, he saw how access to opportunity could transform not just an individual life, but an entire family’s trajectory. As a proud first-generation college grad, Kenny committed himself to expanding access and belonging in selective spaces in his role at Dartmouth—work that has remained central to his mission ever since.

Outside of his work, Kenny is a lifelong lover of culture, creativity, and connection. He enjoys performing, singing, and dancing, and often travels to experience new cultures. He’s passionate about movies and television and also loves concerts, amusement parks, and time with friends and family. His current musical obsession? Bad Bunny.

Kenny’s Pro Tip?

Selective admissions isn’t about the longest resume; it’s about authenticity, clarity, and coherence. The strongest applications come from students who know their story and can connect their academics, activities, and goals with consistency and depth. Academic strength matters, but context, trajectory, and clarity of purpose carry just as much weight. Admissions officers value sustained commitment over scattered involvement and always assess students in context, not in isolation. Focus on alignment, not perfection, and trust that your story, when told honestly and intentionally, is your most powerful asset.

Katelynn earned a BS and BA from Baldwin Wallace University, an MS from Harvard University, and a PhD from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She has over 15 years of admissions and advising experience, including working as a Recruiter in the Office of Admissions at Baldwin Wallace, a Student Admissions Representative and application reader at Harvard University , and a Graduate and Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment Specialist at St. Andrews.

In her diverse admissions roles, Katelynn played a key role in making admissions and scholarship decisions, organizing and leading tours for prospective students, and spearheading recruitment campaigns. She also took the initiative to develop student-focused media resources for potential applicants and conducted interviews to hire new team members. Katelynn has coached students from all over the world, helping numerous individuals gain admission to top-tier institutions such as MIT, Brown, UC schools, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, Caltech, UPenn, Cornell, UChicago, Columbia, Rice, Notre Dame, and Carnegie Mellon.

Katelynn is passionate about helping applicants achieve their goals while minimizing stress. She understands how incredibly time-consuming and energy-draining the application process is, so her approach as a coach is to teach strategies that maximize efficiency while optimizing results in a healthy, sustainable way. She believes the most rewarding part is when a student not only submits a strong application but also gains confidence in both the finished product and the personal growth they experience throughout the process—once the weight of the overwhelming demands has been lifted.

Having worked with a wide range of students, Katelynn possesses a deep understanding of the unique needs of each individual and the complexities of the often opaque application process. She is deeply committed to the success of every student, taking a personalized approach to each case. With a background in psychology, Katelynn prioritizes building strong relationships with students and their families, taking the time to understand their motivations and passions. This allows her to collaborate with students in crafting the most distinctive and successful application possible, while ensuring they remain true to themselves throughout the process. 

Rather than focusing solely on what is typically considered “appealing” on paper, Katelynn emphasizes the importance of presenting a unique narrative. She understands that admissions committees value authenticity and personal stories that reflect the student’s genuine interests, strengths, and goals. While every admissions office has baseline criteria, each officer also brings their own set of personal preferences and red flags that may not always be predictable. Katelynn ensures that students avoid the common pitfall of trying to guess what an admissions officer “wants” to hear; instead, she helps them highlight their most authentic voice in their applications.

In her free time, Katelynn loves to travel and to write—she’s particularly keen on live music, extreme destinations, and unique culinary experiences.

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