Amplify has worked with students aspiring to a wide array of colleges: from highly selective institutions to small liberal arts colleges to large state schools. Hear from students who navigated the application process and landed where they wanted to be.
Working with Kate was awesome! She helped me figure out how to highlight my personality and passions with the prompts I was given, showed me how to hone my ideas without putting words into my mouth, and worked with me patiently through multiple drafts of every essay. I don’t think I would have gotten into Stanford without her incredible guidance and insight on the college admissions process.
Alex, Stanford University
Kate helped me throughout the whole writing portion of the college application process. She was able to bring out the best qualities in my writing even though she didn’t know me personally. I appreciated the fact that she was flexible with my busy schedule and was able to accommodate for my shortcomings. I got in to my top choice school and I am really thankful for her help and enjoyed working with her. I appreciated her kindness and support throughout the stressful application process.
Ashley, New York University
During the chaotic period of college applications, it was easy to feel defeated knowing I was competing with peers with better GPAs, test scores, extra curricular activities and more exciting experiences to write their personal statements about. However, working with Kate taught me how to take the scores and experiences I did have, and still present myself to colleges in a way that efficiently communicated why I believed I would be compatible with their student body and had something to offer their community. I got into a number of my reach schools, and I currently attend my biggest reach school/my dream school, the University of Texas at Austin (hook ’em!) where I fall in love with the school and the city more and more. I am thankful every day with how my personal statements went and that they convinced admissions to take a chance on me.
Adelyn, University of Texas at Austin
Kate was an essential part of my ability to work through the arduous process of completing my college applications. She was especially helpful when I would have some semblance of what I wanted as a topic for my college essay, but couldn’t put my ideas down on paper. Whenever I had a topic that was perfect for an essay question, but lacked enough content to make it plausible, she would ask questions that helped me expand on what I wanted to talk about in the essay. Without Kate’s help, my college applications would have been less effective and infinitely more stressful to complete.
Connor, Santa Clara University
Parent Perspective
Amplify’s philosophy centers on working primarily with students. They are the ones applying, sharing their story, and determining their future.
At the same time, we recognize that students will turn to their support system – their family – throughout the process. We want to ensure that parents understand the college application process and feel comfortable and confident with how their student’s applications are progressing.
In addition to having extensive experience as an admissions officer at Stanford, Kate is an intuitive and extremely effective coach and an outstanding writer and editor. She was a key player in the admissions journey for both of my daughters.
Our girls have vastly temperaments, high school backgrounds and goals. Kate masterfully and patiently helped each to identify their strengths and passions and communicate them creatively in response to the application prompts. The girls’ essays were well structured and grammatical, but their 18 year old voices were front and center.
Our oldest daughter had the privilege of attending Stanford. Our younger daughter was admitted to every college where she applied, including UC Irvine, American University, University of San Diego, Skidmore, Clark and Syracuse (she chose Syracuse). However, the very best part of working with Kate: both girls were still talking to me at the end of the process!
I couldn’t recommend Kate more!!
Laura, parent of two clients
Kate was a godsend!
As parents we were able to first engage with Kate as she outlined and answered all our questions. Her knowledge and experience made the process for us smooth and without any worry. She worked confidently and independently with our daughter as they scheduled, communicated and successfully completed the writing process. Our daughter was admitted early decision to NYU, her top choice, as well as to multiple University of California campuses.
We were so happy with the process and outcome we hired Kate again for our younger daughter and highly recommended her to friends.
Greg, parent of two clients
When our oldest was applying to college, Kate was invaluable.
In a time of much uncertainty, Kate helped our daughter navigate the process from start to finish. She helped our daughter think through her timeline, make choices to strengthen her application, and develop realistic expectations while still aiming for her highest goals.
With the essays, Kate was masterful. Not only is she an experienced and talented college consultant, she is also an excellent writer. She skillfully guided our daughter in finding her own ways to express her unique strengths.
Kate’s manner was just right. She was warm but serious, gentle but honest and never judgmental. She learned who our daughter was and met her where she was at. She made this high-anxiety process a collaborative and even enjoyable one!
Thanks to Kate’s help, our daughter ended up getting into her top choice college. Also thanks to Kate’s help, by the time she submitted her applications, our daughter knew that she could be happy at a number of different schools. We can’t recommend her highly enough!
Sara, client parent