Personalized Cornell Admissions Counseling

John has a Master’s from Columbia University and nearly a decade of experience in admissions. He currently serves as the Director of Admissions at the NYU Stern School of Business and previously served as the Associate Director of Admissions at the Columbia School of Social Work and as the Assistant Director of Admissions at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. John has cultivated a reputation as a professional deeply committed to guiding prospective students through their academic journeys. His dedication to student success has helped applicants gain admission to prestigious institutions, including Columbia and NYU.

As a coach, John’s most cherished moments are his one-on-one interactions with students, viewing each engagement as an opportunity to be a trusted advisor and an invaluable resource. Dedicating himself to empowering students to embrace their authentic selves, John considers it a gift to play a pivotal role in their educational pursuits. 

One of John’s greatest strengths is his ability to help students craft compelling essays that artfully showcase their unique qualities. He has also conducted hundreds of interviews, providing adept preparation for students entering this crucial phase of the admissions process.

John is the proud father of a four-year-old and finds joy in reading, dancing, and immersing himself in movies and theater.

Audra earned a BA from St. John’s College and a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She has extensive knowledge of the college admissions process and a strong education background, including serving as Head Teaching Assistant for UPenn’s Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science course. Additionally, she served as the NYC Chair of the Mensa Foundation Scholarship Program. Her coaching has helped students gain acceptance to prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell, and more.

Audra is passionate about making a meaningful, positive impact on each student’s college journey. She takes pride in getting to know each applicant personally and celebrating their strengths and accomplishments. With her keen insight into what makes an application stand out, she helps students craft exceptional applications that secure admission to top schools. 

As a coach, Audra adopts a kind and patient approach, meeting each applicant where they are and guiding them toward their goals. She strives to make the stressful admissions process smoother and more manageable. In just a few sessions, Audra identifies college applicants’ strongest skills and accomplishments and determines how to best showcase them to maximize their chances of acceptance.

When she’s not coaching, Audra enjoys reading, playing computer games, spending time with her cat, and exploring the theater scene. With significant experience in the performing arts—including acting, directing, playwriting, screenwriting, and sketch comedy—she brings creativity to everything she does. She is currently based in NYC and is directing an off-Broadway play!

Junior holds a Master’s degree from New York University. He has nearly 20 years of coaching experience and has supported 1,000+ students through their journeys to higher education. Junior served on the  Asia Pacific Leadership Program admissions committee at the University of Hawaii, helping review graduate-level applications. His work included reviewing their application materials, such as the application form, the essay for joining the program, the proposal for GIST (Group Independent Study Travel), and recommendation letters. Junior’s experiences have helped him learn to look at application material objectively while using his own knowledge to gauge the applicant's potential to succeed. 

Junior has also held many support and service roles which have allowed him to support students in grades six through 11 in obtaining internships, getting into STEM related-programs, applying to summer programs, and earning scholarships. Students he has coached have been accepted to top schools, including Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Pomona College, and others. 

Junior is a first-generation college graduate. This means that as a high school student, he could not go to his parents for help, which negatively impacted his college application experience. His journey led him to become a college counselor, working with hundreds of students through the college application process to help ease their anxiety and ensure they had the knowledge and tools needed to make well-informed decisions about their future without getting overwhelmed. Contributing to student success and helping them build confidence makes him passionate about coaching. 

Junior’s greatest power as a coach is his listening skills. Active listening requires empathy and putting one's feelings and opinions aside, allowing the coach to listen to understand—not to respond. Active listening helps him be present and facilitates mutual trust and understanding, leading to a better experience for everyone. Understanding his students' needs, fears, dreams, and aspirations allows him to focus on what's important to them, making it easier for him to help applicants accomplish their goals.

Outside of work, Junior consumes a lot of art and intellectual content. He loves listening to Afrobeats, attending Afrobeats concerts, and reading fiction, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, James Baldwin, and Salman Rushdie. He also enjoys visiting museums and art shows and saw the Whitney Biennial 2024 and the Met's Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibition. Junior also loves watching independent and foreign films, running and hiking in New York's Adirondack Mountains, or traveling to places like Belize, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic.