Premium university admission services

Your child has one shot at this application. Make it count.

Two students. Same school. Same predicted grades. Very different offers.

It's not about the grades. It's the story shaped around each applicant, the strategy behind it, and the team that shaped both.

We work with families at the country's top independent schools, building dual strategies for Oxbridge, the Russell Group and the Ivy League at once.

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3,170+

students guided across 12 countries

20%

Ivy acceptance rate — 5x the global average of 4%

812+

offers from top-20 universities

93%

of students placed in a top-3 target school

Based on students who applied through AE in the last five admissions cycles. "Top-3 target school" refers to one of the student's three agreed target universities after strategy finalisation. UK-specific verification of this stat is pending; canonical figures shown until confirmed.

▶ Student testimonial 1

▶ Student testimonial 2

The AE Framework

Grades get your child read. Four things get them in.

Admissions officers see thousands of applications with excellent grades. 'Good enough' isn't good enough anymore. Here's what separates the offers from the rejections:

A spike.

One genuine academic interest, pursued further than school requires. Not ten activities. One direction.

Depth.

Reading, projects, research — proof they went beyond the syllabus.

Initiative.

Something they started, built or led. Universities admit people who make things happen.

Evidence.

It has to be real, and it has to show.

This is what we help students build — whether they're in A-Levels, IB or the American system — a blended approach that weaves academics and interests together.

10 minute assessment

Not sure where your child stands? Find out in ten minutes.

Our free Admissions Readiness Assessment uses the same framework selective admissions officers use to evaluate a profile — the academic foundation first, then the spike, depth, initiative and evidence that separate the offers from the rejections. Answer ten questions, then get a personalised report showing exactly where your child is strong, where the gaps are, and the specific next steps to make.

Take the free assessment →

Personalised report.

Calibrated to your child's stage and target universities.

Built by real counsellors.

Framework developed with former admissions officers from Cornell, UChicago and more.

Real students. Real routes.

What "built, not bought" actually looks like.

Three grade points don't tell you why a student got an offer and another didn't. The story does. Names and small details changed for anonymity.

UK Independent School · IBDP · Biomedical Engineering

"Jonathan"

IB predicted 42

SPIKE

Infectious disease and drug repurposing. Two summers in a university microbiology lab, co-authored a paper on antibiotic resistance. Founded his school's first competition-track chemistry programme, with two podium finishes at a national Olympiad.

Offers: Johns Hopkins (BME) · UPenn · UCL

"AE turned four years of work into a story no admissions reader could ignore, and taught me to defend every line of it."

International School · Humanities · First-Gen

"Eleanor"

SAT 1,550 · GPA 3.92 · Full need

SPIKE

Housing rights and education access. Won a national community writing award in Year 11 for long-form work on homelessness. Three years with a youth violence-prevention charity, later appointed to a city youth commission.

Offers: Yale · Brown · Georgetown · Full aid + $200k+ scholarships

"No prestigious programme made this application. Paying attention to one fight over four years did."

'Good enough' isn't good enough anymore

Your Own Team of Experts

One lead counsellor with years of experience across multiple education systems stays with your child the whole way, backed by former admissions officers, essay specialists, and subject experts. Here's a sample of who you'll actually work with:

Charan Bansal

Senior Lead Counsellor, UK

Bio copy pending — Charan's background, UK independent school relationships, and years of experience across multiple education systems.

Andrew Maruca

Senior Lead Counsellor & Head of Writing

A Williams College graduate and former varsity squash captain who attended Phillips Exeter Academy. His students have gained acceptances to Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, UChicago, Cambridge, and LSE.

Kevin DuPont

Senior Lead Counsellor

Former admissions officer at Cornell, UVA, UC Berkeley, and Tufts. 9+ years reading applications on both sides of the desk. NCAA tennis coach with athletic recruitment expertise.

Ria Birowo

Senior Lead Counsellor

University of Chicago graduate and former UChicago Admissions Reader. Specialises in dual undergraduate-postgraduate strategies and non-standard curricula.

Proactive school relationships.

Face-to-face communication with your family, and genuine advocacy and collaboration with your child's school throughout the process.

A trusted local network.

Long-term partnerships with UK families and schools, built over years of working alongside them.

Every path, one team

Whatever your child is building, we have a team for it.

Every family works with one lead counsellor. The specialists behind them change based on what your child is building. Here's what we offer:

End-to-End University Guidance

The core programme. One lead counsellor stays with your child from first call to final submission — backed by writing specialists, subject experts, and former admissions officers from Cornell, UVA, UChicago, Berkeley, Tufts and more.

Athletic Recruitment

Specialised support for junior athletes across tennis, soccer, golf, swimming and more. Backed by 2,000+ college coach connections.

Creative & Performing Arts

Portfolio building and application strategy for art, design, animation, music, or performance. Led by working artists and a Harvard-Berklee dual-degree specialist.

Research & Academic Enrichment

For students building the depth Ivies read for — publications, competitions, and independent projects — with mentorship from PhD-level academics.

Plus subject tutoring, essay coaching, and support across a dozen curricula. All under one roof.

How we work.

Step 1

Find out where your child stands.

A complimentary 30-minute call. We take time to understand your family, your goals and how you parent, then tell you honestly what's strong, what's missing, and 2-3 concrete next steps — whether you work with us or not.

Step 2

Build the plan.

A roadmap for their spike, subjects and applications, matched to their curriculum and timeline.

Step 3

Do the work, together.

One lead counsellor, regular sessions, real projects — keeping momentum while balancing the pressure on your child. Your family always knows what's next and why.

Ready to talk it through? Let's find out together.

Book a complimentary 30-minute call. You'll walk away knowing exactly where your child stands, what it would actually take to get them in, and 2-3 concrete next steps — whether you work with us or not. We stay by your side through every deadline, interview and decision.

Book a complimentary 30-minute call →

Families in 12+ countries · Former admissions officers · WhatsApp support