Authentic
Application

The Story

The Story You Haven’t Heard

You’ve heard my story a thousand times: I was an academic high-achiever who got rejected from a lot of colleges. I learned the secrets to getting into Ivies, and then taught students all over the country how to use those marketing strategies to get in.

Here’s what you haven’t heard: over decades, I noticed that the students who had the most authentic, honest applications got into the best schools. Exaggerating or outright lying worked at some prestigious schools. But the students who got into Harvard all had 100% honest applications without even a whiff of exaggeration.

It went deeper than that. The students who got into Harvard, Princeton, and Yale had also authentically chosen their extracurriculars based on real interest, not based on what conventional wisdom suggested they were “supposed” to do. Their essays had real introspection and vulnerability instead of safe, superficial narratives.

I created The Authentic Application to help more students use their authentic interests and real personalities to get into their dream colleges.

Authentic vs. Literally True

A student who volunteers at a nursing home just to fulfill a requirement, who has no interest in the activity, who detests every minute there, has literally done the volunteering. However, there is nothing authentic about it. Every part of the process was inauthentic and fake. It might fulfill a high school requirement; it won’t help the student get into a college he actually wants to go to.

I help students discover or create extracurricular activities that they can engage with authentically. Successful activities shouldn’t feel like chores; they should bring the student joy.

Pleasure-Pain vs. Authentic Interests

Many students (and many adults) get stuck in a pleasure-pain cycle. They suffer through work that they detest, and then escape through addictive behavior (video games, TikTok, gambling, etc.).

But those addictive escapes are not the same as authentic interests. Those addictive escapes are anesthetics, not inspiring interests.

I help students leave the pleasure-pain cycle behind and discover what really inspires and motivates them. I help them discover what they want to create and how they want to improve the world.

Authentic Stories vs. Fears and Addictions

When students first start working with me, they often have a tough time thinking about their goals and preferences. Many students desire wealth, fear poverty, and enjoy video games and short form online videos. Those are all literally true, but don’t get to the heart of who a person is. Any student, any person, is more than just a poverty-fearing automaton. Past the fears and digital addictions is the real, authentic self, fueled by a curious fascination with the world, a desire to make things better, and a voice that is unmistakably yours. Fear, stress, and addiction can mask it, but they can’t erase it.

I help students tap into their real curiosity, passion, and voice, and show how their real interests can help them achieve much more than suffering through the commonplace activities that people think you’re “supposed” to do.

My Process

I start in a surprising way: to help students discover their authentic interests, I begin by teaching principles of storytelling and myth. Great stories have a kind of truth that no textbook can capture. Then, counterintuitively enough, I show students how to use those principles to discover real interests, authentic areas of curiosity, and their own irreplaceable voice.

I also have students look at real applications very early. I want students to see that the Harvard, Princeton, and Yale applications never ask for your total number of community service hours, and instead ask questions about times when you disagreed with someone, what brings you joy, and other questions that test authenticity more than anything else.

Finally, I teach advanced writing techniques that students can start using right away on English and history papers at school, and then later use masterfully on their application essays.

My process is inherently precise and gentle. My goal isn’t to tell students who to be, but rather help them discover who they are…and who they want to become.

Fees & Starting Age