Virtue
Our vision is to always tell families what we believe, not what they want to hear. Sometimes that means telling a parent their dream school isn't the right one. We'd rather find the right place for long term success over prestige.
Team
The people behind Oak Collegiate.
The Oak Collegiate admission diverse team was deliberately chosen to cover every winning strategy into the top schools. From nationally recognized student leaders, entrepreneurs to expert essay mentors and strategic advisors. Our consultants succeeded not only in gaining admissions to the most coveted universities, but were able to thrive throughout their tenure and beyond. Together we help students develop their narrative, and create opportunities that extend far beyond acceptance letters.
Co-founders
Senior Advisors
Partners
Our consultant network
Also in our network
Anna Moen · Penn Ethan Roberts · Penn / Notre Dame Charles Konkolics · UNC Morehead Cain Joseph Mostwin · Northwestern Kirk Chayevsky · Northeastern Dahai Yonas · Penn
Our story
We planted Oak on a simple belief: no one reaches a goal alone.
Behind every student who achieves a dream is a parent, a coach, or a teacher who stayed late; who told the truth when it would have been easier not to. The students who struggle aren't the least capable. They're the ones facing the hardest process of their lives without that person in their corner.
Oak is a specialized team of people who navigated the most competitive admissions cycles on record and came through the top of them — recruited athletes and walk-ons, first-generation and international students, essay mentors who've guided applicants to millions in scholarships, recent graduates who remember precisely what your child is facing because they faced it themselves, under the rules that exist now.
We didn't realize how rare that was until our final year at Penn, when we finally met through a group called Friars — a senior society comprised of a small, deliberately mismatched gathering of the people the university is proudest of: athletes, founders, artists, scientists. Ask anyone in it how they got to their successes, and the answer came back the same way every time. It was a name. None of us had gotten there alone.
Around that same time, we were watching the opposite happen to friends. Smart, deserving kids whose families paid $40,000 and got back an essay that sounded like everyone else's, advice that was years out of date, and a consultant who didn't care beyond the hourly rate.
So we planted Oak. We named it for the tree on purpose. Nobody plants an oak for themselves. It goes in early, it takes years, and it's still standing long after the person who planted it is gone. That's how we think this work should go, too: it starts well before the application, and the best of it keeps going long after the letter comes.
What we believe
I. II. III.
Diligence
Our student is at the forefront of all of our decisions, and every plan is built around who the student is becoming. We go the extra mile for you, since that's the only way we know how to function.
Current Insight
Our team is all successful recent graduates who navigated the most-difficult cycle in college admissions history. Our lived experiences can offer more genuine and contemporary advice on admissions. Pairing that with the mentorship we've received from current and former admissions officers, we've truly got the best of both worlds. We have the research backed expertise and insights, while being able to fully grasp your high-schooler's mindset/lense to be the best mentor.