The Role of Gender in Admissions
Last September, the New York Times ran an article about Tulane University’s efforts to rebalance its gender ratio in admissions by targeting more male applicants. This prompted
Essay writing 2024: level up
your applicationGet a free ↓ consultation now,
assess your chancesBoutique college consulting in
the Bay Area for over 15 yearsConstistent 5 star rating: read
our clients' reviews
California College Consulting Boutique Services
Essay writing 2024:
level up your applicationGet a free ↓ consultation
now, assess your chancesBoutique college consulting
in the Bay Area for over 15 yearsConstistent 5 star rating:
read our clients' reviews
California College Consulting Boutique Services
2024 cohort
5
seats remaining
Programs
Our two programs guide your student to reach full personal potential and maximize chances in the admissions process.
- Freshman ··· Junior
High School Program
Our recommendations direct your student to align academics, extracurriculars, and impact.
In our assessment of your student we:
- Diagnose academic performance and college readiness for majors and colleges
- Evaluate in-class and out-of-class (extracurricular) performance
- Suggest majors that reflect your student’s profile, talents, skill set, and interests
- Provide a preliminary college list
- Suggest a timeline for college exams SAT/ACT, AP, IB, and others (AMC, AIME)
- Offer guidance on building a college-ready dossier with recommendations for:
- Completing requirements for the desired college and major
- Formalizing extracurricular and summer achievements
- Junior
- WINTER JUNIOR ··· SENIOR
College Application Program
Our program helps your student to stand out and avoids overwhelm for your family.
Our team holds your student accountable to a structured, efficient plan of action to carefully and calmly complete their best applications.
Each student works with a dedicated College Counselor, a Writing Advisor, and our Administrative Assistant. Our program provides advising on how to:
- Choose, visit, and develop relationships with colleges
- Properly prepare all components of the application: letters of recommendation, activity list, resumés, videos, etc.
- Select strategic deadlines: Early Action, Early Decision I & II, Regular Decision
- Develop 25-40 personal essays that uniquely improve chances of admission
- Present a dossier of supplementary materials to showcase skills and talents
- Maximize eligibility for merit aid scholarships
- Prepare for college representative visits and interviews
- Respond to post-application requests and engagements
Fahey Associates offers two probono seats every year. Please reach out to us at probono@fahey.associates if you or someone you know might qualify.
25+ REVIEWS
The Team
Over the last 15 years, our Founder, Felicia Fahey, has built her bespoke method by blending her own experience with the expertise of her network: colleagues and advisors from Stanford, the University of California, and UPenn-Jerome Fisher admissions teams, MIT alumni, Apple User Experience veterans, and creatives from the Storytelling Project and the University of Michigan. Felicia has drawn together and trained a team of progressive educators, who carry out the core values of Fahey Associates. Our team lifts all our students to their potential: students of all levels and disciplines, athletes, artists, and students who are underserved or have faced medical and learning challenges. In our effort to make college more accessible, we donate our time to providing pro-bono support to underserved students and to educating the public sector including libraries, high school counseling departments, and learning enrichment programs.
Our Counselors
Kate Givens
Kate Givens has extensive experience working with teenagers in academic and extracurricular settings to discover their unique interests and achieve their goals. Kate has a B.A. in English from The George Washington University and a Masters in English Education from The University of Virginia and spent over a decade working with high school students teaching professional skills such as correspondence, resume development, and public speaking. She has worked with hundreds of students to develop college plans and work on their application materials.
Our Creativity: Writing Advisors
In our many years of advising, Fahey Associates has observed that the majority of students are lacking the skills to elaborate a compelling narrative about their own person. With an average of 30 personal statements to write, students entering the application process must quickly learn how to tell a compelling story about themselves. To handle this challenge we’ve enrolled talented, creative writers to guide the delicate process of combining story-telling and self-reflective essay writing.
Kenneth Ong
Kenneth earned a B.S. in Commerce (Finance & Marketing) from the University of Virginia, as well as an M.B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles where he worked with both admissions committees as either a student representative or alumni reader. He spent almost a decade working in the entertainment industry around film and TV Development for Walt Disney Company and a number of Oscar-winning producers. Kenneth now integrates the same storytelling and writing principles into his college counseling, writing instruction, and high school teaching over the past three years.
Maddie Orenstein
Maddie Orenstein (she/they) graduated with a B.S. in Social Policy from Northwestern University and an M.A. from Stanford University in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies. Maddie is a passionate advocate for youth voice. She has over 12 years college counseling experience in several types of high schools and in summer leadership programs. She was also an Honors Thesis English Instructor for seniors for three years. Additionally, she supported high school student leaders and wrote research on the importance of youth leadership as a Fulbright Scholar living in Santiago, Chile. She brings her vast experience and love for the beauty of writing as a tool to help students to share what’s important to them.
Megan Levad
Megan Levad is the author of Why We Live in the Dark Ages and What Have I to Say to You. A MacDowell Fellow, her poems have appeared in Tin House, San Francisco Chronicle, Poem-a-Day, Granta, Fence, and the Everyman’s Library anthology Killer Verse. Megan also writes lyrics and libretti; When There Are Nine, a song cycle about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg composed by Kristin Kuster, recently debuted at the Cabrillo Festival in Summer 2019, where Megan was the Writer-in-Residence.
Michele Poulos
Michele earned one MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) at Virginia Commonwealth University and another MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) at Arizona State University. Her BFA is from New York University where she studied film and television. She’s the author of Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry (Diode Editions, 2020) and Black Laurel (Iris Press, 2016). Her award-winning chapbook, A Disturbance in the Air, was published by Slapering Hol Press. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Best New Poets, The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Smartish Pace, Crab Orchard Review, and many other journals. She has won fellowships from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the David Baldacci Foundation.
Susanna Daniel
Susanna earned her BA in English and Anthropology from Columbia University. Her MFA in creative writing comes from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of two widely published, award-winning novels, Stiltsville and Sea Creatures with HarperCollins. She has placed numerous essays and stories in literary magazines such as Slate and Newsweek. She is the co-owner of the Madison Writers’ Workshop where she coaches writers toward greater meaning, sense, and clarity.
Vivienne Walse
Vivienne has been a professional writer and actress for twenty years. She has worked in television, film and the theatre, touring through Asia, Europe and the U.S. A graduate of the highly regarded acting school, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, she now lives in Los Angeles. Her latest play, This is Where We Live, won The Griffin Theatre Award and had a full season at the Griffin Theatre, Hothouse Theatre, South Australian Theatre Company and has since been performed in Toronto, New York and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As a television writer, she has worked with Hulu, Stan (Australia) and Disney+. She is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
3 Pillars
Strategy
Undefined goals can lead to stagnation. We help your student to define a meaningful path and its required milestones.
Structure
The absence of structure can feel overwhelming. Our program ensures students meet both high-school and college application deadlines.
Support
Doubt and unanswered questions can be unsettling. We check in regularly with students and monitor their progress and development.
Our Bulletin
Stay ahead in the college admission journey and follow our Bulletin for valuable insights and guidance.
Finances Among Top Ranked Colleges and Universities
The Forbes 2023 College Financial Grades report paints a largely positive picture of the financial health of America’s elite higher education institutions. Remarkably, 93% of
Most Diverse Colleges
Through independent research, Fahey Associates has identified UC Berkeley, NYU, MIT, UCLA, CMU, USC, Harvey Mudd, Georgia Tech, UC Riverside, and Rutgers as being among
Note Addressed to Foreign Families
Families new to the US may find the academic system daunting. As a globally fluent team, we work with students from all parts of the world, whether they are living in the United States or abroad. This year Fahey Associates is working with students from China, India, Ecuador, England, Spain, and Germany.
备注（致移民家庭）
也许新移民家庭会发现美国的教育体系令人生畏。无论您身在美国国内还是国外，作为一支国际团队，我们都将协助您和来自世界各地的学生们深造。今年，Fahey Associates 斐弈协会就正一直在辅导来自中国、英国、西班牙、德国、印度和厄瓜多尔的学生们。
Nota dirigida a familias inmigrantes
Las nuevas familias inmigrantes pueden encontrar el sistema académico de los Estados Unidos de una manera abrumadora. Como equipo con fluidez global, trabajamos con estudiantes de todas partes del mundo, ya sea que vivan en los Estados Unidos o en el extranjero. Este año, Fahey Associates está trabajando con estudiantes de China, India, Ecuador, Inglaterra, España y Alemania.
Hinweis an Familien mit Migrationshintergrund
Neue Einwandererfamilien könnten das US-amerikanische akademische System als entmutigend empfinden. Als global fließendes Team arbeiten wir mit Studenten aus allen Teilen der Welt zusammen, unabhängig davon, ob sie in den USA oder im Ausland leben. In diesem Jahr arbeitet Fahey Associates mit Studenten aus China, Indien, Ecuador, England, Spanien und Deutschland zusammen.
Appréhender les us et coutumes américaines
Les familles Françaises fraichement installées aux US peuvent trouver le monde universitaire américain exotique. Nous sommes une équipe aguerrie à l’accompagnement de ces changements de repères.
नोट आप्रवासी परिवारों के लिए जोड़ा गया
नए आप्रवासी परिवारों को अमेरिकी शैक्षणिक व्यवस्था कठिन लग सकती है। विश्व स्तर पर धाराप्रवाह टीम के रूप में, हम दुनिया के सभी हिस्सों के छात्रों के साथ काम करते हैं, चाहे वे संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका में रह रहे हों या विदेश में। इस साल
फही एसोसिएट्स चीन, भारत, इक्वाडोर, इंग्लैंड, स्पेन और जर्मनी के छात्रों के साथ काम कर रहा है।
Get In Touch or Questions?
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