Top Tier Admissions

Top Tier Admissions is a private college admissions counseling company based in the United States, founded in 2002 by Dr. Michele Hernández and Mimi Doe. The firm describes itself as a leader in elite college admissions and one of the first private college counseling companies in the world. Its counselors include former Ivy League admissions officers, deans, published authors, and award-winning educators, and the company markets a personalized, high-touch approach in which each student works with a dedicated Senior Private Counselor while benefiting from the collective expertise of the whole team. The company's services center on helping students build competitive profiles for highly selective colleges. Its flagship offering is the Application Boot Camp®, a signature program that guides students through the college application process, and it also runs a Private Counseling Program that advises ambitious students from around the world, from grade 4 through graduate school. Top Tier Admissions states that it works with a limited number of families each year and offers more than 20 custom programs tailored to students' needs. Top Tier Admissions traces its origins to Dr. Michele Hernández's 1997 book A is for Admission, which revealed the "Academic Index" formula used by Ivy League schools and helped launch the modern private admissions consulting industry. Hernández, a former Assistant Director of Admissions at Dartmouth College, later partnered with Mimi Doe, an award-winning author and educator with a master's degree in education from Harvard University. Together they built Top Tier Admissions into a prominent name in selective college admissions advising. The firm reports that over 20 years of counseling, 95% of its students get into one or more of their top two colleges, and that its students have been awarded more than $7.5 million in merit aid. It also engages in nonprofit work, including partnerships with the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and the John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation, providing access to its programs for students from underserved communities. Top Tier Admissions is privately held and remains active, publishing admissions insights and guidance through its blog and other channels.

Top Tier Admissions was founded in 2002 by Dr. Michele Hernández and Mimi Doe, building on Hernández's earlier work as an admissions insider and author. The company describes itself as one of the first private college counseling companies in the world and as a business that disrupted college admissions and made a notoriously confusing process more transparent. The firm's origin story begins in 1997, when Dr. Michele Hernández wrote A is for Admission, a tell-all book based on her four years as an admissions officer at Dartmouth College. The book revealed that Ivy League schools calculated an "Academic Index" for every applicant—a secret formula comprising test score averages and a student's high school GPA—even as those schools denied using any kind of admissions formula. A is for Admission showed students how to calculate their Academic Index so they could create a more informed application strategy. When Business Week featured Michele as its cover story ("I Can Get your Kid into an Ivy"), she became a well-known voice on selective college admissions, appearing on talk shows and in national publications. At that time, she was described as not only the most well-known but also the most exclusive college consultant in the burgeoning industry, and demand grew for expert help cracking the Ivy code. In 2002, Michele joined forces with award-winning author and educator Mimi Doe, who shared an interest in making college admissions more transparent. Together they built Top Tier Admissions into a leading voice on college admissions. The company's counselors include former Ivy League admissions officers, deans, published authors, and award-winning educators, and the firm emphasizes a personalized, high-touch approach in which each student works with a dedicated Senior Private Counselor while benefiting from the collective expertise of the entire team. Over more than two decades, Top Tier Admissions has developed a range of programs, including its signature Application Boot Camp® and its Private Counseling Program, which advises ambitious students from around the world from grade 4 through graduate school. The company reports that 95% of its students get into one or more of their top two colleges and that its students have been awarded more than $7.5 million in merit aid. It also engages in nonprofit partnerships, including with the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and the John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation, to extend its programs to students from underserved communities. Top Tier Admissions remains privately held and active, continuing to publish admissions insights and guidance.

• 2002

  Michele Hernández and Mimi Doe found Top Tier Admissions.

• 1997

  Dr. Michele Hernández publishes A is for Admission, revealing the Ivy League's "Academic Index" formula.

Elite, personalized college admissions counseling for highly selective colleges, delivered through a high-touch, limited-enrollment model.

• Application Boot Camp®

  A signature program guiding students through the college application process.

• Private Counseling Program

  A program advising ambitious students from around the world from grade 4 through graduate school.

1. 1College Admissions Counseling | Ivy League Admissions Coachingtoptieradmissions.com
2. 2Top Tier Admissions Team: the premier College Admission Expertstoptieradmissions.com
3. 3The Top Tier Admissions Story - Top Tier Admissionstoptieradmissions.com
4. 4Non-Profit Involvement | Top Tier Admissionstoptieradmissions.com