This article is part of a sponsored partnership with Crimson Education. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to work with one of best college consulting companies.
Many parents reach out to us saying their kids applied to their top five dream universities, but were rejected by all of them. Often, this is not because of a lack of qualifications, but because their applications didn’t stand out. That’s why strategy is key when building a college application throughout High School. Your Teen Magazine has partnered with Crimson Education to help our readers strategically shape their teen’s application by crafting their unique stories. YourTeen Mag’s editorial team engaged with different aspects of Crimson’s guidance process and chatted with their counselors to answer one important question: Should parents choose Crimson when looking for a college consultancy?
Crimson Education is the leader in U.S. college admissions results. They have now helped students earn over 1,300 Ivy League offers, with 310+ Ivy League and 770+ Top 20 U.S. college acceptances in this season of 2025 alone. They have helped students receive over 1,320 Ivy League offers since the company was founded in 2013. We dove into the key insights that set Crimson apart from other consultancies.
Their Services
Crimson education supports students with the following services:
- University admissions strategy
- Essay development
- Extracurricular activity and leadership mentoring—including standout capstone building
- Tutoring for SAT, ACT, AP, and any other exams
- High-level research mentorships
- Work experience placements
- Competition coaching
Their team of experts include former admissions officers from the Ivy League and other top universities in the US. The strategy and narrative built into each student’s application is supported by the very people who used to decide who gets accepted and who gets rejected.
We will deep dive into the specifics of this team, but the key for an outstanding outcome is making sure you pick a package that combines one or more of these options to make your teen into a top applicant with a unique story.
My son’s Crimson team really listened to what my child and I needed. They provided constant and unwavering support. Our children go to good schools with good counselors, but what Crimson provided was above and beyond anything my son had access to at school. Quite simply they showed him how to maximize his applications while telling his own individual story. Now at an Ivy League school, we know the opportunities he has now, and will have in the future, are because of the knowledge and kindness imparted by his Crimson team.
-Janine, mother of Chris, admitted to UPenn Wharton School of Business
Team of Experts
Crimson Education’s strategists, mentors and tutors are graduates from the Ivy League and other top schools. Their extracurricular mentors have launched groundbreaking initiatives and have made their own individual impacts on a national, or in some cases, international scale. Their tutors are top scorers in the SAT, ACT, AP, IB and more. In other words — they are experts that have “been there and done that.”
Students have a team of experts who focus on strategy, test prep, essay writing, extracurriculars and leadership/project building, interview training, research projects (including paper publication) and teacher/counselor recommendation letter support. Most importantly, each student is paired with an expert strategist who oversees the entirety of their application, helping them narrow down a well-researched and strategic list of safety, target, and reach schools.
Crimson’s team of former admissions officers, from Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins and other top schools, know what goes on in the admissions offices of the best schools in the country because they have previously been the decision makers who made the call on who would be accepted and who would not. Students can get access to regular meetings with their personally allocated FAO, and a full application review, leaving no stone unturned. Their inside knowledge is invaluable in the highly competitive landscape where even the smallest of details can make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection.
In addition, Crimson’s founding team has studied at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Oxford and more. While many college counseling companies are run by people that have never actually been at the institutions you desire to study at, Crimson’s CEO, Jamie Beaton, is a graduate from Harvard, Stanford, Oxford the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School!
Their Complete Timeline
It all begins with a free consultation designed to map out a strategic plan. During this session, an Academic Advisor will evaluate the student’s strengths and areas for improvement, outline the most effective path to reach their goals, create a personalized program, and recommend tailored packages that align with the family’s goals and budget.
Each student at Crimson Education is provided with a personalized timeline to provide a step-by-step guide through the entire college admissions process.
My daughter started with Crimson in Grade 9 and from day one, the experience was great. The advice and counseling she received gave her a unique perspective and added a purpose to everything she worked on in High School. All her advisors were very smart and incredible organized. They knew what they are doing! While I know my daughter put in the work, we can honestly say the results she received would not have been possible without Crimson.
– Katherine, mother of Claire, admitted to Princeton, Stanford, UPenn and Dartmouth.
Technology and Community
When signing up for Crimson’s consultancy, students gain access to the Crimson App – a virtual world of connectivity, communication, admissions predictions, progress reports and meeting tracking. Roadmaps are built, test papers are distributed and marked, feedback is given, appointments are made, and unnecessary time-wasting and confusion are removed from the sometimes stressful application process.
Besides the real time information available in the app that increases their chances of admission, students immediately become part of the Crimson Community, a platform on which students form groups, share ideas, watch exclusive tutorials, build extracurricular projects and communicate with Crimson alumni who are currently enrolled at target universities. Being part of the Crimson Alumni Network means connecting across universities — linking students from all eight Ivy League schools, MIT and Stanford in the US, and Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. There is also a comprehensive parent reporting system so parents are always updated on their child’s progress.
Extracurriculars
Crimson students are provided with a range of unique out-of-classroom opportunities — from the ability to attend work experience programs at Uber or Ferrari, to teaming them up with Professors and PhD’s who guide students in building unique research projects and in many cases, publication.
As a one-stop shop, Crimson is also the only consultancy in the US that provides students with the opportunity to work with capstone building experts to build a unique, stand-out capstone project, the pillar of their Common Application List. These capstone mentors include scientists, coders, humanitarians, engineers, business people, artists, and musicians who help their students to build an impressive capstone project in a carefully constructed module based format. Once again, no other consultancy offers extracurricular support at such a highly specialized level — which is one of the major reasons for Crimson’s students’ ultimate success.
Life Opportunities
Crimson students end up at companies like Google, Goldman Sachs, Amazon,, NASA and many more.. Their students are attracting major investors for their start-ups: because they are extraordinary. Crimson has supported them every single step of the way. Their strong student-outcome- obsessed approach is just one more of the reasons why their students get accepted at the top 15 US schools with a 7x higher acceptance rate than general applicants.
Working with a consultancy was a big step for my family and in the long term we believed that it would pay off. The dividends earned from going to an Ivy and a well-recognized, rigorous school are astronomical. In hindsight, I cannot be happier with what Crimson has provided me to be able to join UPenn Wharton.
– James, UPenn Wharton C/O 2028
If your goal is to get a solid, unique narrative for your kids’ application to the Ivy League and top schools, Crimson Education stands out as the top choice for college admissions consulting. 35% of Crimson students who apply to the top 15 schools—including the Ivy League and Ivy-plus—are accepted, compared to just around 5% of applicants overall.
Yes, the programs come at a cost—but it’s an investment in your kids future. If schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Brown, or UPenn are on their dream list, Crimson is the smart move. Let their experts guide your kid and your family to success.
Ready to give your child the competitive edge they deserve?
By enrolling in a Crimson’s full-service college consulting program through Your Teen Magazine’s referral, you’ll unlock an exclusive bonus: a FREE application review by a former admissions officer—a level of insight that can make all the difference.
Click here to sign up now and take the first step toward college success. This offer is only available with the purchase of a consulting program through this link—don’t miss out!