Why The WSJ's Views On College Consulting Deserve Your Attention

Seeing Crimson Education featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal is both humbling and a significant moment for us as a team. The story captures our journey, our successes, and our belief in education as a transformative force.

I grew up in New Zealand — in a small family, in a small city, in a small country. The idea of going to Harvard — let alone having the privilege to build a big business — was a distant, unreachable opportunity. But education has the fundamental and unique ability to transform lives and shape futures.

Going to Harvard as a wide-eyed 18-year-old Kiwi transformed every facet of my life. At their core, global universities can pluck a student from the corner of the world — regardless of their background — and quickly give them access to career mentors, global faculty, sprawling coursework, and inspirational alumni.

I learned that education can create a difference in the trajectory of your life. That's what education did for me: providing me the knowledge, relationships, and opportunity to forge a path upward.

And that's why I love the mission at Crimson Education: to provide the best education support to students across the world, and to bridge them to the best opportunities in the world.

For the past decade, it has been immensely rewarding to play a part in the lives of thousands of Crimson students. Students have the spark, the fire, and the will to compete on the world stage and dare to dream of a brighter future for themselves and their families.

A decade later, our students now work at many of the best companies in the world: OpenAI, Google, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, Blackstone, Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs, BCG, McKinsey, Bain, Tesla, and Waymo — and have raised tens of millions in venture funding in their early twenties. They have secured more than 1,000 Ivy League offers and more than 6,000 offers to Top 50 US universities, the best result of any company globally by a wide margin.

And we're just getting started!

The Wall Street Journal piece shares a bit about Crimson's journey, but I want to take this opportunity to address some of the questions and critiques that have surfaced.

Can College Consultants Like Crimson Truly Offer an Edge?

One critique revolves around whether Crimson can truly offer an "edge" in a university admissions process that is often nuanced and unpredictable. The admissions officer from Penn questions how anyone can understand exactly what a university wants each year, given their shifting needs.

My response is simple: it's true, no one has a perfect map to the exact needs of any particular admissions office at any given time — just like no one can predict the precise movement of markets or the future of a corporation. But that doesn’t mean we — or anyone — should stop trying to understand patterns and make informed decisions.

Drawing an analogy to Wall Street, countless analysts dedicate their careers to studying companies, deciphering trends, and predicting future outcomes — often with remarkable accuracy. Our approach to college admissions is similar.

We study these universities rigorously, analyzing changes in faculty hiring, shifts in departmental focuses, and emerging interests across campuses.

We also bring in invaluable insight from former admissions officers who know these systems from the inside out. These data points are not about guaranteeing admissions, but about understanding the landscape — and providing students with the tools to navigate it with a better sense of direction.

You can read more on how we leverage data to better understand what universities are looking for.

The Question of Authenticity

Another concern raised, particularly by Yale’s admissions office, relates to the authenticity of our students. Are we simply helping students amass a laundry list of achievements, with no soul or personal connection behind them? Are our students, as they put it, "overly engineered"? I believe the answer to this lies in understanding what Crimson truly stands for.

We’re not here to push students into cookie-cutter molds of success. Instead, our mission is to help students discover what truly ignites their curiosity and passion. We work to identify their unique qualities — their intellectual vitality, their community initiatives, their entrepreneurial ambitions — and nurture those, providing direction and support, but never dictating their path.

Authenticity is at the core of what we do. Crimson students are encouraged to find their own voice, and our team is dedicated to making sure that their applications are true reflections of who they are — warts and all. We value curiosity, enthusiasm, and a genuine drive for making an impact in their chosen fields. It’s not about stacking achievements; it’s about choosing endeavors that truly matter to them and showcasing their journey in an honest way.

Learn more on how we help students convey their most authentic self.

Adding Real Value to Students

Lastly, there is the question: are we adding real value to students, or are we simply cherry-picking those who would have succeeded anyway? I have seen first-hand the difference Crimson can make. When students join us, many are still figuring out who they are, what they want, and how to manage their time and commitments. Our role is to work with these students — to transform not just their applications, but also their approach to academics, their ability to lead, and their understanding of themselves.

Our work is not just about college admissions. It’s about training, growth, and, ultimately, self-realization. When students come to us, they often need help figuring out what they want to do — and we help them find that direction. We’ve worked with students who started unsure of their passions and helped them discover academic paths, creative projects, and leadership opportunities that resonate with them. It’s in those moments — seeing students transform from uncertain teenagers into confident, purpose-driven young adults — that I see the real value Crimson brings.

You can read more on how we add value to our students here.

Moving Forward

We’re immensely proud of what we have achieved over the past decade, and we’re just getting started. Education transformed my life — it gave me opportunities I never thought possible growing up in New Zealand. Our mission at Crimson is to help students from every corner of the world access those same opportunities, so they can shape their futures with purpose and confidence. And despite the critiques, I am unwavering in my belief that this mission — of empowerment through education — is one worth pursuing, and one that will continue to change lives.