Ella Verde
Book a free call with Ella
Ella’s intro
I study business at Berkeley's Haas School through the Global Management Program. I got that read because my file showed depth in what I had done, not breadth, and that is the application I teach: fewer lines, more impact in each one. I work mostly with UC applicants, and mostly on the PIQs. A UC reader moves quickly through a file, so the essays have to show range without repeating. I teach students to pull one strong example per prompt and write it plainly, and I stay in a draft until the paragraph sounds like the student and not like college admissions prose. I take on students who have something real to say about what they have built or led, even if they are still figuring out how to say it. The work is finding that story and cutting everything around it until the essay teaches the reader something. If you're interested, book me for free and I'll give you your child's read.
Common questions
Before you book
What does this cost?
We are flexible, and there is a plan here that fits your family. You hear your number on the first call, before anything is agreed. What changes between plans is the kind of experience in the room: a current undergraduate at a school your student is applying to, someone who interviewed applicants for a university as an alumni volunteer, or a former admissions officer who read files and sat in committee. Every one of them is somebody we would put in front of our own family.
Do we need to know what we want before the call?
No, and most families book before they have decided anything. That is the useful time to talk. An hour, no charge, and you will come off the call knowing what we can do for your student.
How many students does one counselor take?
Few enough that the person you meet is the person who reads the drafts. Every counselor sets their own cap and prints it on their page, so you know exactly how much of their year you are getting. If your first choice is full we will introduce you to someone on the roster who suits your student just as well.
Our student is already a senior. Is it too late?
It is not too late. Several counselors here run compressed engagements and take seniors into the autumn, and there is usually more still open in a file than a family expects. Tell us where your student is on the call and we will tell you what we can do with it.
Book a call
How the call is booked.
Ella reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The call is an hour-long video call and costs nothing.
Book a free call with EllaElla reads what you tell us about your student before the call, so it starts there rather than at the beginning.
If something changes
The agreement is held by The Scholar’s Bureau rather than by Ella personally. If Ella cannot finish the cycle we move your student to another counselor on this roster at the price you were already quoted, and everything written down so far moves with them.
Where Ella’s students got in.
The Scholar’s Bureau is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by UC Berkeley or any other institution named on this page. Ella Verde is an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, speaking only as an individual, with no role in its admissions office and no influence over any admissions decision.