Elsa’s intro
Getting into Berkeley's Haas School of Business taught me that the strongest applications help admissions officers see the person, not just the resume. I'm a Spieker Scholar studying Business Administration at UC Berkeley.
During my own process, I had offers from UChicago, USC, UCLA, and three other schools, but what separated the applications that worked from the ones that didn't wasn't another award or a higher test score. It was whether the file showed me as someone specific. I read drafts now the way I think Berkeley's readers approached mine: looking for the detail that only this student could write, the sentence that makes the officer lean forward instead of skim to the next paragraph. When a draft is vague or sounds like it could belong to anyone, I flag it and we rewrite until it doesn't.
I've taken on four students. Their acceptances include Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, USC, UCLA, and UC Davis. I don't promise admissions, but I do promise you'll know whether your child's file is showing them clearly or burying them under generalizations. I cap my roster at twenty-seven hours a week because every draft I read gets my own notes, not a template. 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. We share pricing on the free call, it is the same for every counselor, and it is in writing 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 free call?
No, and most families book before they have decided anything. That is the useful time to listen. It costs nothing, and you leave 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. Ask about your student in the small room and we will tell you what we can do with it.
Free one-on-one call
How the call is booked.
Elsa reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The first call is one-on-one on Google Meet and costs nothing.
Meet ElsaOr text Elsa firstElsa 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 Aristo Scholars rather than by Elsa personally. If Elsa 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 Elsa’s students got in.
Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by UC Berkeley or any other institution named on this page. Elsa Wendt 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.