Ryan’s intro
Most students write about their projects by listing what they built and how they built it, and an admissions officer reading that can't tell what the student actually did or why it mattered. I help STEM students who have real work but can't get a reader to care about it. I study Mechanical Engineering at UPenn.
I built a drone that searches for hurricane survivors and presented it at the MIT Media Lab. I also did research with NC State and the California Air Resources Board, contributing to a white paper that proposes a statewide plan to electrify California's freight rail. When I wrote about those projects, I started by asking myself what problem I was trying to solve and why it mattered to me, and that's where I start with students now. I find what ties their projects and activities together and help them tell it as one story about who they are. A personal reason behind the work is what a reader remembers.
I've helped students get into Stanford, Princeton, Duke, and UNC Chapel Hill. Going through the application process with other students has shown me what makes an application stand out and what holds one back. 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.
Ryan reads your student’s file and builds the plan. The first call is one-on-one on Google Meet and costs nothing.
Meet RyanOr text Ryan firstRyan 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 Ryan personally. If Ryan 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 Ryan’s students got in.
Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by UPenn or any other institution named on this page. Ryan Cannon is an undergraduate at UPenn, speaking only as an individual, with no role in its admissions office and no influence over any admissions decision.