Episode summary introduction: International students nurture dreams of making it to a competitive US College. It requires planning, discipline and a lot of hard work for a chance to get one of the coveted spots in these colleges. Counselors’ expertise and experience can make a difference in the outcome.

Benjamin Stern is the founder and CEO of IvyAchievement, a college counseling firm shares his approach.

In particular, we discuss the following with him:

• What is IvyAchievement?
  
• About the students in India, Vietnam and others
  
• COVID-19 Impact on College Admissions
  

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Birth of IvyAchievement [2:15]
  
• First Trip to India to meet Students and Parents  [6:11]
  
• Types of Students Counseled [10:55]
  
• Students in different Geographies [16:05]
  
• Getting Started with Counseling Sessions [20:34]
  
• Impact of Test Optional to College Admissions [23:27]
  
• COVID-19 Uncertainty and College Students [27:16]
  
• COVID-19 & College Experience [32:24]
  
• Sweet Spot: Competitive Colleges [36:54]
  

Our Guest: Benjamin Stern, Founder and CEO of IvyAchievement, USA focuses on international students applying to US Colleges from India, Vietnam and others. IvyAchievement students have been accepted to top universities in the US.

Memorable Quote: “This is my first ever trip to India. I get into Delhi. That day had a high of, I believe, 46 degrees!”

Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.

Calls-to-action:

• Subscribe or Follow our podcasts at any of these locations:, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Breaker, Anchor.
• Send us your comments or questions on this episode by sending an Email to podcast@almamatters.io with the Subject: “Podcast Comment”.
• Make Your List of Colleges. If you are planning to apply to US Colleges, visit almamatters.io and signup. You will be placed in “My Page” where you can follow the Steps to make your list of US Colleges below the College List Tool.
• For Transcripts of all our podcasts, please visit almamatters.io/podcasts.