David and Jake know from personal experience how difficult it can be as a student to find impressive activities and connect them into a coherent web.  Our years of experience both achieving successful admission for ourselves and consulting for others have made us sophisticated architects of these webs of activities.  This is why we see our admissions consulting expertise as the premier service that sets us above all our competitors.  Not only will we cultivate students’ stories by helping them find optimal activities based on our individualized analysis of their goals, aptitudes, and experiences, but also help them connect all of these experiences into a story that will resonate with admissions committees.  This story will be constructed through essays, interviews, and résumés.  We will work closely with students through multiple drafts of essays, editing not only for grammar and style but also for substance, providing detailed assistance and feedback on each draft.  We will conduct mock admissions interviews and prepare students for the kind of conversations they will encounter not only in interviews but also throughout their time at an American university. 

While essay, interview, and résumé preparation will begin the summer before a student intends to apply, the activities and experiences that will provide the content for these application components must be pursued for years in advance.  Thus, we strongly recommend students begin working with us as early as possible in their academic careers—freshman year of high school for undergraduate applicants and freshman year of undergraduate study for graduate applicants.  If students begin utilizing our intensive consulting services to plan their educational futures at this early stage, we will be able to help them cultivate a web of innovative but connected experiences that we guarantee will set them apart from other applicants.

But that does not exhaust our service to students: at Marlin we know that the challenges of attending a prestigious American university do not end with admission.  After being admitted students will face a daunting mountain of paperwork—enrollment forms, visa applications, housing and travel arrangements, and orientation—just to name a few.  At Marlin we do not see ourselves as mere producers of a narrow service with a discrete endpoint but rather as mentors with a relationship to our students; when a student becomes a Marlin student, he or she becomes part of a community. We take a long-term interest not only in a student's academic success but also his or her personal happiness and flourishing.  As a result we will continue to be available to help students make the inevitable adjustments necessary in attending a challenging university in a foreign country.