The millennial was denied from 200 jobs. Now he charges millions of wealthy families six digits and takes their kids to Ivy League

$10,000? What about $100,000 or $750,000?

Hundreds of families are paying a six-figure price tag to a young millennial named Christopher Lim to guide their children to the top choices in college. As Founder and CEO of College Admissions Consultancy Group Command EducationRim became some kind of wizard with how to crack Ivy League codes. Over the past five years, 94% of his clients have been accepted into the top three college options.

And the $3 billion university consulting industry may sound different. Leg up rich people must take their kids to schoolLim says it’s about helping students reach their dreams and unlocking possibilities. After all, on average, only about 5% of students who want to go to Ivy League schools actually enter.

“You have one chance. That’s all,” says the 30-year-old. luck. “You can’t go back to college or apply again to these selective universities.”

The possibility of unlocking is going home to succeeding with Rim’s own story. Ivy League He is trying to find his foothold not only as a school, but as a young graduate.

Use doubt and failure as motivation

As a student at a New Jersey public high school, Lim was told he would never be cut off because of the Ivy League facility.

He admits he is not the smartest child in his class, but on the mission to attend Yale, he decided to apply even when his guidance counselor appealed to settle at Rutgers University, a public school in the state. Of almost 20 students at his school who applied for Yale, he was the only one.

As a student, he continued to roll the ball to charge high school students $50, edited admission essays, strengthened his resume, and advised on how to “poke up like the real thing.” After his first two clients joined MIT and Stamford, he realized he might have a gift and he was therefore born in 2015 in a dorm room in New Haven, Connecticut.

However, Lim wasn’t sure if it was key to his post-graduation career. Then it was time to apply for a job.

“I applied for employment years of over 200 years. All my friends got jobs at Goldman Sachs, McKinseyBCG, large corporations. I got nothing. I’ve gone to zero,” he says.

Instead of refusing him to defeat him, like what happens Millions of young people each year– Rim used it as a motive to help others reach the university of their dreams.

“Everyone has this potential and I was able to instill that confidence and belief and motivate them through the process,” says Lim. “I think that was the main reason why my students were successful. Of course, that made me succeeded in business.”

So far, command education has led over 1,500 students to top schools. Acceptance rate That’s well above the national average. More than seven times more in locations like Harvard, Caltech, and the University of Chicago.

And with parents investing on average nearly $100,000 in his services, Rim not only shapes the future of his students, but also builds a booming business along the way.

He declined to comment on his company’s revenue, but his average fees and high demand would be millions on that figure. (Rim explained that $750,000 price tag It was a one-off example, working with students that started in junior high school and involves unlimited access to services. )

Increased prices for entering university

Getting into the best institutions is not easy, with or without the help of a professional. In fact, over the past decade, universities have only become more selective than accepting students.

But that’s not because the school size has become much smaller, More students are applying. In Harvard’s classes, just graduating from his first year of college, over 54,000 applicants competed in just 1,970 seats. Acceptance rate of 3.6%. This is a 5.6% acceptance rate from around 37,000 applicants competing for 2,080 spots in the 2019 class. Still, not all accepted students have ultimately chosen to attend the school.

At the same time, universities are just becoming more expensive. Tuition and fees at private universities increased by about 41%, adjusted for inflation. US news and global reports. And some universities are trying Relieves the burden on many low-income students– Getting top colleges to create free tuition for families under $200,000 is a difficult battle for many students.

But Lim says that services like him don’t make the process even more fair, but help young people find their true calling.

“I know I don’t help students leave their place from middle class students or students from low-income families,” adds Lim. “I help other wealthy families and their children compete with other wealthy families.”

And despite some students feeling about themselves, The degree was not worth the costRim says demand is higher than before. However, young people are expanding their interest outside of tradition Ivy League to other top-ranked schools such as Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of North Carolina.

“If you want to become a bank, consulting company, or become a doctor or lawyer and get a specific job, your school is very important,” he says. luck. But at the end of the day, he says it’s about finding the passion and interest of the students.

“I’m not really going to be on a student, joining a discussion team, joining a band club, joining a newspaper club, because that’s what the university wants. In fact, I’m totally against that,” says Lim. “what are you going to do you want. “