Spark Admissions

Our daughter has been working with Rachel at Spark Admissions since freshman year of high school. She recently graduated, and is attending her top choice of college. The college admission process is so much different than it was in the past, and the whole experience was something that we really couldn't have done without our daughter to realize her goals. Rachel was great in developing an overall strategy, creating a long term plan for our daughter's application and extracurricular activities, with a focus on differentiating herself as a college applicant. It was just great to have Spark Admissions as a partner to go through the process. 100% recommend!

We had a great experience with Spark admissions. We worked closely with Dr. Joe Snyder and he was wonderful! So patient but also organized and had a detailed timeline of the entire process. He made us feel less stressed and trusting of his ideas and recommendations. My son was admitted ED and we are all so thrilled with the outcome! Thank you!!!!!

Joseph Fisher worked patiently with my daughter over the course of many months. He broke the process down into smaller, more manageable pieces which made a difference given her LD. He is an expert teacher of writing and had her using the writing process to achieve her own best writing. She truly enjoyed working with Joseph. He is simply terrific!

Rachel B was amazing. Our son was fortunate to be a recruited Div 1 athlete and it was a complex and constantly evolving process. Rachel expertly helped navigate us on the journey with great experience, guidance, and grace under pressure. She was available to us and our son, and offered key strategic advice. I can't recommend Rachel B and Spark enough as a partner in this process and would be happy to be a reference for anyone that is considering Spark! Thank you and with a deep sense of gratitude to Rachel.

I found pleasure working with Lindsay Cohen from Spark Admissions for the past 4 years of my high school career and recently got accepted to my ED university (my dream school!). As a student who just transferred to the United States in 9th grade from another country, the college admissions process seems as daunting as it may be. Starting from zero, Lindsay helped build up my interests and introduced me to activities that have not only helped my college admissions process but also guided me to become the person I am today. Setting my goal on these fantastic universities, Lindsay met with me over these years and I found her to be someone that I can always rely on. She introduced me to opportunities like summer internships and research work that I would have never thought of doing, and these activities made me even more interested in what I am passionate about! Especially as senior year came by, she guided me through my essays and created essay schedules that really helped keep me on track! When I felt worried, she was always supportive and talking to her made me feel like I didn’t need to worry anymore. Lindsay also understands the unique characteristics of universities and colleges that helped me find an ED university that is a great fit for me. I have been amazed at the work Lindsay has done and is grateful for her help and expertise!

I highly recommend Spark Admissions and in particular Connor Beatty. The journey through the college application/selection process was less stressful with Connor's advice and expertise! He helped my daughter have a plan, kept her on track, and was an active listener to her likes and dislikes. This allowed him to provide her with solid advice for her choices. We are very grateful for that. My daughter is thrilled to be going to her first choice college next Fall. We wish Connor all the best!

Spark Admissions offered professional, honest, timely advice throughout the college application process. Rachel R. was thorough, detailed oriented and encouraging as she assisted my son through each stage. As a parent, it is invaluable to have a professional give knowledgeable, well researched advice and ideas about various schools and the best possible options in terms of fit and likelihood of acceptance. Frequent conversations regarding deadlines, and status of application completion helped to keep the process moving along at a steady pace so that it was never overwhelming. I highly recommend Spark Admissions and, specifically Rachel R. I will definitely engage their services again when my youngest begins his college search.

We have very good experience working with Matthew Newman, who not only helped my daughter get into her dream school, but also got her admitted to almost all schools she applied to. I have no hesitation to work with him again when my son is ready for college application.

Dr. Lindsay Cohen is excellent at what she does, as is the team / company she represents. She's pragmatic and a quick study as it relates to her industry.

I worked with Dr. Lindsay Cohen, and she was the best in the business! Lindsay helped me navigate the entire admissions process, from referring a stellar SAT tutor to coaching me on how to nail my interviews. Lindsay is so supportive and assisted me in creating an application that stood out to colleges. An expert on the ins and outs of admissions, Lindsay gave me concrete steps to follow throughout the process that took away unnecessary stress. Thanks to Lindsay's help, I was accepted to my top choice school. I couldn't recommend her highly enough!

If you're looking for college application support, I highly recommend Matt Newman with Spark Admissions. Matt worked extensively with our son to craft his application essays and other submissions; not an easy challenge given our son's short attention span and lack of focus on details. Matt was tireless in providing help and encouragement. He also made a very complex process simple for us and took away (most of) the stress. The result was 5 college offers, two at schools we thought were beyond reach. Five-plus stars!

The words "thank you" seem inadequate for the academic support, emotional support (mostly for the parents), and the overall assistance with the college application process, but really - thank you. It is ALWAYS a pleasure to work with someone who knows and loves her work - and who then makes it easy for her clients to trust her and her advice! That is clearly Rachel. Rachel was absolutely influential in helping our daughter create the right "list" of schools for her, as well as guiding us in high school course selection decisions. We appreciated the recalculation of our daughter's GPA and the view from the perspective of an admissions officer. It was a true pleasure to have Rachel guide our daughter in both the applications and the essays themselves (much less fighting in our house because of Rachel!!).A very heartfelt thank you from our family to Rachel at Spark Admissions!

We have worked with Rachel Blankstein for 4 years and couldn't be happier with our relationship. Rachel worked with my daughter and is now working with my son throughout the entire college preparation and application process. She has made a complicated and stressful experience enjoyable with her knowledge and organization. She is responsive, generous with her time and has been a part time therapist to my daughter and us:) I cannot emphasize enough how Rachel helped eliminate the majority of stress that goes along with the college entry experience. The earlier you work with her the better so she can help build your students resume with the experiences needed to make them more well rounded students. My daughter received offers from every school she applied to - amazing! Thank you Rachel and Spark Admissions!

Rachel and her team saved us. They are world class, top notch full service counselors who make the college application stressless and positive, but also realistic and no nonsense advice. Excellent client service and tutoring services. My daughters love the staff.

Rachel at Spark Admissions is really excellent. She made the whole process of navigating the college admissions process a lot less stressful and much more manageable for our son. She created a step by step plan early, and provided guidance and follow-up throughout. She was great at brainstorming with our son to help bring out his unique individual story that could get reflected in his essays. Rachel is very knowledgeable about the admissions process and different schools. She spent time both with our son and with us, sharing that knowledge and guiding, and was always available. We are truly grateful to Rachel and Spark Admissions!

I hired Spark Admissions and worked with Rachel Blankstein to help me with my graduate school applications for the competitive SLP programs I was applying to. The experience was perfect and I cannot recommend Spark more highly. Rachel really did help me to submit very strong applications. She helped me draw out my strengths in a way that I never would have been able to do myself. She was able to answer any question about the process and was always available to me whenever I needed her. As a result, my stress level was much lower and I feel very confident in the applications I submitted!

The college application process can be a time of tension, stress, and confusion. Thank God we found Rachel. She may be the most organized and thoroughly conscientious person I know. Rachel made excellent recommendations for our daughter on how best to strengthen her application, she offered guidance on course selection, made suggestions for colleges that would be a good fit for our child, as well as represented a calm presence in the midst of chaos. If you are lucky enough to get the chance to work with Rachel or her colleagues, take it. A beacon of light through the fog. We couldn't be happier with our experience of Spark or with the results for our daughter. A +++

My son's dream school has always been Duke. My biggest concern regarding his application was his essays, and I really did not know how to help him. I had actually tried a local college counselor in IL who worked with him, but it would take a long time to get comments on his drafts and the comments were not very helpful to him. When I would ask my son what they did at his counseling sessions, he could never really answer me. Even though we are in IL, we engaged Dr. Rubin of Sparks Admissions to help my son sharpen his essays. My son is a perfectionist and did multiple drafts of multiple essays. Dr. Rubin responded to each of his drafts immediately with very insightful guidance and direction. She also helped him keep focus and "sparked" his own creativity. My son was able to reflect on her comments from both a substantive and technical perspective to create much stronger essays. My son has the highest weighted GPA at a very competitive high school (as of end of Junior year), he is a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist (as of now, finalists not yet announced), almost perfect SAT and SAT II test scores, 5's in all the AP's he took Jr. year and a full senior course load of AP classes. He also won 1st place in an International DECA competition (advertising campaign) and 1st place in IL State for both DECA and Robotics last year. Of course, Duke rejects a majority of the valedictorians that apply. Having great essays that could show the dimensions to my son beyond the statistics was the icing on the cake. We found out yesterday that my son was accepted Early Decision to Duke. Dr. Rubin was the guardian angel that helped to get him there.

Dr. Rubin was amazing!!! She helped my son get into Yale for college next year. I am SO grateful, and so is he. I felt like he had a good shot at the Ivies based on his SAT scores and grades, but college admissions is so crazy now that I needed someone who would help him fine tune his essay, prep for interviews, choose where to apply, etc, etc....I am SO happy we chose Spark. I have told all of my friends about it!!!

Our son was recently admitted to Dartmouth College, his first choice. Rachel Blankstein, of Spark Admissions, gave us invaluable advice on all aspects of what, without her guidance and support, would have been an overwhelming experience.By helping us figure out what to focus on, she saved us a huge amount of time, energy, stress and money. Regarding the personal aspects of college applications--the essays and interviews--Rachel helped our son to shine. She helped him to understand his unique qualities and then to articulate them in a way that was natural and authentic. The clarity and confidence she helped him develop made his application much stronger and more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Working with Rachel was a significant financial investment but it was worth every penny--the process was actually enjoyable and the result speaks for itself !