We wanted to thank you for the exceptional support and guidance you’ve provided to "J." in his college application process.  He thinks the world of you and we couldn’t be happier.

Helane Linzer is a fantastic college counselor. I sought her help for both my sons. I have also gladly introduced her to many of my friends. All of them have been very happy with their experience and, more importantly, end result. 

(August 2021)

We worked with IvyMaven for each of our three kids. Helane provide phenomenal advice -- honest and spot-on -- in terms of identifying schools that would be good fits for our kids and their likelihood of getting in, and in writing essays. Helane knows the applications inside and out -- what the colleges are really asking in the essays, and what a proper tone is, for example, on the main Common App essay. Subtleties matter, and Helane understands the nuances that are so critical to drafting a solid application. We are so fortunate that Helane worked with each of our kids. She is second to none!

We had the pleasure of working with IvyMaven the past 3 years for our daughter. Helane is one of the most knowledgeable people I have ever met on college admissions. She knows how to engage your child and find out what is the best for him or her. She knows what is required for essays and the common app. However, more importantly she is a so knowledgeable about the colleges and learns to know your child so well, that she is an expert on the right fit. She has so much helpful advice. She also engages your child to take control of the process. We could not have been more pleased with Ivy Maven. I would recommend her to anyone looking for the best advice for your child.

Though the name "IvyMaven" sounds a bit intimidating, Helane's practice encompasses so much more than those eight schools. If that is your interest, she certainly knows the elite admissions process inside and out. But she is primarily interested in matching clients with their "fit." And she is very very good at it. I knew absolutely nothing about what I wanted when we started. Helane made the search process a lot easier. After I knew what I wanted, she helped me craft an excellent application that was successful beyond my expectations. I ended up with excellent choices at the end of the admissions process and I am very pleased with my final decision. I could not recommend her services enough!

Having 2 children benefit from Helane's counseling has been a true blessing to our family. Helane took away the stress of making sure that our kids were doing everything to optimize their college application while providing sound advice from her years of experience in the field. Helane was incredibly knowledgeable of the standards, requirements and unique traits of a tremendous breadth of colleges from the Ivy's to small private colleges in California. Given her prior professional background, Helane was able to quickly assess our children's strengths and personalities. Due to her guidance, both of our children were very successful in their college applications with my son attending his ED top choice. He will graduate having spent 4 years at the perfect school for him while my daughter is thriving and enjoying her generous scholarship at her top choice as well. Helane's recommendation and advice were very personal and specific to our children and not generic in nature. Rather than directing our children, she helped lead them to make a well-informed decision on where to apply and eventually attend. We are so fortunate to have found Helane, and we are grateful for her guidance and support through this exciting and somewhat stressful time.

“We so appreciate you making one of the most difficult decisions for a family manageable, and putting the joy back into it. You work wonders, and we would unabashedly recommend you to anyone going through this decision-making process. Helane knows her stuff and uses her psychology background to provide guidance far beyond what others might offer. We couldn’t recommend Helane more strongly.”

Helane Linzer has a vast, up to date knowledge of colleges and universities. She combines that with a professional understanding of young people and real and personal drive to help them succeed. Finally, she knows the admissions game and guides you through it in a detailed and ethical way. Great resource - highest recommendation.

Helane helped me shape my path in applying to schools. Choosing a university for me was a complicated decision that involved charting out my future career and where I most wanted to focus. Helane was expert at helping me think through how to choose a program and school that fit with the meaning I want to have in the world and the places I am best equipped to give back. The process helped me reflect and focus on where I want to have impact in my career, and how I am attractive to programs. She also helped guide me to write the essays to best bring my full self and strengths to bear. 

In the end, I got into my first choice, which was a very competitive program. I've benefited from the network I've been able to build through that program, and through its academic quality -- but also from the self-reflection that Helane and I did together on the way. I couldn't recommend IvyMaven highly enough! 

 I feel like Helane really got our daughter thinking about a lot of things that she hadn't previously considered. It was a great experience that helped to move our daughter forward in a process that can often be very overwhelming. I definitely recommend IvyMaven!

IvyMaven was extremely helpful with my essays. We brainstormed together, Helane helped me when I struggled with my wording and flow of ideas, and her editing and ability to match exact word limits is out of this world.

Helane was amazing with my essays, no doubt, but she was also great at communicating with my family and mediating our discussions about my decisions. With her guiding my timeline, I never felt rushed or uncertain. She gave me amazing advice and truly took the stress out of my admissions process. Thank you so much, Helane!

I cannot recommend Dr. Linzer highly enough!! With her amazing depth of knowledge about the landscape of college admissions and her professional background in psychology, she guided me through each step of the college admissions process with great compassion and wisdom. With her guidance, I was admitted—early!—to my first choice school, where I have been able to pursue my interests in the classroom and beyond.

Dr. Linzer is truly remarkable!

Where do I begin? Helane Linzer is an expert when it comes to being an Independent College Consultant. The expertise she has in the field is absolutely remarkable. She helped me every step of the way in finding the perfect school, figuring out test scores, and putting together the best college applications that I possibly could. Dr. Linzer truly cares and prepares the students that she works with to be the best versions of themselves. There is no one else like her. I highly recommend her work, expertise, and would assure anyone that she can help their children be prepared for their future. The level of understanding Helane has as to knowing the “in’s and out’s” of the college process is incredible. If you have a question, she is there and gives you a detailed explanation. She changed my life and help me prepare for my college endeavors. I am incredibly thankful for her guidance and support and believe there is no one that does the same level of work and guidance like Dr. Linzer.

Helane provides a stress-free environment for students to think and make decisions during what can be an extremely stressful time during their life. Not only did she consider my aspirations and concerns as the applicant, but she sought out answers to my questions and made me feel comfortable knowing everyone goes through this process and comes out happily on the other side. Working with your parents during the college search/application process can be frustrating. Therefore, I strongly suggest you do your child a favor and connect them with someone that knows the process: Helane.

 I just want to say… thank you! "W." is one happy boy tonight, and your guidance and words of wisdom were so helpful to him, and me, over the past year.

I express my ineffable gratitude for your energy and patience in working with me. You have been there to guide and support me through every step. Every time I ran into a roadblock in my college research, you were there to help. Whenever I had any questions or concerns, you were there to listen. Together, we deeply analyzed my application, considering every subtlety.

Additionally, you brought my work ethic to new, unimaginable levels. It took countless hours to navigate college websites, to reach out to people via email, and of course, to write over 25 essays spanning many lengths and prompts. With your feedback on my essays, I have become a stronger writer who has, among other things, begun to find my unique voice and style. Through your patient prodding, I have become more confident in my abilities.

Of course, I was thrilled to have been accepted to Yale. But regardless of the outcome, I feel fortunate to have worked with you. I have learned so much about myself, and you have really made a deep impact on me as a person.

I just wanted to thank you so much for your help specifically on my personal statement. It seemed as if you understood me more than I understood myself and you really helped me convey everything that I wanted, even though I wasn't sure of the direction I was going in.

Helane was able to motivate my son with excellent step-by-step attention to the application process. He met with her regularly, met reasonable deadlines and never became overwhelmed.

Helane helped my son narrow down his list of schools and then showcase his achievements. More importantly, IvyMaven provided an invaluable buffer between parent and child. Because she was on the job, we were able to stop nagging unsuccessfully and just let him work. He met all of his deadlines and had enough time to craft several strong essays. Everything worked well. The choice of college is an important one, and hiring an expert for this proved to be a good decision.

We're so thankful a friend recommended Helane. She was able to gain my daughter's trust almost immediately: a tall order because my daughter had done so much research on colleges herself and thought she had it figured out. Helane offered insight unavailable by searching websites, which included reviewing essays and what to highlight on each college application. She was even able to help us navigate the stress of applying during a pandemic because of her strong knowledge of the college process. I can't think of any question which IvyMaven had trouble answering. She's the best. 

My daughter “M” called out of the blue to tell me that she's so happy she chose Bing—that it's absolutely the "perfect" college for her and how happy she is there!

 The best thing Helane ever did for me was take the pressure out of the game. The college admissions process is very pressure-packed and stressful, and by helping me with writing, and helping me remember that there are so many amazing schools, I landed at the place I feel I was meant to be. My writing was much improved, and my senior year was much more enjoyable because of Helane's help and guidance.

The biggest help Helane provided to my family was being a person in my corner that was not constantly at the dinner table every night. She was helpful in making a final decision, but also helpful in deciding where to apply. Every parent has different schools they may covet, or have a specific reason they may want you to apply, but Helane allowed us to hear a perspective of someone else, someone with further, deeper knowledge. This ensured my applications went to the right places.

Thank you so much: looking back on all of this, I am so grateful to the time you gave me. I know at the time I didn't think this, but now I realize that I am where I should be.

Helane had clear strategy for creating a comprehensive and cohesive application approach. Through numerous interviews, conversations and remote meetings, as well as extensive review and editing of the essays, she was able to help our student highlight his strengths and character. As a top student at a prominent high school in a major city, it was difficult to make his application stand out. Helane facilitated the creation of a holistic application through her incredible attention to even the most specific details.

Helane demanded excellence and continued to ask our student to write and rewrite and formulate and reformulate until the application met high standards.

We were very pleased with the process, application and outcome! Northwestern University turned out to be an excellent fit for our son.

I think that IvyMaven did a really, really good job of helping me understand myself more. This was especially true in my writing. While I knew I had the "writing skills" to compose a good Personal Statement, I found it sometimes hard to transfer my emotions or ideas towards a workable personal essay. IvyMaven, however, was super helpful in this process and I ended up having an essay that I was proud of!

It was most valuable that you were a constant resource that I could use for whatever it may be that I needed.

Thank you so much, I can't stress enough how helpful you were in this process. I would never be where I am now without your help!

We would highly recommend your services. You were instrumental in helping our son find a perfect fit school with generous merit aid.

 You were realistic, not simply telling me what I wanted to hear, taking me as a whole candidate and finding schools that fit ME rather than shaping me to fit a particular school. You found all the little details (like no French for 2 years) that may stand out, thinking like an admisisons officer. It was most valuable that you did a thorough review of my applications before I submitted anything. 

Thank you! I'm grateful for your help and excited for the next four years.

We appreciated the time that you took to get to know our children, understand their strengths and weaknesses and their goals for their future. Your thoughtful insight into the college admissions process was invaluable, and we appreciated your ability to decipher how to manage the process with their individual needs and desires. Your honesty and insight was most valuable to us. 

You gave “M.” and “W.” the courage to believe in themselves and to put their all into the applications and essays, but also kept them grounded in understanding that some of the process is a crapshoot and no matter what they did, it might be out of their hands. Your guidance to finding options that would be best fitted for them led them to making the decisions they ultimately made, but also forced them to explore options they never would have otherwise. In doing so, I think they learned more about themselves and what would enhance their college experiences.

Our experience working with you was enjoyable and very worthwhile.

I just want to say thank you again! I am grateful for our experience working with you, Helane.

Your super power is really getting to know my kid in a short amount of time, invaluable to identifying a list of good-fit schools  (some  of which we would have never thought of) but also in building their "story" for their applications.

You helped set realistic expectations which ended up brilliantly accurate. This was so necessary to ground both parent and child in keeping the right perspective on what is most important.

I leveraged your expert counsel and guidance through this challenging process for 3 children, so I kept coming back. Your calm approach, coupled with the connection you build with my kid, helped me step back with confidence because you had everything under control and it definitely removed a ton of stress!

What makes Helane special are many things -- her wisdom, her intuition, her knowledge about the admissions process and her deep caring for her students --- and, above all, her ability to help students truly discern what it is they value most .

Helane was immensely wonderful in helping me figure out what mattered most to me in a college and how I wanted to shape my future. 

 I could not recommend her more highly to other students and families!! 

Helane was always available, even on short notice, and constantly supportive throughout the process. I really appreciate that she did not bend or manipulate my story, but helped me adjust my application to allow who I am to really shine through. Thank you so much for all the effort and time you spent, Helane!