ABOUT US

Meet Our Team of
World-Class Experts.

Our Founder

Alyse Levine is one of the foremost college counseling experts in the country and the Founder & CEO of Premium Prep College CounselingTM. Prior to founding Premium Prep, Alyse was Associate Director of College Counseling at The Dalton School in New York City for over 10 years. Before that, she worked as Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis and Associate Director of College Counseling at the Dwight–Englewood School, in Englewood, New Jersey.

Alyse also served on the selection committee for the prestigious Robertson Scholars Program, a highly selective full-tuition scholarship collaboration between Duke University and the University of North Carolina. Alyse is an Professional Member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), and a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC).

Alyse Levine
CEO

TEAM

About Our Team of
World-Class Experts.

Our Senior Leadership

Lisa Frankel, M.T.S.

Executive Vice President

MPG

Mary Pat Gritzmacher

Senior College Counselor & Director of Sales

Michelle Adelman, M.F.A., M.S.

Senior Director & Head Writing Specialist

Bethany Ely, M. Ed.

Senior Director & College Counselor

Some of Our Amazing Counselors

Jean
Wall

College Counselor

Stuart
Titus

College Counselor

Jennifer
Murlless

College Counselor

Rebecca
Bliss

College Counselor

Kathy
Cleaver

College Counselor

Roz
Estrada

College Counselor

Erin
Hugger

College Counselor

Carol
Bernstein

College Counselor

Kristen W.
Miller

College Counselor

Melissa
Robinson

College Counselor

Julia
Hixson

College Counselor

Our Counseling Team

For over 20 years, Premium Prep has helped students fulfill their college dreams. Our team comprises about fifty nationally recognized experts from around the country. We strongly believe that the most qualified and successful independent counselors are those who not only have college admissions experience, but have spent many years in private high schools as college counselors, working intimately with students and families, advising them throughout their high school careers, and personally guiding them through the college process with supreme composure, sensitivity, and professionalism. This is what distinguishes us. We hire only the best, most experienced counselors, each exceptionally skilled and dedicated to our method, and each with an extensive track record of success.

Our Writing Specialists

Our Writing Specialists are carefully vetted teachers with extensive experience working with both college and high school students. Many of our specialists are themselves published writers who deeply understand the entire writing process, from brainstorming to finished phases. All of our specialists have graduate degrees and specialized training in essay writing and teaching.

VALUES

Learn More About
Our Values.

Our Values

At Premium Prep, we believe that applying to college should be an exciting and gratifying experience, a time of personal growth and maturation. With the right guidance, students can clarify their goals, work to achieve them, and launch themselves into an immensely rewarding stage of life. Of course, the college process can be stressful too. We believe that demystifying it by putting clear systems in place and relying on concrete data, cumulative knowledge, and true expertise can go a long way to alleviate much of that stress and enable the highest level of success. We view every student and every family dynamic as unique, and we work to minimize anxiety while maximizing each applicant’s potential—a balance that can only be achieved by the most seasoned professionals. At Premium Prep, we see ourselves not only as strategists, but as advocates and advisors, responsible for helping students recognize, articulate, and achieve their ambitions.

The core of Premium Prep’s philosophy is “The Match”—a concept that underlies our entire approach to college admissions.

FOCUS

Learn More About
Our Focus.

Our Focus: The Match

The core of Premium Prep’s philosophy is The Match—a concept that underlies our entire approach to college admissions. First, we match each student with a counselor whose expertise is best suited to the student’s needs and interests. This allows us to deliver highly personalized attention and the highest level of guidance—keys to maximizing results. Then, we strive to match each student with a list of schools that most accurately reflects those needs and interests. This not only ensures a successful process, but, more importantly, it provides the best chance for a successful college experience in the long term. Finally, we work diligently with students to match the particulars of their applications with the identity of the specific colleges to which they are applying. Like students and families, each school has its own “personality,” and our counselors have spent years getting to know colleges intimately. We also carefully match the student with a Writing Specialist who works alongside the counselor to cultivate a team approach to the student’s success. In the end, our students hold substantial advantages: they have a leg up both on getting in and on attending a school where they will flourish.