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Going Ivy is a Phoenix-based college admissions consulting firm that offers a free initial consultation and “prices to fit any budget.” They are led by CEO Erin Goodnow, a former journalist who founded the company in 2009.

About Company

Going Ivy offers three tiers – bronze, silver, and ivy – of college consulting packages that range in price. CEO Erin Goodnow leverages her journalism background into helping students create compelling narratives that communicate their “strengths to admissions officers in surprising, creative and sometimes unconventional ways.” The company notes that their team is comprised of “former admissions officers, Ivy League and top school graduates, and tutors,” but we were unable to locate any team bios or determine the size of their team.


Like many others in the industry, they note that 98% of their clients are admitted to one of their top choice colleges. In addition to standard college consulting services, they also offer subject tutoring (including for grades K-8), test prep (including SAT, SAT subject, ACT, graduate school tests, and AP exams), and high school and graduate school admissions consulting.

Going Ivy Score

Going Ivy Review

Without company bios or transparency surrounding team size, we gave Going Ivy the benefit of the doubt and credit for two admissions officers with four years of experience, leading to a team quality score of 1 and a combined experience score of 2. We gave them a team size score of 1, again, the lack of transparency didn’t help here. With no data on admissions success rate, they scored a 2 in results. They fared better in the web presence and reputation categories with a 3 (fifth-page Google search ranking) and 4 (32 independent, third-party reviews) respectively. They received a respectable score of 3 as an influencer, with 174 Twitter followers and 176 YouTube subscribers. Total score: 2.14

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