Dr. Alex lives in Montgomery County, Maryland, about 25 miles north of Washington, D.C. If you’re nearby, you can work together in person. Otherwise, Dr. Alex meets virtually with students all over the world.
What are your rates?
Our tuition is competitive with mainstream college counselors, and we don’t charge more if you sign up early, like in Freshman or Sophomore year. Your initial deposit is only $1000, which entitles your student to course selection advice and extracurricular advising with active assistance applying to internships, summer programs, or starting their own initiative all the way until June of your student’s junior year of high school, when work on applications and essays begins. Your deposit also locks in your total program price.
See the Services page, then send an email or directly book a free consultation on the Contact page. We’ll send a proposal and quote and proceed from there.
For research mentoring, our tuition is an incredible value since we offer a full year of mentoring in each package to maximize your student’s chances of success.
Are you a trained or certified college admissions counselor?
Why should high school students consider doing research?
Unfortunately, high school STEM curricula don’t teach students how science is done or how scientific knowledge has been discovered. The emphasis on spoon-feeding students facts and equations, then rewarding them for “not getting things wrong” on tests, is woefully insufficient for citizens to participate in or even understand modern issues in health, environment, AI, and other impacts of science and technology. High school tends only to train students to be uncreative and uncritical consumers of scientific knowledge. They graduate without learning what an experiment really is or how breakthrough scientific discoveries in world history were made.
Doing research teaches students to think scientifically and what it means to be a producer of knowledge. Students learn how to ask a research question, formulate an hypothesis, then design a course of action to test it. They begin to learn what science is all about, far beyond the multiple choice questions on their unit tests.
Colleges and especially graduate programs like to see that STEM applicants have done some research because it demonstrates interest, dedication, and intellectual vitality. The growth your student will experience from Dr. Alex’s mentorship will open their eyes to the world of STEM knowledge creation. Their academic program applications will stand out because they will write about the experience of doing research in their essays. More importantly, they will begin their programs more prepared than their peers for the demands of their STEM programs.
My student doesn’t have a stellar GPA. Will they be able to handle doing research?
Often, they’ll do just fine or even great. If you know your student is intelligent and does well when interested or motivated by the material or a great teacher, chances are they’ll love doing research and will excel at it. You know that all-too-common question students ask in STEM classes, “When am I going to use this?” Dr. Alex’s research students never ask that question, because they’ve either already learned what they need, or Dr. Alex teaches them what they need to know right before they use it. Because everything is relevant and used immediately for a practical experience, students remember what they learn with Dr. Alex far better than anything from a regular classroom.
Why should families choose you over the competition?
For educational counseling, families choose Dr. Alex because he really understands what it takes not only to be admitted, but to succeed in STEM programs. Aspiring STEM majors also respect and relate to Dr. Alex because he’s just like them and has been where they are and achieved what they’re seeking. Finally, Dr. Alex has a very large network of colleagues and students he often leverages to benefit clients for our ask me anything sessions, volunteering and internship opportunities, and connecting students with alumni of the STEM programs they’re considering.
For research, families choose Dr. Alex because he’s dedicated full-time to this business and to his students’ success. This isn’t just a side gig for him and he doesn’t have investors demanding a return. The full year of our research mentoring program is also the longest in the industry and provides students the greatest chance of success. Finally, Dr. Alex has the experience and temperament to both know how to scope projects appropriately for high school and undergraduate researchers and to meet them wherever they are and teach them exactly what they need to know at the right time to complete each task and stage of their projects.
What’s the meaning behind the name, The Admission Algorithm?
We were interested in a catchy, alliterative name that hinted at a STEM focus. An algorithm is a process or recipe, usually implemented in computer code. Truthfully, we don’t love some of the connotations of that word, because isn’t some generic process to get students admitted into top colleges. We prefer you interpret the name as, “We will custom-tailor an algorithm that’s just right for your student to gain admission and succeed in a great-fitting academic program.” A more accurate but slightly less catchy name would be, “Your Admission Algorithm.”
Does your logo represent anything?
The two As resemble two bell curves. Customers can think of The Admission Algorithm as improving their student’s chances of gaining admission to a great-fit college by increasing their “admissibility score.” The curve on the left represents the general population or our students on Day 1, and the curve on the right represents our students at program completion.
What kinds of STEM projects have Dr. Alex’s students done?
There’s a list on our Research Projects page. In addition to the chemistry and biology projects Dr. Alex has done with students for many years, he’s learned to mentor students with machine learning projects conducted with Google Colab.
What kinds of projects has Dr. Alex worked on in his STEM career?
Dr. Alex has worked on mostly non-medical biotechnologies. His PhD training and thesis work specialized in genetically engineering bacteria to make chemicals similar to but structurally different than molecules found in nature. For a couple of years at DuPont, he worked on the Butamax bio-butanol joint venture with a team of over 100 scientist and engineers who re-engineered the metabolism of yeast so it converted sugar into butanol, a four-carbon biofuel, instead of ethanol, the two-carbon product it naturally produces. Dr. Alex was the lead inventor on this patent, which was about making genetic changes to a key enzyme in the butanol pathway so it worked much better in yeast.
Dr. Alex later worked at a company that makes immunoassays and was fortunate to have developed a whole family of products including this “panel” of 7 assays that are still on the market.
Dr. Alex has published some of his technical work.
Got a different question? We’d love to hear it! Contact us and we’ll get right back to you.