About College Match Educational Consultants
College Match is the educational consulting firm that provides strategic advising for students considering boarding and day schools, colleges, and graduate programs that results in higher percentage of successful admissions, scholarships, and awards for students. Click here to view client testimonials
Over the past 10 years, our college consultants have helped hundreds of clients identify and gain acceptance to their preferred colleges. Admission rates for clients to their "reach" schools is 95% with many receiving scholarships and funding as part of the admission process. Click here to view 2005-2007 client admission results
Our Expertise
Dave Montesano, Admissions Strategist/College Consultant
Jaye J. Fenderson, Educational Consultant
Dana Ponte, Educational Consultant
Cassandra Thomas, Educational Consultant
Mark Baer, London Office Representative
Kenneth Davis, K-12 Educational Consultant
Naren Murthy, Writing Strategist
Mary and Marc Eastman, Performing Arts Specialists
Paula Bishop, CPA & Certified College Planning Specialist
StudyPoint, Test Prep Partner
Tutorpedia
My Ivy Leaguer
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Student with Admissions Strategist, Dave Montesano (photo credit: Joshua Trujillo)
Dave Montesano
As an admissions strategist/college consultant, Dave has helped hundreds of clients find and gain access to the best match undergraduate and graduate programs over the past 10 years. From offices in the US, Dave serves families with students who hope to attend college from a wide range of achievement levels and high school backgrounds.
Dave received an A.B. with honors from Occidental College in Los Angeles and attended Trinity College, Dublin on a Rotary Ambassadorial scholarship. He later attended Amsterdam Law School where he studied international law. He taught at Trinity College, Dublin and California College of the Arts before working as a strategy consultant for Booz, Allen & Hamilton in San Francisco after which he specialized in brand strategy, counseling clients on marketing and identity development.
Dave is the author of "Strategic College Admission", published in CollegeBound News (April, 2005). Profiled by Washington Post education writer, Jay Matthews, in Newsweek's "America's Hottest Colleges" (2005 edition), Dave was called a "new breed of college admission consultants who use business school marketing principles to sell students to their preferred college". Dave gets consistently high approval ratings from his clients and is a speaker for parent and school groups.
Read more on the College Match Educational Consultants blog »
Jaye J. Fenderson
Jaye J. Fenderson, Educational Consultant with College Match Educational Consultants, helps clients focus on opportunities for each student's distinct advantage in the applicant pool. She helps students prepare and deliver college applications that capture these opportunities. Jaye's creative style and approach helps students develop their academic passions and extra-curricular talents early on, by identifying ways that students can make a difference in their communities, the larger world and more importantly, in their own lives.
Jaye attended Columbia University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English and French. After college, Jaye served as senior admission officer at Columbia University, reading hundreds of applications each year as part of this Ivy League university's Undergraduate Admission Office. During her tenure in Columbia's Admission Office, she managed the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and New York City recruiting areas. Jaye served as co-chair of Columbia's Southern California Alumni Recruiting Committee in 2003-04. While working at Columbia, Jaye recognized a need for greater awareness about the college admission process and decided to use the medium of entertainment to educate students and families about what it takes to get into college.
Dana Ponte
Dana Ponte, educational consultant for College Match Educational Consultants, partners with domestic and international clients to find the best possible educational match. Dana graduated summa cum laude from the Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon with a degree in Russian studies. Dana then coached students around the country on college admission and wrote a teaching manual as a volunteer with Americorps. She later attended Harvard University where she earned her M.A. in Russian and Central Asian Studies. Dana currently assists in editing the scholarly journal Problems of Post-Communism, and serves on a Harvard University editorial committee on change in higher education through the University of London.
Dana is a member of the Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling and is working toward a Certificate in College Admission Counseling from U.C.L.A. Dana draws on her knowledge of the admissions process within these diverse institutions and her educational counseling experience to strategically guide students through this exciting and important decision-making process.
Cassandra Thomas
Cassie, an educational consultant with College Match Educational Consultants, works individually to improve extra-curriculars, in order to help them gain the maximum amount of leverage and helps them gain potential merit-based awards through the process. Cassie's experience includes work for Admission and Financial Aid offices at Carleton College, a nationally ranked undergraduate institution.
Cassie earned her bachelor's degree in German language and literature from Carleton College and her Master's degree in International Education Policy at Harvard Graduate School of Education. While at Harvard, Cassie served as an admissions officer in the Harvard Center for International Development where she reviewed applications for Harvard's WorldTeach program. Fueled by a passion for increasing access to higher education, Cassie continues research on US college and university admissions and financial aid policies.
Mark Baer
Mark Baer represents College Match Educational Consultants' services to overseas clients from our office in London. Mark's brings a wealth of marketing experience with a background in marketing and public relations for financial industry clients in Europe and Asia. Mark holds a Master's of Science from The London School of Economics and is fluent in Russian, German, French, and Spanish.
Kenneth Davis
Ken Davis, a K-12 educational consultant with College Match Educational Consultants, provides options for parents seeking placement in boarding, day, and private schools. Ken's experience includes therapeutic school placement for clients struggling with educational challenges such as emotional growth and learning disabilities, as well as families looking at traditional boarding and private, day schools. Ken's work in this area helps parents obtain critical academic support and the best learning environment to suit a studentıs specific needs.
Ken visits a minimum of 50 programs and schools across the country each year to match students with the right learning environment. As a therapeutic recreation specialist and a former special education teacher, Ken is familiar with the options that exist for parents. Ken earned his Master of Arts in Education from Pepperdine University and holds a Bachelor of Science from Abilene Christian University. He is also a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, National Therapeutic Schools and Programs Association, and Small Boarding School Association.
Naren Murthy
Naren Murthy, Writing Strategist with College Match, works with students on their essays. He received his masters in fine arts from the Iowa Writer's Workshop and graduated from UC Berkeley with a focus on comparative history of ideas. He currently teaches creative writing at a private school and tutors students of all ages in expository writing. A former research assistant at the Iowa Artshare Program, he was also a recipient of a writing grant from the Jerome Hill Foundation and was writer-in-residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France in 2005. He is currently working on a novel.
Mary and Marc Eastman
Mary Eastman and her husband Marc form College Match Educational Consultants' Performing Arts team. By helping clients choose material for monologues, practice for auditions, and develop a their portfolios, this powerful team helps each client to create a performance that will capture the attention of the admission committee. Marc was director of his own theatre/dance company in NYC, was an artist-in-residence at Mass College of Art, and was Assistant Director of The American Mime Theatre for over a decade. His teaching credits include: Tufts University, Cornell University and SUNY-Binghamton and he has performed and directed traditional and original works in NYC, Boston, Seattle and at the Newport Performing Arts Center.
Paula Bishop
Paula is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified College Planning Specialist. Her expertise is working with families to identify the best strategies for paying for college including, financial aid and scholarships.
StudyPoint
StudyPoint, a test prep partner offers academic tutoring and test prep including, K-12 math, science, study skills, foreign language and SAT/ACT in 10 cities nationwide.
Tutorpedia
Tutorpedia was started in 2004 by two Stanford graduates to serve the private tutoring needs of families and individuals throughout five Bay Area counties, including Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa.
We carefully match students (grades K-12) with their own private academic tutor well-versed in subject-specific homework instruction, test preparation, and overall development of study and organizational skills. Our tutors travel to your home each week based on a schedule that works for you and your child.
My Ivy Leaguer
My Ivy Leaguer provides tutoring and test preparation, both in-person and online, using their state-of-the-art whiteboard tool. My Ivy Leaguer's tutors work one-on-one with students to provide SAT test prep and tutoring for high school subjects, AP exams, and high school entrance exams.
For further information please contact:
david@collegematchus.com
1-877-658-4400
One of a new breed of college admissions consultants who use business school marketing principles to sell students to their preferred colleges.
