Class of 2023 Placements

Larry is an entrepreneur at heart who successfully leveraged over 20 years in education as an English teacher, school counselor, career development specialist, sports coach and class advisor to create Academy College Coaches. In his role as Director of College Counseling Services at Biotechnology High School, Larry provided career, college and leadership coaching to hundreds of students and their parents for over 6 years. Larry also spent 26 years in business working for Dun & Bradstreet in sales, marketing and general management. These business experiences are often referenced in assisting clients in navigating a business career. In his counseling sessions with students and their parents he shares each of these experiences helping clients understand how college majors turn into careers.

Over his years as a college counselor, Larry has been able to match client’s aptitudes, performance, passions, experiences and personality to satisfying careers. Over his career as a school counselor and parent of four children who all graduated from undergraduate and graduate programs, he has visited over 200 college campuses. He is very knowledgeable of the criteria that admission representative’s use in selecting candidates to the most competitive schools. His relationships and reputation in college coaching is utilized with each client engagement.

One of Larry’s other strengths is working with multicultural families who are often unfamiliar with the admissions process and are looking for a framework, process and direction for their children. Creating navigational maps, editing essays and resumes, conducting mock interviews and producing professional applications that get read and creates an impact with college admission staff happens with each client. Based on his success in placing students into the top 30 school in the country, past clients has become the referral engine for all his new clients.

Victoria is a former ACC client who began working with Larry as a high school student at the Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies. She went on to receive her BA in Psychology from Princeton University, summa cum laude, with certificates in Neuroscience and interdisciplinary Humanistic Studies. Victoria then worked as a non-profit Princeton in Asia Fellow in Shanghai before returning to graduate school herself, obtaining her MSc in Clinical and Therapeutic Neuroscience from the University of Oxford. She has experience in education and program management, and is currently working within the healthcare industry in London.

Victoria has a nuanced grasp of the questions and challenges that students may be struggling with, having recently experienced these application processes herself. She approaches college counselling with the acknowledgement that the American admissions system is (deeply) flawed: her job as a coach is not to help students “game the system” or jump through hoops, but to focus on the self-awareness, growth, and resilience that will help them succeed in college and beyond. She enjoys having open conversations with students to develop authentic, impactful topics, and helping them build effective writing strategies to prepare for the future.

As a second-generation Chinese-American with work experience in China and the UK, Victoria understands the challenges that cultural background can bring to the college admissions journey and is able to liaise between students and parents. Victoria also has experience with a range of academic disciplines, having prioritized interdisciplinary studies in her own studies. She is always happy to speak with students about anything from humanities work within museum collections to lab research in a clinical setting, and the exciting range of opportunities they’ll discover in college!