This year, 2% of the students admitted to prestigious schools came from Beaton. He is the Steve Jobs of college consulting._2

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At just 29 years old, Jamie Beaton stands out as a leading figure among full-time college consultants in the industry. According to data from market research firm IBISWorld, the overall revenue of college consulting firms has doubled over the last two decades, reaching $2.9 billion. Mark Sklarow, CEO of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, reports that there are currently around 10,000 full-time college consultants in the United States, with an additional 3,000 working abroad. Back in 1990, there were fewer than 100 full-time college consultants.

Recently reported by The Wall Street Journal, Beaton is the CEO and co-founder of Crimson Education, a college consulting firm. Born in New Zealand, Beaton is a Rhodes Scholar with an impressive résumé that includes a PhD from Oxford University and master’s degrees from Harvard, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Tsinghua University. Many middle and high school students travel great distances to New York to enlist Beaton’s help in gaining admission to top U.S. universities.

Beaton tells his clients, “A great education changed my life, and it can change yours.” One Japanese high school student even likened Beaton to the “Steve Jobs of college consulting.”

This year, nearly 2% of students admitted to elite universities such as Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania were clients who received guidance from Beaton. Notably, 24 students were admitted to Yale, 34 to Stanford, 48 to Cornell, and 52 to the University of Pennsylvania.

Crimson Education charges clients between $30,000 and $200,000 for a four- to six-year program that includes academic tutoring, test prep, and guidance on obtaining outstanding teacher recommendations, as well as enhancing extracurricular activities.

Beaton has gained a reputation for cracking the code of elite college admissions, with Wall Street viewing him as a close partner. Investors are keenly interested in his ability to tap into parents’ anxieties about their children’s college prospects, opening up new revenue streams. According to PitchBook, Crimson, established in 2013, is currently valued at $554 million.

However, some critics argue that Crimson’s success may be overstated, pointing out that its student clients are already high achievers academically and in extracurricular activities, with a strong likelihood of being admitted to Ivy League schools regardless of their association with Crimson. Additionally, some university admissions officers contend that many of these students would have had a high probability of acceptance even without the support of Crimson.