The College Prep Industry Is Broken—Zenith Prep Academy Is Rebuilding It

Welcome to Perceived Reality.

I'm your host, Nadia Atar.

The education system is becoming more and more confusing.

What is wanted from our kids?

What do we need to do to get into the best colleges?

How do we best prepare?

Well, my next guest is an expert, and his company is the top in the field for that matter.

Welcome to the show, Marcus Verdondo.

It's my pleasure.

Marcos, tell us a little about your company.

I mean, there's something almost like a waste, you know, when parents want to get their kids ready for college, um.

Many start too late.

I think that's number one thing that you encounter, but also they have false expectations.

They think, oh, if the kid has great grades, that's all that's needed false, correct?

100%.

It's an excellent question.

I think there's two parts to it.

Number one, a lot of times parents are looking to the past to see what has previously worked.

When in reality, the trends and the admissions tactics are changing ever more rapidly.

And so a lot of the myths that exist we're trying to break.

We're trying to help parents understand that you need to understand the differences between the 2017 admissions looking at Cornell University, 18% admissions in 2017, less than 7.5% in 2024.

Why?

Well, of course it's more competitive, but to your point it's about starting earlier.

The universities are trying to identify authentic stories, and that's what we're trying to make a difference for the families.

When you started to grow your business, you obviously had a certain vision and you wanted to set yourself apart from competitors.

What sets you apart at this point?

You know, I think it's in an ever expanding business.

We have over $3.5 billion in the educational consulting business now in 2024.

I think a lot of people are trying to emulate success, but they're doing that through box checking.

They're going through the steps and the motions as opposed to delivering purpose and authenticity.

And so there are so many different things that we try to present to our families that envelop trust.

We have a multi-year money back guarantee.

No one else in the industry does that.

We have a teams.

Model approach multiple experts providing service to the families.

These are all things that help us stand out and most importantly, we're data driven, not just by saying that we collect data, but by collecting data from admissions offices across the country and leveraging that information.

To provide a family benefits, there's a lot of emphasis usually on the IQ when when we think of school and college and being top of the class.

But isn't the EQ in the end what is at least equally important?

Yes, again, in 2018 they did this study that suggested the majority of people who had a 4.0 or the majority of people who were valedictorian in their class.

Never became millionaires, never became successful.

Why?

Because they were working within the system, right?

With EQ, you're developing human relational talents.

You're developing the soft skills that are universal regardless of what pursuit, regardless of what you'd become, you're always able to have that connection.

That can transcend the system for success.

That's why I always say your network is your net worth.

Exactly.

That becomes more important, building relationships and the children should actually start early on that and also have more experiences at companies doing practical work there, getting to know the business.

Learning by doing, is that also is this also the way you are guiding parents?

Yeah, great question.

So I think more than 50% of our clients, and we have several 1000 students that are currently working with us right now, over half of them are in 9th grade or younger.

We're one of the only companies that work with students prior to high school.

And again, it's about building that multi-year profile.

It's about being able to culminate.

You can't just do good research.

You can't just get a premier internship.

You have to develop the resume and as opposed to when we were doing it growing up, you could do those things in college or beyond.

Now the students are entering into high school with the foundational skills that allow them to develop that high level success.

Absolutely.

What's in the cards for the next few months and maybe also the next few years if you already look that far ahead for your company, what comes next?

Are you expanding?

Are you adding?

More advisory channels for parents.

Well, you know, there's a reason our company has been one of the fastest growing companies in education for 3 years in a row based on the Inc 5000 list ranked number one by USA Today.

Why?

Because we are ever looking to grow our successful core.

And so absolutely the growth is is limitless.

We perceive there to be, you know, X factor of growth exponentially over the next several years.

So one of some of the things that we're trying to do, receiving some of the feedback, we always want to listen to our client families.

And we want to increase the touch points.

So we've actually explored a multi-specialist team that we're just implementing here in the summer.

And so there's a family success specialist.

There's a wellness performance specialist.

There's people that we're trying to bring in-house to add services that go simply beyond the strategy, which was the core of our model because again the college landscape is changing, the students with the anxiety that they fear.

That the pressure that they have at such a young age, we are already building and implementing ways to leverage our team's expertise to mitigate that and to provide another layer of support for our families.

It sounds like what you're doing is far more than just preparing people for college.

You're actually preparing them for life, which in the end is what's the most important thing.

Exactly.

And that goes to the name of our company Zenith.

You know, Zenith refers to the highest point in any given time or place.

That's individual.

That's so unique to the individual student.

And we are trying to customize that success for them to be able to help them understand that college is not the endpoint, right?

It's the beginning of the next phase.

This is a marathon and not a sprint, and our students need to see that by developing the core habits of mind, that will take them not just beyond college but throughout the life of their career.

I will make my son watch this interview.

I think it's very valuable.

Thank you so much, Marcos, and to join us again.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

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