Announcing Our Third PITCH Finalist: Admitted.ly

Congrats to Jess Brondo and Emily Cole, co-founders of Admitted.ly, the latest finalist to be announced for our upcoming PITCH Competition.

By Jessica Stillman (Editor, Women 2.0)

With applications to our PITCH Competition closed,(*We have reopened PITCH applications until this Friday, 9/20, at midnight PDT. Apply here*) now comes the fun part — sorting through the piles of interesting applications we received and having our outstanding panel of judges weigh in. The best part of all: announcing finalists.

Today we’re thrilled to add a third startup to the list of early-stage, female founded companies that will be pitching live on-stage in Las Vegas this November for an amazing set of prizes — Admitted.ly.

The premise of the startup founded by Jess Brondo and Emily Cole (Seth Samuel rounds out the management team as lead developer) will appeal to anyone who recalls the stress and chaos of applying to college. Admitted.ly is an online college advisory platform that helps high school students  improve their chances of admission at their ideal universities, and offers tools to make parents’ lives and guidance counselors’ jobs easier. It’s a tool that will particularly appeal to students at the more than 70% of American high schools that don’t offer them a dedicated guidance counselor.

We’re looking forward to hearing more about this new entrant to the $6 billion college prep market at the conference. Join us to listen to all the finalists pitch live!

Company Description

Admitted.ly is the ultimate online college advisory tool for high school students, their parents, and guidance counselors. We collect over 500 data points per student and use that data to show students which schools they should be applying to, whether those schools fall into their reach, target, or safer categories, and then offer targeted recommendations to improve their chances based on their interests, location, goals, and budget.

Founder Bios

Prior to founding Admitted.ly, Jess Brondo was the founder and CEO of The Edge in College Prep, an elite test prep and admissions counseling company with five international offices, and an online SAT/ACT prep course. She was named to the top 50 women in business by LI Business News, and has been featured in Ellegirl, Forbes, MSNBC, Mashable, and Family Circle.

After graduating Boston University, Emily Cole moved to London, where she spent the next eleven years working in education while also pursuing both her MSc in Child Development and her Phd in psychology. She moved back to NYC in 2012 looking to apply her skills to a startup when fate led her to Admitted.ly. Her expertise lies in psychometric testing and data analysis.

Which finalist are you most excited to hear more about in November?

Jessica Stillman (@entrylevelrebel) is an editor at Women 2.0 and a freelance writer with interests in unconventional career paths, generational differences, and the future of work. She writes a daily column for Inc.com and has blogged for CBS MoneyWatch, GigaOM and Brazen Careerist, among others.