How much would you pay to help your child get accepted into Harvard, Stanford, or MIT?
$10,000? What about $100,000, or even $750,000?
“You have one chance. That’s it,” the 30-year-old tells Fortune. “You can’t go back to college or apply to these selective universities again.”
As a public high school student in New Jersey, Rim was told he’d never be cut out for an Ivy League institution.
While he admits himself that he wasn’t the smartest kid in his class, he had a mission to attend Yale University, and decided to apply even when his guidance counselor pleaded with him to settle for Rutgers University, an in-state public school. Out of the nearly two dozen students from his school who applied to Yale, he was the only one who got in—despite having a lower GPA than the rest.
As a student, he kept the ball rolling by charging high schoolers $50 to edit their admissions essays and advising them on how to strengthen their resumes and “authentically stick out.” After his first two clients got into MIT and Stanford, he realized he might have a gift, and thus Command Education was born in 2015 in his New Haven, Conn., dorm room.
However, Rim still wasn’t sure it was the key to a post-grad career. Then came the time to apply for jobs.
“Everyone has this potential, and I was able to instill that confidence and belief and motivate them through the process,” Rim says. “I think that was a major reason as to why my students succeeded, which, of course, led me to succeed with the business.”
And with parents investing close to $100,000 on average for his services, Rim isn’t just shaping student futures, he’s built a booming business in the process.
With or without professional help, getting into a top institution is no easy feat. In fact, over the last decade, colleges have only gotten more selective in the students they accept.
However, Rim says services like his aren’t making the process less equitable, but rather helping young people find their true calling.
“I know I am not helping my student take a spot away from a middle-class student or a lower-income family student,” Rim adds. “I’m helping other wealthy families and their kids compete against other wealthy families.”
“If you want to get a specific job at a bank, consulting firm, or become a doctor or lawyer, your school is going to matter a lot,” he tells Fortune. But at the end of the day, he says it’s about finding students’ passions and interests.
“I really will never tell a student, join the debate team, join band club, join newspaper club, because we think that’s what colleges want. In fact, it’s the total opposite,” Rim says. “Do what you want.”
