Together, we bring decades of experience in education, writing, and advising to every student we work with
Finding the thread that connects your experiences into a compelling story.
Building writing capacity before application season begins.
Sustained guidance that treats each student as a whole person.
College Admissions Advisor | Academic Strategy & STEM Pathways
Joan Rubin is a college admissions advisor and academic strategist who works with students and families to navigate the college process with clarity and confidence. A graduate of Brown University (BS), MIT (MS), and MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA), she brings a combination of analytical thinking, leadership development, and real-world insight to her work with students applying to highly selective colleges and competitive programs. She is equally committed to helping students understand their strengths, articulate their goals, and find colleges where they will thrive.
Joan specializes in helping students make thoughtful decisions about academic direction, college fit, and long-term goals. She works closely with students on course selection, activity development, and application strategy, using a thoughtful data-informed approach to guide decisions while ensuring that each student’s narrative remains authentic and compelling.
Joan’s students have gained admission to their top-choice schools, including MIT, Stanford, Tufts, Dartmouth, Bates, Rice, and many more.
In her role as Executive Director and Senior Lecturer at MIT, Joan advised students on academic planning and career trajectories while developing innovative programs to support student success. Her experience mentoring high-achieving students, combined with her background in industry and leadership, enables her to guide applicants through complex, competitive admissions landscapes with both strategy and care.
She lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two children.
College Admissions Advisor | Writing & Narrative Development
Dr. Ami Kantawala is a college admissions advisor, educator, and writing mentor who works closely with students and families through every stage of the college admissions process. She has particular expertise in reflective writing and helping students build the writing habits they need before application season begins.
Rather than starting with essay prompts, Ami helps students start with inquiry. They learn to notice small moments, develop specificity, and practice revision early, so that by senior year, the blank page is not blank. She developed iSTORIva™, Compass Admissions Partners' signature framework, which draws on her work in reflective writing, mentoring, and scholarly practice and serves as the foundation for how CAP works with students.
She teaches graduate students at Teachers College and Boston University how to write, research, and build arguments from lived experience and evidence. That same skill set is what she brings to working with high school students on their applications.
Students Ami has worked with have gone on to attend Bates, Harvard, Rice, Purdue, Tufts, Vanderbilt, UPenn, the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, and the University of Virginia, among others.
Ami holds adjunct faculty appointments at Teachers College, Columbia University and Boston University. An established scholar and author of several academic books, she served as Senior Editor of Art Education, where she mentored emerging and experienced writers through complex revision processes, work that directly informs how she reads and responds to student writing.
She holds a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Certificate in College Counseling from the University of California, San Diego. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two children.
