The Sesameed Way
Why Sesameed?
There are other good consultants in the market, but we at Sesameed take pride in what we do, why we do it, and how we do it.
- We take our work with your child very seriously.
To us, our consulting work is not just any other job. We are a group of boarding school lovers who understand the life-changing impact of boarding education and want to do our best to spread this good news to as many families as possible to influence the life trajectories of as many of our next generation as possible. Everything we do here at Sesameed is guided by this laser-sharp focus on what is best for your child and his/her long-term life success. We understand that our work affects lives, and we take our work very seriously.
- We know boarding schools better than anyone else.
Many consultants cover boarding schools as a side dish; at Sesameed, boarding schools are our main course. And we study and immerse ourselves in this field more deeply than anyone else. Even among the few boarding school consultants out there, few cover boarding schools beyond one country. At Sesameed, we cover all boarding schools in the world*: American, Canadian, British, Swiss, you name it. Not only that, we have made it a point to vet every school before we recommend it to our families, so we dare say that we have been to more boarding schools in the world than any other boarding school consultant or consultancy ever. We know boarding schools well.
*boarding schools that share the western September-to-June academic calendar.
- We help your child develop skills to not only get in but also succeed long-term.
While we are fully committed to delivering application success, we do not lose sight of our duty to build a strong foundation for your child’s life ahead. We firmly believe life’s ultimate success is driven more by our character and moral compass than anything else, and this belief is deeply rooted in and reflected throughout our interview training, essay coaching, and life coaching curricula. We take a long view toward grooming our next generation.
- We actively advocate for your child in front of the schools.
We do not hide ourselves in the background; we actively engage in discrete, strategic dialogues with our boarding schools and openly advocate for our students. Your child will not be just another applicant ID number, but someone that Sesameed takes a solid stance in promoting his/her fit (or, in industry’s terms, mission-appropriateness) to the school. Our Founder’s Track Record reflects the effectiveness of our work.
With 22 years of boarding school experience under our belt, it will be a challenge to find a more suitable team to ensure your child’s boarding school application success.
Our Services
No matter where you are in your boarding school application journey, we will have something that suits your family’s needs.
Sesameed’s Signature Program: The Full Course
The Full Course is the industry’s most comprehensive boarding school application program for any family who has decided to apply to boarding school. It includes every element of the process, from developmental needs analysis, multi-year education planning, country fit, strategic positioning, profile building, school selection, interview training, essay coaching, to ultimately, school advocacy.
Many families would elect to top off the Full Course program with our renowned campus tour service (sold separately) to achieve the best optimal application outcome.
Some families prefer to be more hands-on with their child’s boarding school application process but still find it helpful for an extra boost in certain elements of the process. We offer a full suite of à la carte choices to suit every family’s unique needs.
Interview Training
Your child will receive the same interview training as what is in the Full Course, except that the service will be sold in an initial package of 10 lessons with optional top-ups in packages of 5 lessons each.
Essay Coaching
Your child will receive the same essay coaching as what is in the Full Course, except that the service will be sold in an initial package of 10 lessons with optional top-ups in packages of 5 lessons each.
Campus Tour
We are not a typical tour organizer. We lead campus tours with a deeper purpose. We are there to help families decipher the various nuances and subtle differences among the boarding schools. Every boarding school is unique, and collectively, everything you see within a boarding school has been carefully thought out and put together to relay a very specific mission message to its visitors. With us accompanying you along the way, you will reap the full benefits of visiting a boarding school.
And if you are planning to bring your child along this tour to conduct the interviews on campus, you will all the more find our presence even more critical and irreplaceable. Interviews are the most decisive part of the application process, and having a coach along the way during this intense final week will make all the difference in the outcome. Put it another way, we rarely witness a Wimbledon player playing on the field without his/her tennis coach right there with the player, for the player.
Summer School Search & Application
Residential summer programs are excellent ways to test whether your child will like boarding school. There is a summer school for every child’s interest. Spare your research time and efforts, and use our search service to plan for a purpose-led, enjoyable summer experience for your child.
Ongoing Monitoring & Advisory Service
This is often used as a pre-application service where parents are already inclined to prepare their child for boarding school while their child is still a few years away from applying. Under this service, we will be monitoring your child along the way in 4 key developmental areas: academic, extracurricular, social, and personal, and providing ongoing advice to ensure the best possible preparation for your child’s eventual boarding school application.
Life Coaching
This is a post-application service where you have already enrolled your child into a boarding school, but would like to have an experienced life coach to mentor and guide your child to make the most of his/her journey at the boarding school. While each boarding school will supply an advisor to each student, many Asian families still find it helpful for an additional Asian-style mentorship that strikes the right balance among the boarding school experience, university outcome, and ultimately, life success.
Wherever you are in your boarding school application process, count on us as your most trusted partner on this most pivotal and transformative journey of your child’s education career.
Our Service Model
We like to see ourselves as the Navy SEALs of the boarding school consultant world: small, yet powerful. As such, we prefer to be agile and mobile and go everywhere (anywhere) to meet our clients, yet remain asset-light without planting an office in every city to keep our costs low and fees affordable.
We operate like boarding schools. In places where we do not hold an office, we like to meet our families at reputable business centers or hotel lobby cafes. Once we have established trust on each side, we move online for subsequent meetings and training. Only in such a way can we maximize our service efficiency and scale up our impact for our communities.
Founder's Track Record
Where others have gone
Over the past 22 years, Daniel has helped students receive offers from the following boarding schools:
- Andrews Osborne Academy
- Army and Navy Academy
- Asheville School
- Avon Old Farms School
- Baylor School
- Ben Lippen School
- Berkshire School
- Blair Academy
- Blue Ridge School
- Brewster Academy
- Brooks School
- Brunswick School
- Canterbury School
- Cardigan Mountain School
- Cate School
- Chaminade College Preparatory School
- Chatham Hall School
- Cheshire Academy
- Choate Rosemary Hall
- Christ School
- Christchurch School
- Church Farm School
- Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
- Concord Academy
- Cranbrook Schools
- Culver Academies
- Cushing Academy
- Dana Hall School
- Darlington School
- Darrow School
- Deerfield Academy
- Dunn School
- Eaglebrook School
- Emma Willard School
- Episcopal High School
- Fay School
- Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy
- Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart
- Foxcroft School
- Fryeburg Academy
- Garrison Forest School
- George School
- Georgetown Preparatory School
- Gould Academy
- Grand River Academy
- Grier School
- Groton School
- Hebron Academy
- Hillside School
- Holderness School
- Hoosac School
- Hyde School
- Idyllwild Arts Academy
- Indian Mountain School
- Indian Springs School
- Interlochen Arts Academy
- Kent School
- Kents Hill School
- Kimball Union Academy
- La Lumiere School
- Lake Forest Academy
- Lawrence Academy
- Linden Hall
- Loomis Chaffee School
- McCallie School
- Mercersburg Academy
- Middlesex School
- Midland School
- Millbrook School
- Miller School of Albemarle
- Milton Academy
- Miss Hall’s School
- Miss Porter’s School
- Monte Vista Christian School
- New Hampton School
- North Country School
- Northfield Mount Hermon School
- Oak Grove School
- Oak Hill Academy
- Oaks Christian School
- Oakwood Friends School
- Oaks Christian School
- Ojai Valley School
- Oldfields School
- Oregon Episcopal School
- Peddie School
- Perkiomen School
- Phillips Academy Andover
- Phillips Exeter Academy
- Pomfret School
- Portsmouth Abbey School
- Proctor Academy
- Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
- Randolph-Macon Academy
- Ranney School
- Ross School
- Rumsey Hall School
- Saint Andrew’s School, FL
- Saint James School
- Saint John’s Preparatory School
- Saint Mary’s School
- Salem Academy
- Salisbury School
- San Domenico School
- Sandy Spring Friends School
- Santa Catalina School
- Shattuck-St. Mary’s School
- Solebury School
- South Kent School
- Southwestern Academy
- St. Andrew’s School, DE
- St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
- St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School
- St. Anne’s-Belfield School
- St. George’s School
- St. Johnsbury Academy
- St. Margaret’s School
- St. Mark’s School
- St. Paul’s School
- St. Stephen’s Episcopal School
- St. Thomas More School
- St. Timothy’s School
- Stevenson School
- Stoneleigh-Burnham School
- Stuart Hall School
- Suffield Academy
- Tabor Academy
- Tallulah Falls School
- The Athenian School
- The Bement School
- The Bolles School
- The Cambridge School of Weston
- The Ethel Walker School
- The Fessenden School
- The Governor’s Academy
- The Gow School
- The Gunnery
- The Hill School
- The Hockaday School
- The Hotchkiss School
- The Hun School of Princeton
- The Knox School
- The Lawrenceville School
- The Madeira School
- The Masters School
- The Northwest School
- The Pennington School
- The Phelps School
- The Putney School
- The Rectory School
- The Stony Brook School
- The Taft School
- The Thacher School
- The Webb School, TN
- The Webb Schools, CA
- The Williston Northampton School
- The Winchendon School
- Thomas Jefferson School
- Tilton School
- Trinity-Pawling School
- Verde Valley School
- Vermont Academy
- Villanova Preparatory School
- Virginia Episcopal School
- Walnut Hill School for the Arts
- Wayland Academy
- West Nottingham Academy
- Western Reserve Academy
- Westminster School
- Westover School
- Westtown School
- Wilbraham & Monson Academy
- Woodberry Forest School
- Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart
- Woodside Priory School
- Worcester Academy
- Wyoming Seminary
- Aldro Preparatory School
- Ashdown House School
- Ashford School
- Badminton School
- Bedales School
- Bedford School
- Benenden School
- Blundell’s School
- Bryanston School
- Cheltenham College
- Cheltenham Ladies’College
- Christ’s Hospital School
- Cothill House
- Cottesmore School
- Dean Close School
- Dover College
- Downe House School
- Downside School
- Dragon School
- Ellesmere College
- The Elms School
- Elstree School
- Eton College
- Farleigh School
- Godstowe Preparatory School
- Headington School
- Horris Hill School
- Harrow School
- Kent College Canterbury
- Lancing College
- Leighton Park School
- Loughborough High School
- Loughborough Grammar School
- Ludgrove School
- Malvern College
- Maidwell Hall
- Merchiston Castle School
- Millfield School
- Oakham School
- Oundle School
- Port Regis School
- Queen Ethelburga’s College
- Radley College
- Ratcliffe College
- Repton School
- Sandroyd School
- Shrewsbury School
- Summer Fields School
- The Pilgrims’ School
- The King’s School Canterbury
- Tonbridge School
- Uppingham School
- Warwick School
- Wellesley House School
- Wells Catherdral School
- Winchester College
- Woldingham School
- Worth School
- Wycliffe College
- Albert College
- Appleby College
- Brentwood College School
- Havergal College
- Lakefield College School
- Queen Margaret’s School
- Ridley College
- St. Andrew’s College
- St. George’s School
- St. Margaret’s School
- St. Michaels University School
- The Bishop Strachan School
- Trafalgar Castle School
- Trinity College School
- Upper Canada College
- Aiglon College
- Beau Soleil
- Institut Le Rosey
- Leysin American School in Switzerland (LAS)
- Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz
- St. George’s International School, Switzerland
- The American School In Switzerland (TASIS)
Admission Essentials
Learn the tips & tricks for a successful boarding school application.
What Do American Boarding Schools Look For in Their Candidates?
Our work in boarding education consulting involves a comprehensive and holistic approach to providing that guidance. First,
The Role of Academics, Activities, and References in The Assessment Process
Our work in boarding education consulting involves a comprehensive and holistic approach to providing that guidance. First,
What A Good Personal Statement Should Reflect About The Applicant?
Our work in boarding education consulting involves a comprehensive and holistic approach to providing that guidance. First,
What Makes A Good Interview in The Assessment Process?
Our work in boarding education consulting involves a comprehensive and holistic approach to providing that guidance. First,