About Elizabeth Dankoski

Byline BIO: Elizabeth Dankoski has helped hundreds of high achieving students get into the college of their dreams (75% are accepted into the top 20 schools). She is founder and CEO of The Dream School Project, a year-long mentoring program that helps students boost their chances of acceptance at their top choice school and, even more important, empowers students to build the life of their dreams. Learn more at www.DreamSchoolProject.com.

Broadcast BIO: Students face enormous hurdles getting into the college of their dreams these days. Top universities accept only a small fraction of those who apply each year, and many highly qualified students are turned away or put on waiting lists. Our guest today, Elizabeth Dankoski, has worked for 15 years helping students get into top colleges. She’s founder and CEO of The Dream School Project, a yearlong mentoring program that empowers students to build the life of their dreams. Learn more about her work at www.DreamSchoolProject.com. Welcome, Elizabeth. How is it that 75 percent of your students get accepted into the top 20 schools when so many highly qualified students are turned down?

Full BIO: Elizabeth Dankoski has helped hundreds of high achieving students get into college of their choice. She is founder and CEO of The Dream School Project, a year-long mentoring program empowering students to build the life of their dreams. In nearly two decades of work as an “education catalyst,” Elizabeth has helped her students get accepted to top colleges and universities, including Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Cornell, Yale and many others. Her unique approach of helping young people discover what lights them up and how they can serve their communities earns her students incredible acceptance rates (75% of rising seniors who come to her are accepted into the top 20 schools) and empowers them with the creativity and resourcefulness they need to thrive in college and life.

Elizabeth found fulfillment helping young people achieve their dreams after overcoming her early life growing up in a Christian cult and convent. At the age of 22 she freed herself from her stifling upbringing and began pursuing her passion for creative expression in education. She went on to put herself through college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in creative nonfiction from Bennington College. Elizabeth began working with students as an SAT and writing tutor working to help them boost their SAT scores and grades, the traditional approach to impressing college admissions officials. But she was troubled by the extreme stress she saw among students as they tried to push themselves to achieve ever-higher scores and grades, only to be rejected or put on waiting lists by their top choice colleges. Coaching a group of extraordinary students, Elizabeth discovered the defining reason some were accepted by their schools of choice, while others with equally high grades and scores were not. Those who got into their top choice schools had created unique service projects, often reaching out to solve a problem or improve life in their communities.

Today Elizabeth works with students across the United States and in China to help them discover what truly interests, inspires and excites them, and what they can do to improve their communities and the world. She and her husband, writer Stanley Dankoski, live with their 4-year-old daughter in the mountains of Asheville, N.C., where they love exploring nature, dancing Argentine Tango and inspiring creativity in their marriage, family and community. Learn more at www.DreamSchoolProject.com.