This millennial was rejected from 200 jobs—now he makes tens of millions charging rich households six-figures to get their youngsters into the Ivy Leagues

$10,000? What about $100,000, and even $750,000? 

Lots of of households are paying six-figure worth tags to a younger millennial named Christopher Rim to get their youngsters into their high school selections. Because the founder and CEO of faculty admissions consultancy group Command Training, Rim has change into a wizard of types for the way to crack the Ivy League code. During the last 5 years, 94% of his shoppers have been accepted into their high three school selections.

And whereas the $3 billion school consultancy business might sound like one other leg-up the wealthy should get their youngsters into faculties, Rim says it’s about serving to college students attain their desires and unlock their potential. In any case, on common, solely about 5% of pupils who wish to go to an Ivy League faculty truly get in. 

“You have got one probability. That’s it,” the 30-year-old tells Fortune. “You possibly can’t return to school or apply to those selective universities once more.”

Unlocking potential is one thing that hits dwelling in Rim’s personal story towards success, each in his personal journey making an attempt to attend an Ivy League faculty in addition to looking for his footing as a younger graduate.

Utilizing doubt and failure as a motivator

As a public highschool pupil in New Jersey, Rim was instructed he’d by no means be lower out for an Ivy League establishment. 

Whereas he admits himself that he wasn’t the neatest child in his class, he had a mission to attend Yale College, and determined to use even when his steerage counselor pleaded with him to accept Rutgers College, an in-state public faculty. Out of the almost two dozen college students from his faculty who utilized to Yale, he was the one one who acquired in—regardless of having a decrease GPA than the remaining.

As a pupil, he stored the ball rolling by charging excessive schoolers $50 to edit their admissions essays and advising them on the way to strengthen their resumes and “authentically stick out.” After his first two shoppers acquired into MIT and Stanford, he realized he might need a present, and thus Command Training was born in 2015 in his New Haven, Conn., dorm room.

Nonetheless, Rim nonetheless wasn’t certain it was the important thing to a post-grad profession. Then got here the time to use for jobs. 

“I utilized to over 200 jobs senior 12 months. All my pals have been getting jobs at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, BCG, main firms. I acquired none. I acquired zero,” he says. “And that was the very best factor to have that occur to me.”

As a substitute of letting the rejection defeat him—like what occurs to tens of millions of younger adults annually—Rim used it as motivation to assist others attain their dream school, too.

“Everybody has this potential, and I used to be capable of instill that confidence and perception and encourage them by means of the method,” Rim says. “I believe that was a serious cause as to why my college students succeeded, which, in fact, led me to succeed with the enterprise.”

Thus far, Command Training has guided over 1,500 college students into top-tier faculties, with acceptance charges that soar far above the nationwide common—greater than seven occasions greater at locations like Harvard, Caltech, and the College of Chicago.

And with mother and father investing near $100,000 on common for his companies, Rim isn’t simply shaping pupil futures, he’s constructed a booming enterprise within the course of.

Whereas he declined to touch upon his firm’s income, his common charge and excessive demand would put that determine within the tens of millions. (Rim additionally defined that the $750,000 price ticket was a one-off instance that included working with a pupil beginning in center faculty and having limitless entry to companies.)

The rising worth to get into school

With or with out skilled assist, getting right into a high establishment isn’t any straightforward feat. In reality, over the past decade, faculties have solely gotten extra selective within the college students they settle for. 

Nonetheless, it’s not as a result of faculties have gotten a lot smaller in dimension, it’s as a result of extra college students are making use of. For Harvard’s class of 2028, who simply completed their first 12 months of faculty, over 54,000 candidates battled for simply 1,970 seats; an acceptance fee of three.6%. That’s up from about 37,000 candidates competing for two,080 spots for the category of 2019, an acceptance fee of 5.6%. Even then, not all accepted college students finally select to attend that college.

On the similar time, school is just getting dearer. Tuition and costs at personal universities have elevated by about 41%, when adjusted for inflation, in accordance with U.S. Information and World Report. And whereas some faculties have made makes an attempt at softening the burden for a lot of lower-income college students—like Harvard making tuition free for households making lower than $200,000—attending a high school stays an uphill battle for a lot of college students. 

Nonetheless, Rim says companies like his aren’t making the method much less equitable, however slightly serving to younger individuals discover their true calling.

“I do know I’m not serving to my pupil take a spot away from a middle-class pupil or a lower-income household pupil,” Rim provides. “I’m serving to different rich households and their youngsters compete towards different rich households.”

And regardless of some college students feeling that their diploma wasn’t value the associated fee, Rim says demand is greater than it’s ever been earlier than. However younger individuals are increasing their pursuits exterior of the normal Ivy Leagues to different top-ranked faculties like Duke College, Vanderbilt College, and the College of North Carolina.

“If you wish to get a selected job at a financial institution, consulting agency, or change into a health care provider or lawyer, your faculty goes to matter lots,” he tells Fortune. However on the finish of the day, he says it’s about discovering college students’ passions and pursuits.

“I actually won’t ever inform a pupil, be part of the talk workforce, be part of band membership, be part of newspaper membership, as a result of we predict that’s what faculties need. In reality, it’s the overall reverse,” Rim says. “Do what you need.”