“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” –Albert Einstein

Peter Braverman

Everything you want to know about my work — and other stuff too.

  • I worked at independent schools in the Chicago and Washington, DC areas for 23 years. I have experience at PK–12 schools, a PK–8 school, and a 9–12 school; at day schools and a boarding school. I have helped applicants gain admission to boarding schools, day schools, parochial schools, and public magnet schools. There are very few kinds of schools with which I do not have direct, specific experience.

  • I have served on admission committees that have reviewed hundreds of applicant files, so I know what works in applications and what falls flat. I have also helped hundreds of students find placement at independent, boarding, parochial, and public school programs in the Washington area and around the US. Few consultants in the U.S. have such extensive experience on both sides of the table in the school application process.

  • I have spent more than 25 years understanding the nuances of schools and their admission processes, and I have established relationships with admission officers in the DC area and around the US.

    These relationships don’t “get someone in,” but they allow me to explore the nuances of an applicant’s candidacy. (It may help to think of my services as similar to an attorney’s: Nobody can guarantee that a court will rule in your favor, but a good lawyer can help you present your best case through knowledge of the system, its rules, and those who work in it.)

  • I am a longtime member of IECA (the Independent Educational Consultants Association), where I have served for several years on the Schools Committee; and of WISER (Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources). I attend conferences at least yearly, and I have presented on many topics.

Schools I’ve visited

While no consultant has visited every school, strong counseling depends on familiarity with schools. Here are many of the boarding and day schools I’ve visited over the course of my work counseling students and families.

Boarding schools

Avon Old Farms School (CT)
Bement School (MA)
Brooks School (MA)
Choate Rosemary Hall (CT)
Concord Academy (MA)
Cranbrook Schools (MI)
Dana Hall School (MA)
Deerfield Academy (MA)
Dublin School (NH)
Eagle Hill School (MA)
Eaglebrook School (MA)
Episcopal High School (VA)
George School (PA)
Georgetown Preparatory School (MD)
Groton School (MA)
Lake Forest Academy (IL)
Lawrence Academy (MA)
Lawrenceville School (NJ)
Loomis Chaffee School (CT)
Mercersburg Academy (PA)
Middlesex School (MA)
Millbrook School (NY)
Miss Porter’s School (CT)
Northfield–Mount Hermon School (MA)
Peddie School (NJ)
Pennington School (NJ)
Phillips Academy (Andover) (MA)
Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)
Proctor Academy (NH)
Sandy Spring Friends School (MD)
St. Paul’s School (NH)
Stoneleigh-Burnham School (MA)
Westminster School (CT)
Westtown School (PA)
Wilbraham & Monson Academy (MA)
Williston Northampton School (MA)

Day schools in and around “the DMV”

Washington, DC
Edmund Burke School
Field School
Fusion Academy
Georgetown Day School
Georgetown Visitation School
Lowell School
Maret School
National Cathedral School
National Presbyterian School
Sheridan School
Sidwell Friends School
St. Albans School
St. Anselm’s Abbey School
St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School
Washington International School

Maryland
Bullis School (Potomac)
Christ Episcopal School (Chevy Chase)
Concord Hill School (Chevy Chase)
Connelly School of the Holy Child (Potomac)
Evergreen School (Silver Spring)
Georgetown Preparatory School (Bethesda)
Grace Episcopal Day School (Kensington)
Green Acres School (North Bethesda)
Harbor School (Bethesda)
The Heights School (Bethesda)
Holton-Arms School (Bethesda)
Landon School (Bethesda)
McLean School of Maryland (Potomac)
Nora School (Silver Spring)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School (Potomac)
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (Bethesda)
Washington Episcopal School (Bethesda)
Washington Waldorf School (Bethesda)

Virginia
Basis Independent (McLean)
Burgundy Farm Country Day School (Alexandria)
Green Hedges School (Vienna)
Ideaventions Academy (Reston)
Langley School (McLean)
Madeira School (McLean)
Potomac School (McLean)
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School (Alexandria)
Westminster School (Annandale)

The library at George School, Newtown, Pennsylvania.

How I think about school applications

An application is a multifaceted exchange of information between an applicant family and a school. A family wants to understand a school’s values, operations, strengths, and challenges. A school wants to see an applicant through the application process.

I’ve always been intrigued by the ways people present and consume information — words, images, music, other arts, even video. To that end I’ve been an editor in every job I’ve ever held, whether nominally that of “editor” or not. I’ve published articles on music and sound, and my career took two brief digressions into graphic design, which is essentially the study and practice of how people interact with visual information.

One of the foremost principles that guides my work with families: The more clearly a school can see an applicant, the greater the chances of admission. We’ll work to help every school see your child.

My life in schools

My interest in school consulting grows from my work with kids and families. I hope that every student enjoys learning and going to school.

My last position in a school was as Middle School Head (i.e., principal) at Green Acres School in Rockville, Maryland, where I served from 2003 to 2014. I worked with every eighth-grade family applying to independent schools, and met with nearly every admission director in the Washington area. I stayed an extra year as Director of High School Placement, at the request of the Head of School, to help with my successor’s transition.

Previous school roles have included: Middle School Teacher, Director of Communications, and Upper School Head (at age 33). Other roles include: high school varsity baseball coach, yearbook advisor, newspaper advisor, dormitory master, student advisor, and middle school soccer coach at my very first school. (I have coached baseball from age 7 through high school, but I was, and remain, thoroughly unqualified to coach soccer.)

Education I earned my masters degree in educational administration at Harvard. It was my first choice, but it turned out not to be the right program for me. I earned my bachelors degree at Wesleyan because I didn’t get into my top two choices. I loved it. I’m living proof that first choices don’t always work out, that there’s no magic fairy dust in the Ivy League, and that people survive rejection!

  • We’re going to learn a lot about each other if we work together. So I’ll start:

    I’m a photographer, occasionally professionally; a pretty good cook; a wine and cocktail snob; an amateur woodworker; a terrible guitar player; and a collector of LP records, since long before it was hip. Sadly, the days are long past when I routinely unearthed Blue Note jazz LP’s for $5. When I’m not in a meeting, I still listen to music almost all day long.

    I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington with my wife and Stella, a neurotic but sweet lab/hound rescue dog. We have an adult daughter who lives in Mexico City, and a son who begins law school in fall 2025. Both kids attended an independent school from pre-K through eighth grade, and graduated from our local public high school.

  • Michael. I’m a Chicagoan, and I lived in or near the city until 1996. I am therefore completely objective about this. Obviously.

  • Grateful Dead. If you’re of a certain age, I was one of those people. But I believe there are smart, talented musicians in every genre, and I try to remain open to new things all the time.

  • In favor. Adamantly.

  • Hop over to the Reviews page. I’m happy to provide additional references as needed.

Proctor Lake, Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire