About

COLLEGE KUPP MISSION

College Kupp's goal is to help students on their path to college and find their best fit through a process that enables them to make the most of their high school experience while alleviating the stress and anxiety that often comes with this process. We want to make the college process an exciting and fun one!

Ellen Kuppersmith

Independent Educational Consultant

Ellen is a Los Angeles native with over 18 years of experience in education and college advising. She worked for 12 years at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES), a magnet school ranked #1 in Los Angeles by US News where she assisted in the College Center. Ellen worked at Paula Barksdale & Associates as an Educational Consultant from March 2015 to May 2019. Then in June 2019, she started her own practice, College Kupp. Ellen has helped dozens of high school students on their exciting college journeys.

Ellen graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School and has a B.A. in Classics from Tufts University where she worked as a producer for Tufts’ television soap opera, “On the Hill.” She loved having four seasons, and enjoyed sledding down the President’s Lawn during reading period. Ellen’s time going to college in Boston showed her the importance of fit. An experienced Tufts alumni interviewer, Ellen completed her College Counseling Certificate through UCLA Extension in June 2015.

Ellen is committed to helping students throughout the application process, to find schools that are great fits, and creating a list of “first choices.” As a NACAC International University Advocate Badge holder, Ellen can also help students who wish to apply to universities all over the world.

She is a member of National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the Western Association for College Admissions Counseling (WACAC), the International Association for College Admissions Counseling (IACAC), the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), and an Associate member of the Independent Education Consultants Association (IECA). In addition, Ellen is very active in HECA. She was the HECA Conference College Fair Chair, 2019 to 2024, HECA Education Abroad Committee Chair, 2023 to 2024, and is now serving on the Board of Directors as the Director of Professional Development. She utilizes these organizations to get to know college admissions officers and visit campuses so she can best serve her students. In addition, Ellen is part of the Faculty for NACAC’s Core Concepts for Independent Educational Consultants Professional Certificate Program.

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WHAT PEOPLE SAY

Testimonials

Anne S | Class of 2023 and 2025

"Applying to college is a distinctly different experience than being a good student. The students need to do a fair amount of introspection to come up with a list of colleges to apply to in addition to the essay supplements and standardized tests. Ellen has a way of drawing out the best of her students with the tools only a seasoned college counselor would have.

Ellen sets a positive and upbeat tone that is also firm. She sets a schedule that accommodates both the expected and unexpected delays. The structure she uses to manage the process is intuitive, and she is available to assist with scheduled appointments and via chat.

My children are different from each other and had different ideas about the college they wanted to attend. Ellen made recommendations to round out the list of colleges to apply to, and it was her recommendations that became THE ONE! She has an incredible knowledge of colleges of all kinds and knows how to share them in a way that the student will consider her recommendations.

I will forever be grateful for her support of both my children."

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