Sam graduated from the University of Southern California and is a published scientist, having spent four years as a neuroscience researcher at Columbia University. Building upon his experiences in research and academia—as well as over a decade in educational services—Sam spearheaded the Great Minds Advising program, a premium college consulting service based in the New York Metropolitan Area and serving students nationwide from NYC to Silicon Valley.Great Minds Advising’s unique mentorship program that works with students over multiple years—combined with its deep insight into the application review process and the psychology of admission officers—has earned the company a nation-leading track record of excellence, with 100% of its students earning admission to top-choice schools in the 2023–24 application cycle.Its students have recently gained admission to Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Penn, Duke, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, WashU, and UC-Berkeley, among many others; are historically admitted to the Ivy League at a rate 12x the national average; and have earned over $1.5M in merit scholarships since 2020 (including a full scholarship to Duke).Sam and his team are members of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), partners with the Northwestern Center for Talent Development, and are often sought after for their expert admissions takes by outlets such as New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Bloomberg, NBC, and the BBC.Finally, Sam writes a popular college admissions newsletter reaching over 2,500 people nationwide and hosts the podcast, "The Game: A Guide To Elite College Admissions," in which he breaks down the strategies students can employ if they wish to beat the game of elite college admissions.