Helping your child plan for university is one of the most important roles you play in their education. At EJC Education Consultancy, we provide professional university admission consultancy for parents in the UK and internationally. Our guidance helps you understand the application process, support your child’s independence, and make informed choices about higher education pathways that suit their interests and goals. At EJC Education Consultancy, we understand that the working world as a graduate will require knowledge, skills and an ability to meet the needs of continuous professional development together with managing changes in technology, seizing opportunities and developing a work ethic and mindset that will enable parents to ensure as far as possible a key return on their investment. Family Offices and family businesses are reliant upon the educational trajectory, skills, and value set of each generation in every family.
Our role is to help you guide your child through one of the most significant stages in their academic journey. With expert advice for parents, we explain how the UK university system works, including entry requirements, key dates, and how to support your child’s personal statement and course decisions.
We also offer clear advice on student finance, accommodation, and preparing for university life. Whether your child plans to study in the UK or overseas, our approach helps you balance practical preparation with emotional support, ensuring they feel ready and confident about the next step.
As a trusted UK university consultancy for families located around the globe, we support parents at every stage of the higher education process. Our service combines expert academic insight with clear, parent-focused guidance to help you understand what universities are looking for and how to support your child effectively.
Our approach allows parents to stay informed without taking over, helping your child make their own choices while feeling supported.
Choosing the right university for your child involves more than just rankings or reputation. We help families evaluate universities based on academic quality, teaching approach, and the type of environment that best supports their child’s learning and wellbeing.
As an experienced education consultant for university selection, we guide you through research on different universities, campus visits, and course comparisons. We also explain how to assess key factors such as student support services, extracurricular activities, and graduate employment outcomes.
This process ensures your family makes an informed decision based on evidence, deep fit, and long-term opportunity.
For families considering study abroad, we provide complete overseas university admission guidance. Our team helps you understand global higher education systems, from the UK and US to Europe and Asia, ensuring your child’s application meets each institution’s standards.
Through our international university advice in the UK, we explain visa requirements, tuition fees, and how universities evaluate international qualifications. We also discuss the emotional and practical aspects of living away from home, helping parents prepare their children for independence and cultural adjustment.
With our support, your family can approach study abroad with confidence and clarity.
Higher education planning for children should begin early. We strongly recommend that families start discussing post-school plans during the senior school years to give your child time to explore interests and develop a clear sense of direction.
University and course selection. Identifying the right institutions and degree courses based on the student’s academic profile, career direction, and deep fit fit, across UK, US, European, and international universities.
UCAS application strategy. Guidance on the five-choice UCAS application, including how to balance ambition and safety, optimise course selection across universities, and meet October and January deadlines.
US and Common App applications. Strategy for parallel or standalone US applications, including early decision and early action timing, the supplemental essays each college requires, and how US admissions differ from UK admissions in what they value.
Personal statement guidance. Structured support for the UCAS personal statement and the Common App essay, focused on authentic voice and competitive positioning rather than ghost-writing.
Admissions test preparation. Coordination of preparation for Oxbridge and competitive course tests including the TMUA, MAT, ESAT, LNAT, and UCAT, as well as US tests including the SAT and ACT where required.
Interview preparation. Mock interviews and strategy for Oxbridge subject interviews, Medicine MMIs, and US university interviews.
Financial and logistical planning. Clear guidance on tuition costs, scholarships, bursaries, accommodation, and visa considerations for international families.
Decision support and offer management. Help comparing offers, navigating firm and insurance choices on UCAS, and managing US decision deadlines.
We also guide parents in understanding the value of different qualifications, such as A Levels, T Levels, and the International Baccalaureate, when considering university admissions.
Parents and carers play a vital role in encouraging independence and confidence. We help you take a balanced approach—providing guidance without making decisions for your child.
This includes understanding when to offer help with applications, how to manage discussions about finances and accommodation, and how to encourage resilience during periods of change. Our approach focuses on developing self-reliance while ensuring young people know they have consistent support from home.
We also help parents understand how universities promote wellbeing, student support, and academic progress so that you can stay reassured once your child starts university life.
EJC Education Consultancy is fully independent. The practice does not receive commissions or referral fees from any university, agency, or test preparation provider, so all advice is impartial.
Elizabeth Clarke brings more than three decades of operational experience in British education, including her role as a Governor of Downe House and at Whitgift School. This gives her direct insight into how the schools that prepare students for top universities operate, and what universities are looking for in applicants from those schools.
The practice has supported students into universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, University College London, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Columbia, and other leading UK, US, and international institutions. EJC Education Consultancy also provides students with admissions tutors who have worked at their individual college choices to review their applications to add additional relevant and external US college specialism to the process.
Once you have given written permission and introduced me to your child’s tutor or if your child is boarding, his Housemaster, then I can connect with them as to when I can visit and consult with the appropriate staff as and when needed.
Nearly all parents like WhatsApp but it will depend upon your preference and your time zone.
Of course. These are both verbal and in writing and you are kept fully informed of all key decisions as your child navigates the application process, requirements, timelines and choices of both courses and institutions.
All over the world. Recent students whom I have worked with have chosen the University of Toronto to read Maths and Physics, IE Madrid to read Business Management, University of Durham to read Classics, University of Durham to read Business Management, Columbia University, Brown University, offers also have included Royal Holloway, London, University of Bath, University of Bristol, University College London, St Andrew’s, University of Edinburgh. Business at Newcastle and Exeter. Maths and STEM feature strongly but also does Classics and Geography.
I can and I do. Currently I have applicants preparing for Columbia, NYU, and liberal arts and sciences colleges such as Swarthmore and Weslyn. The courses of key interest will be business and STEM heavy as part of the preparation for Med School in the US.
Yes, your child can make an Oxbridge and a US college/s application. Ideally, it requires planning several academic years ahead of the final school year’s application. If this is not factored in, then a US application would be limited by college number and type to allow your child who will be ‘time light,’ to be successful. For Oxbridge, your child will need to have developed a love of subject, can demonstrate it, and will spend all their time reading in preparation for the application which will include an interview if the test and UCAS form is considered strong enough.
Ideally when your child turns thirteen. Whilst this seems very young, the early start enables decisions to be made in a calm and carefully thought through manner and preparation for intellectual, sporting, artistic or dramatic routes can be achieved by building foundations for learning, development and experience which is relevant and comprehensive.
The optimal point to engage is in Year 9 or aged 13 plus. It may seem early but the strategy to ensure that students have engaged in an appropriately rigorous super curriculum and intellectually demanding life requires time to build solid foundation that incorporates sustained reading, relevant summer schools, competitive national and international Olympiads, essay competitions, work experience and internships and community outreach and academic independent study which is validated by commitment to online study reflects in outline only, what a four year period of time should provide each student in outline.
Specific interests from portfolio building to varied and dedicated internship experience to the creation of a new business to the use of technology to support a not for profit organisation will all need to be executed alongside life in the classroom and the successful public examination requirements regardless of the curricular structure of life in school aged 13-18 years and wherever globally the student ma study. Year 11 or early Year 12, approximately 18 months before UCAS submission. This allows time for thoughtful course and university selection, admissions test preparation, personal statement development, and interview practice. EJC Education Consultancy also supports families later in the cycle, including those considering reapplication or clearing.
Yes. Many EJC clients apply to both UK and US universities in the same admissions cycle. The practice advises on how to manage the two systems in parallel, including the different timelines, the contrasting roles of personal statements versus Common App essays, and the strategic decisions involved in choosing between Oxbridge and Ivy League offers.
No. EJC Education Consultancy is fully independent and does not accept commissions or referral fees from any university or institution. Recommendations are based solely on what is the right academic, social, and pastoral fit for the individual student.
