David Prutow
College Admission Counselor

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE


  • Over 35 years of experience in college admission
  • Former Director of College Counseling at high-performing private and public secondary schools ranked as having among the top college placement rates in the US
  • 15 years presenting college admission seminars at the NACAC national conference
  • Former Director of NACAC summer institute Directing a Dynamic College Counseling Program
  • Parent of 2 recruited student-athletes and college graduates

I have been fortunate in my career to have been recruited to lead several great secondary school college counseling programs. Having cultivated a reputation and a high level of college admission expertise, I am honored to work with the College Goals’ team. I love assisting students with their college admission journey and I work hard to help families develop appropriate college lists and employ strategies to help accentuate a student’s admission possibilities. I inject a “student first” value structure and focus on “fit,” as opposed to rankings.

I have visited hundreds of colleges and universities. This has helped me keep pace with the intricacies of the ever-changing college admission landscape. It’s been both a joy and an eye-opening experience to develop personal relationships with university officials and to obtain access and “inside views” (such as sitting-in on admission committee work) to better understand the college admission process. I have advised and reviewed thousands of applications from both domestic and international applicants. I enjoy developing healthy, helpful relationships with families seeking assistance.

I am also an enthusiastic scuba diver and professional PADI Dive Instructor. And, I have been coaching swimming for close to 40 years. I love coaching, which translates well to my extensive work in college admission counseling and dive instruction. I retired as founder and Head Coach of a USA Swimming team in South Florida after having founded and served as Director of Competitive Aquatics for a nationally-recognized USA/YMCA swim club in Pennsylvania. We developed swimmers to the highest levels of YMCA and USA Swimming with multiple Junior National, Senior National, Open Water and Olympic Trials qualifiers. I also served as high school head coach in N.J., where I was awarded Coach of the Year honors three times, and was selected by the Newark Star Ledger as one of the top 3 coaches of the last 20 years. In 1987, the National Federation named me “New Jersey Outstanding Coach.” I am a USA Swimming and YMCA Swimming certified coach, and served as a USA Swimming Middle Atlantic referee, in addition to being an NJSIAA, NCAA and Canadian collegiate official. I was named the NFIOA New Jersey Outstanding Official in 1991. In 1989, I received the NJSIAA Dedicated Service swimming award. I also served as a Mid-Atlantic Zone Team (all-star) coach twice and was nominated for YMCA national swimming coach of the year and elected to the YMCA national coaches committee.

My coaching experience extends to other sports, most notably as a head football coach, where I supported players through their college recruitment process and guided them to success in all collegiate levels and to the NFL. I have a particular interest and expertise in NCAA regulations, knowledge of recruiting and assistance with placement of student-athletes. My travels have helped me form extensive networks with college admission professionals on both sides of the bench. My love of coaching helps me maintain a candid but personally supportive, encouraging approach to my roster of college admission students.

Having watched two daughters graduate from outstanding universities, I have great empathy for parents who are daunted by the college admission frenzy. My goal is to empower families to be able to tackle the competitive college admission process. I approach each student as a unique person with definitive talents and strengths.

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