About OFC

What we do
Our Team
Keith Berman, CEP, President and Founder of Options for College
Abby Kelly, Director of Projects
Jaime Fallon, Project Associate
Nicole Watson, Counselor and Project Analyst
Mattie Brickman, Counselor and Project Analyst
Amanda Rosenblum , Counselor and Project Analyst

What we do

Options for College is a full-service college counseling and consulting company located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. Keith Berman founded OFC in Cambridge, MA on the heels of his graduate school work at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in 2005. By the end of its first year, OFC had helped 100% of its students gain acceptance to their respective first-choice colleges and had been featured as one of Boston’s premium services in Boston Magazine’s Wicked Good Fun edition.

From there, OFC has expanded to encompass consulting projects, seminars and workshops for schools and businesses, and a growing, diverse group of students and families seeking rewarding college and graduate school experiences. In late 2006, soon after Keith Berman's certification as a Certified Educational Planner from the AICEP, OFC moved its offices to New York City. In 2007, OFC took on four major consultation projects that built on its three-stage approach to the admissions process.

Options for College provides comprehensive guidance through the college application process.  The biggest testament to our approach is not only that students receive wonderful acceptance from "reach" colleges, but that they are much more self-aware and prepared when they arrive, ready to contribute and be a part of college life (please read our testimonials or an overview of our three-stage approach).

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Our Team and their Background

Education

All counselors have a B.A. from Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, or Harvard University; graduate degrees include Ed.M. from Harvard University, M.F.A. from Yale University, M.S.Ed. from Bank Street, M.A. from NYU's Gallatin School

Highlights of publications and quotes

US News and World Report, America’s Best Colleges: 2009, 2010, Berman, K. Maximum Access: A Guide to College Admissions Counseling.  Haykel Group, 2010, Boston Magazine: Guilty Pleasures, Yale Daily News, Harvard Crimson, Columbia Spectator, Education Update. Many websites including allexperts.com, k12genie.com, and others.

Project work and clients

Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University, Rochester City School District, Princeton Review – India Academic Counseling Services, Simply College, LLC, Archdiocese of Newark

Teaching experience

Yale University, CTY Johns Hopkins, Choate, Co-Op High School, YU High School for Boys, Rudolf Steiner School, NYC Public Schools

Seminars and workshops

Young Presidents’ Organization, NYU Center for Family Life, Merrill Lynch Parent Network

Admissions Office Work

Harvard University, Yale University, Dartmouth College (interviewers and on-campus recruitment)

Affiliations

Bank Street College of Education Alumni Advisory Board, New York City Teaching Fellows, NACAC, IECA, AICEP

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Keith Berman, CEP, Founder and President

Mr. Berman is a Certified Education Planner (CEP) by the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners, and is the creator and instructor of Johns Hopkins University's CTY College Prep course. His other current professional activities including consulting with the American Museum of Natural History and the NYC Department of Education.

He has worked as the staff trainer in the Rochester City Public Schools (NY) and the staff trainer for The Princeton Review -- India. His in-school guidance positions include being Interim Director of College Guidance at the Rudolf Steiner School, the staff consultant at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys, and a New York City Teaching Fellow in the New York City Public Schools.

Mr. Berman is a Roy E. Larsen Award recipient from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has held several admissions positions at Ivy League institutions. He worked for Yale University as a Senior Interviewer, and a three-year member of the Undergraduate Recruitment Office. He also held an Interviewer position at the Harvard College Admissions Office, where he interviewed prospective students and participated in undergraduate admissions committee meetings. He has won awards from Harvard University, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, AmeriCorps, and the New York City Teaching Fellowship.

Mr. Berman's upcoming talks include the Pathways to College Program at Columbia (10/29), MIT (10/30) and Wesleyan (11/12). He has spoken at the Yale Club of NYC, the NYU Center for Family Life, the Parents Network at Merrill Lynch and the Young Presidents Organization.

Mr. Berman is quoted numerous times on issues related to school selection in US News & World Report's America's Best Colleges: 2009, 2010 and 2011 and has been quoted in the Boston Globe, Yale Daily News, Harvard Crimson and Columbia Spectator. The March 2006 issue of Boston Magazine listed Options for College as the premier option for parents with college-bound children (OFC was in Boston until 2007). Keith is a member of the Bank Street College Alumni Association Advisory Board, and runs a series of programs on career options for young educators. He is also a class officer at Yale.

He earned his B.A. as a double major at Yale University and his M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. His other experiences include being a school teacher in the New York City public school system, earning an M.S.Ed. at Bank Street College, and being a researcher at a Washington, D.C. education think tank, developing a national testing project and working on technology and special education issues of national importance. He also organized and executed recruitment efforts for the American Institutes for Research at Yale. Mr. Berman grew up in Irvington, NY (Westchester County), and has lived in Washington, DC, Cambridge, MA, and New Haven, CT. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in New York.

Contact Mr. Berman directly at: kberman@optionsforcollege.com.

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Abby Kelly, Director of Projects

Abby Kelly studied fine arts and writing at Bard College before completing a degree in Industrial Design at Pratt Institute (which means she's gone through the college application process twice - once as a first-year applicant to a liberal arts college, and once as a transfer into art school). At Pratt, she was the recipient of the William Fogler Scholarship and Pratt Certificates of Excellence for Outstanding Merit and Service in Industrial Design. She has designed websites, kitchen appliances, toys, housewares, graphics, and more. She also worked on illustrations, instructions and projects for ReMake It!, a craft book published by Sterling Publishing in March 2011, and has taught art and design workshops to groups of all ages at venues including the New York Hall of Science and Discovery Charter School in Philadelphia. She has lived in Brooklyn since 1998.

At Options for College, Abby directs projects related to Options for College's consulting work and Entoview, the technology arm of Options for College. Some of these projects include Entoview College Edition (the only iPhone app for practicing your college interview) and beginART, a service that creates professional portfolios for artists (students, college applicants, working artists, aspiring working artists, and anyone else who wants to show the world their art).

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Jaime Fallon, Project Associate

Jaime Fallon took full advantage of her liberal arts education exploring literature, philosophy, theater, art, politics, science, and religion. She graduated with honors from SUNY New Paltz University with a B.A. in both English and Communication Media (TV/Radio Production) with a Photojournalism minor. Giving up a career as a professional snowboarder, she went on to work for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart as Talent Producer and Jon Stewart’s Assistant. Post Comedy Central, she freelanced at various New York City Productions while pursuing a career in music, theater and improv comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade. For 7 years, she worked in administration at Deutsche Bank, and eventually expanded her role to include project management, and analytic responsibilities.

She has organized many social and fundraising events working with Project Renewal, through her mobile DJ/Promotions/Event Planning company RHTL, and her co-creation, Mart: Brooklyn-based collective of emerging talent in fashion, design, art, film/theater, music and beyond. Some of her efforts in charitable and social works include annually raising money for the Aids Walk New York, volunteering at City Critters, and organizing pop-up shops, music events, and “Crafternoons”, Brooklyn community events. In addition, she is a guitarist/singer in a local band, hosts a monthly DJ residency, and promotes bands.

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Nicole Watson, Counselor and Project Analyst

Nicole Watson has a BA in History from Yale and an MA from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study where she designed her own graduate program with a focus in history and dramatic writing. While at Gallatin, Nicole was a Newington-Cropsey Fellow and the recipient of the President’s Service Award and the Dean’s Conference Fund. Nicole has presented papers at the University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Sarah Lawrence. She has taught history at Fieldston, the Cathedral School, and Prep for Prep and has worked as a theatre artist/educator at the New York Historical Society, the Leadership Program, the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Tribeca Film Institute.

As a theatre director, Nicole is a directing affiliate at the Women’s Project and has worked at the Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, the 52nd Street Project, Working Theater, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and Here Arts Center. Nicole teaches an interdisciplinary playwriting/history course at the Museum of the City of New York where she also leads professional development workshops on arts education curriculum development and is the Shakespeare director at the 52nd Street Project. When not teaching or directing, Nicole writes theatre reviews for offoffonline.com and is currently training for the NYC Marathon.

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Mattie Brickman, Counselor and Project Analyst

Mattie Brickman holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama (Eugene O’Neill Scholarship) and a B.A. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Mattie was a teaching assistant for Advanced and Intermediate Playwriting at Yale.  She has mentored writing students at New Haven Cooperative Arts High School and art students at the Ridley Tree Education Center in Santa Barbara, California. 
                                                                                   
As a playwright, Mattie’s productions include PLAYGROUND: The Hallie Flanagan Project (commissioned by Vassar College), STARBOX, American Catnip, The Imaginary Audience, If Found Please Return to Charles Darwin, The Redundant Colon (also performed), Civil War, Bill Clinton Goes to the Bathroom (or It Might As Well Be Spring) (also directed), and Max Out Loud, a children’s musical adapted from books by Maira Kalman. Mattie is an associate artist of art.party.theater.company.  She has been a playwright-in-residence at The Millay Colony for the Arts, New York Stage & Film, and The O’Neill at Yale in Provincetown, MA. Her work has also been developed at The Lark.

Prior to playwriting, Mattie pursued journalism.  She wrote for Money magazine and The Santa Barbara Independent and maintained a column in The Montecito Journal.  She also did research and story development for Greystone Television. 

Mattie trained in ballet for 16 years and modern dance for 10.  She was the Artistic Director of Expressions Dance Company at Princeton.

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Amanda Rosenblum, Counselor and Project Analyst

Amanda Rosenblum comes to Options for College from InsideTrack in San Francisco, where she was an award-winning Student Success Coach, following her work in the Dartmouth Undergraduate Admissions Office as a Senior Interviewer. Ms. Rosenblum will be pursuing a Master's degree in urban education beginning in January 2011. She holds a degree in English Literature and Women's and Gender Studies from Dartmouth College, where she graduated as a Class Marshal, on the Dean's Advisory Board, and as a winner of the Residential Education Mary Turco senior award for ethical leadership, kindness, commitment to service, and celebration of diversity. She greatly enjoys watching students become more aware of their goals, their potential, and their values.

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General Contact

You can get general information at: info@optionsforcollege.com, or by calling 646-378-7863.