OWNER, DIANNE ARMSTRONG, COLLEGE CONSULTANT

WHAT BROUGHT ME HERE

My relationship with elite education started early. After graduating from Hockaday, a private all-girls school in Dallas, I navigated my own university applications — and found my way to Stanford, where I earned my B.A. with Distinction and Honors in International Relations. After a few years on Wall Street at JP Morgan, I went back and did it again, this time earning my MBA from Harvard Business School. Two applications to two of the most competitive institutions in the world. I understood from the inside what they were looking for — and what it felt like to get in.

I followed my husband to Canada, built a 15-year career in the investment industry at RBC Dominion Securities, CIBC, and Mackenzie Financial, eventually founding my own financial consulting firm. But even as my business career grew, my deepest investment was always in education. I served on Parents' Associations at St. Clement's, Crescent, and Greenwood schools — in executive roles at two of the three — and on the Endowment Subcommittee of St. Clement's Board. I gained valuable insights from ski academies like Green Mountain Valley School, Burke Mountain Academy and the National Ski Academy as I dug in deeply to the alpine ski racing world with my son and many clients.  Most importantly, I stayed closely connected to Stanford and Harvard by interviewing prospective undergraduates for both schools. Education was never a chapter in my story. It was the whole point.

THE PROOF IS IN MY OWN FAMILY

My real education in college consulting came when I guided my own children through their applications. The process I had lived as a student, I now lived again as a parent — with everything that entails. The research, the strategy, the essays, the anxiety. And the outcomes, when the strategy was right.

One of my children was admitted to Harvard and competes in NCAA alpine ski racing. Another earned a Chancellor's Scholarship to Queen's University and made the tough decision to turn down Western Ivey AEO (with U Sports rugby). A third was accepted to UBC's Sauder School of Business with a scholarship and made a brave choice to move across the country during COVID, turning down McGill Management. I have navigated this process from the inside, with real stakes, three times over. I know what it costs a family emotionally. I also know what it looks like when it goes right. Those experiences are what convinced me there was a genuine need for consultants who understand elite admissions not just professionally, but personally — and that I was the right person to fill it.

WHAT I BRING TO YOUR FAMILY

I completed my Independent Educational Consultant Certificate at UC Irvine, an 18-month program that provided the formal tools, global network, and frameworks to support students across Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia. Since then, I've advised hundreds of students, including athletes, artists, actors, and musicians, in gaining admission to best-fit programs worldwide. 

I'm a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) and attend university tours, conferences, and admissions seminars every year to stay ahead of a landscape that changes constantly.

What I ultimately offer is something credentials alone don't capture: I have lived this process three times as a parent, I understand elite institutions from the inside as both a graduate and an admissions interviewer, and I bring the strategic instincts of a business professional who has spent decades solving complex problems for clients. That combination — head and heart — is what Admissions Excellence is built on.

HOBBIES

When I'm not working with clients, you'll find me travelling, hiking, skiing, cycling, and attempting to learn golf!