New York, NY, May 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Keith Berman, a 25+-year college admissions expert, has launched Keith (trykeith.com), a new digital platform designed to replace “Reddit guesswork” with professional-grade evaluations. By providing a “Competition Index” for free, and strategic feedback for $49, Berman aims to bring Ivy League-level consulting to the general public.
Actual Screenshot from Keith App
While local parents scrimp and save to put together college tuition—and often plan summers around SAT preparation—arguably the most defining elements of the college admissions read – figuring out where exactly you stand, and how to improve that standing – still fall by the wayside year after year.
Keith Berman, a New York City independent educational consultant for Options for College, who has worked with Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins and many more in a college admissions career of more than a quarter-century, has spent much of the last year trying to address that gap. Over the past twelve months he has given free programs for parents at libraries in New York and New Jersey, educational research firms like Lumiere Education and wealth management groups at JP Morgan and Schwab. He even started leading a subreddit with the hopes of bringing some sanity to the college admissions guessing game.
“Instead of getting reputable information, families and students are self-evaluating their entire application profiles online and using raw, untrained AI for advice on next steps,” Berman said. “They’re using invented 10-point scales and giving themselves a 9.5 on virtually everything without any real framework for how admissions readers actually evaluate things.”
The results, he says, are predictable.
“Then March and April arrive, and those same forums turn into the misery fest of admissions results.”
Berman emphasizes that there is still no substitute for experienced guidance from a college admissions expert.
“There is absolutely no replacement for an experienced IEC—an independent educational consultant—who has a real education degree and has worked in schools,” he cautioned.
But after years of seeing students struggle to judge their own essays, he decided to build a tool that could give applicants a realistic sense of where they stand.
Drawing on decades of advising experience, Berman created an online platform that evaluates college personal statements through the lens of an admissions reader. The system generates what he calls a Competition Index, along with strategic feedback and an evaluation of the essay itself.
“The combination of Competition Index, strategy, and a real essay evaluation is exactly what those Reddit discussions are missing,” Berman noted.
The platform, called Keith and found at www.trykeith.com, allows users to get their CI for free and to receive pointed strategy advice for $49 that includes a real read of their personal statement with concrete scoring rooted in admissions realities along with three concrete next steps.
“I got tired of complaining that students don’t apply right. So, I scaled the advice and put my name on it so you know exactly where the ideas are coming from.”
The goal, he says, was to make the process as fast as the online forums students already use.
“For five minutes, you might save yourself from the misery of posting all your rejections in the fall.”
The Keith app is available at trykeith.com.
Keith AI Essay Evaluator
Media Contact
Company Name: KeithAI Essay Evaluator
Contact Person: Keith Berman
Phone: 646-378-7863
Country: United States
Website: https://www.trykeith.com/
Media Contact Company Name: KeithAI Essay Evaluator Contact Person: Keith Berman Phone: 646-378-7863 Country: United States Website: https://www.trykeith.com/
