Since 1955, McMillan Education has been home to the country’s leading educational consultants, guiding students and families through school, college, and university admissions across the U.S. and internationally.
What seven decades of relationships with schools, colleges, and universities, and deep expertise in child, adolescent, and young adult development, look like in practice.
McMillan Education was founded in 1955, making it the nation’s oldest and foremost educational consultancy. The expertise and institutional relationships built over those years remain at the core of every planning engagement today.
Under the leadership of Don and Sarah McMillan since 2009, that foundation has continued to deepen. Today, McMillan’s educational consultants average more than 20 years of experience, representing over 350 collective years of admissions expertise, a team depth that is difficult to find anywhere else in the field.
That expertise is applied through the W.I.S.E. Method® – an approach built on decades of direct relationships with students, families, schools, colleges, and universities across the country and internationally. The same values that shape the work also shape the organization: the integrity and commitment to community that McMillan has upheld since its founding.
What McMillan Education has developed over those decades is an interconnected ecosystem where every platform, resource, and area of expertise reinforces the whole. At the center of this ecosystem is the W.I.S.E. Method®, the intellectual framework that runs through everything McMillan does.
The United States’ oldest educational consultancy, with thousands of students and families served, a network of institutional relationships across schools, colleges, and universities, and a depth of specialized expertise across a wide range of admissions processes that remains unmatched in the field.
Decades of work with international families formalized into a dedicated expertise in international admissions advising, effectively bringing the same unrivaled planning methodology, expertise, and relationships to university, boarding school, and graduate admissions for students from over 65 countries.
Expanding our reach to help families and schools worldwide.
A free, independent resource for families researching boarding schools, with detailed school profiles, side-by-side school comparisons, advanced search filters, and insider knowledge for developing the best list for you and optimizing your application process. Built on McMillan’s decades of boarding school expertise, and free of artificial rankings and the pay-for-play tactics common in other school databases, this Guide is the only of its kind covering the world’s foremost boarding options in the US, Canada, UK, EU, and Switzerland.
McMillan’s 1-1 educational planning expertise, a value starting at $15,000 per student, now accessible to any family, anywhere. Our self-guided online courses bring the full depth of our signature insider knowledge and proprietary WISE Method® to families looking to navigate the admissions process on their own terms and timeline at a fraction of the cost, with full access to leading admissions strategies, tasks, and calendars supported by exercises and worksheets to ensure you optimize the process and avoid costly mistakes.
McMillan’s educational planning expertise, now accessible to any family, anywhere. Self-guided online courses that bring the full depth of that knowledge to families who want to navigate the process on their own terms and timeline.
What McMillan Education has developed over those decades is an interconnected ecosystem where every platform, resource, and area of expertise reinforces the whole. At the center of this ecosystem is the W.I.S.E. Method®, the intellectual framework that runs through everything McMillan does.
The United States’ oldest educational consultancy, with thousands of students and families served, a network of institutional relationships across schools, colleges, and universities, and a depth of specialized expertise across a wide range of admissions processes that remains unmatched in the field.
Decades of work with international families formalized into a dedicated expertise in international admissions advising, effectively bringing the same unrivaled planning methodology, expertise, and relationships to university, boarding school, and graduate admissions for students from over 65 countries.
A free, independent resource for families researching boarding schools, with detailed school profiles, side-by-side school comparisons, advanced search filters, and insider knowledge for developing the best list for you and optimizing your application process. Built on McMillan’s decades of boarding school expertise, and free of artificial rankings and the pay-for-play tactics common in other school databases, this Guide is the only of its kind covering the world’s foremost boarding options in the US, Canada, UK, EU, and Switzerland.
McMillan’s 1-1 educational planning expertise, a value starting at $15,000 per student, now accessible to any family, anywhere. Our self-guided online courses bring the full depth of our signature insider knowledge and proprietary W.I.S.E. Method® to families looking to navigate the admissions process on their own terms and timeline at a fraction of the cost, with full access to leading admissions strategies, tasks, and calendars supported by exercises and worksheets to ensure you optimize the process and avoid costly mistakes.
A sampling of the schools and colleges where our students have been placed.
Every successful placement begins with the right expertise behind it. Schedule a free consultation with one of McMillan’s educational consultants and take the first step toward a stronger, more informed planning process.
The W.I.S.E. Method® reflects McMillan Education’s developmental philosophy and student-centered approach to educational planning. Working with a dedicated educational consultant, students and families explore educational values, program features, and school culture to identify the environments where students will genuinely thrive. The method emphasizes comprehensive research and firsthand experience of campus life and classroom environments, so families understand what it is truly like to be a student at each institution. Once the right educational setting has been identified, the W.I.S.E. Method® equips students to optimize their admissions results through leading-edge strategies, purpose-built planning tools, and unparalleled admissions knowledge.
Families and students can also access the W.I.S.E. Method® through our W.I.S.E. Admissions Playbook™ – self-guided online courses that give any family direct access to the same planning methodology, without the full consulting engagement
McMillan was built by educators, and that dedication to student-centered work has never changed. The firm’s approach is grounded in a genuine understanding of how students develop, academically, personally, and emotionally, and a belief that rigorous, expert-led planning should serve the student’s long-term interests, rather than attempt to force students to develop a profile that is not authentic to their unique interests, strengths, values, and goals. Integrity, institutional knowledge, and a real commitment to the families and communities McMillan serves have defined the firm since 1955.
Yes. McMillan’s educational training and expertise allow the firm to work with students across many learning profiles, including attentional challenges, executive functioning needs, dyslexia and other language-based learning differences, autism spectrum and social-communication profiles, twice-exceptional learners, and students managing emotional or behavioral challenges. Students range from high achievers who thrive in prestigious institutions suited to their learning needs to those who require highly specialized educational settings. In every case, the same planning rigor applies.
McMillan Education was built by educators, and every consultant on the team has a background in education and child or adolescent development, as well as in admissions planning. That grounding shapes everything: how students are understood, how institutions are evaluated, and how planning decisions are made. McMillan also works with students across every academic profile and circumstance, which means its results reflect the full breadth of its work. Over 10,000 families served, 90% of whom come through referrals, is the kind of record that builds over decades of doing the work consistently and well.
The first step is a free consultation with one of McMillan’s educational consultants. From there, the team will assess your specific planning context, outline the most relevant approach, and give you a clear picture of what working with McMillan involves.
