Our Mission

Targeting young people from vulnerable, under-represented NYC communities—low income households, first-generation college attendees, Black and Latinx families, immigrant households, families living in shelters, and the LGBTQ+ community—College Ready NYC prepares and navigates high school students and recent graduates, ages 14-21, from the borough of Queens through the college application process while empowering young people as they begin their post secondary journey.

College Ready NYC builds and supports confident, compelling, and well-rounded applicants to undergraduate programs, assisting them in submitting strong college applications and gaining admission to a variety of appropriate competitive colleges and universities where they are able to blossom and thrive.  The program is designed to give high school students a comprehensive understanding of the system of higher education in order to make appropriate academic choices that will benefit them in the future.

Our Work

Each year, capable and motivated students—particularly first-generation and under-served youth—navigate the college process without consistent, expert guidance. As a result, many miss opportunities that could meaningfully shape their futures.

College Ready NYC intends to change that.

Many of you know Peter Wilson through your own college journey—or through your child’s experience—as the advisor who guided applications, college essays, and decisions that shaped futures. Over the years, his work has delivered strong results and reflected a deep commitment to ensuring that all students receive the guidance they deserve.

We are now building and launching College Ready NYC, a Queens-based nonprofit to realize Peter’s personalized, focused advising model so that access to expert college guidance is no longer limited by income, circumstance, or capacity, but available to students across the borough.

College Ready NYC provides personalized, focused post-secondary advising that helps students to:

  • Prepare for the college application process through personalized advisement, summer college intensives, workshops, and college roundtables

  • Identify and develop appropriate prospective colleges and undergraduate programs as well as build strong academic and extracurricular profiles/resumés

  • Navigate and develop college applications and essays

  • Demystify the financial aid application process and identify appropriate scholarships

  • Strengthen high school students’ English and math skills through enrichment classes and reading and writing seminars

  • Develop confidence, agency, and long-term planning skills post-graduation with our Freshmen Readiness Workshop and mentoring program

Peter’s approach has already supported thousands of students through years of direct practice.

We are now formalizing and expanding his work into a Queens-based nonprofit so more students across the borough can access this level of support.

Peter’s Bio

College Ready NYC co-founder and CEO Peter Wilson has advised NYC high school students for over 30 years in all aspects of the college admissions and post-graduation process. For 22 years, Peter directed the College and Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) programs at the prestigious Baccalaureate School for Global Education (BSGE), the first public all-International Baccalaureate School in New York City. As a founding member of the highly-ranked public school, Peter created and developed the college and IB CAS curriculums from the ground up, successfully guiding and assisting nearly 2,000 young people in their college journey to top colleges, universities, and post-secondary programs.  In his final two years at BSGE alone, he helped nearly 200 graduating seniors earn nearly $70 million dollars in offered merit-based scholarships as well as assisted dozens of graduating seniors gain admissions to honors programs at esteemed institutions.

Spurred by a desire to offer youth from low income and working class households free, top quality college preparation services, Peter also founded and directed the highly successful, award winning College Readiness Program at Sunnyside Community Services (SCS).  For over 17 years at SCS, he assisted over 7,000 young people from Queens public high schools gain entry into competitive colleges and universities as well as earn millions of dollars in scholarships. Because of his distinguished work with the College Readiness Program at SCS, he was named NY1’s New Yorker of the Week in November 2018.  Moreover, Peter’s college initiatives and efforts have been recognized by Harvard University’s Family Research Project and New England Counselors of Color Bridging Access to College (NECBAC).

Dedicated to ensuring that young people from vulnerable, under-represented communities in NYC are offered the opportunity to earn a college degree and realize their full potential, Peter is using his expertise and comprehensive knowledge of the college admissions process to implement College Ready NYC.