Arun Ponnusamy, founder of Open Road Education, is one of the premier independent educational consultants in the United States with professional experience at three of the finest and most-selective institutions of higher education.  A series of happy accidents after graduation landed him a position as an Assistant Director of Admissions at his alma mater, the University of Chicago.  He followed his five-year tenure there with two additional years as Assistant Director of Admissions at the California Institute of Technology. The years working amongst the rocket scientists of Caltech—where in his final year the acceptance rate was 13%—eventually led him to the other side of the desk.

Rather than dashing the dreams of students with such lengthy odds, Arun wanted to play a role helping students realize them instead.  For nearly five years, he served as the director of the Los Angeles office of Collegewise, one of the nation’s leading college counseling companies.  There, he guided hundreds of students and their parents through the college application process.   Concurrently, he also worked as an Application Reader at the University of California, Los Angeles for two years.

Through nine reading cycles at three universities, Arun reviewed the applications of over 8,000 high school seniors and read approximately 20,000 college essays.  In addition, he conducted interviews of applicants as well as coordinated recruitment and yield efforts.  He also spends several weeks a year traveling around the country visiting schools and growing familiar with their cultures and applications processes.

His optimistic and holistic approach to the college application process makes him a highly-regarded speaker at college nights and fairs at high schools in both Los Angeles and throughout around the country.  Arun is a member of both the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) and the Western Association of College Admissions Counselors (WACAC).  He has presented on multiple occasions at the latter’s annual conference and regularly speaks to educators in enrichment programs like AVID.  During summers, Arun serves as the Director of College Counseling at several workshops for College Summit, a national organization working with students from under-resourced schools. He also regularly volunteers with other community-based organization such as Friends of the Children and on behalf of PTAs and college centers of local school districts.