WHO IS HYLL
Hyll College Consulting is a family business. Hyll’s co-founders, Adam and Celeste, met while pursuing their PhDs and teaching Italian and Spanish, respectively, at Harvard University. They are married with two children, Luca and Maximo, and currently live in Valencia, Spain.
WHAT IS HYLL
Although Hyll originally stood for Hybrid Language Learning, over time its meaning has evolved, coming to mean Hybrid Living and Learning. We originally developed the word Hyll while teaching languages at Harvard, realizing that our teaching philosophy, while it also involved some traditional instruction, was driven primarily by authentic sociocultural engagement. We believe that language learning, much like the consulting relationship, is a “hybrid” learning experience in which knowledge is co-created by teacher and learner (or consultant and client) through active, engaged dialogue. As we spent more and more time with this notion of hybridity, we realized it infused all areas of our personal and professional lives. Our multicultural family, for instance, nurtures strong relationships to the United States, Spain, and Italy and regularly speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. Hybridity is who we are, and when we decided to bring our considerable experience in mentoring students to college consulting, we immediately knew that it would be called Hyll. A homophone of “hill,” it also acknowledges its conception in Rome, a city characterized by its hills.
WHY HYLL
We have been mentoring students for a very long time. As instructors at Harvard, we worked with students endeavoring to identify majors, careers, and plans for graduate, medical, and law schools. We developed enduring relationships with our students that allowed us to understand their hopes and dreams, to help them tell their stories in a compelling way, and to write letters of recommendation that supported their applications, whether for graduate schools or for prestigious fellowships like the Rhodes, Fulbright, and Marshall. Yet our experience as university mentors was not limited to the classroom. Indeed, it straddled both major realms of the student experience: the academic and the social. Indeed our “hybrid” experience living alongside students in two university residence halls (Mather House and later Adams House) allowed us to connect with students’ lived experience, which in turn gave us insight into what makes students thrive (and what makes them struggle) in the university environment. This experience informs our expertise in assisting our students to find the colleges most aptly fitted to their values, personalities, and ambitions.
The Hyll Team
Our team boasts years of experience at Harvard University and other prestigious academic institutions throughout the world.
Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Consultant
Adam Muri-Rosenthal is a former academic dean and scholar of Italian Studies with a special interest in documentary cinema and the history of Italian cinema. He worked for five years as the academic dean of one of Harvard’s largest undergraduate residential communities and has also served as Associate Dean of Students at Loyola University Chicago’s Center in Rome, Italy. He has extensive experience in academic advising, assisting students with their writing—both for courses and graduate school applications—and guiding them towards the successful completion of their degrees. He holds a BA from Vassar College, an MA from Middlebury College Language Schools, and an AM and PhD from Harvard University. As a Teaching Assistant at Harvard he taught Italian language for five years. He also worked as a lecturer in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures where he taught courses in Italian cinema.
Celeste Moreno Palmero, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Consultant, and Market Strategist
Celeste Moreno Palmero is a former Preceptor of Spanish Language at Harvard University, where she taught Spanish for over 10 years. She is the recipient of 18 awards for teaching excellence from the Harvard University Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning. Celeste holds a PhD in Linguistics from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She also holds a licenciatura in English philology and a Master’s Degree in English Linguistics and International Communication. She has done extensive research in the category of Second Language Acquisition, with a particular focus on the use of technology to enrich language and culture learning outside the classroom. Celeste focuses primarily on our Spanish-speaking clients.
Our Values
Our values are present in everything we do.
HONESTY
YOUR INTERESTS
We are committed to always working with our clients’ interests as our top priority. We never accept commissions from universities.
HARD WORK
Applying to college is hard work, both for the consultant and for the student. We will work hard on your behalf and be available throughout the process to provide the personalized attention that you deserve.
EDUCATION
We are educators at heart, and we take that seriously. The consulting relationship with the client involves dedication and engagement on both sides. Our efforts to guide our students are defined by instructing them in the tools necessary to succeed in both finding a college and thriving there.
Why work with an Independent Educational Consultant (IEC)?
Although the financial aspects are considerable, the investment that a family makes in a college education is not one of mere finances. It is also one of time. Four years during the most formative period of a young person’s life, spent wisely, provide an incalculable return on investment. While one can certainly make informed decisions without the assistance of an expert, the knowledge that an IEC brings to the table helps to ensure that the investment bears prolific fruit of the richest variety. Working with an IEC eliminates significant stress both from the application process and—by ensuring an excellent match—later from the college experience itself.
