About Us

“Working with Shalini was an absolute pleasure; her experience and advice was invaluable in my college essay process. She helped me to find different perspectives and insight into what exactly admissions officers were looking for in my writing. Her friendliness eased my doubts and allowed me to work through my application process with more confidence. “ — ET, Student in Michigan

Fleming Education Partners’ mission is to integrate academic advising with college and post-graduate counseling. Our founding partners have decades of results in selective college admissions, academic counseling, and community engagement. At its core, FEP believes a sound academic foundation ultimately provides the basis for successful college and career outcomes.

THE FLEMING DIFFERENCE: An Integrated Approach

We support students and families through a comprehensive approach that develops academic skills alongside career and college success. This is important because colleges do not admit applicants; they admit applications. Our strategy teaches students how to showcase their strengths and stories into a compelling application. Our in-depth support includes:

  • identifying areas of academic strength and unique interest(s) to advise in course selection, test preparation, and college major declaration;

  • intensive guidance and revision on college essays and supplements with a goal toward improving overall student writing and communication;

  • helping students develop and articulate a philosophy of leadership through extracurricular selection and engagement, a key component of college applications;

  • developing a competitive, well-balanced college list with students and families, with school-specific strategies for each college.

    ELITE BUT NOT ELITIST: A Community Resource

    In addition to individual advising, we believe in equipping local schools and communities with high-quality educational support, resources, and guidance so every student can succeed. Fleming Education Partners collaborates with local schools, libraries, and community organizations to make academic and college resources widely accessible.

Your Advisors

Shalini Uppu: Co-Founder & Advisor

Shalini grew up in Miami and is a proud alumna of Miami Palmetto Senior High School. After Palmetto, she attended Yale University where she earned a B.A. in history. At Yale, she also worked in the admissions office as a senior interviewer and admissions representative.

For over fifteen years, Shalini served in undergraduate and graduate admissions offices across the country, including leadership positions at the University of Chicago, Reed College, and Duke University. She has reviewed thousands of college applications, chaired admissions committees, and presented at national conferences. She has also given workshops to local schools and teachers on recommendation letters, athletic recruitment, and the role of standardized testing.

During her professional admissions career, Shalini oversaw major initiatives and projects, including CRM implementations, application redesigns, and decision release. As director of admission, she participated in merit scholarship decisions for admitted students. She supervised admissions officers at all levels, including training counselors in application review and committee presentation. Finally, Shalini managed office-wide recruitment travel to ensure staff schedules included trips to rural and under-resourced school districts. She has personally recruited and reviewed applications from Florida, New York, California, Washington, Oregon, D.C., and New England.

shalini@flemingeducationpartners.com

Jessica Morrison: Co-Founder & Advisor

Jessica will join Fleming Education Partners as a co-founder and advisor in June of 2024. With a background in career and college preparation, Jessica brings over twenty years of educational experience to designing and implementing state recognized career and college counseling programs in Colorado.

Prior to this role, Jessica was the founding Executive Director for the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative that supports building rural collaborations across k-12, higher education, and industries to provide access to career and college opportunities for all students. Previously she held the Director of Career and College Counseling role at Colorado project-based charter school focused on building a career and college going culture and supporting students with acceptances from highly selective institutions across the country. Additional previous experiences include serving as an AmeriCorps NCCC volunteer, teaching philosophy in Honduras, leading prevention programs for youth with Full Circle of Lake County, and providing academic advising as an Academic Advisor for TRiO Talent Search.

Through her years of advising experience, Jessica has received awards from the state of Colorado for her commitment to career and college counseling, advisement, and for curriculum she has built and implemented. Many of her curricular content has been exhibited as state exemplar models for ICAP and are used as resources in the state of Colorado.

Jessica graduated from Bloomsburg University in 2004 with a B.S. in Secondary Education, and in 2015 from Fort Lewis College with an M.A. in Education, Teacher Leadership. She is an alumna of Semester at Sea, Class of 2003, and is a Leadership La Plata graduate with the Class of 2019. 

When Jessica is not working to help build a strong community focused on career and college education, she can be found traveling to new places, skiing, backpacking, canning, gardening, and hiking with her husband, Casey, and their dog Olive.

jessica@flemingeducationpartners.com