Terms of Service

Acceptance of these Terms

By accessing or using any part of the Services — including submitting our intake form, engaging us for a strategy call or consultation, or signing a separate engagement agreement — you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service (the “Terms”) and our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference (collectively, the “Agreement”). If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

Changes to these Terms

Del Mar Admissions reserves the right to change the Agreement or the Services at any time. When we post modifications, we will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. We may change, suspend, or discontinue the Services or any feature or portion of the Services at any time and may impose additional terms or limitations on certain Services in our reasonable discretion. The modified Terms are effective immediately upon posting. By continuing to use the Services after the update, you agree to be bound by the revised Terms.

Minimum age

To use the Services, you must be 13 years of age or older. Students between the ages of 13 and 17 may use the Services only with the permission and supervision of a parent or legal guardian, who, by allowing such use, agrees to be bound by these Terms on the student’s behalf. If you believe a child under 13 has used the Services or provided us with any information without parental or guardian consent, please contact us at hello@delmaradmissions.com.

Engagement and scope of Services

The Services include, but are not limited to: application strategy consulting, school-list construction guidance, essay review and editing feedback, supplement and activity-list strategy, interview preparation, and general advisory communications. The specific scope, deliverables, fees, payment schedule, and timeline of any client engagement will be set forth in a separate written engagement agreement or email confirmation (the “Engagement Letter”) between you and Del Mar Admissions.

Submitting the intake form on the Site or contacting us does not, by itself, create a client relationship. A client relationship is formed only when both parties have agreed in writing to an Engagement Letter and the initial fee, if any, has been paid in accordance with that Engagement Letter.

In the event of any conflict between these Terms and a signed Engagement Letter, the Engagement Letter governs the specific terms of that engagement (including scope, deliverables, fees, and refunds), and these Terms govern everything else (including, without limitation, intellectual property, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution).

No guarantee of admission

All advice, feedback, and materials provided by Del Mar Admissions are educational in nature and intended to help students present themselves authentically and competitively. Final responsibility for application content, the accuracy of information submitted to colleges and universities, and compliance with each institution’s application policies and honor codes rests with the student and family.

Honest representation

You agree that all information provided to Del Mar Admissions, and all content submitted to colleges and universities under our advisement, will be truthful, accurate, and authored by the student. Del Mar Admissions does not write essays for students, fabricate extracurricular records, manufacture awards, or produce content intended to be submitted as the student’s own work. We coach students through revisions of their own writing; we do not replace their voice.

If a student or family asks Del Mar Admissions to assist in conduct that we, in our reasonable judgment, consider academically dishonest or in violation of an institution’s application policies or honor code, we may decline to perform such work and terminate the engagement in accordance with the “Termination” section below. Fees already earned through that point are not refundable in such cases.

Fees, payment, and refunds

Fees for the Services are set forth in the applicable Engagement Letter and are payable on the schedule described therein. You agree that all information you provide in connection with payment is accurate and truthful, and that you have the legal right to use any payment method you submit. Where Del Mar Admissions engages a third-party payment processor in the future, your use of that processor will be subject to the processor’s terms and privacy policy.

Because we take on a deliberately small number of families each cycle, accepting one student necessarily means turning another away. Our refund policy reflects that limited capacity. Unless your Engagement Letter expressly states otherwise, the following applies, where your “Engagement Date” is the later of the date you sign the Engagement Letter and the date we receive your initial payment:

• Within the first seven (7) days — 100% refundable. If you give written notice of cancellation by email to hello@delmaradmissions.com within seven (7) calendar days of your Engagement Date, you will receive a full (100%) refund of all fees paid. This window exists because, if you withdraw promptly, we may still be able to offer your place to a family we previously declined.
• After the first seven (7) days — up to 50%, prorated. If written notice of cancellation is received after that seven (7) day window, refunds are capped at fifty percent (50%) of fees paid. The other fifty percent (50%) is non-refundable and represents a reasonable, mutually agreed estimate of the value of the advisory capacity we reserved and the other families we declined in order to take your student — it is a good-faith estimate of our loss, not a penalty.
• How the prorated amount is calculated. Within the refundable portion (up to 50%), the actual refund is reduced to reflect the work and engagement already completed for the student as of the cancellation date, calculated as: Refund = 50% × (1 − portion of work completed) × fees paid. For example, on a $12,000 engagement where roughly 30% of the work has been completed, the refund would be 50% × (1 − 0.30) × $12,000 = $4,200. If no work has yet begun, the refund is the full 50% cap; once the work is substantially complete, no refund is due.
• Who determines the portion of work completed. The portion of the engagement completed is determined in good faith by the assigned counselor together with the family. If the family and counselor do not agree, the counselor’s good-faith written assessment, itemizing the work performed, is final and binding, subject always to the 50% cap.
• Failure to attend scheduled calls, to provide materials we have requested, or otherwise to participate does not entitle you to any additional refund for time reserved for, or work already performed on, your engagement.

Approved refunds are processed to the original payment method within fourteen (14) business days of the final refund determination. All refund determinations are made by Del Mar Admissions in good faith based on the work performed prior to the cancellation date. Disputes about specific refund determinations are governed by the “Legal disputes” section below, and you agree to raise them with us directly rather than through a chargeback or third-party reversal.

Chargebacks and disputed payments

If you initiate a chargeback, payment-method dispute, or similar third-party reversal of fees that you have agreed to pay under an Engagement Letter, Del Mar Admissions reserves the right to: (a) immediately suspend or terminate the engagement; (b) withhold any deliverables not yet released; (c) recover the disputed amount and any associated fees and interest through any lawful means; and (d) recover reasonable costs (including attorneys’ fees) incurred in defending the dispute. You agree to raise any billing concerns directly with Del Mar Admissions in good faith and to attempt to resolve them with us before initiating any third-party dispute or chargeback process.

SMS and phone communications

By providing your phone number to Del Mar Admissions, you agree to receive transactional phone calls and text messages related to the Services and to scheduling. If you opt in to marketing communications by text, you consent to recurring marketing and non-marketing text messages from Del Mar Admissions. Consent to marketing communications is not a condition of any purchase. You may revoke your consent at any time by replying STOP (or similar language) to any text message or by contacting us at hello@delmaradmissions.com. Text HELP for help. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Informational purposes only

The information provided through the Services (including the Site) and in other Del Mar Admissions content (such as blog posts, webinars, or social-media content) is for general educational purposes only and does not guarantee admission to any college or university. Admissions policies are subject to change, and you are encouraged to verify all requirements directly with the specific institutions you are applying to.

Intellectual property

All advisory materials, frameworks, and content provided by Del Mar Admissions in connection with the Services — including strategic plans, written feedback, essay annotations and edit-tracked drafts, school-list recommendations, interview- prep frameworks, templates, and any other proprietary content (collectively, “Consultation Materials”) — remain the sole property of Del Mar Admissions. Subject to your full payment of all fees owed under the applicable Engagement Letter, Del Mar Admissions grants the student and family a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use the Consultation Materials solely for the student’s personal admissions application process. You may not republish, redistribute, repackage, resell, lend, share with third-party consultants or admissions advisors, or use the Consultation Materials to train any artificial-intelligence model.

The student retains all rights in essays, personal statements, supplements, and other original work product authored by the student. Del Mar Admissions’s role with respect to such student- authored work is to provide feedback, not to claim ownership of it.

All Del Mar Admissions names, logos, trademarks, service marks, and branding (collectively, the “Del Mar Admissions Marks”) are the sole property of Del Mar Admissions and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual- property laws. You may not use the Del Mar Admissions Marks for any purpose without our prior written consent.

Confidentiality

Over the course of an engagement, both parties will exchange information of a sensitive nature — including academic records, family information, drafts of personal essays, and Del Mar Admissions’s proprietary methods and templates. Each party agrees to treat such information as confidential and to use it only for purposes of the engagement, except where disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to enforce the Agreement.

Del Mar Admissions maintains the confidentiality of all current and former clients. In order to protect student privacy, we do not disclose the identities of our clients, facilitate introductions between prospective and former clients, or provide client contact information, except where a former client has, independently and on their own initiative, provided prior written consent for such communication. We do not solicit that consent on any prospective client’s behalf.

Requests to obtain a former client’s identity or contact information after the fact — that is, to reach a family who has not already, of their own accord, volunteered to be contacted — fall outside the scope of the Services and are declined as a matter of professional policy. Honoring such a retroactive request would require us to breach a confidentiality expectation on which our clients rely and, at minimum, to navigate a formal legal consent process that we do not undertake. No engagement, payment, or prior relationship entitles you to it, and we do not make exceptions.

Testimonials appearing on the Site or in our marketing materials are published only with the express, prior written permission of those families and constitute the exclusive means by which prior client experiences are shared publicly. The presence of a testimonial does not waive that family’s confidentiality for any other purpose and does not authorize you to identify, contact, or seek an introduction to the family who provided it.

Feedback

Any general suggestions, feedback, ideas, or non-confidential materials you provide to us about the Services (“Client Feedback”) may be used by Del Mar Admissions for any purpose, including improving the Services, without obligation or compensation to you. When we publicly reference Client Feedback, we will not identify you by name without your prior consent.

Termination

Del Mar Admissions may, in its reasonable discretion, terminate or suspend the Services, in whole or in part, with or without cause, by written notice (which may be by email) to you. You may terminate the Services at any time by ceasing to use them and providing written notice to hello@delmaradmissions.com. Termination does not relieve either party of obligations accrued prior to termination, including any payment obligation for Services already performed.

Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including, without limitation, the no-guarantee, intellectual-property, fees and chargebacks, indemnification, limitation-of-liability, dispute-resolution, and general-terms provisions — survive termination.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Del Mar Admissions and its members, managers, officers, employees, agents, representatives, and contractors (the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable costs (including attorneys’ fees and costs) (“Claims”) arising from or related to: (a) your breach of these Terms or the Agreement; (b) your violation of any applicable law, rule, or regulation, or any institution’s application policy or honor code; (c) your submission of false, misleading, or fraudulent information to Del Mar Admissions or to any college or university; (d) any infringement or misappropriation by you of any third-party intellectual- property right; or (e) any dispute between you and a third party (including any college, university, or testing agency) relating to your application.

Limitation of liability

Because some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages, in such jurisdictions our liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Legal disputes

About arbitration

Arbitration is a method of dispute resolution that is less formal than a traditional court proceeding. It uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a jury or judge, and the outcome is subject to limited review by courts. An arbitrator may award the same damages and other relief that a court could, including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages, and must follow the terms of the Agreement as a court would. The arbitrator has the sole authority to address all claims or arguments concerning the formation, scope, legality, and enforceability of this arbitration clause, and the arbitrability of any claim or issue between the parties.

You are agreeing to binding arbitration

Any dispute, claim, or controversy between you and Del Mar Admissions (including its members, managers, officers, employees, agents, successors, and assigns) arising from or relating to: (i) the Agreement, including its breach, termination, or validity; (ii) your use of the Site or any Services; or (iii) any services sold or offered by Del Mar Admissions, shall be resolved by binding arbitration, except that: (a) either party may bring a claim in small-claims court for any qualifying dispute within that court’s jurisdictional limits; and (b) either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of proper jurisdiction pending a final decision by the arbitrator.

Jury-trial and class-action waiver

Except as expressly set forth in the Agreement, you and Del Mar each acknowledge and agree that you are waiving the right to a trial by jury and to the litigation of disputes in state or federal courts of general jurisdiction. Any arbitration shall be conducted in our individual capacities only, not as a class, collective, private attorney general, or representative proceeding, and you and Del Mar Admissions expressly waive any right to bring or participate in any such proceeding. The arbitrator may award declaratory or injunctive relief only on an individual basis and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim. Other rights you would have if you went to court — including, without limitation, access to discovery — may be limited or unavailable in arbitration.

Arbitration rules

Any arbitration will be held before a single neutral arbitrator and will be governed by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) Consumer Arbitration Rules and the Consumer Due Process Protocol (collectively, the “AAA Rules”) then in effect, and will be administered by the AAA. To the extent the AAA Rules conflict with the Agreement, the arbitrator shall resolve such conflicts so as to preserve the parties’ mutual obligation to arbitrate claims on an individual basis. The arbitration will be conducted in English.

Governing law and venue

The Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except that the validity, enforceability, and interpretation of the arbitration agreement are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and U.S. federal law. Arbitration proceedings under the AAA Rules shall be filed in San Diego County, California, and any in-person hearings will be conducted in San Diego County, California or at another location mutually agreed by the parties. For any actions not subject to arbitration, you and Del Mar Admissions submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the state courts located in San Diego County, California and the federal courts located in the Southern District of California.

Costs of arbitration

Payment of all reasonable AAA filing, administrative, and arbitrator fees will be in accordance with the AAA Rules.

Confidentiality

Except as may be required by law, neither party nor the arbitrator may disclose the existence, content, or results of any arbitration without the prior written consent of both parties, except as needed to protect or pursue a legal right.

Opting out of arbitration

You may opt out of this agreement to arbitrate by sending a written notice to hello@delmaradmissions.com with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out” within thirty (30) days of the date you first became subject to these Terms. If you opt out in accordance with this section, neither you nor Del Mar Admissions may require the other to arbitrate claims.

Limitation period for claims

You agree that, regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to your use of the Services or the Agreement must be filed within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arose. Some jurisdictions do not allow such limitations; in those jurisdictions, this clause may not apply.

Force majeure

Del Mar Admissions will not be liable to you for any failure or delay in performance under the Agreement when and to the extent such failure or delay is caused by or results from acts or circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of God, fire, flood, earthquake, governmental actions, war or invasion, terrorist threats or acts, protests or civil unrest, public-health emergencies (including pandemics), telecommunications or power outages, labor disputes, and third-party service-provider failures.

General

The Agreement, together with each applicable Engagement Letter, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Del Mar with respect to the Services and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous written or oral communications and agreements on the subject matter. Except as set forth in “Legal disputes,” if any provision of the Agreement is held invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the validity, legality, and enforceability of the remaining provisions will not be affected or impaired. No provision of the Agreement is waived except in a writing signed by the party against whom the waiver is sought. You may not assign the Agreement without our prior written consent; Del Mar Admissions may assign the Agreement to any successor in interest in connection with a corporate transaction.

Contact

For questions about these Terms or your use of the Services:

Del Mar Admissions Consulting LLC
Del Mar, California
hello@delmaradmissions.com