Torrey Pines High graduate Greg Kaplan is one of those rare people who was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school and awarded a scholarship to UC Irvine’s law program.

Experiences on Wall Street and in a law office convinced the former Carmel Valley resident he didn’t want to pursue either profession.

Rather, he turned to a path he already had mastered: how to qualify for admission to prestigious educational institutions.

He wrote a book on the subject, “Earning Admission: Real Strategies for Getting into Highly Selective Colleges” and formed the Kaplan Educational Group. It advises parents and their children on how or achieve their educational and career goals.

“In my third year of law school, that’s when I sat down and wrote ‘Earning Admission’ in eight weeks,” said Kaplan. “I asked myself, ‘What am I really good at? I’m really good at getting into school and I’m really good at getting jobs I don’t like.”

Now, Kaplan has followed up with his second book, “The Journey: How to Prepare Kids for a Competitive and Changing World.”

The recently released 193-page text, published by Health Communications Inc., delves deeper into the process of how students, with the support of parents, should prepare for self-growth and meaningful experiences en route to college, even if it doesn’t result in acceptance to an elite institution.

“‘The Journey’ is my way of trying to make the conversation and the process lead to those outcomes that people want, but also doing it in a healthful, enjoyable way.

“It’s not just about getting kids into the most selective colleges. It’s finding the right fit, making sure it makes financial sense for the family and they’re growing as people and have direction in life.”

Though Kaplan rejected Wall Street as a career, his time there careened him onto the path of becoming a college admissions counselor. Senior bankers, he said, were astounded that he had been admitted to Penn from a public high school background.

“They said, ‘Would you give my kid a pep talk?’” Kaplan recalled. “I said, ‘Sure,’ so that was my ticket out of work two or three nights a week. I was going from brownstone to brownstone in Manhattan and I was explaining to people: This is how you do it.

“You need to get engaged with experiences that show who you are, that you’re growing and you need to take classes that are aligned with your interests, so a student interested in science or math should be excelling in math and science classes. A student interested in, say, writing or English should be doing well in English classes.”

“People said, ‘Gosh you should really write a book about this.”

After escaping from lawyerdom, Kaplan parlayed his knowledge by creating his own company based in Newport Beach — the Kaplan Educatoinal Group, which helps high school seniors and underclassmen strive to reach their educational and career potential.

He also is opening an office in Carmel Valley to better serve students and their families in San Diego County.

“We shouldn’t have a culture where everyone who goes to a Torrey Pines High School or a Canyon Crest Academy is so nervous about what comes next,” Kaplan said. “I believe it’s about 40 percent of private high school students who report being chronically depressed.

“We want to avoid this because it’s not healthy and it doesn’t lead you to better outcomes. We need every student to feel empowered that they’re on their path and they need to do things that make sense for them.”

“The Journey” breaks down the traits that students should develop as they pursue college admissions and eventually careers into three general categories — grit, leadership and passion.

“Admission officers recognize these are the traits that will lead you to using your degree in a useful way upon graduation,” Kaplan said. “That’s what they’re assessing. When they’re evaluating an applicant who is applying out of high school, they’re evaluating their potential to grow in college and beyond.

“What we want to do is to make sure young people are developing these skills that will lead to their fulfillment as adults because that’s what admission officers are looking for — the promise and potential this this young person can add value to the university as a student and an alumnus.”

Each section of “The Journey” addresses what parents and students should do and should not do in developing those traits to have a better chance at getting into colleges and pursuing careers.

Kaplan offers numerous examples from his experiences in counseling of how parents and their children often make unrealistic decisions pusuing educational opportunities because they do not understand what admission officers value.

While many parents want their children to attend Ivy League schools and other highly selective institutions, chances of getting accepted are extremely slim.

“The Ivy Leagues and the Stanfords of the world are rejecting 99 percent of students with perfect test scores on the SAT or ACT,” Kaplan said. “So the question is what should my child be doing to have the best chance of getting in and how do we make this process healthier, knowing how hard it is to get in.

“How can we take the pressure off? The way we do that is by having conversations about schools that help kids achieve their long-term goals. Not everyone can get into Stanford or MIT. But if we can find the schools that offer the same caliber of education and the same opportunities when you graduate, it takes the pressure off of the students.”

Information on Kaplan, his company and books can be found at kaplaneducationalgroup.com.