What can I say about Barbara--she is terrific. She did exactly what she outlined to us when we…read morebooked her package deal in the late fall of my daughter's junior year. The deal was worth every penny. We are so grateful to have had Barbara to lean on through the college admissions process. She helped my daughter identify areas of interest and then guided her through the development of a college list based on those interests. She promised that our daughter would be done with all of her applications by Thanksgiving and she was. We didn't have to nag one bit. Barbara kept her on track and really educated her on the process. Thank you, Barbara, for making this process completely stress-free for all of us. We'll be calling on you again next year when our next one is ready to start the process.

Barbara is stellar at what she does. I got the essay package to help my daughter for college…read moreapplications and the process was smooth, efficient and stress-free, even during covid times. All sessions were seamlessly delivered via zoom in a timely manner. My daughter loved working with Barbara and was looking forward to all her sessions. Barbara helped masterfully discover what will help my daughter's application shine with her creative and knowledgeable brainstorming. She helped my daughter write better essays by instilling the confidence in her and with her guidance, the end product was great. We can stand tall knowing that my daughter's essays will best support her application and give her the best chance in getting into her dream schools.

I had an amazing experience working with Gourdy. He helped raise my ACT score a ton and was super…read morehelpful with all my college essays, from private schools to UCs. He really knows what he's doing and made the whole process way less stressful. He was also a big reason I got into UC Berkeley, which I'm super grateful for. On top of that, he's really knowledgeable but also funny, so sessions never felt boring. Definitely recommend if you want someone who actually makes a difference.

Gordy is an exceptional college counselor! He kept my son on tack and met all the deadlines even…read morewhen we had limited time. He was encouraging and used virtual services effectively. I also liked how he created google folders and made the whole process of essays and tasks easy and even fun! I would highly recommend Gordy!

If you have a high schooler who will be applying to college, definitely seek out Kathy, especially…read moreif your child aspires to Ivies, Stanford, UCLA and other top schools. Definitely call early, best to start with her freshman or sophomore year so you're not scrambling come senior year. I had two daughters who were recruited athletes and Kathy helped them tell their stories, and they ended up at their first choice schools (Yale and Stanford). Your journey may be different but Kathy did fabulous work for us.

Professional, knowledgeable, and super helpful for admission to selective colleges. Thank you,…read moreKathy!

Eda Chen is a true professional and an expert at her craft. I've had a working relationship with…read moreher over the past decade + and she has never failed to help me in times of professional need. Her life coaching and career advising services are second to none. Thanks to her guidance and resume fixing I've secured desired jobs and advanced professionally. Would highly recommend and I'm forever in her debt.

I recently retired and needed to update my resume after 27 years for a part time job. Contacted…read moreElan Advertising and worked with Eda. She was awesome to work with as she spent time with me to learn about me to develop a new resume. Eda is very easy to work with and extremely helpful. Would recommend her services!

Stacy has been working with my daughter for 2 years. She's now off to college. Stacy is extremely…read moreknowledgeable with the college process! She really gets to know her students to give them proper insight for colleges that would be the best fit. Stacy has a positive energy and a great sense of humor which relates well with teenagers! She made the stressful college process more enjoyable!

It was wonderful and so reassuring to work with Ms. Colwell! She put together a great list of…read moreschools that were just right for our son, and so far, he has not received a single rejection! The whole experience has been so much easier than the nightmare stories I have read and heard from fellow parents! The key is knowing and finding schools that are the right fit for your child, and Ms. Colwell is passionate about that, and introduced us to some thoughtful and great programs- perfect for our son! I highly recommend working with her, listening carefully to her advice and watching the good news roll in! So grateful for her help! Mom of very happy senior in High School

I loved working with Emily. I found her through Sage Educators in Mill Vally and was so glad that I…read moreworked with her over other counselors. I had friends who worked with other counselors who were discouraged about the schools they were applying to and Emily was always very supportive of me while still being realistic about what I should be looking for. Emily met with me personally, helped me fill out applications, reviewed my essays and even gave me a binder (and google doc) of my daily schedule for applying to schools. I couldn't recommend anyone else. I am currently a student at Chapman University (my top choice of colleges) and owe it to Emily!!

I highly recommend Emily. I chose Emily on my own searching on yelp for a counselor when I realized…read moremy school counselors weren't very helpful. Emily showed me a lot of schools that I didn't know much about and I ended up applying to most of them. The net result couldn't have been better, now I am in a top-tier school in my subject (tied with brown and yale on CS rankings) and I have to thank her for that. She has the power to change lives! :)

The interview over the phone was fantastic. Her credentials are amazing. The plus is she refunded…read more$550 of the $1450 (first payment of 3). She did have a visit at our house, and multiple emails. During our interview (my initial call to her) I explained in detail why I wanted to hire a college counselor. I needed someone who would follow up, and follow through, with my child. I wanted to step away from that part of searching for schools. CONS: *Maria would send emails, but not follow up. He wouldn't respond. I wrote her saying that my son is much better through direct contact, not email. I asked if she would follow up. She said, "I cannot make him read emails." *Maria didn't know much about the CA State system. We visited Cal Poly and realized that we had been given incorrect info. *She asked the same things about volunteering, hobbies, and school size over and over, even though my child gave her the information. *when she came to our house, her file seemed like it was for a totally different student. She had med/large school (he checked off small). She asked about volunteering (we had already told her he had 100s of volunteer hours). After she left, my child no longer wanted to work with her. *Before asking for money back, I asked for an SAT tutor in the area. She didn't have a recommendation. *THE BIGGEST CON: while working with Maria, my son put ZERO colleges on his list. So, for $900, this was not a good result. We finally went to his school counselor and had a zoom meeting. She scheduled another zoom 2 weeks later, and sent my child a few bullet points in an email for him to work on before the next meeting. He had 2 colleges by the next meeting. More colleges in 2 weeks, than a few months before. I highly recommend speaking with your school counselor before hiring someone. We found out that he will get into his first 3 choices (one being Cal Poly). This was by going directly through Cal Poly's site to see how they weigh college courses. The grades average into the GPA for required courses. Great if your school doesn't have AP. His high school counselor guided him through in a handful of meetings.

From the owner: Helping Students find the best fit colleges where they will be happy and succeed…read more Work with students to create strong, differentiating college applications and essays. Specializing in top tier East Coast colleges. By appointment only.

I just recently graduated from Emory University, and upon finishing my time in undergrad, I found…read moremyself looking back and reflecting on my college application process. I am the eldest in my family, and a first-generation American, so my family and I were unseasoned and largely out of our comfort zone when the time came to begin applying to universities. I found Zach through Insight, and he was a tremendous help to me, offering up suggestions about colleges I may be interested in applying to, prepping me for college tours and visits, editing my personal statements and supplemental essays, and offering me any guidance or support I needed throughout the long process. While I was a bit shy and lacking in confidence, Zach saw my strengths and potential, and constantly motivated me to challenge myself, ensuring that my applications reflected my best attributes. With Zach as my counselor, I never once felt stressed or overwhelmed about writing my applications, as Zach planned out deadlines for all components of my applications, ensuring that I would have everything in on time. Zach's genuine concern for my well-being and future was palpable throughout the application process, and after being accepted into Emory, my top choice school, Zach continued to be supportive of my aspirations. He was always more than happy to answer any questions I had about college and the future beyond. I highly recommend Zach not only as a college counselor, but also as a trusted mentor. His help was, and continues to be, an invaluable resource for me and my family!

Review from my son: Zach Pava played a major role in my…read morecollege admissions process. Not only was his college essay feedback on 15+ essays extremely insightful, I felt that the manner in which he set up a schedule with deadlines and tasks was more helpful. He always kept in touch, especially during October and November, and always responded promptly. Zach set up mock interviews for me with other Insight counselors to practice for college admissions interviews, which did not count against my counseling hours! Also, the fact that Zach primarily worked over Skype was actually more convenient, since I did not have drive to the Cupertino office all the time for the counseling; instead, I could just do it over Skype in my room.

David and College Match were great to work with. David was a critical part of the college…read moreapplication process for my two children, now undergraduates at UC Berkeley and UCLA. His style of working with high school students is very easy-going and patient, asking inquisitive questions to help them identify their own approach and highlights throughout the complicated and intense application process. We started with David a bit late with our first child, but David quickly helped him catch-up and stay organized. With our second, we were able to involve David earlier in the process which helped space out the work better. He and his team were equally responsive and timely with their support. Thank you David!

My stepdaughter Catalina began her search & application process for graduate schools relatively…read morelate in the process, with just a few weeks before the deadline. Right off the bat, David was very accommodating with his time. From the initial consultation, I could tell that David was very skilled at determining her strengths & weaknesses & how they fit into various graduate MBA programs. He quickly got an intrinsic understanding of ''who she is'' & was able to devise an action plan to highlight her strengths for her school of choice. Based on a couple initial conversations we had, he generated a terrific list of core values which helped drive the rest of the process. Just to be safe, I shopped around a bit and found that David's fees were very favorable compared to some of the other well-known admissions strategists around the country, in some cases less than half as much. So we decided to stick with David. David would promptly answer our questions & provided strong recommendations for my daughter on how to articulate herself in the both the application and essay. He was always available either by phone or email and always made us feel like his top priority when we needed his assistance. I have to recognize that we called him perhaps much more than we should have, but he took it all in stride and was extremely accommodating, reassuring, patient and attentive. He was also excellent in researching the most recent admission trends for her top choice university so we could appropriately strategize the application and pitch her strengths in a way that helped turn the tables on the college admissions process. I would highly recommend David if you are looking for an expert in the graduate admissions process. He's worth every penny. - TT (stepdaughter), admitted to Stanford MBA