Working with the DWC team was a wonderful, reassuring experience. Most notably, they did not suggest I change myself to appeal to colleges and instead ensured that I built upon my preexisting qualities and strengths. Ted thoroughly assessed my personality to guide me in selecting my major and consistently followed up with extracurricular opportunities that catered specifically to my interests. Frona introduced me to excellent schools and prepared a great college list that matched my needs. Liz helped keep me on track of deadlines and boosted my confidence with positive reassurance. My essay coach, Matt, helped me craft a narrative that reflected my personality and explained the "why" behind the activities I pursued in high school. With DWC's guidance, I got into my first choice school early decision! I truly appreciate the personal, customized experience they provided me with, and the support they gave me at every step along the way. read more

My child went to DesignWorlds for College Counseling. We did not get what we needed from DesignWorlds. On one hand my child could have been more focused in their approach to college applications. They needed to be pushed and motivated. On the other hand we paid DesignWorlds a ton of money to help with the process and they were ineffective in this part. Their recommendations for extracurriculars over summer were flaky and unsystematic. Our own research came up with better options. They judged more than they helped. My child did not go with the list of colleges DesignWorlds came up for them. We felt that the student was lowballed with the selection list based on what they had accomplished, their GPA and SAT scores. We are not going with DesignWorlds for our next. Potentially because of our experience we may not go with any counselor. read more

I joined Designworlds during my sophomore year of high school and now I am a freshman studying at UCLA! I have gotten to learn a lot about opportunities and summer programs that I would have never applied for and it has helped me a lot in college. For example, the research program that I joined in summer prior to my senior year has allowed me to gain experience that helped me get to the lab that I am in today. Definitely reach out and set up even a chat to see if it is a fit! read more

As a high schooler I always planned on going to a 4-year college. Academics came relatively easily, and the executive functioning skills necessary for staying on track were not a challenge...until the college application process! Frona did an incredible job of meeting me with enthusiasm, creativity, and suggestions throughout my experience working with her group. She got to know me as a person in order to ensure I was applying to schools that would fit my personality, not just my GPA. I worked with a highly skilled essay coach who helped me fine tune my story--not just a story I was pressured into telling--that I wanted to share with admissions counselors. I ended up at UC Davis after a long year of essay editing, school visiting, and decision making. There truly was no better school for me to have ended up at! The academic rigor, cute college town, and friendly students at UC Davis ended up being a phenomenal fit for me and I have not regretted that choice for one second. The California public college system is highly competitive these days and I'm grateful for the support and advice I received from Frona and her team in order to bolster my impression as applicant and give me the strongest chance possible of acceptance. I'm now pursuing a Master's degree and was shocked to find how many of the tips I had even retained from my undergraduate application process! The lessons I learned about how to put my best (authentic) foot forward has stuck with me and I will always be grateful to the aid I received in high school from Design Worlds. read more

Ted and Frona helped my son not only to get into a good college but also helped him to expose to new activities and events that matched his skills. They opened new possibilities in his areas of interest. The way they tailor the counseling for each student based on their skills, strengths, and weaknesses is unique. We were very happy with the results and will sign up our younger son as soon as he enrolls in high school. read more

I just began my freshman year in college at my dream school. This is all due to the amazing work of the DWC team. From the college search to choosing my school (from a plethora of amazing options) I had support through every step of the process. The essay support and constant checkups allowed me to stay on track during the application process and finish relatively early, with little stress. I 110% recommend working with DWC. read more

I have worked with a number of students who are clients of DesignWorlds for College. Frona goes the extra mile to make sure that her clients are doing what they're supposed to be doing, when they're supposed to be doing it, and all with great care. DWC provides direction, resources, and guidance catered to each client recognizing that one size does not fit all. They seek to understand what makes each student unique and what type of school will be best for that student. They have intimate knowledge of the schools and processes to ensure the most appropriate fit for each student. Frona and Ted are caring, professional, and effective so I highly recommend their services. read more

We had a great experience with DesignWorlds. Frona and her team kept my daughter on track, ensuring all deadlines were met. This organizational help relieved a lot of stress for us. The process was about more than getting into a good college. It was also about my daughter being able to step back from her harried high school schedule, look at her accomplishments and take pride in them. Liz Tadman especially helped her do that, and it was a growth experience for her. My daughter achieved her goal of getting into quite a number of excellent engineering schools and is now extremely happy at Georgia Tech. We're grateful to Frona, Ted and the staff at DesignWorlds for helping her along the journey. read more

As a student of Ted and Frona, I was provided with TONS of great resources and personalized attention. They have lots of different tools to create customized support for every student. read more

Ted and Frona Kahn, and everyone at Designworlds, helped my daughter get into her first choice college, and several other competitive colleges on her list. She needed specialized help since she was a music major dealing with auditions also. Why go it alone? They can help you through the whole process! GG read more

Great start with a good college pre-selection and essay creation / review (Shannah the essay coach was amazing). But the follow up once the batch of application was done was weak and we felt left to ourselves for the final selection and practical follow up. Limited availability, no help finding scholarships and maximizing the award list. This being said, our kid was accepted into the desired schools. It is just that we expected more hand holding and thorough service for $6000. :-( read more

Ever feel like you are part of a production line, or a millworks? Not at this college and career counseling firm! Dr. Ted and Mrs. Frona Kahn treated our two children like unique, special individuals. We contracted with DWC to help our 15 year old daughter find a great internship, and to help our oldest son make the transition from high school to a full-time music student and part-time community college student. We received true caring, concern, undivided attention, and the results were great with both kids. Even now, 6 months later, DWC calls our children to check in with them periodically. If you want individualized attention for your children, and help finding the college that fits them educationally, socially, emotionally, and spiritually, this is the private college counseling firm for you. I highly recommend DesignWorlds for College and Careers. read more

DesignWorlds worked with our daughter and gave her both sound advice and confidence to guide her through the college application process. There was one small misstep during the process, but in the end our daughter ended up in the perfect situation, and we couldn't be more happy. Ted and Frona are delightful, experienced, bright, and resourceful people who were invaluable in helping us all navigate the ever-treacherous sea of college admissions. read more

We are very pleased with the support and guidance that our daughter got at DWC. She got great feedback and suggestions for her essays from DWC's team. Frona gave individualized attention and encouragement and helped her in prioritizing and planning for college. Our daughter got into the desired college.So YaY!!! read more

Mr. and Mrs. Kahn, Andy, and Ann have been amazing. Being a first generation college student, I didn't have parents that could help me through the stressful college application season. My school counselors were too busy making sure that everyone was on track to graduate to help me. There was so much that I didn't know where to start but DWC helped me from the beginning to the end. Mrs. Kahn sat down with me and together we selected the colleges that I would be applying to and Mr. Kahn assisted me in deciding on a major. Andy (the essay coach) spent weeks with me, helping me edit personal statements and scholarship essays. When it was finally time, I clicked "Submit" with pride and confidence. In the fall of 2014, I will be attending UC Berkeley (with a full ride) and none of this could have been possible without the help and support from the DWC staff. They made the college application process straightforward and provided me with lots of resources that got me great results. read more

We used DesignWorlds for both of our children. The best service they provided was the unconditional support and confidence in our kids, which helped them have confidence in themselves when filling out their applications and essays. DWC also taught the kids how to better "market/position" their skills and experiences to create uniquely identifiable college applicants with a point of view. To me, those are life skills, as much as they are college application skills. Last, but certainly not least, high school is incredibly busy these days, and it was very nice to have DWC be the "timeline cops" to help keep the kids on track for key deadlines, so they weren't rushed at the last minute. If you are looking for a team who will care about your kids and want the best for them, I recommend you consider DesignWorlds for College. P.S. Both of our children are incredibly happy with the colleges they accepted; DWC helped them earn scholarships and honors status, more than making up for the cost of their services. read more

DWC has been amazing help in the college search process. They made sure to really understand who I am and what my personal needs are. They focused on giving me the personal attention I needed to find the schools that would suit me best and highlight my strengths in the application. They even went beyond just helping me find the right school, and worked with me to think through potential career paths and connected me with work opportunities to further explore my interests. They provide a wonderful personal touch and a reassuring, calming influence in an otherwise very stressful process. read more

Design Worlds brings not only an intimate knowledge of the fundamentals of the college application process, its employees have a uniquely personal touch that continues to be reassuring throughout the difficult and stressful college application process. It is a comforting fact to know that your application adviser not only knows the admissions officers at your top choice school, but they have helped numerous other students out with their applications. They seem to be there at any time, and got me out of more than one tight spot with an application late into the night. The combination of their personal touch with the wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise makes Design Worlds a unique and extraordinary company which I would thoroughly recommend. -Daniel Goldhaber Harvard '13 read more

The DesignWorlds team made one of the most stressful experiences of high school, positive and supportive. They really understood my son holistically and recommended universities that would be a fit both academically, professionally and socially to allow him to thrive. They were a resource for research and internship opportunities as well. Furthermore, they built up his self-esteem and made him see his self-worth despite the challenging and competitive environment students face to achieve entrance into a top university. Ginger, his essay coach was an absolute gem to work with. She was able to keep him on task and focused on writing compelling essays. He is thrilled with his choice of school. He is thriving at school, received a huge scholarship and most importantly, he is HAPPY. The DesignWorlds team still follows his progress, is invested in his success and continues to send him resources in college. I highly recommend DesignWorlds to help you navigate the college admissions process. read more

DesignWorlds for College is an absolute waste of time and money. They are one of the most expensive services around. We originally thought we will not be needing help but later decided to enroll .Half way into process we discovered it was no value add but adding severe negative pressure for parents and students. Frona came up with a list of colleges that made no sense and was not willing to listen to the student or parents . We preferred if they work well with the student but had to step in since it was not going anywhere . At that stage we gave up and realized that it was a complete, wrong choice on our part and an utter waste of our money and just pulled out despite paying them in full. From then we at least saved several hours of stress and negativity and waste of our time ! We just secured admission for our son in a great school that was never on their list. DesignWorlds would have absolutely misguided us and we would have ended up with the worst possible decision had we listened to them. Please avoid them at all costs!!. read more

We used DWC services for help in getting our daughter to college of her choice, it was a real eye opener to find out what it takes to get a kids into college these days, DWC really made it easy and kept my daughter on track with activities and courses she needed to make it easy to get ready for college admission. DWC is now helping us with our second kid. I recommend them highly. read more

I can't say enough good things about the DWC team. A couple of years ago when I took my son to them, he was in the second semester of his sophomore year and we were very concerned that his GPA was not good enough for him to get into any 4 year schools. Frona and Ted told us that unless he is able to pull up his GPA significantly, his best choice would be to go to a community college, especially because he wanted to study computer science, which they said was extremely competitive. I also wanted him to stay in the west coast, preferably in CA, which further reduced his chances. They also told me that they don't normally take on kids with GPA below 3.5 (weighted). However, they were willing to help us to see if my son could turn things around. And turn around he did. I knew that my son was very smart and hard working and I was determined to find out why this was not reflected in his grades. My communications/interactions with Frona and Ted, helped me figure out the underlying reason behind my son's underperformance in school. He became a straight A student all the way through his Senior year and was able to pull up his GPA significantly through earning all As and taking many AP classes. During all this time the DWC team provided us with guidance on what classes to take (including summer for credit classes) to make him a stronger candidate. They also provided contact info of great tutors for various subjects. When it came time to write college essays and fill out college applications, they were on top of it: sending constant reminders for to-do-tasks, meeting with my son to go over his essays, guiding him through filling out his applications, etc.. They made sure that he completed everything well before the deadlines. In the end, my son was admitted to 10 and waitlisted to 4 universities in computer science (7 of which are in CA and include several UCs, Cal State, and private schools) and received major scholarships from three of the 10 schools. The results speak for themselves. It has been a pleasure working with the DWC team and getting to know them. I hope to work with them again soon for my younger child too. read more

DWC is a brilliant way to approach the college admission process. Frona and Ted Kahn and the rest of the team greatly improve the admissions experience, giving students advice at every turn. They took me through every step of the way; they edited my essays, helped me understand applications, (trust me, sometimes you need it!) and made the process so much more enjoyable. If you're looking for a fast, simple, understandable, and fun way to get through the college admissions process, I fully recommend DesignWorlds as the #1 place to go! read more

DesignWorlds for College helped me navigate my way through the seemingly impossible set of obstcles and mazes put in place by collegeboard. Without their knowledge, guidance and master schedule, I would not have gotten into my first choice college. I probably wouldn't even know it existed. While it may seem overwhelming, their careful planning and preparation make the whole process much easier to deal with. Their work also keeps the stress levels down because they are not your parents nagging yo. These are true professionals who are successful year after year. I could not recommend a better program for finding the right college. Ted and Frona are real people with ideas that are customized for every student. The one size fits all mentality of Collegeboard books and those other programs does not apply to this process. Sign up in the beginning of your junior year and make a huge investment in your future! read more