My daughter joined the Elite Prep San Ramon counseling program during her sophomore year when she first arrived in the States, and it was truly one of the best decisions we ever made. Our counselor, Mr. Yeh, has been there every step of the way. He assisted with managing her school GPA, providing English tutoring, TOEFL test preparation, college selection consulting, coaching for application essays, and interview prep. He constantly kept in touch with us to ensure everything was on track. Thanks to Mr. Yeh's dedicated support, my daughter received an admission offer to an excellent four-year university, rather than a community college as her school counselor had previously suggested. Elite Prep San Ramon is a fantastic place for college counseling, and I highly recommend their services. read more

I originally found Elite Prep San Ramon looking for SAT prep for my senior son -- but honestly, we got so much more than that. Helen Kim and Sam Rim really took the time to counsel us and pointed us in the right direction. They helped us see that focusing on AP courses was going to do more for my son than just chasing SAT scores. Their guidance gave my son the tools he needed to apply to UC schools, and now he's happily finishing out his senior year. You can just tell his confidence has grown so much through this whole process. He's excited and ready for college -- and that means everything as a parent. If you have a kid going through the college prep process, I can't recommend them enough! read more

I personally participated in their SAT prep bootcamp for the March SAT, and all I can say is that it was horrible. To begin all of the practice tests they administered were significantly easier than the real SAT. When taking those, I was regularly scoring 1490s and even 1500s. However, taking the real SAT I got 1430. Only a 10 point improvement from my last one. Second, their classes provided very little prep work. For instance, the math class only reviewed what kids got wrong in the practices, meaning that we were doing zero prep. The English classes used some of the book work (which was significantly easier than the test & resembled the Module 1 questions) and hence did nothing to help me score better. Additionally, I have 3 other friends who used this same program (both the San Ramon and the Fremont centers) and has similar experiences and results. read more

We have used the services of San Ramon Elite Prep for both our children (one of whom is currently in Grad School and the other will be entering college). The friendliness and professionalism extended by the people at the front desk, counselors, all the way to the Director, Mr. Sam Rim, has been nothing but commendable! read more

The SAT program was not helpful and was not accurate practice for the actual test I took. They have outdated exams that did not have concepts we faced on CollegeBoard's real one. The college consulting is also not helpful and I have dropped out because it isn't focused on admissions at all. They give you basic information you can find online through a simple Google search, and just tell you to take an extra hard class or two to raise your GPA. I don't even think the counselor met with non rising seniors at all over the summer and each time I called to get an appointment it would get cancelled or moved. read more

My child participated in the consulting program and private tutoring here, and it was a great choice. The Director carefully reviewed her application profile, supported her in identifying her strengths and areas for improvement, offered complimentary tutoring when needed, and gladly offered extra support whenever she took the initiative and worked hard. The writing tutor guided her through college essays with a clear plan, so she finished on time with confidence. Overall, it was a really supportive experience for her. read more

Did not help me with preparing for college admissions. Wasn't able to use all the credits for the program, even if it went to my younger sister. They will not refund money if credits are left over. read more

My son just finished SAT bootcamp and I echo other reviews. The money is not worth the outdated curriculum and unhelpful program. Their practice tests are outdated, paper versions of the now digital SAT. For the mock practice tests students were told to google and use a random PDF off the internet instead of utilizing Collegeboard's exact SAT format with Bluebook software. My son also is not able to see any test results like missed questions through the Elite portal which does not help considering we are still preparing for the real test. I expected a better curriculum for the price I paid and a program that would actually prepare him considering the importance of good scores. read more

Do not waste your money! New director or assistant director in charge of their programs it seems since this year's summer offerings are a mess compared to previously, where it was streamlined and well managed. No guidance, incorrect and misleading communication, and what you pay for is not what you get. My student's class has been cancelled, teachers have quit, and everyday they are thrown into a new class with a new teacher and no consistency because class numbers are too low to keep it running. The people in charge don't know what to do when asked about last minute changes and parents are expected to just roll with it or drop out. Constant rotation of front desk but they seem to try their best. Their curriculum seems alright, I hope it is just this location. read more

Don't go there if you don't have to！In this day and age, this is one of the rare companies that do NOT allow you to drop a class if your kid doesn't find the class helpful. They're quick in charging you the full fee, but when my kid took 1 class and found the class being not so helpful, they will drag along and never provide refund, not even on pro rata basis. The school manager Tim verbally agreed on refund, but that was just a gimick to put you away, they never refunded, and would not answer email queries from me. I ended up wasting a thousand buck, money is not a big deal, but the feeling and the experience is awful. read more

Pretty good materials and prep for the SAT. The contents and the practices were very effective . That really helped my son score good in SAT read more

My daughter took Elite SAT prep. the instructors were mediocre to awful. The published scores really seem to depend on the diligence, sweat, and tears of the student themselves rather than the course itself. There is essentially zero one on one help. I would spend your money elsewhere. read more

The truth is everyone has a different experience but for me, personally, Elite was not useful in any way. Honestly, the best prep is truly the prep from the original test makers which in this case is the one and only CollegeBoard. They have a series of 8 practice tests which are super super helpful and if you take the SAT you can get QAS (Question and Answer Service) and study yourself. Trust me -- you won't need any books since you can just print out these tests. The only book you may need is Meltzer Grammar for SAT. I got a 1520 on my SAT (720 Eng, 800 Math) and I did that by studying by myself and to be honest, I didn't study too hard. Stay away from books that make things overly confusing and in that case, Elite. It's just useless. What Elite should be doing is giving more practice tests per week (maybe one on Monday and one on Friday) and then reviewing any mistakes on those for everyone and not flat out teaching Math or English for example because that won't work no matter how many times you attempt to teach it. Teach TO THE TEST and not to the subject because kids are trying to get high SAT scores and not PhD's in this subject. Also, I found staff to be pretty rude. read more

We have sent my daughter to Elite programs! The customer service before hand was friendly and personalized. Front desk are super knowledgeable and helpful. I was always impressed that when I called they immediately knew who I was, who my daughter was and what she is attending. All of my little requests were handled in a prompt and professional manner. I have not had that experience with any other institutions. Director Mr. Sam Rim and Mrs. Irene Gullapalli is very helpful and knowledgeable to advice whatever you have questions. Mr. Sam service is excellent and highly appreciate able about personal attachment with student commitments and engagements! All the faculty there are very dedicated in what they are doing, and are always there to help with anything! I am very happy with Elite's service, and recommend this place to everyone! read more

Do yourself a favor and buy a Barron's SAT book and self-study. Their curriculum is useless, not to mention over-priced. read more

I can definitively say that attending Elite in San Ramon was the best choice I made for myself to get my college application ready for top tier Ivies and UCs. I attended Elite for their SAT Bootcamp and was taught by Alex, who was very talented and had a collection of literally dozens of previously officially administered SAT exams (straight from College Board) and many Elite-made exams which, on top of his help going over solutions and tips to improve, boosted my score about 150 points from the low 1400s. I could give Elite 5 stars for their stellar SAT prep service alone, but I also bought 5 or so hours of essay coaching, and, with the help of Meredith, one of their essay coaches who helped me remotely, we crafted some college essays that I can say single-handedly got me into the school of my dreams. Thank you to Sam, Alex, and Meredith! I recommend Elite to anyone who wants help putting their best foot forward in the college admissions game. read more

We are content with the SAT Prep and the confidence they built in our student/child. Both my children went to Elite for SAT prep. My son did very well. My daughter just took the SAT test. read more

My daughter took ACT summer boot camp here and we are really happy with Elite San Ramon. We tried Excel test prep last year but disappointed with services. At Elite, all the staff members are ready to help and well prepared for any questions. Special thanks to branch director Mr. Sam Rim for giving suggestions on course selection and other help we asked. Also they communicate with parents & kids very well. We highly recommend this Test prep location. read more

Elite is a great tutoring center to go to. The accelerated courses that it offers are very rigorous, and were the classes that my daughter enrolled in. It was definitely a change in pace from the self-studying that she had done previously for her SAT. The mock tests that are administered are known to be more difficult than the actual tests. This temporarily ups the pressure on the student, but the end results are well worth it. Elite is a bit pricey, but if you can afford it and your child is driven and motivated (and willing to do lots of work), then the results will definitely show. read more

This educational center helped me tremendously in preparing for the SAT and the instructors were easy to approach and truly cared about my progress. Elite enabled me to develop a much stronger prose style in writing and greatly improved my reading comprehension skills as well. These skills have also helped me become more successful in my high school classes and because of this, I'm truly grateful for going through Elite's test prep program. read more

I thought my summer was going to be hell, but doing boot camp was super fun. The teachers are fun and it was definitely worth it.

Unqualified, young test proxy people who simply go over practice test after test. This can be done at home with a test book or with tests downloaded from the internet. read more

Elite has provided my daughter with really good preparation for AP testing, SAT Subject tests, as well as the ACT. Her scores have improved drastically from when she started, and she owes a lot of her success to them. They have various programs that all require a lot of hard work, but it ends up paying off at the end. The teachers at Elite are very qualified and help the students immensely in preparing for the real test. Elite gives students a lot of practice tests in which they can find their weaknesses and improve from there, as well as get used to the test so that they aren't surprised by anything that is given to them. Overall, I really recommend Elite to anyone who's looking to improve their scores. read more

The lessons are really repetitive and although may help is not guaranteed to raise your score significantly. Although elite may help train you for the SAT, paying $2500 as a catalyst for studying is not worth it. But if you have money to spend or just want your child to have something to do for the summer, elite may be for you. read more