Without question, engaging Scott was the most valuable educational investment I made to support my…read morechild. It's not cheap, but the outcome is extraordinary. The impact Scott had on my son went well beyond college essay preparation/production. Pre-Scott, my son could barely write a coherent sentence and through the magic of Scott's teaching methodology and in a relatively short timeframe, the improvement was dramatic. The counsel, candid discussions, and direction Scott provided paid huge dividends in the classroom and in daily written communication (emails, texts). My son became a more confident writer and student which of course, carried over to everyday life. As he heads-off to college in the fall (UCLA), I'm forever grateful to Scott for the life-changing role he played in preparing my son for the next chapter and beyond.

**Scott is the BRILLIANT STUDENT WHISPERER!!** We first sought his services years ago, when my son…read moreneeded to improve his scores for admissions applications to independent high schools. Fortunately, my son is quite bright--but he suffers from ADHD and lack of self confidence. Scott immediately bonded with him--he's pretty amazing in his talent for putting kids at ease and finding their strengths--and he set up a super effective study and skills-building test prep schedule for my son. Scott also gave him super smart inside knowledge on how to pace himself, with strategies for both answering multiple choice questions as well as managing testing time constraints. My son improved his scores by 50%!! And my son thinks of Scott as a true friend and mentor, as well--trusting his judgment and sage advice completely. Fast forward, my son is now applying for colleges and that lack of self-confidence has returned. On top of that, he's super stressed out and depressed about the whole process and his ability to get into the colleges he'd aspired to get into, even though his grades and test scores should admit him into some pretty good schools. Again, Scott to the rescue. He helped my son really think deeply and analyze what he wanted out of a college and his future. And Scott knows SOOOOO much about *all* the different colleges and their academic environments, teaching atmospheres, stress levels, and the kinds of students who might succeed there--he is able to give great advice about what might be the best fit for someone, based on their personality and abilities. Scott was able to get my son to step outside of himself and his insecurities, and come up with a plan for his future that he feels confident about pursuing--most of all, a college plan with options that my son truly believes will make him happy. We can't say enough wonderful things about Scott except that we feel blessed and lucky to have him in our lives. THANK YOU, SCOTT!!

My son worked with Alex on his post-graduate schools and doctoral program applications, and working…read morewith Alex made huge difference. He was extremely knowledgeable about the process and easy to access at any time. My son accepted to a fully funded program.I highly recommend Alex if anyone looking for a coach to help with their writing . Thank you Alex!! I m grateful for your dedication and availability

Dr. Blum worked with my son on his college personal statement. Coached him over 5 sessions on how…read moreto organize, edit, transition and finish his statement. What we really appreciated was Dr. Blum did not write or direct the paper. He helped my son through the writing process. Strategies my son will use long past college. Highly recommend his services.

The college counselors are AWFUL. My friend has a 4.0 GPA, valedictorian, and a high score on tbe…read moreSAT, along with solid extracurriculars and 5 leadership positions, but her counselor here only destroyed her confidence and told her that she couldn't even get into a crappy state school with a 50% acceptance rate. The counselor is clearly a snob who's not interested in helping students, only crushing their dreams and telling them to aim lower. I listened to the entire counseling session, and the she was extremely rude and bitter and all around not helpful. She just threw insults at my friend in 100 different ways. Her whole agenda is to instill fear into applicants so they'll pay her more. The counselor was genuinely one of the worst people l've ever met and it's shocking to me that she can feel good about herself. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to name drop, but she had a very pretentious name that started with a D. If this sounds like your counselor, RUN.

Terrible, terrible, terrible! We specifically signed our son up for a money back guarantee program…read morewhich cost more, almost $4000 and our son's score only went up 10 points! They guaranteed a 1400 or we'd get our $ back. When I submitted for the refund, they denied it saying because he submitted a couple of homework assignments out of cadence, it cancelled the guarantee! So hours of classes, prep tests and studying are all negated by submitting some homework late? Oh and he was supposed to go back and refer to the welcome guide to see those details. Again he went up only 10 points from his previous score after we spent almost $ 4,000! RIP OFF do not waste your money!!

I got in contact with Agnes again to have a professional edit my MBA application essays. I cannot…read morerecommend Agnes enough. I have never been a strong writer, and while I had an idea of what I wanted to write about, I was not satisfied with the way in which I had written my essays. Agnes was able to help me convey my ideas in a more compelling manner. Furthermore, Agnes was able to provide advice on what would resonate more with the admissions officers and help me refine my ideas. I was extremely busy in the months leading up to the application deadlines, but Agnes' quick turnaround time allowed me to edit each essay enough times and until I was happy with all of them. After sending an essay back to Agnes for revision, she replied with a date by which she was able to edit my essay by, allowing me to plan ahead. In the end, I was admitted to Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, and Kellogg School of Management. I strongly recommend Agnes to anyone who needs help with their essays.

My son is a high school senior. Agnes did a one-on-one call with me and answered questions via…read moreemail and then did a one-on-one call with my son. Agnes worked with my son on everything from application strategy, timing, resume, essay edits and strategy. She spent time every week catching up with my son and was a true partner. He showed me some of the multiple edits she worked with him. She helped him narrow down his reach/ possible / safety choices (and some new ones) and worked with him on an Early Decision 2 and his regular decisions. My son is smart but has poor organizational skills and timing was never his strong suit. Agnes was great in keeping him on track and making sure he was progressing on time. He and I were happy that he got all his essays done and applications out. My son got into his first choice via ED2 so we were thrilled (unfortunately we had already spent money on regular decision applications but all is good). Would recommend Agnes for any parent looking for a partner for this child.

Great coaching. Structured methodical and patient. The instructors are fantastic worth every…read morepenny.

My daughter works one-on-one with UPUSH tutor Matt Pickup, and we could not be happier with the…read moreexperience. Matt brings deep knowledge, excellent teaching materials, and a highly effective approach to tutoring. He is an exceptionally qualified professional. Thanks to Matt, AP US History has become far more engaging for my daughter, and she showed impressive results from the very first session. Her overall performance in junior year has also improved as a direct result of his guidance. Thank you, Matt, for sharing your expertise with such dedication, passion, and care. We truly appreciate your work and highly recommend your services.

Deceptive and opaque billing practices. Violation of privacy rights. Find a therapist/consultant…read morewith a higher level of integrity.

If I could give ZERO stars I would. After 5yrs of a custody battle the judge referred my "ex" and I…read moreto Jonee Donnelly, as a co-parenting counselor, and a 5 star wonderful one she is. When our 15yr old daughter was caught taking the family car & showed signs of abusing drugs unfortunately rather than face the consequences of her behavior, she accused dad of letting & encouraging her to do those self destructive things and mother seized that opportunity to initiate legal action in family court & the criminal court against Dad. In the midst of the fall out of that chaos, it was recommended that we contact the Bodin Group. I initiated the contact and made the 1st 3way call with mother, Doug Bodin & I. When we asked about his firms role, he explains that they help us choose a safe program that fit the child's needs, because there had been some press about wilderness camps and academies that were abusive to the kids. A few days later according to mother it was no longer necessary to consider sending the rebellious 15yr old away because she had a change of heart & told her therapist that she wanted to put her life back on a healthy path. Fast forward 3mo, Dad gets an email from mother, she & Bodin had unilaterally shipped not only the 15yr old, but also our 13yr old son out of state to "lock down" wilderness camp programs. I never received one phone from Bodin! But then mother was paying the $500/day+ fees for each child's 60 to 90 days wilderness "experience"... for both kids $30,000/month. Shipping your children off to "behavior modification" programs is clearly as much a rich man's game as is a 5yr custody battle to try to remove father from the lives of 5 children. I call Doug Bodin immediately, to ask how could this happen without any involvement from father??? Yes, at the time mother had 100% physical custody, but I was still legally their father! And what had happened to the "turn around" attitude in my daughter in the 3 intervening months? No answer. And where were they... out of state? No answer. Since then I've essentially been told "no retainer fee paid to Bodin, I can't talk to you". It's clear to me that the parent with the $$$'s is the client, not the other parent & not the teenager. How could it be in a teens' best interest to be admitted in such extreme programs and neither Bodin or the institutions selected INSISTing that father be involved w the staff of those institutions, if nothing else than to get a holistic therapeutic assessment? I find out that my daughter is at an "Academy" in Utah, and my son is in South Carolina. I spend a few hours writing an email to "Uinda Academy" where my daughter is and attaching documents which clearly PROVE she was admitted with a one sided perspective from mother that conveniently fits her campaign to remove father from the children's lives. Their reply? "...I have cc'd your requests to [your 'ex"], and she will get a hold of you via the legal system in order to let us know how we can correspond with you...". I replied "...As a parent with joint legal custody of ___, please clarify why your institution's communication with me as her father would be restricted or in any way be less than that afforded to her mother? Given the nature of the facts I have presented you with, and the incorrect assumptions which ___ admission and treatment have been based upon, please clarify why your institution's position would be to do anything other than consider BOTH parents perspective on an equal basis moving forward... I have a time urgent interest and a legal right to be well informed about __ status & well being. I believe access to records, being kept informed of progress & a dialogue with the staff... is the legal right of both mother & I..." Their reply?? "...I am sorry we cannot get into a dialogue yet. I need specific writing from a judge saying we can do that..." Wow!!! My daughter is in not only a "lock down" institution, but a "lock out" one! I started researching these "Academies" and was shocked at what I discovered. The one my son is at thanks to Bodin & my "ex" has a Director that lost their license for "inappropriate sexual conduct with a patient"! This industry is big $$$'s and has a very dark underside, their are support groups for people recovering from having been sent to these progams, there are many children that have died or gone missing, & clearly there is a pattern of manipulative parents in divorces using the system to extract the other parent from a child's life. See for yourself. Do some research before rather than working things out as a family using local resources, defaulting "raising your child" to people you & Bodin really don't know. http://www.facebook.com/notes/stu-carson/signs-of-abusive-teen-treatment-centers-wilderness-program-academies/10151178786951451 http://www.facebook.com/notes/stu-carson/squirm-in-seat-take-a-pill-rebellious-teen-ship-of-to-a-behavioral-modification-/10151182551501451

Chris is an outstanding counselor. He helped me write my essays for UCs and the Common App and…read moresupplementals for schools such as NYU and Columbia. His organization and the information he provides about all of the schools are amazing and reduced the stress of having to research all of the small things for each school I was interested in. The way he guided me to write the essay was efficient and saved me a lot of time as I didn't have to write the same essay for another question that was similar to the last. I was able to finish my essays by August. It was a big relief and the whole process seemed very manageable with his help. His ability to provide fluidity in my writing and his knowledge of college admissions helped me especially because my writing was "impenetrable" or difficult for someone who didn't know me to understand. Besides the support he gave me with essays, he was also very easily accessible and understanding. I had his number and if there was anything that came up in the way of a meeting, I could just text him and I got a response in less than an hour. Any rescheduling of a meeting was simple and caused no trouble. Chris is a very straightforward person and gave me the support and advice I needed to write my essays. He is also pretty funny and a down-to-earth person which helped as meetings didn't come as something I didn't want to do. Chris was a great college counselor and I recommend him as his understanding of the application process and his ability to tutor and write were a great help.

I come from a non-traditional educational background, having gone directly to the US Air Force out…read moreof high school, only to stare down my UC undergraduate applications at the age of 29. Chris helped calm my nerves during the entire process. Chris is patient and has a unique talent of channeling your talents with the best possible outcome. He reassured me that my uniqueness had value. He got me talking about my achievements, made me feel proud, and helped me coalesce my thoughts into an essay that won me acceptance to Cal. In fact, after my acceptance into Cal, the admissions team asked if they could publish my personal statement to help other prospective students. Out of thousands of applications, they remembered mine! I highly recommend Chris for anyone who struggles to put their thoughts to paper for a personal statement. Thanks to Chris, my life trajectory changed in ways I never imagined. Chris has also tutored me in other areas such as Math and Writing. Learning never ends and Chris is unceasingly helpful in all aspects of my life. He is the most incredible writer I have ever met. I also plan on using Chris' services when I enter the work force after college. Meticulously written cover letters, resumes and thank you notes will put you above the rest. Thank you Chris. I am forever grateful.

This review is about Angela Sun's college counselling abilities. Our experience was exactly the…read moreopposite of what's written here and I would give negative stars if I could !! She was an absolute nightmare to deal with and has zero emotional intelligence or tact to deal with young teens !! She preys on parent's weaknesses and has clearly understood parents would do anything for their children as long as she says things like she got admission into MIT, Ivy's and self proclaims that she is the absolute best college consultant who will make your child write the absolute best essays he can ever write !! (I am paraphrasing it but she said something like that to me in our first meeting !). She made it amply clear even before I met for the first time that all she cares about is money and nothing else ! She charged me $300 per hr saying it's "the weekend rate" - whatever that means (although her website only mentions 250 per hr ). She was laser focused on the money in our conversations and showed zero interest in knowing my child before or after the meeting. Her website says parents will get a detailed report within 24 hrs of the first meeting, and we received no such report. The first meeting was a complete disaster. She was so rude (and please don't say she is strict/tough /good etc). No - she was plain rude and not good as a counselor !! My son was so scared of her that after a point stopped answering even basic questions ! She gave as little info as possible in the session and made it laborious by asking my son to type out literally every word that came out of her mouth (all of it was just general info and nothing anyone wouldn't know about college admissions)! Despite all these negative signals, I still tried to go ahead with scheduling a few more sessions, because believe it or not, my son insisted he wanted to try her a bit more before giving up ! I wanted to understand how many sessions my son would need and in her response she had the audacity to say my child was a "non high functioning" kid and hence would probably need many sessions (being vague and open ended of course to milk as much money as possible from me) ! The "genius" in her, inferred all this about my son from just the 1 hr meeting !! Not to brag - Honestly, my child is in a highly specialized gifted track at school and elsewhere and in fact the very reason I was looking for a counselor so early on was to make sure I give him all the advantages possible and guide him using the best counselors ! She quoted a ridiculous number of hours at the rate of $300 per hr and I told her , her website states she will only need 3-4 sessions for coming up with a 4 year plan and her response was "website is outdated " !!! (can you believe that ??) Parents, please be careful when choosing a counselor. Please make sure the counselor has the right emotional intelligence, credentials , experience to deal with your child in this vulnerable yet important stage of their life. Please don't select a counselor based purely on 5 star online reviews or what these counselors say they achieved for themselves. If in your initial interactions you detect the counselor's main focus is money, and not your child or if the counselor is rude, evasive about answering your questions , please take these red flags seriously and run miles away from her/him ! I am very thankful that I was able to detect this problem early on and not expose my child to a horrible 4 year counselling experience !

I agree with S A 's review. Not great at emotional intelligence with teens. I think she's got a…read moremethod and that works for some kids, she isn't into customizing for how the child learns. I am sharing that his score went down a full 100 points after - full 3 months of tutoring with her. Worst yet when we shared this news she never responded to us again.

I highly recommend Alice Chen as a college admissions consultant. We met Alice when my son was in…read more10th grade. When we first met her, we knew she was the right person to help our son with his college application. She planned everything ahead and kept my son on track with all the application processes. She was always creative and shared new ideas from different aspects of the applications. She was tireless in her enthusiasm and generous with her time, especially during the holiday season. She gave my son the most considerable support. The competition is fierce for Asian male engineering students, and she helped my son create the strongest application possible. My son has already been accepted into an Ivy League university and another Top 10 University. She is an outstanding mentor - she works not just on the essay but on developing the potential of each of her students.

I am very grateful to have worked with Alice throughout the college application process!…read more Before I met Alice, I felt very unsure and stressed with deadlines, having gone through many different ideas/drafts for my essays. By asking specific questions and providing prompts for thinking, she helped bring my writing to life. In addition to providing advice/direction, she also always eased my stress and was a pleasure to talk with. With Alice's feedback, I was able present my best self to my colleges, helping me get accepted into my top choice school early.

5 stars for Alex Carlson (math) and Nick Deehan (English)! Both were extremely helpful to my middle…read moreand high schoolers. They are both very friendly and approachable, they answer emails very quickly, and they helped my kids improve their confidence and skills in math and English. They also were very flexible and patient with my constant rescheduling due to sports conflicts. Huge thank you to Nick and Alex!

From my son who is a Senior at Sequoia HS:…read more At first I didn't know if I wanted a college counselor at my mom's request but Ryan exceeded all my expectations and I don't regret a thing. I was lost during the beginning of my senior year and Ryan guided me through everything. Making a college list to start and explaining the college process, the different portals, and of course the supplementals. This was just the start. From working with Ryan I was already able to get comfortable with the college apps process and the timeline which would leave me with the least amount of stress. College apps is a stressful time and experience but he helps you throughout and ensures that you will meet every deadline. On top of all that is his help on your essays. He first helps explain the prompt and brainstorms various ideas with you. He revises and looks over every essay, giving edits and feedback from an experienced perspective. He helps you boost your activities list to make sure it's the best it can be, and it has descriptions that college admission officers will like. I really am glad I had Ryan as my college tutor and only knowing him from the beginning on August, I feel like we got lots of work done through his guidance. Easily 5 stars