When I found Julia, I was in complete despair. College application deadlines were around the…read morecorner, and my daughter hadn't even started the process. All of her UC prompts were just ideas at that point. Our first meeting with Julia was a long conversation, during which she helped extract a full list of extracurricular activities and developed ideas for the essays, personal statement, and Common App essay. Over the following weeks, I watched each essay come together and be finalized one by one. She created a list of schools and a structured calendar that kept my daughter on track. I'm happy to say this was the best investment we could have made. My daughter was accepted to UC Berkeley and several other colleges. The peace of mind I had knowing Julia was managing the college application process was priceless. She is knowledgeable and competent, and she brings so much compassion to her work. There were many times when I felt overwhelmed, and she was always able to calm me down. I only have one regret--not using her services for my oldest son during his college application journey. I am confident that Julia will continue to be a valuable part of my children's educational journeys, whether it's navigating college course enrollment, updating resumes and LinkedIn profiles, or applying to graduate school.

Joanne is the most amazing Career Counselor ever. She really helped me develop my skills and my…read moreresume to allow me to obtain my dream career. I researched so many other career counselors and I found her on Yelp. I even referred her to many different family and friends and she went above and beyond to help them as well. She was such a pleasure to work with. Her customer service, attention to detail, and professionalism were outstanding. 10/10 stars would recommend!!

We are extremely grateful for the support this college counseling company provided our family…read morethroughout my daughter's high school. The process of preparing for college applications was overwhelming, but the guidance we received made all the difference. Felicia, who worked directly with my daughter, was outstanding, supportive, knowledgeable, and always encouraging. She helped keep everything organized and made sure my daughter felt confident every step of the way. She was always there for my daughter when she needed her. Justin, the owner, has clearly built a wonderful program that truly supports students and families. We're thrilled that my daughter was accepted into the university she had been hoping for, and we're very thankful for their role in helping make that happen. Very Highly recommend.

My student sat for practice tests in AP Chem and AP Calc AB with Premier Prep. Justin was friendly,…read morehelpful, and very responsive.

We are very grateful to have met Kathryn 4 years ago when our oldest son was going through the…read morecollege process. She was extremely knowledgeable, patient, diligent and insightful. She helped guide him to choose the best fit school. Our 2nd son is now in the process and even though they are very different kids, she has been a perfect match for him. She understands the essence of a high school student and focuses on finding the best school-taking into account the social, academic and well being of the student. We highly recommend working with her!

I wish I could write a review of how their services were, but after two emails - crickets. Maybe…read morethey're great? Maybe they're not. Who knows because no one got back to me. I emailed the first time and just assumed it got lost, or fell through the cracks. Emailed the second time and it very clearly states that someone will get back to you within 24 hours. Nothing. Yes, I checked my spam. If there is one thing I will not tolerate it's a business who acts like your business isn't important and doesn't reply. Maybe they don't need the business, maybe they're too busy, but it's unacceptable to not respond back.

I worked with Julian very closely while I was applying for colleges. He was a tremendous help and…read morewas always so meticulous and thorough when it came to essay revisions. As a first generation student, he helped ease a lot of my anxiety surrounding the college application process. I applied to six different colleges and got acceptances to all of them and that would not have been possible without Julian!

Was extremely pleased with Great Expectations. Worked with Julian Hoffman on my college…read moreapplications; he was polite, patient, and very involved in the entire process. Wonderful guy, and I probably wouldn't have gotten my essays done if not for him. Julian was a pleasure to work with, put time and effort into his edits and advice, and was generally really fun to talk to. He helped me find the brainstorm, worked with me through the rough drafts, and even helped me with the post-submission work. Got into every target school, and will be attending UCLA in the fall. Thank you Julian, would definitely recommend you to anyone!

Because admissions consultants represent such a significant investment, I wanted to make sure I…read moreworked with a consultant who'd have a night-and-day impact on my Kellogg application. But, it was challenging to evaluate that before committing to move forward with one firm. I'm sharing this review of Beth because she was exactly what I was looking for. In my admissions call, the admissions officer told me one of my application reviewers said they were hard-pressed to find anything wrong with my application. Beth made a significant impact on my application in two ways: (1) In all areas of the application, especially the essays, she maximized the portion of content that Kellogg admissions officers care about. Before working with Beth, I had iterated my essays several times and thought they were in a decent spot. After she reviewed, it turned out only a small fraction was content Kellogg admissions officers actually care about. We worked together to maximize the portion of the content admissions officers care about and pared down the rest. (2) While I had a high-level idea of what a good application looked like, I didn't have a crystal clear picture, and as a consequence, I found I would iterate on application components much more than necessary because I wanted to be sure they were as good as possible. Beth let me know when each one was in a good state so I could focus my time effectively, and that allowed me to put adequate effort into every portion of the application. There's nothing magic in those two items, which is why I recommend her so highly: I'm confident that her impact on my application is repeatable with any application. I could tell in working with her that she's evaluated thousands of Kellogg applications, and that makes her uniquely suited to advise in those two areas.

I'm so thankful that I chose to work with the SBC team, and particularly Amy Hazen, my consultant…read more The MBA admissions process is grueling, and I knew that I needed a partner who would guide me through the journey with patience, understanding, and expertise. The SBC team works together to create a holistic experience. Bill took the time to understand my goals before pairing me with a consultant. Amy spent countless hours with me understanding what made me tick and helping me translate that into an application. Beth flight tested my application and made sure that there weren't any glaring holes, and Anthony helped me prep for my Wharton Team Based Discussion. By far the most valuable part of this process was having Amy by my side. No question was too trivial for her, and she had limitless patience with me as I obsessed over every detail of my application. Amy's most valuable contribution, however, was her ability to help me focus on the RIGHT details. It is easy to lose sight of what you are building as you write the applications from the ground up, and it can be particularly challenging not to write applications based on what you THINK the AdComms WANT to hear. Amy encouraged me to embrace my authentic voice, and ensured that I was telling a story that highlighted who I am as a human. Thanks to Amy and the SBC team I was admitted to FIVE MBA programs: GSB, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, and Stern (with a full ride).

My daughter really benefited from this place! She has prepared her college essays , and was treated…read morewith kindness and hospitality. The teachers helpful towards her, fixing her mistakes and making sure that she writes nice essays to successfully apply to colleges. Thank you!

The right teachers can make all the difference. My daughter took private SAT tutoring from Iris…read more(math) and Aatif (reading), who helped my daughter achieve her target score. The teachers had a custom curriculum for my daughter based on her past test score and focused on areas that needed improvement. The strategy worked, and now my daughter is looking forward to applying to colleges with confidence. Look no further for SAT help. This place will get the job done.

After taking the GRE for the first time and not scoring to the level that I was looking for, I was…read morerecommended by a close friend to seek a private tutor through Twainstein. This could not have been a better choice, as working with Avi Lidgi proved to be what I needed to take the next step in improving my score. After working with Avi for three sessions (three weeks), I was able to improve my GRE score by 13 points (V158 Q159 to V166 Q164) into the 90th%s. While the resources and study materials were certainly useful, Avi's expertise on GRE-style questions and strategy for approaching these questions were invaluable in improving my score beyond what I could have done myself in this short period of time. Many of the questions that I considered highly difficult became simplified and approachable under his tutelage. During the test, this saved me many precious minutes to check my logical reasoning in both the verbal and quantitative sections. As such, I highly recommend Twainstein to any individuals or groups seeking improvement in their GRE test scores. The test is an excellent opportunity to anyone seeking to advance their education, and this test preparation organization offers an exciting way to achieve even greater success.

TLDR; Twainstein was quite possibly one of my greatest finds on Yelp. Highly recommend for GRE…read moretutor services. Money well spent. Over the past year I decided to pursue a career change that would require taking the GRE (/ hiring a tutor) and getting accepted to grad school. Being budget conscious, the first thing I noticed was that Twainstein's services weren't cheap, in fact they were wayyy out of my price range. However after doing some research, reading some reviews, having a pressure-free consult with Avi, and deciding that the best investment I could make was in my education, I made the leap. Best. Decision. Ever. Over the course of a month and half, Avi and I worked together to improve my confidence and test-taking strategy/abilities (Dare I say i'm no longer afraid of fractions?). He was patient, observant and tailored our sessions to my needs. I put in a lot of effort inside and outside of our sessions, and he did the same for me. I also really appreciated his routine checkins, his availability, speedy email responses, and his comprehensive approach to the exam. If you are slow to learn, have a LD like myself, or just lack the confidence, please don't let that deter you from taking the exam! You can achieve your goal score like I did with hard work and proper guidance, which is why I highly recommend Avi and his team.

After working with Margret for a few weeks, I saw my SAT score improve by 50 points, achieving a…read morescore I was satisfied with. The strategies and skills I learned were invaluable to my progress and were unlike those I had encountered with prior tutors. She was always readily available to meet and had every type of practice problem imaginable. If you're aiming for a score in the 1500s, I would highly recommend her!

My son's goal in working with Margaret was to improve his understanding of and comfort with SAT…read moretest taking strategies. His experience has far exceeded expectations in every way. Margaret is not only very easy to talk to, and endlessly patient (and funny!), she is remarkably well organized and on task leading up to, during and after each session. He has learned so much from her, and has even noticed how the analytical skills he's practicing carry over into other aspects of his academics. We cannot recommend her highly enough. She is a gem and worth every penny she charges.

Yvette is incredible and has honestly changed my son's future. She is immensely helpful in terms of…read morewhat needs to happen and when. We did not realize what we did not know when we started working with Yvette! She is knowledgable and great about checking in and keeping us on track. She is cheerful and encouraging. There is so much that is not common knowledge in terms of where to apply and when and Yvette walked us through all of that. She was eye opening in terms of school costs too. We had so many more options than we thought. There is much more than meets the eye in this process and I am eternally grateful that we found Yvette. I cannot recommend her services more highly. Without a doubt, she has changed my son's trajectory!

As a high school teacher, I can appreciate someone who's passionate is to help students. Yvette…read moreputs careful thought and planning when it comes to students in higher education. One cannot add up all the little things she does for her clients. All of her student clients are very lucky to have someone like her on their side.

Hiring a professional college counselor-separate from the ones available at the high school our son…read morewent to - was one of the smartest decisions ever. I did not expect the in house counselors who were very busy with an entire grade to really focus on one kid and it did feel like they had the school's best intentions as their priority; seeming to balancep percentages to certain schools and pushing the path of least resistance.. Our son came into this stressful process by word of mouth and the things he read, which seemed to be very much about the social atmosphere of various schools, which is important but there was a lot more to consider. Being 16+ he was bullheaded and as his parent I know nothing. Of course. So I interviewed a bunch of professionals. Catie was down to earth and knew so much about dozens of schools that I thought she was the best! After our first meeting I trusted her to work alone with our son so he would be free to really dig deep on what he wanted for himself. She helped him sort through his thinking about the college experience itself so social life would be in alignment with what he wanted educationally (small vs large college for example). By working alone together - and not me butting in and micromanaging - it empowered my son to really think more globally and realistically. (read: he couldn't blame me for anything LOL). Second best decision! Catie worked with our son to help him choose schools and organize his thinking around those choices - realistically. She managed expectations from the start then geared the applications around those schools, including the essays. She has a deep understanding for the process at each school so nothing is wasted. Then she assisted in every aspect of the process and went over the acceptance and declined results with him/us (I wasn't invisible) as they came in. Our son is thriving as a Junior in the University of Michigan- (double major computer science and economics)- his first pick. Go Blue. Chase College Counseling is Realistic, professional and worth every penny!

Catie Chase did a wonderful job supporting our family thought the college application process. She…read moreis encouraging, thoughtful, calm and organized. She minimized the stress that can come with the process and instead made everyone feel good about the work being done and the path down which we went. She deftly matched her support to our needs and was a real pleasure with which to work. I recommend her unequivocally.