As a student from a small town in Italy with very limited access to information about U.S. college…read moreapplications, finding guidance was challenging. Luckily, a friend introduced me virtually to Dan Zhou, the founder and CEO of ReadyEdgeGo, and my experience since then has been nothing short of incredible. Dan has been incredibly generous, kind, and supportive throughout the entire process, offering his help completely free of charge. During our conversations, we explored not only my academic achievements but also who I am as a person. He helped me craft meaningful blurbs describing pivotal moments in my life, which greatly enriched my application. Thanks to his expert guidance, my college essay is shaping up beautifully; without ReadyEdgeGo's support, I honestly think it would have been a complete mess. Now, as an incoming high school senior preparing to apply this fall, I feel confident and well-prepared to face the college admissions journey. I wholeheartedly recommend ReadyEdgeGo to anyone looking for compassionate, personalized, and expert college counseling. This is definitely a 5/5 stars service!

East or West, Dan is the best ! ReadyEdgeGo is fresh air in today's competitive world of college…read morecounselling and mentorship. Instead of focussing on the process and ends goals, they focus on the big picture motivating kids to reach their full potential. They have multiple programs that are custom fitted for your specific needs. The counsellors are compassionate, experienced and super helpful. Dan has all the elements that help him easily connect with students from any spectrum - I would highly recommend his team to all parents. Dan does this from his heart and I can vouch for it !

Mary Grace helped me a lot with my application for the graduate program last year. At the beginning…read moreof application, I was very nervous because I was not familiar with the application process. Mary Grace gave me a clear application schedule to enrich my experience and prepare my application materials. Also, she helped me do mock interviews to make me feel more confident in my real interviews. Mary Grace was very patient to help me go over my personal statements and correct my mistakes. I highly recommend Mary Grace because she can provide great support and valuable suggestions for job or work applications.

Ms. Gardner has an intimate grasp on why college essay apps can be so challenging and daunting and…read moreshe explains so well how to overcome those hurdles. She will work with you to explore any ideas you have and help you flesh them out. If you are overwhelmed by the college application process, don't stress! Use her expertise to help you get into your dream school!

My experience with Elite Prep has been nothing short of the best! One person who has been…read moreconstantly helping me throughout my time here is Jesse Kwon. When I first met with him after taking a diagnostic SAT, he walked me through the different SAT summer camp options, and told me what he thought would be best for me based off of my score and specific question types I initially missed. I left that meeting with a clear understanding what needed to be done over the summer in order for me to succeed. I enrolled in the SAT intensive bootcamp and improved my score by 120 points thanks to the amazing educators at this institution. I genuinely could not have achieved this without their help. The classes are incredibly engaging, and I learned so many strategies that I can apply to daily academic habits beyond the SAT. Since then, I have been actively participating in tutoring lessons with Jesse for precalculus. He's really good at breaking down math into understandable concepts, and that's what truly helped me build confidence in order to succeed in school. I highly recommend Elite Prep Fremont to any students looking to improve their SAT scores in a welcoming environment, or anyone in need of private tutoring.

I am extremely happy with my experience at Elite Educational Institute, and especially my guidance…read morecounselor and advisor,Jesse Kwon. As I prepare to make a transition to college, I can look back and understand how much of a contribution Elite and Jesse, in particular, have had in creating opportunities for me. My journey with Elite started in the early part of my freshman year at high school. Like most Asian families, my parents and I went to meet Jesse for the first time with ideas that only included lofty college brands, perfect GPAs and the most impacted majors. It took Jesse only one meeting to make me understand that I can do myself the best service by focusing on my studies with right time management, practice, doing due diligence to all my work, and asking for help whenever needed. During every college counseling meeting, Jesse always encouraged me, and even during times when my grades had dropped, he kept my spirits high. These four years, Jesse worked with our family like a team, providing valuable information, setting up course plans, summer programs, extra-curriculars, and helping me to maintain my school track records in spreadsheets. His dedication to help his students is exemplary. He is so invested in helping his students that he always loses track of time unless reminded by the front desk. I am also pleasantly surprised by the amount of patience he has as he will answer all questions (and sometimes my parents had a lot) without being dismissive. When it came time for college applications, I don't think I could have done so well without the help from Elite. Jesse took all the time to review and shortlist my Activities list, Awards and Honors, and of course my essays. I worked with Jesse through multiple rounds of reviewing before he gave me the greenlight. He also reviewed my entire application to make sure there were no errors. I cannot express the amount of work that I got to put with the Elite team to make my college application really strong. Even with a few blemishes in my grades, I still got admitted to 16 excellent universities, of which 6 were UCs. I got into both computer science and data science. In the end, it was a bit of a challenge to decide, but I am going to UC Berkeley. Without a doubt, my parents and the Elite team have immensely helped me through this phase. This may seem a bit out of order, but I wanted to cover my college application experience and the final outcome first. But I think my review will be incomplete if I don't mention Jesse as a tutor. Jesse was my math tutor in 10th and 11th grade. My school, Irvington High School, has a reputation of being intense at math. Apart from being a really excellent math tutor, I have always wondered how Jesse never gets stumped by any super difficult math problem. Last but not least, I am really thankful to the entire Elite team that I got the opportunity to work with. Chelsea was so much on top of everything giving me reminders if I am falling behind on any for-credit course. She is so well organized and really helped me to stay on track on a number of occasions. I worked with Joon as my essay coach, and he is definitely an expert of essay writing. It is difficult to satisfy him with the essay, but in the end when it all takes shape, you can only see how valuable his critique was. In the end, I became a much better writer.

Ms. Wong was instrumental in guiding my daughter throughout the entire college application process,…read moreand always with such great care and professionalism. My daughter, who is now on her way to start at one of her dream schools, feels the same. Here are my daughter's words: For the last three years, and throughout the entire college admissions process, Ms. Wong truly played a huge role - in her constant support, vast knowledge, and steady guidance. I am so grateful for her. She always provided quick responses regarding any questions I had about the overwhelming college process, and she always gave them with kindness, motivation, and genuine care! I could tell without a doubt that she truly wanted to see me succeed and thrive, and she would always motivate me to do my best. I would also like to shout-out Ms. Lin for her amazing college essay coaching help. Ms. Lin provided invaluable feedback to college essays and is so sweet and kind. I will always be grateful for their support.

My daughter ended up with a mediocre college after signing up for their consultation, The essay was…read morevery basic, they had college students review and provide feedback. Only positive was they were done with College applications before many started. I feel she could done better if we had not relied on their help and focused ourselves. I am disappointed and will not recommend.

When come down to find a good college advisor for our high school kid, it could be very…read morechallenging! We interviewed three consulting companies, after first initial meeting, very obviously Cortex was standing out! We are with them for three months now, we realized we made the right decision. There so many good things about Cortex! I will start with our family's first meeting with them, the presentation James showed to us was very impressive, the goal, the process and timeline of applying college was so clear, especially the philosophy behind their service is to help kids to build good study habit and be productive. My kid likes James instantly, to him, James is more like mentor. Each week James gives assignments and also monthly face to face meeting, which is very helpful. James is super responsive, patient and be passionately about his work! We feel so grateful to find Cortex! thank you James!

Being immigrants and attending a public school where counselors are overwhelmed by a very large…read morestudent body, we felt that we needed help to prepare for the college admissions process. We spent quite some time looking for someone who was not only knowledgeable and experienced but also relatable to our son, and we are pleased to have found Amy. Amy really makes an effort to understand the individual, his or her aspirations, merits, and potential, the basis of every recommendation and feedback, from which extracurriculars to pursue to which colleges to apply, always having in mind whether that is a good match for that specific individual. While the credit really goes to the student who earn the grades, take the tests, and write the essays, her support and advice really helped throughout the journey and the outcomes are a testimony to this: Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Southern California, and all of the UCs. Working with Amy was a delight and we highly recommend her.

Tony is a great mentor and counselor. He strategically guided and helped to prep my son's college…read moreapplication, and helped him to get admissions from multiple top schools in business majors with scholarships. Tony is very organized and followed closely with every step in the application process. Tony also adjusted the plan after my son got his EA results which was very helpful. I highly recommend Tony!

IvyBoost has been a great help in my college application journey since freshman year. My counselor,…read moreTony, took the time to understand my strengths, personality, and shortcomings, providing great insight when I began to curate a college list during application season. The casual but focused conversational style of our meetings worked very well for me. The IvyBoost team has also provided many resources that proved useful for organizing info about schools, my resume, and anything that was important to my college application. Its services have provided clarity and objectivity throughout my high school years, acting as a great support system whenever I had any inquiries or concerns. I'm so excited to join my dream program on scholarship in the fall, and it's thanks to the IvyBoost team's guidance!

Very money minded. They charge for initial consultation too and highlight all decision makers…read moreshould be present in that initial paid confirmation or meeting will be cancelled. They want to ensure you buy the full package and not able to say I will talk to my wife or something and get back to you. Very poorly managed communications and demonstrating there's no regards to anything except money. I have to add, not tried this company. I got bad vibes about how it will play out and did not go forward. I was told when Purvi herself was managing most operations and also providing counseling, company was much better. Now it's just a profit center. We have lots of choices, really a LOT out there. Skip this one.

The folks at Insight Education are outstanding. As a College Advisor for High school students, I…read morenetwork with other advisors and they have been incredibly supportive of me, my school and my students. They are very knowledgeable and give up their precious time to spend a day with my students supporting them in completing their college applications. I am very grateful for my relationship with the team at Insight Education. -Steve

I think 3 stars is about right for this company…read more While we loved the counselor assigned to us over the last three years, my son came to the realization that Zenith was not the best fit for him. Pros: - Counselor provided great accountability, along with to-do lists and helpful action points. A summary followed each monthly counseling session. Sessions are usually 30 minutes in length. - Flexible scheduling on Calendly, - Counselor was encouraging and thoughtful. Counselor took feedback from the parent (me) seriously and integrated it with my son's desires and needs, to build a plan. Steps to reach that plan were clear. - Counselor was consistent. We never had to change counselors, so that points toward some worker retention, although Glassdoor seems to indicate otherwise. - Counselor suggested challenging routes (e.g. competitions and summer programs) to help build my son's resume. We implemented quite a number of the suggestions. - As you can tell, I give our counselor 5 stars. We had the same counselor in 6th/7th, 8th, and 9th grade. Cons: - More expensive than other companies. I am currently using another program for my younger son that is $10,000 less. Also, Zenith's price tag only gets you help for 5 school applications. More application help = more money, but they will tell you that once you've write enough for 5 schools, then you have enough material for future use. Recently, Zenith is trialing a discounted pre-pay option, which I had wanted to take advantage of, until my son asked to stop services. - Mediocre first impression, and distasteful lasting impression (of program execution). While his YouTube video sucks you in, when I actually met Kevin (the program director), I found him to be rather condescending. As a working professional, and as a potential client at the time (back in 2022), I thought that I would have received more of a red carpet roll-out. However, it was explained that they were interviewing us just as much as we were interviewing them. OK. Hmm. I should have stopped right there, but I went with Zenith because of their focus on "The Big Three," which are medicine, engineering, and law. I was hoping that Zenith would focus my son on his field of study, which Zenith did deliver. However, over these formative middle school and early high school years, it appears that over specialization can also drive kids away from a field of study. I gather that my son might have felt "stuck," and maybe pushing him in a particular direction just made him feel bad. Lesson Learned (for me). - Marketing, or hugely promoting, partner companies. We felt that Zenith pushed Polygence, which provides a "research experience" for their clients. Polygence also costs an exuberant amount, which I was willing to pay for, but which my son didn't want me to pay for. He said that the price point for Polygence just wasn't worth it to him. The option to use Polygence was brought up an uber amount of times, but for the record, our counselor did say that it was A-OK if we did not want to go with Polygence. - English? My son did apply to the some suggested summer programs. I was my understanding that his essays were passed up to a panel for editing, which was then passed back down to him for revisions. I read some of his essays for these programs and felt that Zenith could have helped him develop more imagery, to help him stand out more. Their editing suggestions felt a bit "canned," and I wish they would have invested more time into teaching my son how to write. If this is the way that they treat the kids' summer applications, I can only imagine how much (or rather, how little) they do for the real college essays. Overall, Yelpers not only look at quality, but they also look at whether or not a product has good economic value. Does Zenith present a decent product? I would say yes. Does Zenith provide a stellar enough product for its pricing? I would say no. Also, Zenith does not appear to offer SAT/ACT prep, nor financial aid counseling, or at least I have not experienced it. I hope that my review has been comprehensive enough for the owner to take note. I went on a call about a year ago to express some of these concerns, but I was not fully assured that they would be addressed. This does not bode well, and it took my son to see it and shake some sense into me.

I am sharing my experience so other families can make an informed decision…read more In February 2026, I was charged approximately $4,500 for automatic renewal without receiving any advance reminder or notice. When I discovered the charge, I contacted the academy immediately to request cancellation and a refund. I was informed that my request was submitted after an internal deadline and that no refund would be issued. Shortly afterward, my child's enrollment was terminated, and his access to all learning materials was removed, even though I had already paid in full and he had been working on those materials for over a year. At no point did anyone reach out to understand my situation or try to resolve the matter collaboratively. I later explained that I was experiencing financial hardship after losing my job, and that this unexpected charge was causing significant stress. Only after I escalated the matter and mentioned disputing the charge with my credit card issuer was my child's enrollment reinstated. This reinstatement occurred without any acknowledgment of the distress caused or explanation of their earlier actions. In addition, I was disappointed with the level of service provided for the price. The program consisted of approximately one half-hour session per month, often covering similar topics repeatedly. In my experience, the value did not match the cost. While services have now resumed, the overall handling of this situation felt unprofessional and unfair. I believe families deserve clearer communication about renewals, more transparency, and more compassionate customer service. I hope this review helps others ask the right questions before enrolling.

I sent my son to Simon Academics for four years in high school and he was loving it. It was the…read moremost useful classes he ever had in his high school years, as he told me. Thanks to Jon Simon for his guidance, my son now is very strong in his English writing and read WSJ everyday. Notes: Comments and constructive feedback can be harsh on the homework but that's how his strong writing skill had helped him did so well in high school and in college.

I feel Mr. Simon is one of the best kept secrets for Fremont students and parents, so I was torn…read moreabout writing this review. But in the end, he truly deserves to be more well-known than the franchise tutor mills. Our two sons have been in Mr. Simon's classes for the last two years, and we just enrolled them for another year. We can see their improvement in fictional writing style and persuasive organization. Their school teachers have also commented on how articulate they have become. With input from our kids, our thoughts on why his classes are so effective: * Mr. Simon's expectations of disciplined work, enforced with a sense of humor, motivates his students. Oftentimes my kids would tell us the jokes Mr. Simon told them. * Mr. Simon provides personalized feedback for each student, but done in the class such that all can benefit from his teachings. * Mr. Simon also advises the parents not to intervene with students' work. Initially it was hard on our helicopter parenting style, but soon I found that without our meddling, our kids became quite proactive in doing their assignment. Mr. Simon provides for both in-person and live online during class hours, but I'd recommend students attend in-person whenever possible.

So we met with 5 different college counselors before we hired Strivepath. Most college counselors…read moreprovide very generic information that anyone can get by Google searches. Strivepath is different. They provide real details about which college cares about which factors. We are really happy with the college decisions our son has so far. Big thanks to their services.

From the owner: StrivePath is the Bay Area's leading in-person academic and college advising company, proudly…read moreserving families in Fremont, Newark, Union City, Milpitas, and the surrounding South Bay communities. Unlike remote services, our advisors meet with your student face to face at our local Fremont office — providing the personalized, hands-on guidance that families in this area deserve. We work with students in middle school through 12th grade, helping them build strong academic foundations, explore their interests, and navigate the college admissions process with confidence. Our holistic approach covers academic planning, extracurricular strategy, SAT/ACT preparation, career exploration, and full college application support — all tailored to your student's unique strengths and goals. Happier students. Less stressed families. Better admission outcomes.