I was introduced to Brightfox by a friend a few months ago, and we have been very happy with our…read moreexperience. One of the things I like most is the flexible class system. Many tutoring centers require you to buy a package of classes before you can start, but BrightFox lets you begin with just one class. That gave us a chance to see if it was a good fit for our child without feeling pressured. It also gave me the impression that they are confident in the quality of their program. Even though the classes are 2:1, my child still receives plenty of individual attention. It really feels like one-on-one learning. One of my children had never attended a tutoring center before high school because he preferred studying on his own. At BrightFox, the teachers always welcome questions and explain concepts step by step in a way that matches each student's level. This has helped my child become much more confident in learning. What impressed me the most is that the teachers don't just give the answers. They make sure students understand why the answer is correct and continue explaining until they know the student truly understands. You can tell they genuinely care about each student's learning. After every class, we receive detailed feedback about what was covered, how our child did, and what to work on next. As a parent, I really appreciate being able to stay involved in my child's learning. Before we enrolled, Mr. Alex took the time to understand our child's learning goals and helped us choose the best path. Ms. Heather has also been wonderful. She carefully follows our child's progress and provides support and guidance whenever it is needed. Her communication and care have given us a great deal of confidence. Our family is very happy that we chose Brightfox.

We've had an outstanding experience with Bright Fox. Both of my kids attended their SAT preparation…read moreprograms, and the impact has been truly valuable (though we went to Brightfox last min). We really appreciate how they accommodated last min sessions to get through the crazy application process. The instructors at BF are not only highly knowledgeable but also very structured and thoughtful in their approach. They understood how to bring out the best in our kids and made even challenging concepts easier to grasp. My kids especially appreciated that the instructors relate well to students and help them with narratives that stay true to their original voice and stories, which made a big difference in their confidence. I feel what sets Bright Fox apart is their commitment to student success and the consistency in the quality of teaching. Special thanks to Alex for the care and support, especially when we were confused with the process and frustrated after a bad experience at another institute (who wasted lot of time and hours without making real progress with essays). BF team was efficient, and their quick, iterative feedback helped a lot. They have a diverse and highly capable team, and communication has always been smooth with timely responses and support whenever needed. My kids felt confident, well-prepared, and supported throughout their journey. Both my kids found their voice and unique style of story telling that represented them in the essays, and discover themselves li'l more through this process. I genuinely appreciate the dedication of the entire team and would highly recommend Bright Fox to any parent looking for top-quality academic guidance. A well-deserved 5-Star experience!! Thanks Prasad & Saraswathi

My daughter joined the Elite Prep San Ramon counseling program during her sophomore year when she…read morefirst 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.

I originally found Elite Prep San Ramon looking for SAT prep for my senior son -- but honestly, we…read moregot 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!

Julian Brooks at EDMD has been absolutely amazing! He supported 2 of our 3 daughters with their…read morecollege experience. With both of our daughters, he provided feedback and created a customized plan, suggested courses and even took the time to help us during the dreading appeal process. His grounded approch to deal with the schools has been stellar. Because of his creative approach my daughters aid and grants increased significantly compared to what was originally offered at UC Santa Cruz and at the University of San Francisco. Not to mention, being admitted to multiple great schools. I'm extremely greateful and if I could rate him 10stars I would. Best investment ever! Thank you so much, Julian, we're looking to continue to work with you!

Julian Brooks at EdMD was an asset to have for my daughter's college preparation. He listened to…read moreall of our needs, he walked her through the preparation for college applications and admissions. He was there for all of our questions and concerns. He prepared her months ahead of time for the application and financial aid processes. He meet with her on a regular basis and updated myself. He was amazing when it came time for the application process and he made it so much easier on all of us. He stayed on top of her regarding her deadlines and helped her begin preparing her admissions essays and information months in advance along with reviewing and giving her insight and advice on improving her essays. I recommend using the service and especially recommend Julian. My daughter was accepted into several schools including UC Berkeley and UCLA. She will be attending UCLA this fall.

I completely agree with the other review saying that Gloria provided limited essay help. I was also…read morediscontent with my essays, but she only looked at it a couple times before saying it's good to submit. Most of her edits were very minor grammar changes or things that don't make a difference. She gave very little advice that was actually useful (e.g. changing the topic, changing the theme, etc.). The edits are definitely not worth the thousands of dollars she charges, as you can get similar quality edits from current college students for MUCH less money. Furthermore, I was busy at a certain point in my Junior year, but she refused to reschedule my meeting for a later time "because everyone is on the same boat". So she's very unaccommodating. One time she failed to show up to one of our online meetings, and instead of apologizing, she blamed me for not calling her. She also wastes a couple sessions on personality tests and career tests that you can easily do at home. I ended up getting into UCLA/Berkeley, but rejected from most privates. The top-UCs are mostly based on stats (not essays), so it's clear her essay edits didn't really do anything. The success of her clients is mostly because the type of people she accepts are already high-achieving. Unfortunately, many parents (many of whom are immigrants) will continue to be willing to shell out thousands of dollars for the useless counselor.

I completely agree with all the other reviewers. My child had a hard time coming up with ideas for…read moretheir personal statement and she did not brainstorm and help in any way. Instead, she made them feel their writing ability was sub-par and it was something they could not achieve. Also a week before the application deadline for rea college she said the supplemental essays are not good enough. I wonder why she did not give that feedback earlier. When they got rejected by the school they had applied for rea, she made them feel that this was not something they could achieve and asked them to apply for lower-rated schools. That is when we decided in December to hire another consultant to rewrite the personal statement. Our whole winter vacation was spent rewriting the essays with input from the new consultant. This new consultant provided an essay structure and walked them through the essay. My child finally got into 6 or 7 top-notch colleges, but no thanks to Gloria for that.

Thank you, StrivePath! As a mom navigating our first college process, I can't say enough about…read moreSaumya--she was patient, supportive, reassuring, and kind from start to finish. She built a realistic summer plan for my son that helped us complete the college research and essay work early, so when October 1 arrived, our applications were already submitted. The organization and calm she brought to the process were a huge relief. She reassured my son that he would have many options and celebrated each college admittance with him. We felt guided every step of the way. Get ready for Kid #2!

Our son is currently working with Strive Path for his college application process, and we couldn't…read morebe more grateful for the guidance and support he is receiving, putting our mind at ease that he is getting the support needed to plan for his college applications. From the initial consultation, Strive Path has been incredibly supportive, organized and thorough, providing a clear timeline and a checklist of what our son needs to prepare, on a monthly basis, that helps him ensure he is on task, while including us (parents) on all correspondence to support him in such endeavors. Our consultant, Saumya, along with Sunny, have always been available for questions, no matter how small, and provided prompt and thoughtful responses that eased our son's anxiety during this stressful time. While we are close to mid-way through this process, we are confident of the outcomes that lie ahead and highly recommend their services to any student looking for comprehensive and personalized guidance on their college applications. Their expertise not only prepares you for the application process but also empowers you to present the best version of yourself to your dream schools!

Melissa was a huge help to my Daughter throughout the college applications process. She took the…read moretime to really get to know my daughter and what she was looking for in a college. She helped her to come up with a list of colleges to apply to and then walked her through the entire process. They worked on building her resume and on different essays or questions she needed to answer for her applications. She met with her once a week to help fill out actual applications and to review what she had been working on. They would come up with what her focus for the following week would be as well. This really kept her organized and took the stress out of the whole process! We would highly recommend her!

If anyone asks me or my daughter if we have a college counselor recommendation, without hesitation…read morewe'd recommend Melissa Corso. Talk about helping to relieve some of the stress that goes with the college application process! She is wonderful! My daughter immediately felt comfortable working with Melissa. In particular she helped her with essay editing, college applications and even helped her put together a very nice resume. She's very approachable and you feel like she really cares. My daughter will be attending UC Berkeley this fall and I know Melissa helped her stand out amongst thousands of applicants.