Our child was really struggling with the adjustment to high school. The support he received from…read moreClassroom Matters was invaluable in helping him succeed that first semester of high school. Also, I saw Lisa Miller for assistance with my parenting and her assistance was also very helpful!

Classroom Matters is the best! Tatiana and Lisa are wonderful members of the community who truly…read morelove to see kids succeed and enjoy school. The tutors here are awesome and helped my daughter with her confidence and competence in math in a very short period of time. Highly recommend, even if your kiddo just needs a little push to believe in themselves.

My son enrolled in Public Speaking and loved it! The instructor was very organized, engaging, and…read moreprovided a thorough evaluation of his speaking ability along with constructive comments. He had numerous projects and speeches but even with him prepping 3-4 hours per class, it didn't feel like work. He became a more confident speaker and developed close friendships with the other like minded students in his class. The only drawback is that they are very strict on missing class (rightly so, as this is an intensive program) so if you don't plan to attend every class, this may not be the right program for you.

My daughter attended this program for years. She met lifelong friends, got great work experience as…read morea TA, and learned some cool stuff! No exaggeration: ATDP had a huge impact on her life. Many kids attend for several years and there are students there whose parents attended ATDP when they were kids! For those who stick around, ATDP becomes kind of a family. Certain classes have really stellar instructors that you hear a lot about. Google Flossie Lewis: she's a legend! Google Lloyd Nebres: he was blogging before "blog" was a word.

I was part of Patrick's workshop in 2020, right before the lockdowns started. I had seen Patrick…read morespeaking at an event earlier, where he mentioned the classes he gives at Berkeley DFI. I signed up for a 7 week course, one class per weekend, along with 7-10 other people. The value you get for the cost of the workshop is well worth it. Each class lasts about 6 hours and covers a different theme. By the end of it you'll come out knowing the basics to make your own film as a director/producer, from raising money to shooting a scene. All lessons are theoretical except for the last one, where you get to shoot a project along with your classmates (this last part I didn't experience, as we had to use Zoom due to the pandemic). Don't expect to come out of it with too much technical knowledge. You'll still have to hire a director of photography and/or editor if you don't have those skills, but you'll know how to produce and direct your own film, and how to speak the language of the people in the set that do. Patrick is a great teacher, and I learnt enough to feel I can make my own film, which I must say feels very damn good and keeps me motivated to keep going.

I could not attend his class due to health reasons and after attending half of the first class, I…read moreasked for a partial refund. Although initially Patrick promised to honor the partial refund, he did not return any of it and stopped communicating.

It feels a bit weird leaving a review while I'm still enrolled in the program, but, when I saw…read morethere was only 4 reviews, and knowing that Apparel Arts oriented towards online education due to COVID (temporary or permanently, I'm unsure), I figured there might be people who have not heard of the program who are searching online for sewing classes, and might do their research on Yelp. I started taking classes almost a year ago with no experience - I seriously had hemmed a few rips, sewed a few seams, and that was about it. In that year, I have become more confident in my patternmaking abilities, and, have started to finally feel comfortable with my sewing skills. I have made around 20-30 projects in muslin, completing the projects from body measurement to final products. Over the next few weeks, I'm hoping to begin transferring some of these patterns to fashion pieces that are actually wearable - that's something, if you asked me a year ago, I would not believe. A lot of it is a testament to the quality education and instruction, but, as they will tell you in orientation, there is a sufficient amount of homework you have to be serious about completing, because like any skill, the more practice you have, the better. Still, even in some of my more obvious mistakes/beginner questions ("What is a dart?", "Why can't I make patterns in pen if I'm extra careful?") to now some of my more slightly more practiced questions ("How do I use bias tape?"), Suzi and Allison have always answered my questions with both empathy and detail. The shift to online education probably isn't the most natural for fashion/sewing/patternmaking, however, the instructors have committed to an in-home studio that allows these classes to go on relatively without a hitch (and even if there is one, they are always very quick to address it!). The curriculum has shifted from at your own pace to more of a linear pedagogy, but I don't mind, as sometimes I would find myself a bit stuck on wanting to perfect a skill when there would be plenty of opportunities later on. Usually most classes are a combination of lecture, some patternmaking (if it's a patternmaking class), and a sewing demo. Videos are made available after the class, which, for someone who needs to hear something 2 or 3 times. So yeah, I'm just very grateful I've had the work/classes at Apparel Arts to keep me busy through this hellacious year. It's given me joy to build a skill from the ground up, and, a skill that I didn't think would even come naturally to me. If you are doing research on taking a sewing class, I can only say good things about my experience here.

I've been attending the very popular Pattern Drafting class for a year. I come all the way from…read moreSanta Cruz. This alone should tell you how much I love and respect this place. After much research on what design and sewing program to enroll in, I chose Apparel Arts because it seemed to be setup more flexibly than a college environment. And it is. The teaching spaces are well appointed. You can often drop in and just work here. It feels professional. The teachers are outstanding-knowledgeable, fun, and work hard at keeping us all going, given we are at different levels and places in the program. I love how engaged the founder/owner, Suzi, is. She's very involved, gets to know us, and still teaches and helps us out. This says a lot to me. And the way all the staff and students celebrate one another's creations and successes inspires such a sense of community. Despite the traffic I run into with the commute, I absolutely love coming and am usually invigorated and inspired when I leave. I cannot recommend Apparel Arts more highly.

This is the most incredible program with the most amazing and helpful staff. I'm feel so happy and…read moreblessed to have found this place. My roommate and I both came for our GEDs and left with high school diplomas. Thank you!!

Best instructors and tutors ever and the support you receive is unbelievable,I wouldn't have gotten…read moremy high school diploma without these amazing people

My daughter works with James Sekigahama a test prep and tutor at AJ tutoring. He is phenomenal…read more James is professional, caring, and knowledgeable. He's very patient, provides in depth explanations and brings in content from outside the curriculum and textbooks. His ability to convey methodology and processes has been so helpful. My daughter has developed problem solving skills under his guidance and has learned how to learn as well as the confidence to take more advanced coursework.

I highly recommend AJ Tutoring and Krista Vanuska. My daughter worked with Krista and she found the…read moresessions very helpful in improving her knowledge of the subject and preparing her for assignments and exams.

The FLI center is staffed by smart, motivated UCB students who are ready and willing to assist you…read more There seems to be a rather large network of tutors to help you find the right fit. My language tutor was very good and helpful. My tutor very flexible to my studying needs and worked with me throughout the week for intensive study sessions. We also covered a broad range of topics (cultural, current events, opinion, etc). I came away the sessions equipped with more relevant, current vocabulary, grammar, idioms and more. I recommend these private tutoring sessions for busy people who need the most flexibility.The scheduling was also convenient. I would recommend that you negotiate to have the tutoring at the FLI instead of in some cafe or random room around the UCB area. FLI will be the most quiet and unintrusive place you can find around the area. Overall, I enjoyed my experience and recommend others to use FLI's services.

Not the best, but Mentoring Academy started to give me a lot of believe again. I wish I could do a…read morelot better but over time, I started to have hope once again.

Like other recent reviews, I am also a student that attended Mentoring Academy…read more I feel like I should address these reviews. I cannot speak to several of the things mentioned: teachers making inappropriate jokes, students making homophobic quotes masked as jokes, mental health being thrown out the window in Guatemala, and the school catering to male students are things that I simply have no knowledge about. (I will say that I am somewhat skeptical of them) Some of the other small complaints I do know to be true. Yes, the pizza in Italy was disappointing. Yes, the school wasn't very decisive about how to respond to the pandemic (the government wasn't either). However, these really aren't major problems to me. I do agree with some of the larger issues that the reviewers raised. 1. The cost. There isn't much to say here, the school is pretty expensive. 2. The atmosphere. The school does have a more laissez-faire culture, which does mean that things are more casual, sometimes even unprofessional. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is a bad thing. Parent-teacher meetings will take place next to science experiments, tests will be taken in the kitchen, and sometimes employees will be paid late. It's simply the culture. Generally the school is fairly relaxed on grading, and that combined with the casual atmosphere means many students don't give assignments their all. 3. The schedule. The school has very long hours, going from 9:00 to 5:30 four out of five days of the week. This comes with the caveat that work is done at school, not at home. This is only sometimes true. Teachers will often assign work that they expect to be done at home, which can make the long hours even more arduous. This long time commitment means that there aren't many opportunities for extracurricular opportunities, jobs, volunteering. 4. The size. This is once again both a positive and a negative. The small size means that the school is more intimate, and that classes have plenty of time for each student. However, it also means the school can't really include clubs, sports, or many classes. It also means that there just aren't that many people to meet. If you're an extroverted student, this can be a real problem, and is probably the most important thing to consider about going to the school. If you're an introverted student, I could see the small size being a pro, not a con. 5. The diversity. Mentoring is not very diverse. In particular there are very few female students. I wouldn't say that this is the fault of the school, but it's worth noting. Mentoring IS very welcoming of all people. Overall I agree with some of these points, but I don't really feel they warrant a 1/5 review, or the negativity that these other reviewers raise. Some other points: I have had negative experiences with some of the school's teachers, however they are all no longer members of the faculty. On the other hand, some of the teachers are quite excellent. In particular, the science teacher, Garret, is fantastic. He has a real joy for science and teaching. The school has a lot of "teacher cycling", but luckily most of them are pretty good. I personally went on two extraordinary adventures. One of them was a bit of a mixed bag, but the other was a fun experience. There are problems with them, but I certainly don't think they "straight up suck". The food options around the school are great, and are much better than cafeteria food. The headmaster, John, has a real passion for education, and a real love for every student. While sometimes he can be a bit unorganized, he truly does care about every student and wants them to succeed. I don't think that is true (at least not on the level it is with John) for most principals/headmasters at other schools. John's enthusiasm for teaching and young people (there's no way to type that sentence without it sounding weird) bleeds into the school's culture as well. It's a very welcoming, encouraging place. At the risk of sounding sappy: some of my fondest memories at Mentoring include the school-wide student presentations, lunches spent talking with teachers, and otherwise grueling layover flights. I suspect that most high school students can't say that! While Mentoring has its flaws, it's worth noting that every high school is too. I think for certain students Mentoring is an excellent fit, and for other ones it isn't. It simply depends.