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.

My son has been going to Alpha College Prep for almost 2 years utilizing chemistry and math…read moretutoring with Robert, SAT test prep with Taylor and now college essay writing with Jennifer. Both of us have been quite happy with the tutors and staff at Alpha. Academically, my son has raised his gpa, test scores and equally important, learned the subject matter. The tutors understand how to work with teenagers and my son feels more confident in the subject areas after his tutoring sessions. Lastly, their rates are reasonable and hours are flexible to suit the needs of students. We've been to other tutoring centers in Berkeley and El Cerrito, but none of them has produced as great a result as Alpha.

During my senior year of high school, I went to Alpha College Prep to seek help with my college…read moreapps and help with the overall process that can be very overwhelming. I worked with Jennifer, who was absolutely wonderful, and she managed to help me write my college apps that got me into top universities like UC Berkeley, Northeastern, and UCLA. With this, I also got scholarships from other universities I applied to and had an overall amazing college application experience. She helped me facilitate and better explain my ideas on paper which helped a lot. Also, before the SATs got cancelled, I used the Alpha College Prep to mainly help with the math portion of the SAT and after the first session my score improved by 50 points. I would recommend Alpha College Prep for students who are looking for some guidance during the college admission process or looking for overall tutoring in any area. I will be a freshman at UC Berkeley this fall and thank Alpha College Prep for helping me write and formulate strong essays as I couldn't have done it without them.

Emily at Lodestar worked with me on my my college application essays. I loved working with Emily…read morebecause she took the time to understand the message I wanted to convey, and then worked with me to craft it in a way made my story unique. The final versions felt authentic to me, but very polished and with a much stronger message than what I started with. I ended up getting into my top choice school (which was actually a school my college counselor told me I shouldn't bother applying to because of how competitive their application pool is) and I'm certain that my essays are what helped me stand out from the pack!

I hired Emily for admissions services and couldn't be happier! She was professional, easy to talk…read moreto, and genuinely cared about my success. The process was well defined and enjoyable. Her interview coaching helped me to present the best version of myself. Very highly recommend! Sophie S. San Diego

Tilden Prep has been transformative for our son, who's twice exceptional. It offers greater depth…read moreand breadth of curriculum and more highly educated staff than its competitors, like Fusion Academy. For example, Tilden offers Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra. While such courses are offered at a community college, having the option to learn 1:1 is critical in giving a student a more solid foundation before entering a 4-year college. At the same time, the rates make more sense than Fusion Academy, which is on a trimester system and 30% more. Tilden is run like a school rather than a corporation. It's more pure to its cause. Good job Tilden. Keep up the good work!

Our son had a great experience at Tilden. He is very bright but struggled to organize his thoughts…read moreand get them down on paper. We enrolled him in English 9 at Tilden and had him take the rest of his classes in his public high school. His Tilden teacher, Dave Locey, helped him learn the steps of writing and feel good about his progress and talents. He said Mr. Locey was the best teacher he'd had :). He wanted to get ahead in math (because the common core track forced him to take math slowly with a lot of boring repetition) so we enrolled him in Geometry through Tilden over the summer. Even though he could have taken Geometry online for less money, we felt the one-on-one instruction and monitored pacing and instruction helped him stay on track and thus made it more likely he'd succeed. He got through the course very quickly and is now starting Algebra 2 at his HS so he'll be able to take Calculus before he graduates. His Tilden math teacher was also very knowledgeable and positive.

Sophia was so helpful in my daughter's college application journey! She was incredibly responsive…read moreand flexible to schedule with, and always warm and gracious to both of us. She did a great job listening and reading and had super valuable insights, wisdom, and guidance to share, while making sure that everything was coming directly from my daughter's experience, thoughts, and voice. Sophia was very knowledgeable about the application process from the beginning, and answered some last minute questions for us when my daughter was down to the wire and had questions about how to proceed. My daughter got into her first choice school and a few other great schools, and I know that working with Sophia helped her to write wonderful, thoughtful, honest essays that were full of integrity and really reflected her experiences and the beautiful person that she is.

From the owner: I offer expert, individualized college essay application mentoring. An experienced writer and…read moreeditor, I have a Ph.D. in English and have devoted my career to mentoring high-school students as a teacher, tutor, and coach.

Kevin is an exceptional tutor working with my son his junior and senior years of high school. Kevin…read moreis skilled in supporting and developing organizational skills, study habits, and writing. Our experience has been very positive and I would recommend him without reservation.

From the owner: Berkeley Community Tutor…read more Improving academic performance with a relaxed, student-centered approach to learning. Tutoring and Academic Coaching for middle, high school, and college students. Subject Areas: English/Writing: persuasive and creative essay writing, grammar and structure, helping students hone their voice as a writer and critical thinker. Homework Coaching: organizational and study skills, using a weekly planner or online planner effectively, preparing for short term and long term educational goals. College Preparation and Research: I work with many students and help with the entire complex process of applying to college; researching various colleges, writing their essays, and completing the applications on time! I also help students find internships and/or relevant community service work. SAT/ACT Test Prep: Critical Reading, Writing, and English sections

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 worked with my daughter during her senior year to help with her college applications and…read moreessays. He guided us through the entire process and went above and beyond on the deadline days. Scott helped my daughter think through her experiences and interests and figure out how to apply them to all the different application prompts and questions. He was dependable and present in all of their sessions to make sure the work got done. My daughter really struggles with deadlines and time management and Scott was really patient and gave a lot of good advice and guidance. In the end she was admitted to her top choice. We were very happy to work with Scott and would be happy to work with him again in the future.

"I urge families, do NOT make the mistake of choosing C2 Education! My experience with them has…read morebeen nothing short of appalling. Ever since Simon, the Center Director at C2 Education, Berkeley abruptly left in December 2018, the entire operation has gone downhill. I, along with my oldest and middle child, had a positive experience with Simon, which led me to purchase an additional 100 hours of tutoring in the hopes that my youngest child could benefit as well. Little did I know, when the pandemic hit in 2020, these hours (remaining 56) suddenly had an expiration date that no one bothered to inform me about. Had I been aware of this, I would have never invested in more hours. I have had to deal with a constant turnover of incompetent staff: Michael, Andrew, Tina, Selene, Lisa, Jonathan...the list is endless. Each one had a different story, showcasing a complete lack of professionalism and consistency. And let's not forget about the condescending tutor, Christopher, who had the audacity to belittle my youngest child and suggested she had a learning disability. Why would a tutor ask if you're dyslexic and from another country because of grammatical mistakes and you're there for Chemistry? It was highly inappropriate for Christopher to make assumptions and condescending remarks about a students abilities or background. Despite the contract clearly stating that C2 Education has the discretion to reinstate hours, I've been met with resistance from Thomas, District Manager for C2 Education, who outright refuses to do so. It's an absolute disgrace on how they do business.  Consider this a public service announcement: there are plenty of other tutoring services out there that not only offer better value for money but also treat their customers with respect. Unless you want to endure the nightmare I have experienced, steer clear of C2 Education."

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A POTENTIAL C2 STUDENT: Most reviews for tutoring centers are from the…read moreperspective of the parent, but I implore you: ask your kids whether they like a certain place. TLDR: Ableism, invalidation of students' efforts, lack of overall regard for mental health I got a consultation years back with C2 education, where I was put into an empty room and made to complete a practice SAT test. When I requested a break 40 or so minutes in, Simon got angry at me because the "real SAT doesn't work like this". He didn't know that I literally got back from my exhausting workplace that day and that I have ADHD, but he didn't even give me a chance to explain this. Then, he made me feel bad for my low scores in their practice test and tried to convince my parents to buy a tutoring package of some sort. I refused. Fortunately, I dodged a bullet! My sibling did end up getting tutoring from C2 for her junior year, but their "tutoring" was mainly Simon micro-managing her grades. She was in an honors course where most students were lucky to get even a C, and he made her feel bad for having a B on her report card. Awful. She eventually quit too and found a private tutoring who was far more empathetic and helped repair her relationship with academics. Meanwhile, my parents thought C2 was so "great" and helped her so much with academics - but I saw firsthand that it damaged her mental health. Fast forward years later, I am now a graduate student in the field of education, and I can confidently say that these types of test prep centers utterly terrify me. I have seen wonderful test prep tutors that know how to properly treat a student with low self-esteem or neurodivergencies, and this is definitely not the kind of place. Thus, I implore you: ASK YOUR CHILDREN what they think of a teacher and believe them. Especially if they are going through difficult times.