We are really grateful we signed our son up with The College Planning Center! He's already…read morebenefitting from their organized step-by-step approach from their two programs - College Planning and Test Prep. He has more clarity and commitment, and this is helping to support his journey towards a future career choice based on solid facts about his interests, skills and dreams. The College Planning Center of Corte Madera is a family run business that has expanded from Granite Bay Area. Lynnette the owner has over 25 yrs of experience helping college bound students. We were assigned a Councelor match and have truly marveled at how Jann Russell weaves together the results of his SAT/ACT practice test scores, personality test and their college preference questionnaires -- into a clear and customized understanding of his college trajectory. Jann came up with an impressive slide show of recommended colleges and helped make the process for our teen surprisingly stressless. We walked out of their office after the show with a clearer college action plan, and with less anxiety around the mysterious unknowns which parents and college bound students often feel about the process. We continue to benefit from their vast experience and look forward to visiting the colleges they've specifically recommended for him. He'll eventually have guidance with college essays, and can dip into their proprietary software anytime which guides him to study online exactly which test questions he needs help with based on his practice test results. Overall, an outstanding service. Worth every penny. Highly recommend

Throughout my entire life, going to college and starting my own life has always been a big dream of…read moremine. I just never knew how I was going to achieve that. Both of my parents are immigrants and as they try their hardest to help me achieve my goals, they did not have much information on how to apply to colleges or what colleges I should even apply to. That was when my friend referred me to the college planning center where I was given my very own college counselor, named Rajani Rao who showed a deep care in seeing my success in this college process. Every step of the way she gave me direction and deadlines ensuring I would get all of my applications done on time. Whenever I needed help with anything I was able to turn to her incredible knowledge and get a fast, swift, and helpful answer. She made the college application process, which is an extremely stressful one, more enjoyable, easy and she showed that she believed in me throughout every step of the way. I ended up getting in to one of my dream schools and I could not have done it without the college planning center's and Rajani's incredible help. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone looking for help and guidance through their college application process! -Selihom Kibrom, Class of 2024 Going to Cal Poly Slo!

Life is a journey, not a destination…read more - Ralph Waldo Emerson This quote is the bedstone of Linda's practice. Though the destination is 'college' with Linda's individualized guidance the journey of discovery revealed several excellent college matches for our son. We interviewed numerous college counselors. Immediately we knew Linda was the right professional to take the overwhelming worry out of the daunting college process. She is thoughtful, inviting, well educated and absolutely client centered. Linda has a wealth of applicable knowledge and experience. She worked tirelessly with our son to find the right fit. Her method kept him organized and on track with regular meetings and check ins. More importantly he enjoyed working with her! Ultimately, Linda's expertise and guidance was integral in his Early Decision acceptance to Cornell. We look forward to watching our son work into his full potential and are overwhelmingly grateful for her help.

Better be good at computers because she refused to give me any written documentation of the…read more'research' she had compiled for my daughter, which is like a doctor refusing to release your medical chart! Not a good fit for our family at all.

It was wonderful and so reassuring to work with Ms. Colwell! She put together a great list of…read moreschools that were just right for our son, and so far, he has not received a single rejection! The whole experience has been so much easier than the nightmare stories I have read and heard from fellow parents! The key is knowing and finding schools that are the right fit for your child, and Ms. Colwell is passionate about that, and introduced us to some thoughtful and great programs- perfect for our son! I highly recommend working with her, listening carefully to her advice and watching the good news roll in! So grateful for her help! Mom of very happy senior in High School

Stacy has been working with my daughter for 2 years. She's now off to college. Stacy is extremely…read moreknowledgeable with the college process! She really gets to know her students to give them proper insight for colleges that would be the best fit. Stacy has a positive energy and a great sense of humor which relates well with teenagers! She made the stressful college process more enjoyable!

Barbra guided our daughter (and us) through the complex, multi-stage process of applying to many…read moretop-tier schools with low acceptance rates. She was patient and kind and she cheered on our daughter every step of the way. We are so grateful that she created and led an easy, organized, and fun application process. It was a year long journey that led to the best result when our daughter got accepted into her first choice school and will be attending Vanderbilt in the fall.

College applications, decisions and the entire process can be so overwhelming and impossible to do…read moreon your own. Barbra made me feel supported throughout the entire process and I cannot thank her enough. Barbra was the one who suggested University of Hawaii Manoa to me and if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have had the best 4 years of my life and gotten my B.S. in Fashion Design and Merchandising. I still work in the fashion field now 3 years post grad and having a degree in that field has helped me immensely. Thanks to Barbra I was able to take the right steps and find the right college to pursue my lifelong dreams. Thank you Barbra!!!

My stepdaughter Catalina began her search & application process for graduate schools relatively…read morelate in the process, with just a few weeks before the deadline. Right off the bat, David was very accommodating with his time. From the initial consultation, I could tell that David was very skilled at determining her strengths & weaknesses & how they fit into various graduate MBA programs. He quickly got an intrinsic understanding of ''who she is'' & was able to devise an action plan to highlight her strengths for her school of choice. Based on a couple initial conversations we had, he generated a terrific list of core values which helped drive the rest of the process. Just to be safe, I shopped around a bit and found that David's fees were very favorable compared to some of the other well-known admissions strategists around the country, in some cases less than half as much. So we decided to stick with David. David would promptly answer our questions & provided strong recommendations for my daughter on how to articulate herself in the both the application and essay. He was always available either by phone or email and always made us feel like his top priority when we needed his assistance. I have to recognize that we called him perhaps much more than we should have, but he took it all in stride and was extremely accommodating, reassuring, patient and attentive. He was also excellent in researching the most recent admission trends for her top choice university so we could appropriately strategize the application and pitch her strengths in a way that helped turn the tables on the college admissions process. I would highly recommend David if you are looking for an expert in the graduate admissions process. He's worth every penny. - TT (stepdaughter), admitted to Stanford MBA

David and College Match were great to work with. David was a critical part of the college…read moreapplication process for my two children, now undergraduates at UC Berkeley and UCLA. His style of working with high school students is very easy-going and patient, asking inquisitive questions to help them identify their own approach and highlights throughout the complicated and intense application process. We started with David a bit late with our first child, but David quickly helped him catch-up and stay organized. With our second, we were able to involve David earlier in the process which helped space out the work better. He and his team were equally responsive and timely with their support. Thank you David!

Caroline's summer college essay group was a great way to get our student started early on college…read moreapplications. I would definitely recommend this to other parents to avoid the stress of last-minute essay writing. Especially for those early action college apps due Nov. 1.

College Prep: Caroline is AWESOME! She worked with our M.C. daughter on her college essays. She…read morewas adamant that the wording needed to be done in our daughter's voice, they had to be her experiences, and she worked and was able to bring the best examples and writing out of her. It was surprising how well our daughter's essays were, and the wording matched her grades. There were 3 colleges where our daughter had lower GPA and test scores, yet was accepted as others were not. Perhaps colleges are looking for the "entire" student, but with Caroline's guidance our daughter got there. My only regret, we should have used her for SAT/ACT prep.

Huge waste of money and time! My daughters took eight lessons with this unhelpful prep course. One…read moregained 0 points and the other gained only 50 points. When I asked if they could offer something to us, because of the lack of results, he blamed my daughters and he said he would offer nothing to help with a future test.

My 16 Yo and I learned about Marin Test Prep at an MTP planning seminar (see website for free…read morevideo). We spoke with the presenter before and after the event, and my child immediately embraced the idea of MTP as a partner. The SAT/ACT test is a critical factor in the Univ. admissions evaluation. In order to optimize test prep, it is crucial that the test taker engage and commit to giving it a best effort and follow the program (including the incremental work which is mostly just taking actual test sections and reviewing the results with the MTP partner). We were fortunate enough to be able to work with Adam, who quickly helped my child realize that we would probably score better on the "Old" SAT, and mentioned that we could still take the "Old" SAT (something we never heard before) My child took an ACT practice test at Marin Test Prep (free 4-hour proctored test) and an SAT (Old) practice test to confirm which test worked best. Adam developed a customized study and test prep process and with a weekly 1.5 hr study session and follow up practice tests at home, I am certain that the score on the initial SAT will be significantly higher than it would have without MTP's help. Thanks to Adam's insight about the "Old" SAT, we also have a chance to re-take the test if needed. Working with Marin Test Prep has increased self confidence and decreased stress and anxiety about the test. By the time the results of our high school PSAT are available, we will have taken a practice SAT, practice ACT and 1 (or two if needed) SAT tests (w/in 3 mos) Marin test Prep offers some great advantages for students: The tips and tricks that always boost scores Understanding of the test "flows"; if you understand the test design you will score higher An evaluation of test preferences (SAT vs. ACT) with customized prep process and an Individualized 1:1 test prep support (which was an important aspect in our case) It sounds like the other reviewer might have wanted a group session, and had challenges getting the test takers committed and aligned with the process. In order to optimize your benefit from such a partner, the prospective test taker needs to embrace the process. In our case, the partnership has significantly reduced stress and anxiety, increased self confidence and will result in a higher test score. All in all, this was a great investment to prepare for the SAT and one which offered scholarly insights that will be leveraged in the future.

Alex had worked with my son, who has Cerebral Palsy for two years. He had lots of issues with his…read morespeech. When she started seeing him he wasn't able to pronounce some sounds and was excessively protruding his tongue when trying to say the "L" sound. In just a few months working with Alex, my son started pronouncing the "L" well, with no protrusion. Now he can pronounce all the sounds. Alex also arranged for my son to make a Stuttering Presentation in front of the other kids at school. That was a great initiative, because my son was so proud and excited to do it (actually talked very smoothly during the presentation), and because the other kids were able to understand more about stuttering, what it feels like, try to do it, thus getting a better understanding of the problem and the kids with stuttering issues. Alex taught my son what techniques to use to make stuttering less bothering. Alex is always very nice and friendly, treats her kids with love, belief, and dedication. She organized a few parties fro my son for different occasions. She always kept a good communication with me. She updated me about problems or progresses; always took into consideration my worries; responded to me emails promptly. She is lots of fun, her kids love her and are willing to work with her.

I can not say enough about Alex. She is truly one of a kind. She was my daughter's speech…read moretherapist in the public schools, and she far exceeded my hopes. Alex looks at the "whole child," and structured the goals towards growing my daughter as a person, as an independent thinker, and a self-sufficient young lady, all while centered around advancing her speech skills. In the IEP discussions at school, she was an active participant, and a true leader in terms of looking out for all of my daughter's goals. She had a voice and influence in all dimensions of the process. Alex always went above and beyond, offering practical and fun .....and highly relevant paths for my daughter. Oh .....and her speech has improved, too :-) Yes, I can not more enthusiastically recommend Alex!!!