As a first time college parent, the college admissions process was intense. The challenge of…read morebalancing your child's ambitions/dreams and financial realities was overwhelming at the beginning. We were lucky enough to get the interest of a coach at a school that was at the top of my daughter's school list. I was referred to Archer College Counseling for support with the admission and recruitment process. Archer did an excellent job coaching us through the financial negotiation process. They had a great feel for the pacing of the conversation and nuance needed to keep conversation moving forward. They took the time to fully understand our situation and helped us guide the conversation proactively versus being reactive. In retrospect some of my initial instincts could have possibly left options on the table or burnt a bridge. Archer College Counseling gave me very honest but supportive advice and it really paid off. We were able to negotiate a 50% increase in funding from the school. I am truly grateful for their support. We are excited for the upcoming school year. I would recommend wholeheartedly seeking out the support of Archer College Counseling to support your family's college admissions process.

From the owner: Providing comprehensive college counseling services for students and aspiring student athletes,…read moreeach student engagement is customized to meet the student where they are. Whether you need assistance for a single piece of the admissions process or a partner that is there with you every step of the way, we will provide the services your student needs to maximize their success. For students who want to pursue athletics in college, our Athlete Recruitment Program is specifically designed to connect each student to the schools and coaches most appropriate for them. Our experience with Division I, II and III athletes means we can find the best fit for your student-athlete.

If you're a parent of a high-achieving student and you're feeling overwhelmed by the college…read moreadmissions process -- call Steven. We worked with him this year, and thanks to his guidance, our son got into 10 amazing schools, including USC's competitive dual major program in Real Estate Finance and Development. Steven helped us cut through the noise, zero in on schools that were the right fit, and develop a strong, authentic strategy. He's super organized, incredibly insightful, and genuinely cares about helping students find their place. Seriously -- worth every penny. Highly recommend.

Approaching the college process with our son, and hearing from friends with recent high school…read moregraduates how rough the experience would be, I knew we would need help. DowEdu was recommended by a colleague and I knew in our first meeting Steve was the best fit for our son compared to some of the others I evaluated. We used the Junior year assessment, Senior year submission, and ACT testing preparation services. The process was clearly communicated, organized, with timelines established and follow up from DowEdu was exceptional. Personally, I was grateful to not have to figure out the timeline and many many deadlines or argue with my son to follow up and stay on track. I'm also extremely grateful I didn't have to help write, read or submit the so many essays that are needed for this. I cannot say enough good things about Steve and the services provided by DowEdu!!!

Excellent college advising, Eva really cares about the success of her students and their success in…read morelife. Very out of the box thinking to help students feel fulfilled and be more competitive. Highly recommend.

Eva is caring, professional and down to earth to work with from the time my daughter started high…read moreschool all the way through our college admission! She really cared to go the extra mile, help us every step of the way and is just a wealth of knowledge to have on your team! Highly recommend!! Thanks for everything :)

I can't recommend Rob and Passport highly enough. Before we first spoke during the spring of my…read moreson's junior year, I met with two other potential college counselors. One was immediately negative when she saw the list of schools he was considering. She was convinced that every school on it would be a reach and seemed determined to make him, and us, be more realistic. Since then, I've had several friends describe similar experiences. During that initial conversation, my husband was listening in the background, and we agreed that while it was important to build a balanced list, we did not want our son working with someone so pessimistic or limiting. We wanted a counselor who would be on his side, who believed he had a chance, while also encouraging him to apply broadly and thoughtfully. Rob immediately brought exactly that energy. He encouraged our son to dream big and work hard on the strongest possible application, while also gently reminding him that he would be fine wherever he ended up. He was always available for advice and support and never seemed frustrated or fed up, even when our son kept changing his mind about his future course of study. When it came time to refine his essays, Rob paired him with Hannah, a talented young editor who had attended our son's dream school and offered invaluable insight into how to frame his essays. By the time he submitted his EA application, I was confident it was as strong as it could be. We were absolutely thrilled when he was accepted. Throughout a stressful process, Rob and Hannah felt like the best possible teammates, always on our son's side, which was everything I'd hoped for. I'm so grateful to have worked with them, and I can't recommend them highly enough.

I cannot express enough gratitude for the invaluable assistance I received from Ryan during my…read morejourney to PA school. After a discouraging first attempt at applying independently, Ryan's approach to helping me reapply to PA school was both reassuring and strategic. He took the time to thoroughly review my prior application, identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement. Instead of starting from scratch, he skillfully built upon what I had, refining it to highlight my strengths and address any weaknesses. I was nervous I would have to start completely from scratch after my hard work the first cycle and only having a month and a half to reapply, but Ryan recycled all my hard work to truly highlight the important things in my application. Thanks to Ryan's expertise and support, I am thrilled to say that I have been accepted into PA school. His dedication to his students' success is evident in every interaction, and I am immensely grateful for the impact he has had on my journey. I wholeheartedly recommend Ryan at Passport Admissions to anyone seeking guidance on their path to PA school.

This place is next to impossible to reach! No one answers the phone, can't leave a message and…read moreoverpriced!

Hamilton Education has a great team of educators that were instrumental in my journey as a high…read moreschool student going to college. They not only helped me increase my SAT score by hundreds of points, but also helped me succeed on many AP exams (which paid off in college when I had less GE requirements to compete). We're so lucky to have them in our community!

Reality Changers is an amazing organization that helps lower income/at risk youth become first…read moregeneration college students. Students attend weekly meetings that include Hot Words (usually SAT prep), a family style dinner, a take home lesson, and tutoring by college students or other volunteers. RC also sends eligible students to UCSD over the summer to take courses for college credit, to a week-long summer camp to bond with other students, and helps seniors complete their college & scholarship applications... did I mention this is all for free? The students who I've met here are some of the most intelligent, friendly, and resilient high schoolers I know, and everyone on staff is wonderful. If you live in San Diego and you have a couple of free hours every week, definitely DEFINITELY check out this organization! Because education is a right, not a privilege - and you can help make one student's dream a reality!

Reality Changers is a non-profit that helps 8th-12th grade students from all over San Diego be the…read morefirst in their families to go to college. Over the years, Reality Changers has proven that it is much more than a non-profit program. I have volunteered as a tutor and mentor since Spring of 2008 (back when I was still a student at UCSD) and it has been extremely rewarding seeing the students grow and mature into responsible citizens and adults. The weekly program consists of S.A.T. test preparation, an insightful lesson, a delicious homemade dinner (which is five stars for sure! not every volunteer gig you do feeds you!), and then 1.5 hours of study time. During this time, you are paired up with a small group of students which makes it easier to connect with the students. Reality Changers has even had inspiring guest speakers such as politicians, leaders in the San Diego community, and university officials. With the help of the supportive and encouraging staff and volunteers, these inner-city youth from San Diego become the first in their families to attend a four-year university.. and not only do they defy all statistics against them to get ACCEPTED, these students earn scholarships to go to schools such as Duke, Harvard, Dartmouth, USC, UCLA, and more. This truly shows how Reality Changers is more than just a program that helps high school students. It gives teens who never might have had the chance an opportunity of a lifetime and I am happy and blessed to be a part of it. It is amazing what a few hours a week can do to transform a student's life. This organization is unlike place I've ever volunteered at because they really make everyone who is a part of the program - whether you're a tutor, a parent, a volunteer, or a student feel like part of the RC Family. Also, tutors come from very diverse backgrounds - there are many college students (from UCSD, SDSU, PLNU, etc), professionals from the community, retired adults, and more who are all invested in helping inner city students from San Diego be the first in their families to go to college.

You can try and go with big classes at the local universities for test prep or you can save your…read moretime and money and start with the best. We tried all the typical test prep classes through the local colleges which turned out to be a waste of money. In the end, using Alice to tutor our daughter was the best decision we made. Alice knows how to work with kids. She knows these tests and she understands teenagers. In the end, Alice helped our daughter raise her score A LOT on the ACT and she ended up at a very good school with a great merit based scholarship. We are getting ready to use her again for our youngest.

Alice is amazing! She has worked with both my son and daughter and we couldn't be happier with the…read moreresults. My daughter worked with Alice for ACT and SAT prep and she scored very high and my son worked with her for an entrance exam and passed with flying colors. She works diligently with her students and has a great ability to connect.

We are so grateful to have been referred to College Bound by a random mom I was having casual…read moreconversation with while waiting for kids to get out of school at Painted Rock Elementary many years ago. When it became time to submit CRF's in 8th grade (for 9th grade) I was confused and a bit overwhelmed. Debra was incredible with my son. She spoke directly to him the whole time and helped guide him to what was available and in his best interest. Fast forward to a year later it was time to submit CRF's again for 10th grade, we had another like meeting and made necessary adjustments based on things that had changed for my son. Debra was available for questions throughout the year if something came up that we needed clarity on. It will be the best money you every spend. My son just wants to keep his options open and so having this guidance early on is truly priceless. It was so affordable for these initial consults I don't know why anyone would NOT do it. To the person that reviewed this company with 1 star. I can only imagine you had been calling the wrong number. I have already referred 2 other families to CB and both families experience was similar to mine. FIVE STARS!

If there were a 'less than 0 rating', College Bound Consulting is earning it...they must be SO…read moreoverwhelmed with business they simply do not need to return phone calls or emails (we have left many voicemails in addition to several emails with NO response, to date). This review cannot attest to their college consulting abilities but if it is anything compared to their lack of a considerate response, we now have no trust in whatever services they provide - they have left an underwhelming impression at best.

DO NOT GO TO THIS LOCATION!!!…read more I paid over $1000 for a GRE prep course and they completely messed everything up. They told me that 9 people were in the class, turned out to be 15. Also, a few of them were ridiculously...ungifted...and made the class unbearably slow for the rest of us. First problem: They did not give me online access to the practice tests which was a guaranteed part of the course. I set aside 4 hours to complete them and then couldn't get to the site! I contacted THREE phone numbers to try and get this resolved, and no one answered. I finally got a call back the next day and was granted access. However, I had no time and had to rush through the test, therefore getting a pretty low scores that was not reflective of my ability. THEN it told me that I would have to pay an additional fee to get my essay graded. No thank you, I said, and skipped that part of the test. Turned out, essay grading was supposed to be included in the price of the course. All the other students got theirs graded and I just missed out and didn't get that feedback. Called back again and they "fixed" the problem. Then my instructor mysteriously didn't get my score report on the 1st test so she couldn't go over my strengths and weaknesses with me. She told me that she would figure out what was going on and would go over it with me the next week. However, we were supposed to take the second test by the next class. How was I supposed to take the second test without getting feedback on the first? When the instructor finally went over my test with me, she decided to go over everyone's SECOND scores before she went over my first score - I therefore had to wait until long after the class had ended to get my first score back...when everyone else already had their second. I fell so far behind that I didn't take the next 3 progress tests. When I complained about this, I was offered no sort of compensation. They did not fulfill their contractual obligations and the only thing I was told was that I could take the course again if I was disatisfied. Well, yes...because I totally have that much free time on my hands between college, work, and applying to internships. I ended up buying a Kaplan book and scoring above the 90th percentile on both the quantitative and verbal parts of the GRE. I'm not sure if every location is as bad as this one - but it was bad. And their customer service was horrible. The instruction was ok - but overall I felt it was a waste of time. We would spend 5 minutes on 1 question to make sure that everyone understood - really you can only spend about a minute on each question when you take the test.

First, let me express my sincere gratitude to Clarissa Constantine for her individualized attention…read moreto my son's needs. He is a gifted student, which she recognized, and therefore focused her efforts with him on polishing his test taking skills. With just 3 hours of personal tutoring, which is a very reasonable investment of time and money, his practice ACT scores rose to his goal level. He ended up in the 99+%, with three of the four sections a perfect 36. Because he was enrolled (even in private tutoring), he had access to workbooks, practice tests and scoring summaries. Now, the downside. My son was initially signed up for a group class which was canceled. The website (run by the national PR), is very buggy and difficult. Even my hubby, with a CS degree from Cal, couldn't figure it out. I had to call for help A LOT. Zach took my calls, helped me out, organized the tutoring, and ended up saving me a lot of money. But, it was not without some pain and frustration. In the end, my son made his goal score, I saved money over the group class fee, and my son had access to all the tools he needed for self study. However, the benefits of those 3 private tutoring hours were tremendous. I highly recommend this individualized approach, which both allowed him to have free time to be a kid and reach his lofty ACT goals.