My son, 14 years old, took the Mini MBA 1 program last spring at this Academy and a Web Development (Front End) class this summer. Best investment of our time and resources we have been able to gift him so far! I wish we knew about this place before, when our daughter was his age. College choices and possibilities would probably be much wider for her... These are some of the challenges we have been facing before discovering this program and the transformation we observed: Our son has been a talented and creative fun child, who's enthusiasm about exploring possibilities has been steadily going down the more time he has been spending in a public school, doing homework and studying for good grades... It got to the point that when he was interested (or when we were on top of his responsibilities), he would get straight A's- usually just towards the end of the school year, and when not interested or monitored constantly, he would get C's and even D's... Always getting distracted, forgetful and bored... After only one class at Zenith, he got inspired not only about researching new possibilities, solving real problems but also, he got excited about life in general. He even started working out in the gym ( his own initiative!) and moving up in Kung Fu . A's were not a chore anymore but a natural byproduct of his newly found enthusiasm and confidence. His work was done still in school and we have been able to have very lively and mature conversations at home, including conversations about his business :-) At the age of 14, my son has an understanding of business that many business owners like myself can be jealous of. He also became very good in negotiation and quite impressive at understating human psychology ( may it be a warning to you if you don't want your kids become confident and powerful) He talks about Mr. Frank Song as the "coolest guy and a mentor" :-) This aspect is what I value the most about our experience with this place. We appreciate Mr. Song's generosity immensely. There aren't many people who will take time to listen to a teen as an equal, and help bring the best out of them in all situations... This is priceless to me. All of the people Mr. Song brings to inspire and teach at the Academy are high quality, educated, successful young people who are still able to connect with the teens but have a wealth of real life academic and business experiences, to help the teens dream and grow big. I am very excited where my teen is heading. Thank you Zenith Academy! Klara F., Lafayette read more

I rarely write reviews, but I feel a responsibility to warn other parents before they make the same mistake we did. We paid Zenith significant money across multiple installments for what was marketed as expert, personalised college counseling for our son's applications to top universities. What we got was an embarrassment. Every single session was a glorified status update -- generic, shallow, and completely interchangeable with a conversation you could have with someone who had never done this before. There was no strategy, no mentorship, no effort to understand our son as an individual, and no work whatsoever on building the narrative and positioning that a competitive application actually requires. We are not even at the essay stage -- and the foundational strategic work that should have been done months ago simply never happened. When I raised concerns in August 2025, I was passed around and eventually told by their team to "trust the process" and continue. We made the mistake of listening. Nothing improved. Not a single thing. Here is where it gets worse. When I formally terminated the program in May 2026, rather than owning their failure and doing the right thing, Zenith's response was to suggest we should have left earlier -- conveniently erasing the fact that their own team had talked us out of doing exactly that. That is not an oversight. That is dishonesty. And then there is the money. Despite terminating the service, they have shown no intention of refunding the second installment for services that were never meaningfully delivered. Worse, they appear intent on collecting the third installment for a program that no longer exists -- for a family that has clearly and repeatedly communicated they are done. This is not an administrative oversight. This is a deliberate attempt to extract money they have not earned and are not entitled to. Zenith is not a college counseling service. It is a fee-collection machine that uses reassuring language to keep you paying while delivering nothing of substance. If you are a parent pinning your child's future on this program, please stop and reconsider. Your money, your time, and most importantly your child's opportunity deserve far better than this. read more

After receiving a recommendation from a friend, I decided to enroll in the web development class. Looking back on it now, I realize it was a great investment for my future. Each class is engaging, and challenges me to think critically about the information taught in class. Frank is an awesome instructor who makes sure you understand the purpose of each component before moving on to a bigger project. As a graphic designer I can now code my own websites for my portfolio, and am now learning about web design in my free time. The curriculum is explained thoroughly, but if you need help, it's readily available due to the small class size. Frank deeply cares about each student, their progress, and that all their questions are answered. Whether you were a beginner or at the intermediate level, all of us were experts when the course ended. I decided to register for the software development class which starts next Monday and I'm looking forward to it! Update: This is a continuation of my review from taking their web development class and transitioning to software development. I highly recommend for any student to take web dev first because it will help you learn php faster. The curriculum is just as well-designed and organized as web dev. I'm glad I challenged myself to take this course, because I have definitely learned so much thanks to Frank. The classes are small in size, and with the help of the instructor and teacher assistant each student receives the individual attention they need. In each session, the material is taught thoroughly, with plenty of practice to ensure that students understand what's going on. After learning the basics, we apply our skills on a project we would be tasked to work on if we were a software developer in the real world. By doing so, we learn best practices, the kind of roadblocks we would run into, and critically think about problems. Overall, I'm happy I decided to enroll in software development, and would recommend this to any of my friends. read more

Zenith has led me through the college admission process with full guidance and commitment. Admittingly, I wasn't the best student. Yet, my counselor at Zenith pushed me, notifying me of upcoming application deadlines and explaining various strategies we would implement in my college application to strengthen it. Since 10th grade, Zenith guided me in exploring my intellectual and career interests, beginning by taking Zenith Prep's Mini-MBA course, which ultimately stimulated my exciting exploration into the business world. This one course paved the way to build my college application resume, whether it was engaging in business-related hobbies, taking various courses, or participating in entrepreneurial endeavors, all recommended by my counselor. Retrospectively, in all the counselors and college consulting resources that I have experienced, my Zenith counselor, remained the only one that I felt truly cared about me, not only as a client or student, but as a person. The frequent checkups, texts, and meetings, and at times, reminders to get back on track, truly established a strong connection between my counselor and I. With each milestone and achievement, the Zenith's team was quick to congratulate me and celebrate with me, sometimes at even a greater degree than my parents. William and his team would spend tireless nights and long hours, just to accommodate my parents and my needs alike. In short, Zenith guided me along every step of the way. This previous month I was accepted into one of my top schools for business, UC Berkeley, but this accomplishment cannot have been done without Zenith's creativity, experience, and supportiveness throughout the entire college admission process. Not only did William shape me into a strong college applicant, but he also shaped me into a responsible and hard-working student, which are invaluable traits as I progress into college and beyond. read more

I sent my daughter here to take both the web development and software engineering class, and we were very impressed with the instructors and the curriculum. We've tried sending her to classes in the past but (as an engineer myself) we felt that the results were not what we believe she was smart enough to achieve. The web and software classes were both challenging, but still started from the basics and did a good job of moving quickly to the application portion of the class. We were very happy to see that during the class she applied what she learned to building a very sophisticated project. The project was almost too good that we asked her if she used any themes or drag and drop or cheated somehow, but she just smiled at us and opened up her brackets editor and showed us her code and started explaining what she learned and how she build it. I was very impressed. We have tried to teach our daughter coding in the past, but we surely did not do as good of a job inspiring and explaining the concepts as well as the instructors did. Our daughter left the class with pride and feeling like she accomplished something. She also now has a huge interest in STEM which we had struggled as parents to explore. Just last night we were sitting at the dinner table having a conversation about websites and app ideas that she could build. It was almost like the show twilight zone that she would even want to talk about to us that. The inspiration and confidence she has for building software is why we are very happy about our decision to send our daughter here. We will be sending our daughter back here in the future. read more

Pardon me if I misuse any tech jargons or terms. My work focuses on the business aspects of operations so I only understand programming in general terms. My son started with Zenith at 12 years old. Though he is very smart, he lacked the proper motivation to guide him to become all that he is capable of. Traditional programs bored him leaving him unchallenged, but Zenith Prep was the answer to identifying his strengths and allowing him to blossom. Fast forwarding over a year later, he has grasped and combined programming languages such as SQL, PHP, CSC, and HTML in a MySQL database. Just today, he was taught Java-script and has started to incorporate J-script into his arsenal of programming language toolbox. To be able to distinguish and separate the proper use of each language is a defeat on its own. My son does not utilize any drag and drop shorts cuts but writes the codes himself. I am proud he has shown such dedication to learning and utilizing so many languages and hope he can share his knowledge through various volunteer venues in the future. Not only is programming a basic skill to know but our children's future will be immersed in programming-related life on every business and personal level. My wish for my children is experience not only programming but grasp business understanding so they have the option and knowledge to best choose their career path in the future. Only through hands-on experience and exposure provided by Zenith would I feel that I have done my duty to guide my children to gain the opportunity to "learn" what their passion is about themselves. read more

For us as parents, this was the actual first college admission experience in the US, and we didn't want to take any risk for our daughter's college admission. We really wanted to have a guide that would help us get the best fit for our daughter and make us aware of the college admission process as parents. Although it is ideal to have a counselor right at the beginning of high school, in our case, we got the counselor for our daughter much later, around the end of 10th grade.  Despite all these challenges, Zenith steered us in the right direction in achieving our daughter's goals. Zenith explained to us the driving force behind any admission process like Defense, Offence, and the diversity in the profile. Most importantly, the strategy of getting a fine balance between the defense and offense was one of the critical success factors. Our daughter was able to get some result-oriented guidance on how to improve SAT/ACT and GPA and, more importantly, what AP's could be more effective from a college admission perspective. As a result, our daughter was able to get her dream school (Cal- University of Berkeley). We are pleased to say that our daughter got not only Cal (UC Berkeley) but a lot of other reputed universities, including the University of Washington, UIUC Urbana & Champaign, University of Michigan, UC Davis, UC Riverside, UCSD, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, Northeastern, Stevens, LMU, and Penn State.  I would highly recommend other parents to consider Zenith for college counseling. read more

As the other reviews suggest (1) hard-sale based on offence/defense, that is simply a talking point. When it comes of delivering, TOTALLY hands-off approach. (2) Your zenith fee, is just beginning. Get ready to spend another big sum on various affiliate classes, etc. they recommend. They do not spend any time with you during the most crucial period. You get ONLY ONE MEETING every 6-weeks. Email response take way longer than their 24-48 hours. During urgency, you need to reach out to your counselor relatively soon, and they are never available. Each counselor handles 80-100 student, so naturally you can imagine where their focus is. Don't gamble your child's future with them! Gross amount of negligence in essays, college selection, major selection, essay reviews. We ended up hiring some other counselor because despite paying in advance, they refuse to deliver what they promised in their contract. Their contract mentions around 250+ hours on student for four years package. They didn't even spent 50 hours over 4 years. Another point: they say 4 years contract, but everything (essays, applications) is pretty much done beginning senior year, so deliberate misrepresentation. Stay away! The student success that they claim is simply a selection bias (only high performing student sign up with them), they are not adding any value. In fact, they are hurting overall profile. read more

As someone who has personally taken courses at Zenith Prep Academy, I can definitively say that it's been one of the best experiences of my life. I have never seen a course so well-designed and well-executed like the ones offered at Zenith. Whether it's the instructors or the material itself, there is something about these courses that makes the student want to keep learning. I took the web development and mini-MBA courses at Zenith and I was expecting to just learn the basics; however, our instructor taught us much more than I had expected. Not only did we master the basics, we dove into the deeper nuances of programming as well. The best part about attending Zenith is that your instructors truly care. The class size is relatively small, so if there is something that is confusing to understand, help is readily available. Not only do your instructors care, but they are also super passionate. Believe me, you're not in a room with someone just reading a script or speaking in monotone. The instructors love what they teach and they are just as excited as you when they come to class. If you're looking for a course that teaches you more than just the cookie-cutter basics found in a textbook, then Zenith Prep Academy is the place for you. read more

My son had the counselor from Zenith since he was 10th grade. It started with a long session in which the counselor asked tons of questions and discussed everything from school work, extra curriculum to personal interests. Then they met once a few weeks to check in and discuss based on the progress in the past weeks and plan for next steps, etc. These conversations were very useful to sort out his busy schedule, and establish the mindsets (for all of us) to always focus on the most important things. It helped him setting up short term goals and also re-emphasizing the long term goals. I observed my son started taking academic work more seriously and improved significantly on his self-discipline and time management. To teenage boys, it's hard to convince them of things sometimes. I'm glad that the Zenith counselor played a role in influencing my son towards a healthy learning habit which will be beneficial in the long run. In my son's senior year, the Zenith team worked closely with him to provide support throughout the college application process. My son landed in his dream school. We're very happy with the guidance the Zenith team provided and hard work they have done along the road. read more

I was very impressed with the instructors - they were easily the most professional and knowledgeable I've met. Unlike other places I've been too, I was not rushed or pushed into anything. They were really invested in doing the most for my family and I, and I could tell because of the time that they were willing to put in. Now that I've had a bit more experience with the program, I'd like to leave a short review: I think what really sets this place apart is definitely the curriculum. As someone who learned to code too late (for my own liking) - I find it remarkable that they are able to take students from beginner to intermediate within 3.5 months. Furthermore, the students are constantly practicing what they learned so they can build the final project at the end of the class: the enterprise grade website. When I was first showed the website- I couldn't believe it. But to my surprise, after opening his text editor, my cousin was able to explain to me each page of the function and what it was used for. Even after that, we were able to actually hold a lengthy conversion about all that he learned, and he was excited to tell me the next couple projects he's looking forward to working on. read more

We found Zenith from Facebook ads. I was looking for a good college prep counseling center that takes care of the process end to end. I couldn't find any in the bay area. Most of them were helping with writing essays and the prep for SAT and other tests. But no other place owned the entire process. We found that only Zenith does this. My son is in 7th grade and after a few meetings, Zenith figured out his interests and started working with him on a plan. His interest is in computer science and he(and I+my wife) wants to get into the top 10 colleges for computer science. so he has been recommended to take a web design course this summer. He knew nothing about web-design before this class, one can imagine what a 7th grader would know in web designing. He took 15 classes and after these classes, he can do professional-grade websites now. The class also taught him to organize his code, critical problem-solving skills, etc. He is now ready to participate in hackathons and already registered for his first hackathon. College application is a long journey and starting early is important. We are confident now that we are in good hands with my son's college prep. read more

We have worked with the Zenith team for the past 5 years in their college consulting program. This month our daughter found out that she was accepted into her 3 favorite schools: Princeton, Yale, and UPenn, so we are very excited as parents. We worked with both Will and Frank, and they have been very supportive, responsive, creative, and most importantly competent throughout the entire process. We sought out their help while my daughter was in the 7th grade because we were concerned about her getting into a good college. My husband and I live in the Palo Alto area where there is a lot of competition. To compound the issue both my husband and I attended Stanford, but were advised by numerous sources that there was no longer real legacy preference to rely on. Throughout the years we have grown to consider Will and Frank as part of our family and our daughter has always very much looked forward to sessions with them. I really wish the best for this team as they have impacted our family in such a positive, meaningful, and beautiful way. They helped my daughter achieve her dream and shape her into a responsible, mature young lady. read more

My son, currently a sophomore, loves the guidance he gets from Zenith through their college consulting program. The counselor is my son's go-to person for all questions regarding high school course work, summer programs, extracurricular activities, and various high school competitions. My son has been working with the same counselor for 2 years now and it has been a great experience. Through Zenith we came to know of various high school course options that my son can take up outside of school to build his skill sets. To help maximize summertime, his counselor gave him a long list of summer programs to choose from (some of them we never knew even existed!),  helped him narrow down the choices based on interest levels and went through countless revisions of the essays before submitting the applications. Zenith also encouraged my son to apply to various national and international competitions. His counselor is very easy to talk to, reachable by email/phone anytime and has answers to any question related to college admissions. I am so glad we partnered with Zenith to help my son navigate his high school. read more

My 12-year-old son loved the "Programming - Web development " and "Programming - Software development" classes by Zenith prep. We took 1:1 class for Web development and instructor taught the concepts very nicely. The exercises after the class were very helpful to strengthen the foundation. We opted for group class in summer for Software development. The class was very interactive and the concepts were explained with good examples. The practice exercises helped my son to think logically and solve the problems on his own and address any gaps in understanding in class reviews. At the end of the programming courses, my son has developed very good foundation and lot of interest in programming. Being software professionals ourselves, me and my husband really liked the way the course content was laid out to cover the concepts in a way kids can understand and learn without getting overwhelmed. We highly recommend the computer programming classes from Zenith prep for 6th graders to high schoolers. The content and interactive sessions, practice exercises differentiate the course from other online courses. read more

William and team have been an awesome help in guiding us in our daughter's journey through her high school years into college admissions. They laid out a strategy for her high school courses and ensured that there was a good balance between her AP and non-AP courses.  Helpful hints on what subjects to take,and more importantly when, allowed her to balance her course load with her extra-curricular activities.  In addition to the UC's, they advised us on other great colleges that she would fit into, and prepared her for the tasks that go into applying to colleges.  They prepared a custom timeline and tracked the various colleges and the deadlines for submitting the various documents, essays etc. for them.  Her essays were reviewed thoroughly and professionally with appropriate corrections and suggestions. Highly recommend William and team for your child's college admissions!  We had a great experience and would highly recommend them for their professional approach and technique, and attention to detail that will put your child onto a path to a fantastic college! read more

My son just took a software development course from Zenith during 2021 summer as he is coming to 9th grade. He told me that he really likes the course; in fact, after the course he becomes more motivated in coding that he is exploring more in other online coding classes. The teacher is very knowledgeable and my son learned a lot from each of the class sessions and looked forward to the next class session during the course. I was hesitated at first with the online/virtual course, but it turns out surprisingly very good and convenient especially during the pandemic. In fact, during the course, we needed to take an unexpected trip to Houston for 3 weeks and having 3 people in a hotel room with remote working and learning were a bit challenge, but we did it with a breeze. Thanks to the flexibility on virtual class and excellent teacher! On top of that, Zenith was also accommodating on early class sessions since my son's school started earlier than others' so that my son can finish the course before his school started. Thanks so much to Zenith team!! read more

We had a very good experience with this company. The results were as we expected. Last year our daughter was accepted into 4 ivy league schools and is attending Princeton as Freshman. We worked with Will and Frank for their special college planning service. They worked hard and are very strategic. They think through everything and we always felt comfortable with them. They are also very nice people and my daughter bonded with them well which is why we decided to work with them. Over the 4 or 5 years we worked with them we always felt in control of the process even though my wife and I are not born here or are experts on the american college system. Many of my friends still work with them, and some have finished and have had similar results. My youngest daughter is now in her second year with them and is focusing on engineering and business. I am very glad this company exist because it has been a very positive influence on my children and they look up to the people at this company. read more

My son has worked with Zenith for college counseling since 10th grade and he is going to UCB this year. In the past 2.5 years, our counselor William has fostered a great mentoring relationship with my son and gave him many good advice on class selection, EC, summer camp application, community contribution programs and college application. We can not imagine all these without his help since communication with a strong-minded teenager is quite challenging. William has been being a great coach and a trusted friend for both parents and my son. He truly cared about the student's wellbeing, understood our needs and offered his timely support and encouragement. We've heard a lot of stories from friends about factory-like or disappearing college counselors. We feel fortunate to have William and his Zenith team who is professional, dedicated, and highly responsible. We will give the highest recommendation for their college counseling service! read more