AcceptUReviews of acceptu.com

My son had very strong academic profile and I wanted best college counseling service for him to fully support his potential. I started searching around and talked to many top companies like Solomon IvyCoach, and a few more, I finally settled on AcceptU. Regan did an amazing job convincing me why AcceptU would be a great choice for my son. I could sense integrity, trust, and motivation to truly help students. I selected a Tier1 counseling pkg & Impact Research Pgm—both costly—with the expectation of top-quality guidance. We're assigned Tim Townley. After just 2–3 sessions, it's clear he wasn’t a good fit: he repeated questions, seemed unprepared, and didn’t reference any notes. We felt nervous and contacted Regan, who immediately looped in Jamie M. I met with Counselor & shared my concerns, hoping his experience and role as counseling director would ensure better support. Unfortunately, this became one of my most regrettable decisions in life. Jamie scheduled brief, bi-weekly ad hoc calls that covered only basics. I had expected regular, insightful guidance. When I asked questions, he sometimes got defensive, which further eroded our confidence. My son also did the Impact program with GTech professor, which was the worst research program anyone can do. As the year ended, I expected that Jamie would proactively guide my son in selecting strong summer programs. While he did suggest a few opportunities and assisted with essay reviews, unfortunately, my son was not accepted into any of those top summer programs ( we felt the essays were very bad). Thankfully, I had independently encouraged him to apply elsewhere, which led to an outstanding opportunity with an MIT professor—ultimately saving his summer. In the 2nd half of junior year, counseling sessions with Jamie were infrequent, despite the contract stating they should occur at least weekly or more often if needed. In June 2024, I asked about next steps, and Jamie outlined a focus on application essays through November—starting with the Common App personal statement, then UC essays. He introduced his sister, Meghan, to help with essay development. By July, my son received a first draft of his main essay, but the quality was very poor. I was concerned that it wouldn't be competitive even for a school like SJSU, let alone a top-tier university. I immediately began searching for a top-tier essay counselor and was fortunate to find one. My son worked closely with him, often 4–5 hours a week or more, crafting the Common App essay, UC essays, and others for top schools. The quality was outstanding, and I was very satisfied. The counselor brought out the best in my son, and the essays authentically reflected his accomplishments. AcceptU also gave us incorrect guidance. We had planned to apply to Princeton as my son's EA choice, along with another private college (say X). AcceptU confirmed this was allowed. However, during my own research, I discovered that applying EA to X would disqualify him from applying to Princeton EA. I emailed Jamie, and he insisted it was still allowed—this is documented in writing. To be sure, I called Princeton’s AO, & they confirmed he could not apply EA to any other private college. As a result, we had to drop Princeton, which was very disappointing, especially since this is something Jamie should have known. BTW, we saved ourselves from committing a wrongdoing. With just 2 days left before the deadline, we pivoted to another top school for EA. Thankfully, his private essay coach helped him complete the application in time. I genuinely feel disappointed that a company like AcceptU has counselors like Jamie. That said, I’m grateful that, in the end, my son had a very successful outcome with help from new essay counselor—he was admitted to top UCs, GTech, UMich, CMU, and several others for CS. He remains waitlisted at 2 Ivy League schools in the top-10. I shared same feedback with AcceptU co-founders a week but they didn’t care to respond. I would suggest avoiding AcceptU at any cost. If you need more details, please reach out to me directly