CollegeVineReviews of collegevine.com

Nice information feed back based on Student achievements.

Don't trust their algorithms! Similar to another review I read, CollegeVine provided guidance to my daughter for many "Safety" and "Target" schools with LOTS of "Hard Targets". She only got in a SINGLE Safety school that was at the bottom of the list. After talking with her high school counselor (after the fact), she emphatically said that the "Safety" schools they recommended were in fact NOT Safety schools. Her Safety schools had ~25% acceptance rate... that is not a Safety school. All CollegeVine could say is "Sorry" and "her profile fits these schools, so It's just a weird fluke". This has been devastating.

CollegeVine perhaps ruined my granddaughter's college career with inaccurate, misguided information. Something went terribly wrong with their system or their algorithms or something! Using their advice (after spending $6,000) and applying to colleges which they classified as Safe or Target or Possible, she applied to 18 colleges and was devastated to be rejected by all but 2 "bottom" ones! Now it is too late to apply to other colleges for next year! CollegeVine apologized. They offered no explanation. They offered a partial refund. Money is not the issue. The issue is a child no longer excited about entering college, a child being told, "Just go somewhere you don't like for a year and then you can transfer with no problem." A child who is EXCEPTIONAL (99% SAT and 98% ACT) who now feels mediocre and rejected. Be very, very careful with CollegeVine's advice/mentoring.

CollegeVine is all about marketing their essay review service. Their "chancing" algorithm is complete crap. Northeastern, for example, pops up as a "safety" school. Maybe it was years ago, but any school that has an acceptance rate of less than 30% is not in any way, shape, or form a safety school. The "chancing" algorithm also is extremely inaccurate and faulty when it comes to factoring in extracurriculars. The site is reasonable for collecting basic information about different colleges, but this information is publicly available through other channels as well. CollegeVine is a nice idea, but take the "chancing" algorithm with a giant grain of salt and be aware that everything is geared towards enticing you to use their essay review service. ("Chancing" says essays account for "25%" of the acceptance decision-making process... so you should send them your essays for a review. Bunch of B.S. as essay importance will vary from school to school and CollegeVine has absolutely no legitimate way of quantifying this for any single school.) Addendum: In their response, CollegeVine says Northeastern can be a safety school for students with strong profiles. Um, no. Other sources reveal that Northeastern defers large numbers of students with glowing profiles and has an overall acceptance rate of only 30%. This is not a “safety school” for anyone under any definition. That CollegeVine doesn’t recognize this tells you all you need to know. The site is mostly junk and just a vehicle for marketing their essay service. Maybe the latter is decent... I don’t know and, based on their “chancing” b.s. I would never try it.

GREAT help with reviewing my essay and giving me personalized feedback. I've gotten many compliments about my essay and that's in large part thanks to the help I've gotten from CollegeVine. Recommend them highly, especially to the stressed applicant!

My son had a very disappointing SAT prep experience for the money. The tutor was from Princeton, which was impressive, but she was very robotic and there was no connection. It was also very hard having the interaction be over Skype. I don't think they did a great job matching him up with the right tutor.

Excellent Support. Worth every penny spent. Our senior was appropriately matched with a peer college advisor with whom they trusted to assist with review and brainstorming the voluminous amount of college essays. While we already had the college list prepared when signed up, College Vine supplied valuable input and insight throughout the process. While a daunting process especially for the highly selective schools, College Vine’s support in easing the pain and anxiety of the application process for both student and parents was superb. Our child was admitted to their first choice Ivy League school. College Vine helped highlight strengths to present in the best light possible. We recommend College Vine without hesitation. Wish we had found them sooner.

CollegeVine has unequivocally been the best investment my family has made. Both of my children have been enrolled in CollegeVine's Mentorship, SAT and Applications Programs. Everyone we've encountered at this organization has been a joy to work with. Our children's mentors and consultants were extremely strong writers and able to assist my kids with getting their thoughts onto paper in a compelling way. The difference between CollegeVine and other local consultants we interviewed is CollegeVine's data platform. We loved their data tools and the other consultants we talked to didn't seem to have anything as sophisticated. Both of my children were ultimately accepted to top-ranked schools with generous financial aid packages we were not expecting. We can't thank CollegeVine enough for the tremendous support.