Here is what our clients have to say about us:
Essays / Application:
Dear Mr. Armanino:
Thanks so much for all your help. I know I would not have gotten as far as I did without your guidance. Now that I'm off to Brown University this fall, you have one more excited student that's glad of your expertise in the area of college. Thanks for all those times your proofread my essays and applications. I know having to read that many must have been difficult, but I really appreciate all you did for me. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Connie Lee
Dear Mr. Armanino:
Words cannot describe how much you have helped me through the college application process. I cannot imagine what my essays would sound like without your assistance. I am so grateful for all your help, encouragement and insight. Brown University accepted me into their PLME Direct Medical Program. Thank you so much for all of your hard work – I wouldn't have made it without you.
Natalie Nokoff
To Steve and Staff,
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all of your hard work and dedication. I applied to all eight UCs, along with USC's Marshall School of Business, and all but one UC accepted me.
Thank you guys so much for your hard work and dedication. I will make you proud.
Sincerely,
Josh Jacobs
The guidance you provided Andy was expert and the focus you suggested for his essay &nash; which described his extracurricular activities in music as preparation for college &ndash- was just right. Berkeley was attracted to his special talent in music. Moreover, Andy's UC essays served as the foundation for many essays for other colleges. Thank you.
Cindy Iser
You have been so kind to me and I appreciate all you are doing. The kids in my school are going nuts with their applications. I told them I am the luckiest person I know because I have an essay coach who is easy to work with and a joy to get to know!
Colin Newlin
Parent Praise:
Tia and I wanted to thank you for all your good work with Brendan these past two years. His college is a perfect match for him. Our appreciation has surfaced in the many people we have referred to you, who also are grateful for what you do, but we wanted to say thanks personally.
Thanks again,
Steve Galipeau
We are SO fortunate to have had you help us on this journey. Brandon will be attending Bennington College and owes you a great deal. You have done a tremendous job helping him and us through this process.
Also, He had a GREAT interview with Bowdoin a few days ago. Your tips on interviewing were extremely helpful. Brandon went over all the questions you provided prior to the interview.
Take care,
Julie Wong
Dear Steve:
I just wanted you to know that Scott was accepted for admission to Princeton, Yale, and Stanford – his three top choices. He said he was going to call or e-mail you and may have done so by the time this reaches you, but I wanted to express my own appreciation in writing.
I sincerely believe the help and guidance you provided Scott were instrumental in bringing about his success in the admissions process. I also wanted you to know that we thoroughly enjoyed our meetings with you. In fact, I often wondered where you yourself attended college and what you studied because you are obviously very bright and have great people skills. (I think if I had your people skills I would probably fly to the Middle East and broker a lasting peace.)
Your future applicants are very fortunate to have you in their corner.
James Bandler
Lana is very excited about going to CalPoly SLO (so are we). Again and again, thank you for helping and guiding us through the incredibly confusing path of college planning!
Please, don't plan to retire for another 11 years, as we have started to "line up" Natalie (she is already 6, got to hurry!). We'll be very happy if you use our names for your reference list. And feel free to use our names for your reference list.
Best regards,
Paul Rozvadovsky
Dear Steve:
We would like to sincerely thank you for all the effort with Celia, without you we will be lost.
To tell you the truth, several of our friends have chosen another collage planner for half of your fee. But, in our heart, we know you are the best!
We are glad that your family loved the chocolates, if you are in our area please let Judy know and drop by Judy's office as I bought a lot of chocolates that are waiting for you. Thanks again.
Warmest regards,
Judy and James Shen
Student Praise:
I want to thank you for your support and dedication over the past three years. I know I wasn't your usual kid - not close to either a 2400 or straight A's. Yet you believed in my potential and fostered my passions. I know my family and I threw you some curveballs - thank you for handling them with patience. Your advice has proved to be invaluable as both Harvard and Columbia accepted me. Thank you again Steve!
Janet Duville
My parents told me that they have continued to send Highland Hall students your way, so I'm glad that you have been able to give them your amazing guidance.
Brendan Galipeau
Dear Steve,
Thank you for all your help and work in helping me get admitted to the college of my choice. I have worked hard my four years of high school and you helped me focus my efforts into meaningful college searches, essay tips, and most importantly results. What impressed me most about your service was your ability to help me focus on my college search through monthly newsletters, comprehensive college baseline data information, and most importantly direct e-mails, phone conversations and personal meetings.
Your friendly demeanor and hard work helped me to be admitted to Claremont McKenna College. Thank you again for the important work that you do. I will be sure to drop you a line once I am on campus. Again thank you so much for your time and effort.
Sincerely,
Alexei Laushkin
Dear Steve,
Thank you so much for all your help. I am so glad I got into University of San Diego, which was made much more possible by with your help. I do not think I would have gotten through it all without your help. Let's stay in touch.
Bradford Bosley
Steve,
My family and I have decided on Cornell University, I am very excited and can't wait to enroll. Thank you so much for all your help and support. I appreciate it.
Adam Weg
Hey Steve!
Sorry I haven't written to you for so long, I've just been really busy with school and all. Even though it's the second semester of my senior year I really have to focus since many of my colleges are asking for my second semester grades. Don't worry my grades aren't falling. My 7th semester grades were 3.95 and I started my second semester with a 4.1 so I guess you won't have to worry about me.
Anyway, I'm writing to you today to notify you of my acceptances. Friday, UCSD accepted me into their Biomedical Engineering Program. My Dad said that their program is ranked 3rd in the nation with Johns Hopkins and Duke taking first and second respectively. CalPoly SLO accepted me in General Engineering, UCI in undeclared Physical Sciences and UC Davis in Biological Systems Engineering.
I am really excited about going to UCSD. UCSD has been my DREAM COLLEGE since my junior year. My parents and I didn't think I could get in since the major is so very competitive. All I know is that I'm really ecstatic and relieved to go to UCSD.
I'm still waiting from USC, UCLA, Claremont McKenna, and Rice University and I guess it would really be nice to receive acceptance letters from those universities, too. Anyway, thank you Steve for everything you've done for me. Without your help in finding colleges, organizing my testing schedule in my junior year, and help with my personal statements, I probably wouldn't have been accepted into these colleges. So thanks again and I'll notify you as soon as I hear from the other colleges.
Thankfully Yours,
Kris Oracio
Well, it's May 1 and I guess most of your students have committed to their colleges. I know I have! This fall, you can find me at my top choice: the Marshall School of Business at USC! FIGHT ON, TROJANS!
Needless to say, reaching this point was a lot of work, and you and your staff were a GIGANTIC help! Your research, input, advice, and editorial expertise put me over the top! Please accept my genuine thanks for helping me get into my #1 school.
Jonathan Igner
Hello Mr. Armanino! This is Mijin! I just wanted to tell you that I got into West Point. Thank you for everything that you've done for me, including the essay rewrites and the interview pointers! I used your interview guidelines for every interview and they actually helped me get a gold medal in the interview section for the Academic Decathlon competition! Thank you once again so much Mr. Armanino! Your help was most likely the deciding factor that got me my admissions!
Mijin Son
Hey Steve! Thanks for the interview advice you gave me. In my Drexel interview I was much more relaxed than I had predicted. Their questions were all about past experiences I had written about, along with the reason why I chose Drexel University. So, that interview provided me with a $16,000 yearly scholarship!!! (as long as I maintain a 3.0) THAT'S AWESOME! THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Sean Collignon
Dear Mr. Armanino:
I've decided to attend UC Berkeley. I want to thank you for all of your advice and everything that you have done for me. I'm so happy with the decision, and thank you so much for helping me!
Christina Terry
Thank you for your services. They have been well worth it.
Eric Shewfelt
Again, thank you for the tremendous help in bolstering my admissions, giving the help I needed in selecting colleges and exploring my interests. I remember when I came to you, I had no idea what to do with my life, but with your help, I really see my direction much more clearly now. Thanks a lot, Steve!
Timothy Law
It has been a privilege to work with you. The support you gave me and my family made the whole process manageable and less stressful. Your suggestions about colleges, extracurricular activities and essay editing helped me make excellent decisions and get outstanding results. This is what led me attend Wellesley. And that is no small thing!
Jamie Bence
Financial Aid:
Dear Steve:
I want to thank you for all of your assistance. As you know, Cal Tech, my number one school accepted me – I am so happy!
Thinking back on your help, your admission strategies worked. Many excellent colleges accepted me and some accepted me into their honors program. Your guidance and recommendations for establishing the right volunteer involvement differentiated me from the other students applying to Cal Tech. Together, we worked hard on the college admission essays. Thank you for all of the time your put into helping me write and rewrite my work to develop outstanding essays. Possibly, that was a reason why the Dean of Admissions personally called and told me that he accepted me into Cal Tech.
Acceptance into Cal Tech is one thing, getting the financial aid to pay for their education was another. My family was disappointed when we reviewed their Financial Aid offer. You too felt they could offer more grant and scholarship money. With your help with our financial aid and Special Circumstance Letter, Cal Tech increased our scholarship and grants by more than $10,000 for my first-year and for each succeeding year. Your Special Circumstance Letter won us over $40,000!
Mr. Armanino, you have always encouraged us to call you with our questions. It was through our numerous conversations and visits that we developed our successful strategy. Again, my parents and I appreciate how you took care of us.
Sincerely,
Jeehwan Choi
Dear Mr. Armanino:
Thank you so much for all the help you've given me this last year. You always encouraged us to call whenever we had a question or needed help. I especially appreciated the list of scholarships. Your questionnaire to find scholarships I would be eligible for saved a tremendous amount of time and energy. I had a perfect list of available scholarships in front of me. All I had to do was request the application and fill it out.
Thank you for finding a way to reduce our Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Our financial aid package was wonderful due to this factor. I was basically offered a full scholarship from UC Berkeley and the other scholarships I received from outside sources helped tremendously with side costs.
You helped make my transition into college a breeze. All I have to concentrate on now are my classes. Not worrying about money and how I am going to pay for college makes life wonderful.
Thank You,
Nooshi Amiri-Davani
Dear Steve,
I hope you've been well. I wanted to write to tell you how much I have enjoyed our relationship these past 4-years.
As you know, Rayna has started her Senior year at Concordia College and will graduate this Spring in Finance. She plans to immediately go on to grad school and we are happy to have your help there too. I like what you have proposed for her graduate school. We are eagerly implementing your strategies. You'll be pleased to know that this time, we are right on track.
I laugh when I think back to four years ago when we started working together. You worked so hard to convince me you could improve Rayna's financial aid and we kept dragging our feet. Working for the University and seeing how stingy they are with financial aid, I couldn't imagine how we could qualify for any free money. After all, we aren't exactly poor.
As you recall, the strategies and letters you helped me write got Rayna an additional $5,500 of free money each year. And you know what? Thanks to you, Rayna has received $27,500! You did such a great job for us!
I wish you the very best,
Marion Heard
Letters of Recommendation:
Van Nuys High School
6535 Cedros Avenue
Van Nuys, California 91411-1599
(818) 781-2371
Fax (818) 781-5181
Dear Mr. Steve Armanino:
It is with great pleasure that I am writing this letter of recommendation for you. I am proud to know you as a professional college counselor in private practice. You truly care about helping college bound students. I am grateful for your informative weekly admission workshops and consultation with students, grades 9 through 12. I also appreciate the financial aid and admission workshop you provided.
You demonstrate outstanding knowledge about the college application process for CSUs, UCs and private universities throughout our country. You provide remarkable financial aid feedback for students. Your organizational skills and compassionate counseling are invaluable for students and parents.
You are one of the finest professionals I have had the pleasure of working with during my sixteen year school counseling career. I wish you continued success.
Sincerely,
Dr. Cherie Steward, MFT
College Counselor