IvyMax Academy Fremont

I went to a seminar a month ago with my 10^th grade cousin and we thought it was helpful. Their counselors are very experienced and they offer various programs for students to build up an outstanding resume that really impressed us (some programs are pricy though). Anyway, if you’re a high school student and looking for academic advice or any inquiries about college application!

I trusted my son to them, paid them a lot of money. It did not work out the way I expected. One problem was that they did not have good resources to coach and help my son. They had only Dr. Wei who could be good, but my son did not get enough attention and coaching from him. I feel ripped off. Not worth it. Not recommended at all.

This place caused so much pain for me. I was treated like I was nothing. The front desk people had no hearts. They did not support you. If you don’t have or didn’t get a 2400 SAT; you are stupid and will never be able to attend college. I’m in college now. Their attitude was horrifying. It was cruel.
The English teacher was actually very good. Helen was her name. She wasn’t bad at all. I actually learned.
The math teacher, he was bad. I sat there and I knew how to do everything. He would literally go step by step. He’ll ask like «what’s 2+2?» We’re not stupid. We know what that is, teach us the actually way to solve the problem. Don’t put your focus on silly kindergarden math. I don’t normally care how people dress, but as a «professional teacher», he should have dressed like he was a professional teacher. He had a hole in his shoe and you can see his toes.
Well my SAT score barely improved after months of SAT work. Hard work, which consisted on many hours of homework, practice tests, and driving time. It got me no where.
I would give this place –2 stars if I could.
They really are heartless people here, who are only there to take your money.

A terrible place. If there was a choice, I wouldn’t even give them any stars. After I spent over $ 3k for my child to attend various courses at IvyMax to improve his chances to attend an upper-​tiered university, they constantly nagged for more money after he wasn’t able to improve his SAT scores beyond a certain level. They nagged over the phone and when dropping my child off to class. There is no need for that sort of high pressure sales when we already stated that our answer was «no». There is an implied attitude that your child would fail if you not opt to go with additional courses. Unfortunately this type of business is only motivated by profit and can care less about your child. Don’t waste your time and money.

This is written as if Ivy Max was reading this review.
Hi, I’m Kevin. I attended Ivy Max about three years ago and tried the college counseling that Ivy Max offered. I would like to start out and say that the main person who leads the college counseling division basically said that I had absolutely no chance at attending either USC, JHU, CMU, UC Davis, UCSB, or anywhere on my list of colleges I applied to. He basically said that I should probably look at community colleges instead. I went home all depressed because of his hurtful words. You claim that one of your core values is «Integrity.» If you shoot down a person’s dream to attend one university, is that really «integrity?» No, it’s not. Also, I remember when I submitted my personal statement for review. The person who read it said she «didn’t like it because it’s funny.» Oh, really. Did you know on that same day I got those remarks, a current Stanford (yes, you read that correctly STANFORD) University admissions officer came to MY SCHOOL to LECTURE us on the essay. You want to know what she said. It might be helpful since you so-​called college counselors claim to know everything when you actually don’t. Well, the college admissions officer told us that for the personal statement that «you should be funny if you’re funny, happy if you’re happy, serious if you’re a serious person.» Yes, those were her words. And you claim to know more about college counseling? The person who edited my essay needs to learn the correct and proper way of writing the personal statement. Oh, does «PERSONAL» statement mean anything? I thought so. As for my essay, my REAL college counselor at my high school helped me get into the schools that I wanted to get into. Had I actually listened to you people, I would not have gotten into any of the schools I applied to. (Kind of ironic, don’t you think?) Honestly, the environment I was in was neither caring nor helpful. I was led to believe that I would not be able to attend college because I was not up to their standards. What standards? You want to know where I currently attend? Well first, you want to know something? I defied the head college counselor when I learned I had ACTUALLY gotten into CMU and JHU, when he said I should not even bother applying because I had no chance of getting accepted. You’re wrong. Ivy Max is wrong. As to where I attend, I am currently a Trojan. I am writing this review because I have realized how you people lie and play with people’s emotions when it is time to deal with college applications. Your «Testimonial» page may be shining in the limelight, but this is the absolute truth about Ivy Max. I do not mean to be harsh, but this was my experience at Ivy Max, and it was not one to remember or be grateful of. I feel like it was a waste of my time, learning that I had no chance of going to college, and that my dream college was going to outright reject me. Playing with people’s emotions is horrible enough, but telling someone they cannot do anything is just outright disgusting. I hope this is a wake up call. You need to re-​evaluate your priorities once more before you begin with next year’s college applicants. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who has felt this way.

I would NOT recommend this place to any of my friends. They keep luring you into buying their other services, e.g. their program to help your child get into Ivy League schools. They charge a fortune ($ 6000 for applying to 3 schools). They also charge a lot for SAT prep classes. When you don’t go with their plan, they keep calling you and nagging you to have your child join their other programs. My son did say the teachers are good but the administrative staff are literally marketing people, not just office clerks. They are out to get your money. DO NOT go to this place. I am kicking myself for putting my son in it and wasting my money.

Beware!
This place should get a negative rating. I signed up my daughter and paid close to $ 2000 with my credit card. A week later received a phone call from them saying her classes were cancelled and they wanted us to choose a different one. None of the other classes worked for us, the staff then told me she would process the refund because this was their problem. One minute later, manger called, trying to talk me into taking other classes, even suggesting my daughter going to their Pleasenton location (we live in Fremont!) if we wouldn’t do it at a differnt time. I insisted we did not want to change so she finally agreed they would give me the refund.
Guess what, they never gave my money back! I called them and they said it took a couple of weeks for their accountant to process the refund. What a big lie, the payment was posted right away on the SATURDAY they charged my credit card and now it takes weeks to process the refund! I decided to save my time and stopped following up on them. Instead, I made a dispute claim to Citibank Visa. My dispute is now official after Citibank completed their investigation 2 weeks after my report.
Of course they never gave my money back. I am glad I made the dispute report so it’s now between Citibank and them and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Just more FYI, fine print in their registration, if you want to withdraw, you must do it within 1 calendar day after you sign up or there is no refund. You will only get credit for other classes, and the credit expires after 1 year. And even if you do withdraw within 1 day, you can only get 90% back. Read the fine print carefully and think multiple times before you pay.

I HATE THIS PLACE
^maybe because i hate being to anything that has to do with sat class. i went here a while back and it was torture! the instructor you see when you get in are hard to understand if you are not chinese so keep that in mind. this place does teach some good things to know for the sat test but everything else was done horribly. like the practice tests they give you are poor and will sometimes have already written things on them. also, they put you into a room where you are taking the test and there are many distraction such as a lady comign in to ask you to help move a desk. whack! the test reviews on saturdays are a somewhat help though but not really. the instructors do know what they are talking about so thats a plus!