Zenith Prep Academy Reviews 

Yohan has been a true beacon for our 8th grader. He has been an amazing academic counselor gently broadening her horizons into what is possible. She has been studying with him for the past two years and he has been instrumental in introducing her to new areas to explore - topics as diverse as entrepreneurship, app building, psychology, regenerative medicine, machine learning and AI. We feel this is a great age for children to explore as many diverse themes as they can and see what truly excites them. However we lacked the knowledge and the resources to provide this guidance ourselves. Yohan has filled that gap for us by being not only super knowledgeable but also patient and kind. He is someone we absolutely trust and respect, and we expect our daughter to continue working with him and Zenith all the way through high school. He is a tremendous guide, friend and teacher - someone that can elevate students at every step in their journey and we are fortunate to have him working with us and our daughter.

We’ve had a wonderful experience working with Rebecca at Zenith as our son Adrian’s college counselor. She is exceptionally organized, attentive, and thoughtful. Her detailed meeting summaries and clear action items help Adrian stay on track while balancing academics, extracurricular activities, research, and college preparation.

What we appreciate most is the rapport she has built with Adrian. He genuinely enjoys working with her, which, as parents of a teenager, means a great deal to us. She celebrates his accomplishments while offering practical, honest guidance about his priorities. She also encourages him to protect his sleep and well-being, showing that she cares about him as a person.

Rebecca takes the time to understand Adrian’s interests and follows his progress closely. Her guidance helps him turn ambitious goals into manageable next steps while encouraging him to take ownership of the process. We’re grateful for her support and would highly recommend her to families looking for an organized, caring, and engaged college counselor.

My daughter was in 7th grade when I saw commercial on YouTube about ” Zenith”program. I was in doubt is it really works for us or not? Because I come to USA from Europe I don’t know much about education here and how college process works. “Zenith” promised to help student with essay for their future college and help them concentrate more on school subject that really important to be successful in life .
I definitely satisfied how our concealer Rebecca Mendez take care of us. She always helpful and answer my questions and if I don’t understand some situation in school she always ready to explain. Rebecca helps us find music camp when daughter was in 7th grade in Charleston University and my child enjoy it . She also helps to choose right clubs and activity at school and gave us a lot of information about future profession so it’s easy for daughter to choose right direction.
We really need her support .
Now my daughter in 9th grade and we still in program and enjoy it. So I definitely recommended this program for parents who wanna help their kids choose right profession and right college.

Sam is frank, gets to the point, and runs every meeting in an organized way. Our tenth grader is held accountable for his goals and deadlines, and he’s become more responsible because of it. We highly recommend this counselor to any family that wants clear, honest college guidance.

If I could give them a zero I would. They are a scam. Buyer be aware.

We’ve had a wonderful experience with Zenith, and we are especially grateful for Rebecca, our dedicated Zenith counselor. She has been an incredible resource throughout our daughter’s boarding school admissions journey and continues to provide valuable guidance as she navigates her academic future.

What truly sets Rebecca apart is her genuine care, thoughtful approach, and commitment to understanding each student as an individual. She takes the time to recognize our daughter’s strengths, interests, and aspirations while offering insightful advice and encouragement. Her guidance goes beyond admissions, helping students build confidence, explore opportunities, and make thoughtful decisions about their future.

Even after our daughter’s acceptance to boarding school, Rebecca has remained actively involved and supportive, which speaks volumes about her dedication.

We are truly grateful for Rebecca and the Zenith team and would highly recommend them to families looking for personalized, knowledgeable, and caring academic and admissions guidance.

We started working with Zenith Prep Academy when our son was in 9th grade, and it has honestly been one of the best decisions we’ve made. The college process felt overwhelming at first, but from the very beginning, we felt supported and guided every step of the way. There are clear roadmaps, action items, and everything feels handled, which has been a tremendous weight off our shoulders as parents.

What we appreciate most is how well they got to know our son. His strategist took the time to understand what genuinely excites him and helped him explore opportunities that fit who he is, not just what looks good on an application. Watching him grow in confidence and get excited about his future has meant so much to us as parents. Our son has also really enjoyed the wellness program that Zenith provides. We have found this to be a very unique and strong aspect of Zenith's service as compare to other consulting companies our friends use.

Communication has been great, our questions always get answered, and we never feel like just another family on a list. We’d recommend them to any family starting this journey!

Rachel Brown was very helpful and understanding of my requirement for a transfer application for my child in Fall 2027. I feel confident that the team at Zenith will support and deliver on my requirement

So far, our experience with Zenith has been very positive. Our counselor is highly knowledgeable and provides valuable guidance tailored to my child’s interests. He offers all the necessary resources, maintains a positive attitude, and gives thoughtful recommendations to help us choose the right path. We are very satisfied with our counselor's effort.

We regret working with them. It is not like it is shown on advertisiments. Not worth the money given to them!

It was a very constructive first consultation. Thank you, Marina R.

In my experience, I have a laundry list of things that went wrong and wish we cancelled in advance. It was not clearly stated monthly meeting is only 30 minutes with counselor, told different things from different representatives, latest counselor was 13-min late for a 15-min follow-up meeting (f/up meetings only offered in senior year), counselor sometimes need to be made to stay on track (non-academic conversation within an already limited 30-min meeting), advice that I think was not most ideal when determining my child’s classes and suggestion of colleges (would have done things differently), and the big kicker, the counselor we worked with for a few years left the company a few days before Common Apps opened (!) and did not indicate us in advance (absolutely would have refunded at that point but unexpected news came 3.5 weeks too late), etc. My personal opinion, I wish we signed up elsewhere and it would been much cheaper. Didn’t work out for us!

When i first found zenith, I was afraid that no top universities would accept me. I had a 3.8 GPA and my test scores were uncompetitive. When i first scheduled a meeting with the zenith advisor, the price made me and my family withholding, however 1 year later we believe that was the best money we ever spent. With Linda’s guidance, i was able to get accepted to my dream college early action: University of Michigan. She was an amazing advisor: would always respond to my questions at random times of the day, edit my essays numerous times, and just offer and overall guidance. She made my essays significantly better, and boosted my hope.

I had an excellent experience working with Sam Deery at Zenith. He provided clear guidance throughout my university application process and gave valuable feedback that helped strengthen my essays while keeping them true to my own voice. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for expert guidance with their university applications.

Overall, Zenith provided phenomenal support on multiple levels; whether it was breaking down the college admissions process, ensuring all the necessary steps were taken, or developing a comprehensive profile to use on applications, they were an invaluable resource throughout the journey. In particular, Sam Deery-Schmitt served as an excellent mentor and guide through the admissions process thanks to his experience and understanding of who I was and what my profile should reflect. Partnering with Zenith was more than worth it; getting accepted into one of my top universities wasn't easy, but Zenith boosted my chances and made it happen.

My experience was great thanks to my counselor, Mr. Sam. However, I went through several counselors before finding him, which was quite frustrating. I had to keep switching until I found someone who truly understood me. Although Mr. Sam is excellent, the company needs to improve its counselor assignment process. For a counselor to be effective, they must understand their student. Mr. Sam is the right fit for me because he adapts to my needs and takes the time to get to know me as a person. Additionally, he has a background similar to my interests, which helps him relate to me even better.

Throughout my junior year as well as throughout the entire application process, Sam has been extremely supportive. Always ready to give me advice whenever I needed it, to answer all my queries, and to make sure that I am meeting all deadlines, Sam made the application process much easier for me.

My first impression of Zenith was shaped by how much time they invested in getting to know us before we signed the contract. They met with us multiple times, answered all of our questions, and never made us feel rushed. That gave us a great deal of confidence in the company. At the time, we still had many uncertainties about who our counselor would be and what our daughter's experience would be.

We have been pleasantly surprised. One of the things we appreciate most is that we have worked with the same counselor for more than two years, and we hope that relationship continues throughout the entire four years we plan to use their services.

Our counselor, Sam, has been consistently supportive, knowledgeable, and well prepared. He brings a great deal of experience to every meeting and provides thoughtful, practical advice tailored to our daughter's goals and interests. He has taken the time to understand her strengths and has helped her build a strong long-term plan.

The guidance has been steady and proactive throughout the process. We always leave our meetings with clear action items and a better understanding of what comes next. The consistency and quality of the counseling have been the biggest reasons we are happy we chose Zenith.

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.

I started working with my counselor, Sam Deery-Schmitt, in my junior year, and he went above and beyond throughout the whole process. Right from our first conversation, it was clear how invested he was in helping me succeed. He spent extra time helping me prepare additional applications and put together an academic and extracurricular plan built entirely around what I'm passionate about. The guidance he gave extended well beyond the applications themselves, setting me up for success once I get to college. His background in engineering and computer science made a real difference, too, since I could talk through my technical interests with him and he understood them. That understanding carried over into his feedback on anything technical I wrote for my applications, and his notes were always clear and easy to follow. I'd recommend Sam to any student looking for real, personalized guidance through the college application process.