Why College Counseling?

Ann Lee is a graduate of Harvard University, a former Harvard Undergraduate Admissions Interviewer, and a former California public school English teacher. She earned her Masters of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times (“For Asian Americans, A Changing Landscape on College Admissions”) and interviewed by MSNBC and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Her husband, Dave Kim, also earned his Masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (specializing in Technology and Innovation) and his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Harvard Graduate School Admissions Ambassador and brings intimate knowledge of college admissions processes, politics, and dynamics. Dave also brings significant experience in time management, interviews, and resumes from the corporate world, having spent 15+ years in Product Management in edtech, cybersecurity, fintech, and e-commerce.

Ann Lee founded HS2 Academy in 2002, and then later together with Dave Kim, they operated the largest counseling program in the U.S., serving over 10,000 students all over the world. Ann and Dave, the duo wife-and-husband Harvard team, co-founded Ann Lee Consulting (ALC) in 2016 to re-focus and  re-build a high quality counseling program, providing high-quality academic and college counseling for a  small, select group of students along with a hand-picked team of professional editors and admissions experts. ALC has a diverse caseload of students from all over the world, but only accepts a handful of students each year into its elite counseling programs with a large waiting list for most of the year (it is recommended to register early for any program).

After graduating cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, Sandy Epstein headed west to attend the UCLA School of Law, where she won multiple American Jurisprudence Awards, ranked in the top 10 students of her class, and graduated Order of the Coif (the highest honor given for the J.D.). She then practiced corporate and tax law both in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC before heading back to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment field.

After a decade or so, Sandy became a full-time mom to two little girls and then transitioned into working as an Independent Educational Consultant, specializing in helping families find the right schools (from preschool to college) for their children. Realizing she greatly enjoyed working with high schoolers and their families, she returned to school to get her UC Certificate of College Counseling and has been a full-time College Counselor ever since.

Having conducted hundreds of admissions interviews for the University of Pennsylvania (one year alone she did 113 interviews!), Sandy knows what the top schools are looking for in applicants. Sandy takes the time to understand the needs of each student and family in order to prepare an individualized college list for each student, making certain that each school is an academic, social, and financial fit. She also spends hours with each student going over transcripts, high school course selection, extracurriculars, and other activities to ensure the student is in the best position when it comes time to apply to colleges. Then she works with each student on every facet of the application process (including brainstorming essay topics, editing essays, choosing majors, and overseeing the submission of the applications).