PrepScholar Review: Test Prep And College Admissions Counseling

PrepScholar is a test prep and college consulting service for high school, college, and graduate students. For test preparation, you’ll have the option to take an online course, group classes, or one-on-one tutoring sessions. Admissions counseling services include essay editing, application reviews, and admissions mentoring.

Courses are more affordable than many competitors and include a money-back score improvement guarantee. College admissions packages come with four-figure price tags, making them cheaper than top-tier admissions counselors but still a sizable investment. Here’s a closer look at PrepScholar programs to help you understand if they could suit you or your child.

What Is Prepscholar?

Prepscholar was founded in 2013 by Harvard grads to support students seeking admission to top colleges and universities. Every tutor and counselor they hire has scored in the 99th percentile on admissions exams and has also attended a prestigious school. 

They also offer several guarantees on their test prep. If you don't see the following increases in your score, the test prep is free.  Those increases are as follows:

• SAT - 160 points composite score 
• ACT -  4 points composite score 
• PSAT - 150 points
• GRE - 7 points
• GMAT - 60 points
• TOEFL - 15 points

They report that their students are 7.8 times more likely to get into a Top 10 college than the national average, 6.1 times more likely to get into an Ivy League school, and have a 99% chance to get into one of their top-choice schools.

They work to understand what makes each student unique and devise a strategy to help them stand out from other applicants. 

The complete admissions package gives full support for up to 20 applications. This includes everything from scholarship support to interview prep. They also have an annual mentorship package for 9th- to 11th-graders that sets up a plan to build students' profiles over their high school careers and help them stand out during the admissions process. 

They also offer less intensive packages that include application review, essay coaching, and editing. 

Unlike many admissions consultants, they make their pricing fully transparent on their website. It's not uncommon in this industry to have to set up a call in order to find out pricing; that's a nice switch. 

What Does It Offer?

PrepScholar divides its services into two categories: test preparation and admissions consulting.

Test Preparation

For standardized tests, PrepScholar offers courses, classes, and tutoring for the following tests:

• SAT
• ACT
• PSAT
• AP
• GRE
• GMAT
• TOEFL

Pricing varies depending on the course or package you choose. For example, the lowest-cost online SAT course costs $397 and includes a 160-point score improvement guarantee. Prices go up to $995 for packages including private one-on-one tutoring. ACT prep has the same pricing and comes with an improvement guarantee of at least four points, or it's free.

Admissions Consulting

Admissions support starts with a free consultation. They offer three admission packages, with varying price points. 

The “Complete Admissions Package” includes full support for up to 20 applications, weekly one-on-one meetings with a counselor, application narrative strategy, help choosing schools to apply, help with all of your essays, interview prep, and scholarship support. The cost is high but less than you’ll pay top-tier admissions counselors like IvyWise.

Complete Admissions Package Pricing: $9,495 to $15,995.

The "Annual Mentorship Package" is for 9th-, 10th-, or 11th-graders. This package includes a 12-month profile-building plan, bi-monthly 1:1 meetings with a counselor, assistance with choosing extracurriculars and summer activities, high school coursework selection, Major and career exploration, and passion project guidance.

Mentorship Package Pricing: $6,495 (Note: Discounts of up to $3,100 are available if you purchase a mentorship package together with the 12th Grade Complete admissions package. 

PrepScholar's "Essay  Coaching Services" have two levels. Full Essay Coaching and Essay Review. In the Full Essay Coaching, you will meet with a counselor who will work with you from topic planning to the final essay draft, giving you feedback and edits along the way.

Essay Coaching Pricing: From $595 (up to 650 words) to $3,589 (4,501 to 5,000 words). 

The Essay Review Service is useful when you already have your essay written and you just want some expert editing and feedback. Pricing is also based on the length of the essay and starts at

Essay Review Pricing: From $195 (up to 650 words) to $1,194 (4,501 to 5,000 words). 

Are There Any Fees?

We've listed PrepScholar's Admissions Counseling services in the sections above.

How Does PrepScholar Compare?

PrepScholar does a good job of offering valuable test-preparation courses and admissions counseling without charging the highest-tier rates. While a college admissions package starts at over $9,000 sounds like a lot (and it is!), some consultants charge thousands of dollars per hour.

Nationally, the average fee for a comprehensive admissions package ranges from $850 to $10,000, or $200 per hour.

PrepScholar gets a 4.6 out of 5 based on user reviews on TrustPilot. Reviews say that the counselors are patient and knowledgeable. The negative reviews tend to be from students who did not complete the coursework and therefore did not improve their scores. 

How Do I Join PrepScholar?

You can sign up for PrepScholar at the PrepScholar website or learn more and sign up for admissions counseling by phone. For most web-savvy households, signing up online is a straightforward process.

Getting going with test prep only takes a few minutes. Choose your course, click the signup button, enter your contact and payment information, and you’re off and running. Admissions counseling and programs with one-on-one tutoring are a little more involved to join, but the sales and onboarding process is easy to follow.

How Do I Contact PrepScholar?

You can reach PrepScholar by phone or email. The phone number is 866-811-5546. For email contact, you can send a message to [email protected]. If you're a client, you can reach your advisor by email as well.

Is It Worth It?

Overall, PrepScholar test prep courses are a reasonably good value and are worthwhile to many college-bound students. With a money-back guarantee, you have little to lose if the student doesn’t perform as expected.

Admissions counseling is more of a personal decision, as the results are less cut-and-dry than test scores. If you’re lost in the college admissions world and can afford the extra help, it could be worthwhile. If you’re confident in your college search process or have excellent college prep resources from your high school, it may not be worth the cost.

But if you get similar results to competitors who charge much more for a similar service, you could find PrepScholar well worth it.