Teensherpa

Identify your purpose, passions and true strengths.

Finding your path doesn’t need to be stressful - let us be your guides.

Stunning Acceptances!

This year Teensherpa guided twins to gain early acceptance to Stanford University (4% acceptance rate).

96% of Teensherpa seniors were admitted into one of or more of their top four schools, including the Ivies.

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Testimonials

What families are saying about us

Extremely Helpful and Supportive

I was very nervous about applying as a Computer Science major since CS is known to be the most competitive of all fields/majors, but Eileen encouraged me to apply to a wide range of schools and showed me how to strategically leverage my common application.
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Her essay notes and edits were extremely thorough and helpful, but also let my voice come through. Eileen has a very positive personality and is fun to talk to, which is helpful with reducing admissions stress. I know I wouldn’t have gained admisssion to all of these colleges without Eileen’s help, and I can’t recommend her highly enough to high school students navigating the admisssions process.

Ella

Wellesley Class of 2029
Also admitted to Bowdoin, Carleton, Hamilton, Colgate, Smith, Grinnell, Mount Holyoke (with a large scholarship), Middlebury, University of Washington (for Computer Science), and Duke Kunshan.

Stanford acceptance 2025

Eileen has truly been the most wonderful counselor I could ever ask for in navigating the college admissions process throughout high school. Her unique knowledge of Stanford and music and STEM programs across the country played a key role in showcasing my best violin performances through a portfolio, while her individualized support in essay editing left me with authentic personal statements I was incredibly satisfied with.

From critiquing my performance recordings to providing constructive feedback on all parts of my application every step of the way, my family and I could not be more grateful for her huge contribution in setting me up for success—- and ultimately for acceptance to the college of my dreams, Stanford University. Thank you Eileen for your support over the past two years!

Caleb Tsai

Attending Stanford University in the fall of 2025
Also accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, several Ivies

Unwavering support and encouragement

From the beginning of junior year, she helped ease my nerves and made a potentially stressful process much more manageable. Eileen’s thorough knowledge of various schools' selection criteria truly made a difference, ensuring I was well-informed and prepared for every step of the application process.

Her guidance and support played a significant role in helping me gain acceptance to my dream school, Ross School of business at the University of Michigan. I highly recommend Eileen to any student seeking a caring, knowledgeable, and dedicated counselor during this important time in a high school student’s life!

Katie

Accepted as an international student early action to Ross school business at University of Michigan, UCSD, UCSD, UCSB, Northeastern, Kelley school of business with a very large merit scholarship.

Delightful, strategic, and endlessly supportive!

Eileen is such a delightful person to work with and never fails to be endlessly supportive. I was hesitant to apply to the BROWN BS/MD program (PLME) but she convinced me that I had a chance to gain acceptance. We spent many hours honing my profile and working on my essays.

Eileen also offered very useful life and career choice advice, which took out much of the stress of the application process. She always made time for me when I needed it and went above and beyond to be a really excellent counselor. I cannot recommend Eileen enough!

Debra, class of 2024

Admitted to Brown Univeristy BS/MD Program
This program admits students straight from high school on a direct path to medical school (1.8% acceptance rate)

Enjoyable and very productive

Eileen was integral to my success in the college application process! She is such a kind and genuine person, and cares about her students greatly. After every meeting, she would send me a detailed summary of what we discussed in the session and my action items, which kept me organized and focused. She even listened to my piano audition tapes and asked for me to send more!

Ella, class of 2024

Admitted to Carnegie Mellon

Encouraging and Positive Attitude

Eileen's reassurance helped me gain confidence in my end goal, and her continued advice gave me direction. I can say with 100% confidence that I would not have gotten into any of the Top-20 ranked colleges that I did without her guidance. Eileen is incredibly knowledgeable with essay editing, she also has insider information, but what makes her irreplaceable is her never-give-up attitude. Ultimately, with Eileen's help, I was able to finish 25 applications and receive acceptances from multiple Top-20 ranked schools in the US. Thank you, Eileen! Keep being your dedicated, devoted, and driven self. I’ll miss you. And to Eileen’s future students: Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.

Rachel

Rice University, accepted to Vanderbilt and Pomona

Sarah's Story

Sarah was an excellent violinist and a top student at a competitive private high school. She excelled at languages and the sciences. Sarah came to Teensherpa not knowing which direction she would take- she had dreams of becoming either a famous soloist or chamber musician or pursuing a career in neuroscience or biology. She was frustrated and felt "stuck" between two careers and life paths. After working closely with Patti and Eileen, Sarah was able to harness her passion for music and combine it with the study of neuroscience. Sarah was accepted at Stanford University thanks to her exceptional musical talent. Nevertheless, she majored in Human Biology, with a certificate in violin performance. She now works in neuroscience and the exploration of music and its effects on the brain at the UCSF department of neuroscience.

After working closely with Patti and Eileen, Sarah was able to harness her passion for music and combine it with the study of neuroscience. Sarah was accepted at Stanford University thanks to her exceptional musical talent. Nevertheless, she majored in Human Biology, with a certificate in violin performance. She now works in neuroscience and the exploration of music and its effects on the brain at the UCSF department of neuroscience.

Sarah

Stanford University

Paul's Story

Paul was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had no idea if he wanted to go to college, was a B student and had a tendency to procrastinate. His parents hoped he would pursue a career in medicine. Paul had a passion for repairing cars and had already started his own auto repair business where he spent hours on the weekends. "Why go to college?" he wondered.

Teensherpa set Paul on the path to success by focusing on his passions and helping him to improve academically where it mattered. After an assessment with Patti and Eileen, Teensherpa set up an action plan for Paul's junior and senior years of high school. This plan helped Paul move forward after years of frustration and peer pressure that had blocked him. Paul was eventually accepted at UC Davis and is pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Paul

UC Davis

English Teacher's Story

In one case, Dr. Weiss helped a young woman decide on a career in teaching English as a second language (ESL). This had never occurred to the young woman, and she ended up becoming an expert in her field. With the help of Eileen Bourgade, who directed her to Bennington, a small liberal arts school in the East Coast, is one of the top professors at another small college in the East Coast, Bennington, teaching teachers how to teach students to teach ESL.

This particular young woman is now fifteen years into her field, and has countless papers and over five books to her name in this field, and has been on over twenty television and radio interview shows. She leads a happy, productive, and fruitful life with a wonderful partner and several children.

Cancer Researcher's Story

Dr. Weiss helped guide a young man into a career he had never considered. He is now one of the top cancer researchers in the world and worked on EBOLA and AIDS treatments, and now is working on COVID treatments. He has six publications to his name, and with Eileen Bourgade's help, was accepted at a top Ivy League school.

Later, she helped him choose the right medical school, from whence he graduated, with many offers of work, and is working now in Switzerland, with a large pharmaceutical company, and being a consultant to the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia.

Teen Sherpa

We will help build your teen's confidence by identifying their purpose, passion and true areas of strength.

Talk to an expert today

Academic Guidance

Optimized for Success

Certified professional counselors and career planners with years of experience

An honest open dialogue with your student regarding their interests, passions, and talents

A holistic approach to career guidance that values not just academic success but personal satisfaction

A pathway to collegiate success by honing in on your teen's academic and personal strengths

Our basic college admission stats:

95

%

of our students are admitted to one of their top three college choices.

98

%

of our students report feeling significantly relieved, motivated and focused on a path forward after working with Teen Sherpa.

97

%

of Teensherpa students are students extremely happy with their college choice and stay for the full 4 years compared with the average transfer rate of 33%

Some of Teensherpa's 2024 Acceptances

Harvard college (1)
Stanford University (3)
Brown PLME program (1)
Brown University(2)
Columbia University (1)
U Pennsylvania (2)
NYU (6)

USC (4)
Johns Hopkins (2)
U Michigan (4)
U Chicago (2)
Carnegie Mellon University (5)
UCLA (6)
^{2 in Computer Science}

UC Berkeley (7)
USC (4)
Johns Hopkins (2)
Rice University (2)
U Michigan (4)
U Chicago(2)
Pomona college (2)
RISD

and many others in the top 20 colleges and universities

Success Stories