About the Founder
Why Admission-Bridge?
Admission-Bridge was founded by Karen Zhang. Inspired by her experience of working with students in the classroom, Karen saw the need to help students fulfill their potential in utilizing their creativity, enthusiasm and curiosity. Karen empowers herself with knowledge in various subjects. She is aware of the current affairs and knows the technological and cultural trends for the future. Karen uses her knowledge to help students understand their strength and further guide them to explore the right fit college and career direction.
After over a dozen years of working in the marketing research and analysis field, Karen earned her expertise in active listening, thorough understanding customers' needs, and delivering quality analysis results. Her research background enables her in searching for the right colleges from variety of resources. With marketing experience, Karen has well qualified skills to advise students on how to best present themselves to the target schools as well as to the world through positive on-line presence.
Through attending national conferences and joining professional organizations such as HECAC, Karen is well connected with other college counseling and admission colleagues. She frequently visits colleges and has gained first-hand knowledge about the people, atmosphere, and environment of these schools. With strong belief in equal education opportunities among all young people regardless social or economic background, Karen volunteers at Breakthrough Silicon Valley, a non-profit organization which fosters under-served students to get in and graduate from colleges.
Karen has a Certificate of Independent Educational Consultant from UC Irvine Ext. She also holds degrees in Bachelor of International Law from China Foreign Affairs University and Master of Economics from Mankato State University, MN.
The philosophy of Admission-Bridge is to guide students in the college application process through building their own confidence, proficiency and independence so that they will have the abilities to succeed in life. It is understandable that parents want to have opinions on where the students go to college or what major they should consider because many parents have saved their hard-earned money to invest in their kids' education. However, students have their desires, interests, and dreams. They have to be in the driver’s seats in this journey of choosing the right college, graduating on time and keeping a job. How to reconcile the parents’ expectations and student’s aspirations? Admission-Bridge is here to coach both parents and students.
In the college application process, there are many knowledge gaps among families such as the college admission criteria, the financial aid options and the students’ qualifications. My goal is to help parents and students bridge these gaps so that the students can find the colleges that fit the best academically, socially and financially.
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Admission-Bridge pledges to HECA Standards and Ethics Statement, which is "guided by the core values of sound advice, integrity, respect and confidentiality”. I focus on assisting families with honesty, trust and professional competence. We encourage students to take full advantage of services offered by school guidance counselor’s office first, then work with us for individualized strategies.
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Karen Zhang is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association and subscribes to HECA standards of good practice.
Testimonials
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"I think that Karen does a great job with being straightforward and honest with students. She reads over every essay with detail to ensure that students are submitting their best work. The CPP tool is an excellent place for students to research colleges and find information on various topics related to applications." - A Student (Lost Gatos, CA)
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"Thank you for all you do for me! Words can't describe how grateful I am to meet and work with you. I am very sad that I won't see you often. I wish you the very best!" - A Student (San Jose, CA)
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“Thank you so much for the advice that you have provided regarding my future life as a student and learner. This has been a very informative experience for me and has really expanded my knowledge about universities as I now have a much broader yet detailed understanding of them.“ - A Student (Winnipeg, Canada)
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"Thank you for helping me through my college application process! Without your help, I wouldn't have gotten into so many schools. I really appreciate all the editing and calls we had!" - A Student (San Jose, CA)
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"Thank you very much for your coaching and guidance on my daughter's college application. Your professionalism and dignity give us a sense of security on this long journey." - A Parent (Fremont, CA)
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"Karen, thank you so much for your help! My son really trusted you. He is very happy with his major choice now and hopes to attend graduate school in the future." - A Parent (Saratoga, CA)
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"The college visits yesterday was very fruitful. Thank you for accompanying us and your detailed explanations. Your encouragement to my daughter certainly increased her confidence!" - A Parent (Beijing, China)
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"​We all greatly appreciate your help in getting our son into the university of his dreams! Your guidance was extremely instrumental in ensuring that he does everything required and beyond to get the best possible result in the competition. A special thank-you from my wife, who just said that without your advice our son would not be so successful in getting to the right college!" - A Parent (San Jose, CA)
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"I would like to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the whole group of parents that came for the great presentation you gave to us on Friday. Everyone was captivated by the discussion and parents were thankful for the opportunity to learn new aspects of colleges in general and fencing "hook" for applications in particular. It is very important for me to mention that afterwards I received lots of positive feedback and thank you notes from the parents. They all asked me to pass their compliments to you." - A Sports Club Owner (Campbell, CA)