Admission is not a dream.
It is a discipline.
A four-year playbook for your student, and a parent view that shows every step. Ivy League, the UCs, and Cal State plus transfer, planned one season at a time with the discipline of Korean and Chinese academic tradition. Led by Eric Lee and Karina Zhang, in English, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Three tracks.
One standard.
Ivy League, the UC system, and the Cal State plus community college transfer path. Same discipline across all three, adapted to each student's target and timeline.
The Ivy Track
For students building a balanced college list. Plan academics, testing and activities around the requirements of each school, with annual enrollment and a written plan.
The UC Track
UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the UC system. Deep expertise in the UC application, PIQs, and 13-factor holistic review. Test-blind since 2021.
The Cal State + Transfer Track
Cal State universities, community college, and the two-year transfer to a UC or CSU degree. IGETC, ASSIST.org, TAG. The most underrated path in California.
Know what your program includes.
Your enrollment has agreed deliverables, limits and dates. Support follows the Family Roadmap, grade-based membership or Application Sprint scope. See programs and pricing.
Different starting points.
One standard.
Start with a Family Roadmap, annual membership for your student's grade, or an Application Sprint. See the scope and price of each offer.
Every family arrives at a different starting point. A middle schooler beginning the journey early. A junior approaching the year that decides the most. A senior with one urgent deadline. An international family preparing a US college application. The pages below describe starting points, not separate enrollment contracts. Early Start is available on request for parents of middle schoolers.
Freshman to Senior
The full playbook. A complete four-year roadmap from the first day of 9th grade through acceptance day. Course strategy, testing calendar, summer planning, extracurricular development, and the application itself. Coordinated, year by year, with one mentor team who knows your child.
International Students
For families abroad preparing US college applications. We review the student's curriculum, testing needs and deadlines, then confirm the right published offer, mentor availability and meeting times before enrollment.
Junior-Year Intensive
Junior year is the year colleges weigh most heavily. Test scores, course rigor, the summer that becomes a Common App essay, and the early decision conversation. We run the entire year as one focused campaign, with a written report to parents every two weeks.
Application Sprint
For seniors and transfer applicants with a real deadline: 10 weeks, six working sessions, up to eight hours of essay feedback and up to eight applications. Reports every two weeks and one review with Eric. Support ends when the Sprint ends.
Middle School Early Start
For 6th through 8th graders whose families want to begin the journey thoughtfully. Reading habits, mathematics acceleration, a first competition or two, and a quiet long view of the high school years to come. Patient, steady, age-appropriate.
The Korean and Chinese method,
applied to American admissions.
In Korea, education is treated as a discipline. Hours are accounted for, progress is measured, and standards are held high by everyone in the room. We bring that framework to US college admissions, with a written plan, specific next steps and feedback on the work.
Every season accounted for
Quarterly planning meetings with your child set the agenda for the season. Brief checkins between meetings keep work moving. Messages and draft questions get a reply within one business day.
The bar stays high
We give honest feedback, even when it is hard to hear. We do not call an essay finished when it is not, and we do not call a student ready when more work would help. Children rise to the standard we set, and ours is the standard the schools they want will set in three years.
Know your mentor before enrolling
Mentor recruitment is underway. Before enrollment, we introduce your proposed mentor and confirm availability. Feedback focuses on clear reasoning, specific evidence and the student's own voice.
Every step in view.
Ascend is your student's playbook: this week's focus, quests finished and due, service hours, scores, and the next meeting. You get your own view, plus a written report from the counselor monthly in 9th and 10th grade and every two weeks in 11th and 12th.
- What was finishedConfirmed by the mentor, not self-reported.
- What is due, with datesTests, applications, awards and summer deadlines in one list.
- Whether your student is on trackA plain answer in every report, with the reason.
- Where you can helpOne or two specific asks for parents, never a vague "stay involved."
Small on purpose.
Every family gets a named counselor who knows their student. We publish our prices and our cadence, and we never guarantee an admission. No honest firm can.
Starting with our first graduating class, we will publish a yearly report: how many students, where they applied, where they were admitted, and how we define a top choice. No percentages without a denominator.
Eric Lee
Eric grew up inside the Korean education system and has spent his career building disciplined operations. He founded Altior for Bay Area families who want a plan they can see, and a counselor who treats their child the way he would want his own treated.
- Yonsei University
B.A., Seoul - Korea University
M.Div., Seoul - Harvard and Wharton
Certificate programs - UCLA Extension
Certificate, College Admissions Consulting
Eric is based in San Mateo and works with families across the Bay Area.
Read Eric's story →Two lead counselors.
Named mentors.
Eric and Karina lead the practice. Before enrollment, we confirm a named mentor and the service schedule for your family. Each lead counselor takes no more than 10 new families a year.
Eric Lee
Founder · Lead CounselorEric leads strategy for every Altior family and runs the counselor desk behind Ascend. He works with families in English and Korean.
Karina Zhang
Head of Admissions · Lead CounselorKarina leads admissions operations across all three tracks and turns each plan into submitted applications. She works with families in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
Named mentors
One mentor per studentWe are recruiting admissions mentors. Before enrollment, we confirm availability and introduce your proposed mentor by name, with their background and role. Student contact begins only after required safety checks and training are complete.
What we share with our families.
The same briefings we walk our families through on fit calls, written by our team. Specific, current, and free of the noise that fills most college admissions writing.
The 2026 Admissions Cycle, Decoded
How to read admissions data, understand changing requirements and plan a balanced college list.
The Junior-Year Playbook, Month by Month
What a junior should be doing in September, February, June, and August. Fifteen months of careful planning to the November 1 early deadline.
STEM-OPT and H1B, the 10-Year Plan
Background reading on terms international STEM applicants may encounter. Immigration advice and career services are outside Altior's published admissions scope.
Begin with a 20-minute fit call.
Tell us about your student. We will listen, show you one thing worth knowing about their plan, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. If we are, we usually recommend starting with the Family Roadmap.
Book a 20-minute fit call →