Empowerly helps students reach the next step of their higher education journey through holistic, data-driven service offerings that go beyond the application process.
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Empowerly (empowerly.com) has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 103 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Education & Training and its reputation is excellent. Praise is nearly unanimous, with 96% rating it 4 stars or higher; The business has replied to 100% of negative reviews; Reviews mostly discuss User experience, Customer service, App. Last updated 2026-09-01.
What reviewers say
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Reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company. Customers frequently praise the dedicated counselors for providing personalized guidance, deep knowledge, and steady support throughout the entire college application journey. Families highlight how mentors help students stay organized, confident, and motivated while working on essays and extracurricular planning.
Some people also felt that the structured platform features, comprehensive essay reviews, and organizational tools made managing deadlines much simpler. Reviewers consistently noted that these valuable resources significantly reduced stress, improved writing quality, and kept everyone completely aligned during busy seasons. Many consumers expressed deep gratitude for the responsive communication and flexible scheduling offered by the team.
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Working with Empowerly and my advisor, Raisa, was an integral part of my college admissions process. She was always quick to respond, helped me translate my ideas into well thought-out essays, and, most importantly, exposed me to important college admissions strategies and formatting (i.e. for my activities list and extra info sections). Thanks in part to her support, I'll be enrolling at UPenn this fall, and I was also fortunate to earn admission to UMich, UVA and UNC. Thank you Empowerly and Raisa!!
Getting Shahrukh as my college counselor was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. When the college process started, my mom and I interviewed over 20 counselors but one stood out: Shahrukh. For the past two years, I’ve seen how Shahrukh has a way of being blunt and honest while also being super supportive. He helped guide my extracurriculars, coursework, and essays in a way that minimized my stress but maximized my productivity. Thanks to Shahrukh and his amazing guidance, I gained admission to Stanford University, as well as Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and many more. It would be a MISTAKE to not get Shahrukh as your counselor. He has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
Staff at Empowerly were extremely responsive and helpful in engaging our son in preparing for college admission. Overall, Empowerly provided ample opportunities for start-up and interning experience that were important in preparing for college application. We were particularly impressed by Mr. Shahrukh Malik's valuable advice, relentless encouragement, and whole-hearted positivity in supporting our son during his pre-college journey. Kudos to Empowerly staff for making the college consulting process an enjoyable and useful experience.
My daughter's Empowerly counselor, Raisa Alam, put her on the right path from the very beginning of the college process. She did an exceptional job helping her align her academic and extracurricular interests in a thoughtful and authentic way, while also keeping her focused and on track throughout each stage of the process. Raisa guided her through what can often feel overwhelming with clarity, insight, and professionalism. Her advice was deeply attentive to my daughter’s strengths, goals, and growth. We are incredibly grateful for her guidance and support.
Our family has had an outstanding experience with Empowerly over the past year, especially working with college counselor Shahrukh Malik in guiding our son, Sujash, through his 11th-grade college preparation journey.
Shahrukh has been exceptionally knowledgeable, patient, strategic, and genuinely invested in Sujash’s growth and success. He helped our son build a structured roadmap for academics, extracurricular activities, leadership development, summer planning, and overall college readiness. What impressed us most was his personalized approach — he took the time to understand Sujash’s strengths, aspirations, and interests, and then carefully guided him in shaping a strong and authentic profile for future college applications.
His feedback on essays, activities, and long-term planning was always thoughtful, detailed, and practical. Beyond admissions expertise, Shahrukh has been a wonderful mentor who consistently motivated and encouraged our son to think bigger, stay organized, and build confidence in his own abilities.
The entire Empowerly platform has also been extremely professional, organized, and resourceful throughout the process. As parents, we truly appreciated the clarity, responsiveness, and strategic guidance provided at every stage.
We wholeheartedly recommend Empowerly and Shahrukh Malik to any family seeking expert, compassionate, and highly personalized college admissions counseling. Their mentorship has made a meaningful difference in our son’s journey.
college application process. Their team—especially counselor, Lara van Rooyen is helping my daughter get a structure of what activities to prioritize, what summer sessions to look for and gain confidence. Before working with them, my daughter was not sure how to meet the requirements, they guided her and helped her shape her confidence.
Lara spends time and puts effort to understand what my daughter is trying to say and what she needs and guide her towards details. She never took over my daughter's ideas and my daughter's work— just meet at her level and explore. Thanks to them, my daughter's application journey is on the right track.
Lara are always available, care, and help you bring out your best. Thank you Lara.
We signed up with Empowerly and very fortunate to have Lara Van Rooyen as our counselor! Lara is very prompt with her communication and provide exceptional guidance to my junior high schooler. Lara is pro-active, very detailed-oriented and we love it the way she navigates through the process! We appreciate how she connects different experiences into a cohesive manner in writing a great essay! We have complete confidence in her to take us through the college admission process and make my daughter reach her goals!
Empowerly has been a really valuable part of my college application process. My counselor, Joyana Rosenthal, has helped me stay organized, think strategically about my applications, and approach the process with a lot more confidence. Her feedback on summer application essays has been especially helpful because she focuses on strengthening my ideas and keeping my voice authentic rather than just making surface-level edits. I’ve also appreciated how available and supportive she’s been throughout the process. Additionally, her advice regarding my college list has been very helpful and in-depth. Overall, I’d definitely recommend Empowerly to students looking for thoughtful guidance and personalized help.
As a parent, working with Empowely has been an excellent experience for our family. What impresses us most is how personalized and thoughtful the guidance from Kelly and Shahrukh is throughout the entire process. The counselors truly take the time to understand our son’s strengths, interests, and long-term goals, then help him develop them in meaningful and authentic ways. Their mentorship is far beyond applications and essays; they provide strategic direction, encouragement, and confidence during this arduous process. We see tremendous growth in both his maturity and clarity of purpose. I would strongly recommend Empowerly to any family looking for dedicated, knowledgeable, and genuinely caring college counselors.
We truly appreciate our counselor Shahrukh for being so kind and genuine. He offers thoughtful, timely guidance at every step. He is consistently prompt in responding to our questions, and his support has been extremely valuable to us .We especially appreciate the personalized attention, responsiveness, and structured process so far.
We have had an excellent experience with Empowerly so far. Our assigned counselor, Shahrukh, has been extremely helpful in laying out a thoughtful and clear plan for our son. He is methodical, well-researched, and takes the time to understand our son’s strengths, interests, and individual traits.
What stands out most is how Shahrukh works directly with the student, helping bring out the best in him while keeping the plan personalized and realistic. We feel confident that we made the right decision in choosing Empowerly, and we look forward to our son’s high school journey with Shahrukh’s guidance and support.
Everyone at Empowerly is professional and dedicated, especially grateful for Joyana and Emma’s help with essay edits and Raisa for summer program recommendations. Overall, Empowerly did absolutely help my student stay organized during application time which was important going through it for the first time. I feel Empowerly did not improve my student’s overall chance getting into better colleges than what they would have gotten in anyway. The process was streamlined but could have been more personalized, there were also a few important missed opportunities. We also had a wide variety of quality with the essay editing team and resource team, which felt outside of our control who we got which was frustrating at very critical times. Turn around times for email responses from counselors were amazing, speaking to their dedication. Without Empowerly the application process would have been much more stressful.
Reply from Empowerly2026-05-11
We appreciate you sharing both your highlights and your frustrations. It’s wonderful to know our team helped streamline the process and reduce your stress levels.
We take your feedback about the variability in essay editing quality seriously. We want our families to feel in control of their resources, especially during critical deadlines. We are currently reviewing our counselor matching and resource allocation to ensure a more consistent experience. We’d appreciate the opportunity to look into what happened and clarify anything that may have been confusing. Please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you’d like to discuss further
Shahrukh at Empowerly is amazing,I really recommend him, and I am not easy to please.He has great knowledge and experience and I would use him again for any US application in the future for my other children.
We highly recommend Shahrukh and Empowerly! Mr. Malik provided incredible support and guidance throughout the entire college application process, helping our son get into his dream school. Shahrukh knew exactly how to highlight our son's strongest points, offering a clear roadmap for everything from selecting the right coursework to choosing impactful extracurricular activities. His expertise in prepping the applications made this stressful process feel manageable and strategic. If you are looking for a counselor who is deeply invested in your child's success, Shahrukh and Empowerly are the best!
I discovered Empowerly after a less-than-ideal experience with one of their competitors. After speaking with several counselors, we found the right fit for our son—and I’m grateful we had the opportunity to choose thoughtfully.
Lara has been an exceptional advisor and a steady sounding board for Ahaan. Her expertise in his areas of interest has helped them build a strong connection and have meaningful, forward-looking conversations about opportunities.
As we enter this critical phase of applications and decision-making, I feel reassured knowing Empowerly will guide us every step of the way. From setting clear, realistic expectations early on to continuously coaching and nudging him in the right direction, they have been a valuable partner in helping our son pursue his best possible path.
We had a really great experience with Empowerly. Our counselor, Joyana R., has been supportive and proactive, always communicating with us without ever feeling overwhelming, and guiding us along this journey. She took the time to understand my daughter and worked with her to create a plan that was customized for her goals. The whole process felt a lot less stressful with her guidance.
I’d absolutely recommend Empowerly, and especially Joyana, to anyone going through the college admissions process.
We’ve had a very positive experience working with Empowerly for college counseling support.
One of the most valuable aspects has been their ability to ask the right questions at the right time. Lara, our counselor, consistently guided our child through thoughtful discussions that encouraged reflection on interests, strengths, and long-term goals. Rather than taking a prescriptive approach, she helped bring clarity in a natural way without pushing in any specific direction.
This approach has been especially helpful in narrowing down areas of interest and understanding how they can translate into potential academic paths and future options. It also made the college shortlisting process much more intentional, as the conversations naturally led to identifying schools and programs that align well with evolving goals.
We also appreciated how the guidance focused on connecting different experiences into a cohesive overall direction, rather than treating each activity in isolation.
Overall, the experience has been structured, thoughtful, and genuinely helpful in bringing clarity and confidence as we move closer to the college application process.
Our family has had a great experience with Empowerly, especially with our counselor Shahrukh Malik. Shahrukh has helped him build a strong foundation for the years ahead. He takes the time to understand my son’s strengths, interests, and personality, and then guides him with thoughtfulness. His approach is structured but never stressful, and he’s been excellent at keeping my son engaged and confident. We feel very supported and look forward to continuing with him as the process progresses.
My experience was great so far with Empowerly. The advisor is very knowledgeable, supportive, and diligent. She helps my daughter to navigate to applications process and accommodates my daughter's busy schedule.
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