The spark for coaching high school students started when Ms. Wan Qiu Chen, Founder/President of IvyClimbing Education Services, was approached by parents in her church at the River of Life Christian Church in Santa Clara, California. At that time, she was serving as the Director for the Administration of the Ph.D. Program at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, with responsibilities for admissions and recruiting.

Many of those parents in her church are immigrants who received their education outside the United States; they do not understand how the American college system works, and they have no idea of how to guide their children through an extremely competitive and confusing process. At first, Ms. Chen was asked by some of those parents to comment on their children’s college applications. Other parents, and friends of her friends, soon began calling to ask for advice. Gradually, her emails started to increase to such an extent that giving free advice was no longer an option. Inspired by the people surrounding her, she founded IvyClimbing Education Services in 2006, aiming at simplifying the admissions process and helping students get into college.