Urgoo

Urgoo was founded in 2015 by a dedicated Shanghainese parent whose student was studying in California. Having gone through the research, application and selection process, the family experienced pitfalls and misinformation that were unfortunately common and tolerated in China. She and a long-term friend, an experienced college counselor, decided to create a consultancy platform that provides accurate, impartial and extensive information about U.S. higher education. “Ur-goo” rhymes with the Chinese words for “excellent” and “counselor”. The name exemplifies how we advocate respectful advising relationships, college applications of integrity, and effective communication among family members. We are eager to get involved with the most professional college counseling community there is and bring their knowledge back to China, home of the largest percentage of international students in the United States. Urgoo is tech-savvy and we developed our own app to ensure a convenient, reliable and exclusive communication channel for our counselors, staff members, students and parents. Functions such as video conferencing, schedule overview, activity log and accounting inquiry are a few touches away on one app. The counseling service we provide is a combination of online and in-person interactions between the counselor and student. We combine the Chinese and Western approaches when catering to our audience. Counseling and advising are done between students and our counselors, who have international backgrounds while also having English as a native language. Advising to parents is conducted by our Chinese-speaking support team which is based in Shanghai and understands the local cultures and expectations from our clients. This combined approach helps ensure that the family is well-informed and in sync with each other during the process. The office in Shanghai also operates back-office functions such as IT support, marketing and accounting.