Meet Our Team
Our team comprises passionate educators and seasoned mentors dedicated to guiding students toward their dream universities. With diverse expertise in admissions strategy, personal branding, and academic development, we collaborate to support every aspect of your journey—from high school to post-graduate studies.
PRINCIPAL
Dr. Lance Lee, PhD, EdD
Ivy Success was founded by Dr. Lance Lee, one of Silicon Valley’s own distinguished alumni.
As the first son to Asian immigrant parents, Lance became passionate about what was needed for individuals to succeed—to lift themselves up, as his parents did, from nearly nothing, to leading and enriching each other’s lives.
Determined to succeed himself so that he might assist others, Lance completed the first leg of his education as valedictorian from renowned Monta Vista High School in Cupertino. He went on to undergraduate studies in psychology, education, and human behavior at UCLA, graduating Summa Cum Laude (top 1%) / Phi Beta Kappa.
Lance was recruited to Harvard as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Danforth Scholar, eventually becoming one of the youngest students to graduate from Harvard’s rigorous dual doctoral program in Counseling and Consulting Psychology, created by Harvard’s Graduate Schools of Business, Psychology, and Education.
In the past two decades, Lance has successfully implemented his dream of helping others to succeed. In his corporate life, as an executive coach and leadership consultant, Lance is retained by high-tech companies such as Apple, Google, Cisco, and E-Bay to assist in developing their senior leaders and high-performance teams.
In the other part of his professional world—the one he loves most—Lance is a consultant, coach, and mentor to a new generation of leaders and world changers. Through Ivy Success, and his one-to-one work with students and parents, he is helping many discover the keys to their own success—making their way into premier universities, and into careers and lifetimes of impact and meaning.
“Lance is one of the most outstanding and exceptional individuals I have ever met, and by far the best mentor and coach that I have had… Dr. Lee’s unending wisdom has guided me through intellectual and emotional growth, both professional and personal. His energy is boundless, his enthusiasm is infectious, and his support never ceases. Dr. Lance is always there to ensure that I am growing in my life and that I am becoming the best that I can be!”
— Brandon Liu
HARVARD University
“Dr. Lee is amazing - a mentor and personal coach who provided me with the stepping stones to success - not only in academia, but also in relationships and life. His services go above and beyond. His energetic personality plus winning attitude ultimately led me to achieving my dreams and a profound adulthood.”
— Samuel Xiao
COLUMBIA University
“Dr. Lance is a wonderful counselor and mentor, and served as an exceptional (even amazing) college consultant to both our son and daughter, Winston and Melinda. While both our children clearly began with outstanding track records in their school performance, Dr. Lance was able to bring out the very best in the expression of their lives and dreams and achievements.
Working closely with all of us, Dr. Lance diligently strategized our approach to each college. He helped us position Winston and Melinda’s academic accomplishments and extracurricular endeavors with great thoughtfulness and expertise. With tremendous skill and craftsmanship (and dozens of hours of labor), he helped Winston and Melinda create essays which reflected their own brilliance, aspiration and voice.
Over the course of two years, we have sat side-by-side with Dr. Lance, on many late nights and long days. We’ve watched him work and talk and laugh and care deeply about our son and daughter. Dr. Lance was not simply a college consultant, but a genuine mentor, friend, and immensely gifted coach for Winston and Melinda. He’s been an extraordinary strategist, collaborator and catalyst for their growth.
We appreciate Dr. Lance not only for helping Winston and Melinda get into their “dream universities” (our first choices as well!) but for adding confidence and joy to their efforts, building on their strengths and sense of identity—who they are becoming in the world. To their achievements and passion, Dr. Lance added vision, insight, precision, depth and direction, polished packaging, high faith and hope.
We could not have been more thrilled when, in back-to-back years, Winston and then Melinda received acceptances to Stanford University (Melinda was also accepted at Brown and Columbia; Winston chose to stop applying once he was admitted to Stanford!). Dr. Lance has been a wonderful asset to all of us—not only as a highly gifted professional, but as a friend and colleague and guide.
We recommend him to you with our greatest enthusiasm, and with great confidence that he will help to bring out the very best in your student.
— Dr. Shan Wang, Dr. Tsing Sue
Parents of Winston Wang (STANFORD University, Class of 2019) & Melinda Wang (STANFORD University, Class of 2020)
ADMISSIONS LEAD
Hannah Tsui, B.A. (Stanford University)
Hannah graduated from Stanford University with a deep-rooted passion for education and mentorship. Her academic foundation, combined with her personal experiences navigating the rigorous college admissions landscape, provides her with unparalleled insight into the application process. A Castilleja alumna, she has excelled in working with gifted and talented students and has experience interning at an Innovation Endeavors startup.
Her professional background includes working at Stanford Law School Career Services, where she assisted in compiling clerkship applications, and conducting approximately 24 alumni interviews for Stanford through the OVAL alumni network.
Hannah provides expert guidance on student and parent personal statements, socio-emotional intelligence, standardized tests (ISEE), parent interviews, MyPage creation, videos, and identifying unique superpowers. With a meticulous eye for detail, she excels at crafting cohesive narratives, polishing resumes, and building standout portfolios.
Hannah is driven by a love for constructive critique, perfecting every detail of the application process, and obsessing over semantics to deliver impactful, compelling applications. Her dedication to education and mentorship has helped countless students and families achieve academic excellence and secure admissions to top institutions
“HUGE thank you to Hannah for her incredible insight into my application processes. She has helped me to get accepted into the Stanford Medicine X ePatient Scholar program. Most recently she helped motivate me to find it in myself to apply for the Masters in Public Administration program at the Harvard Kennedy School. She helped modify my essays to be precise expressions of my life mission. I was accepted! Now we are working on my strategy for furthering my career via the Obama USA Leaders program, Council on Foreign Relation Term Membership, and potential roles in AI at Microsoft and other innovative tech companies. Hannah is an excellent strategist for applicants to any program from kindergarten to elite graduate schools. Strongly recommend her for her kindness, loyalty, and dedication.”
— Ryan P.
STANFORD University
“As a specialized private high school application consultant, Hannah is very professional. Every session is well organized and detail-oriented. Although she is fully booked with many clients/students, she is fully aware of every student’s strength and weakness, in turn, she did lots of preparation to provide individual plans for each student. She also gave my daughter very valuable ideas and a reading list for her preparation. Ms. Hannah treats her students not just as a customer, but really views them as part of her family… She cheered with tears when she learned my daughter was admitted by one top private school. We really enjoyed working with Ms. Hannah through my daughter’s application process. I’d say it’d be impossible for my daughter to get into the top school in such a short preparation time period without her help! Thank you again, Ms. Hannah!”
— Parent
SUPPORTING TEAM