If you know the academic directors at these programs you know the same people we do. They say they recommend us to their students and we believe them. Feel free to contact me by email if you'd like more specifics.

My impression is that most of the players in our industry are VC-funded and losing money. Their economics are quite different from ours though. Since it sounds like you're a fellow speaker, I'd suggest checking out our Intermediate and Advanced lessons, along with our selection of manually annotated short stories. If you're accustomed to standard mandarin as actually spoken (with the neutral tone, proper erhua-ization, etc.), or are good enough to try your hand at Dream of the Red Chamber or Journey to the West, I think you'll see and hear the difference right away.