Candidacy Building
- Counselor Assignment: We paired Student C with a Former Admissions Officer from the University of Virginia.
- Interest Exploration: In order to build Student C’s candidacy, his Former Admissions Officer needed to know his interests (or lack of interests), how he spent his time, and why. To help with this process, his Former Admissions Officer sent him a worksheet that addressed several of these questions.
- Identifying Goals: We also needed to know what Student C’s goals were so that we could help him achieve them. Because Student C didn’t really have any interests, he didn’t have goals either. So, we sent him questions asking about what he knew he did not want to do. This would help us cross activities, courses, and potential careers off the list, and allow us to narrow our focus.
- Standardized Test Planning Planning: We helped Student C plan out which classes to take and when throughout high school. We also helped Student C decide to take the ACT instead of the SAT because he performed better on practice ACTs. We strategized which SAT Subject and AP Tests he should take and made sure they aligned with his skill sets and classwork at school.
- Academic Planning and Course Selection: Student C sent his Former Admissions Officer the course offerings available at his school. He also sent her his transcripts. Then, they planned which classes he should take in 11th and 12th grade.
- College List Development:
- Long, General List: To get started, Student C’s Former Admissions Officer sent him a long list of schools he might be interested in. She listed schools with strong Economics and Psychology departments, as Student C thought he might like these majors. On this list, she included the city and the average ACT score of admitted students. She asked him to research all of these schools.
- Inspirational College List: Once Student C researched all of the assigned schools, his Former Admissions Officer created an “inspirational college list” for him. She asked Student C to add 10-15 “dream” colleges to this list. This process gave her insights into which schools Student C was interested in. This, in turn, taught her a little bit more about his goals, interests, and personality. Then, they discussed this list over video chat.
- Data, Statistics, and Information: Then, Student C’s Former Admissions Officer provided him with more detailed data and information on all of the schools he was interested in. This information included class size, acceptance rates, deadline information, popular majors, and classifications of reach, fit, or safety.
- Campus Visit Plan: Student C and his family did further research and then spoke with his Former Admissions Officer to discuss all of the schools he was interested in visiting in the coming months. Then, his counselor created a campus visit plan for him and his family. This plan included date, school, address, tour, and website information. It streamlined the family’s visit and made it as stress-free as possible!
- Extracurricular Enhancement:
- Non-Profit – When Student C started working with us, he was already involved in a non-profit organization that helped disadvantaged children. Student C’s Former Admissions Officer encouraged him to get more involved in this organization. She coached him on how to reach out to sponsors to raise more money, and also how to recruit other volunteers. The goal was to increase his impact within the organization. Through his work with this non-profit, Student C learned that he liked working with and helping children.
- Tutoring – To build on this interest, Student C’s Former Admissions Officer advised him to begin tutoring a younger student. Through his network and with our guidance, Student C got “hired” to work as a tutor. Student C enjoyed his work with his student and ended up working as his tutor once a week for two years. He even got paid! Student C included this as a “Paid” Work opportunity on his Common App Activities List.
- The fact that Student C enjoyed these activities taught us that he enjoyed helping others and that he wanted to make an impact on people. This would later shape his application persona.
- Academic and Intellectual Enrichment: Top colleges in the United States look for students who are both academically capable and intellectually curious. With this in mind, Student C’s Former Admissions Officer suggested that he partake in one of our Academic Mentorships.
Academic Mentorship with Post-Doctoral Fellow in Psychology
- Under our Academic Mentorship program, we connected Student C with a Post-Doctoral fellow at a top university. Because Student C did not know what he was interested in and definitely did not have advanced academic passions, he signed on to work for an existing project rather than develop his own. Student C partook in a psychology and statistics mentorship.
- Student C included his mentorship on his Common App Activities List. This proved to admissions officers that Student C was intellectually curious and that he was capable of performing well academically at the collegiate level. Student C also learned that he was interested in research and evaluating data!
Application Counseling
- Introducing a Graduate Coach: Once we transitioned to the application work, we introduced a trained writer and editor on to Student C’s team.
- Application Persona: In the beginning strategy phase, Student C, his Former Admissions Officer, and his Graduate Coach worked on developing his application persona. Because Student C did not have a very strong and clear passion, this required a lot of work and strategy! After looking at everything Student C had done and said, they decided that they would focus on his desire to impact others. Since Student C was also interested in business/data, they decided to combine these interests into one: the social impact entrepreneur.
- ED/EA/RD: By the time he started to work on his college applications, Student C had already put so much work into developing his school list. He had researched the schools we sent him, discussed with his family, and visited schools. After a couple of strategy sessions, they decided that he would apply to Tufts in the Early Decision round.
- Personal Statement: Student C’s counselors edited several drafts of his personal statement. Their edits focused on content, tone, structure, grammar and spelling, and providing an admissions officer’s perspective.
- Activities List: Student C’s counselors edited his activities list to make sure that he made a big impact in the small space allotted.
- Supplemental Essays: For his Early Decision application to Tufts, Student C’s counselors made sure that he was showing school fit and also displaying his best self. Their edits helped Student C dig deeper, tailor his essay to Tufts, and make sure that he was telling the admissions office something new.
- Interview Preparation: Student C’s Former Admissions Officer encouraged him to sign up for an interview even though it was optional. He had done an admissions interview during one of his college visits, and she thought he would do a good job! So, she sent him the link to sign up and then they conducted interview prep.
- Former Admissions Officer Final Review: Student C’s Former Admissions Officer did a Final Review for content, tone, structure, grammar, spelling, uniqueness, and school fit. Next, Student C worked with his Graduate Coach to make the final changes. Then, he submitted his application!