College admission was a huge mystery to me. As I was applying for universities I had a bunch of questions floating in my head: What are colleges looking for in students? What do I talk about in my personal statements? What SAT score will make me competitive?

I was very lost, but luckily for me, I was introduced to my college counselor. After just one meeting with her, I got answers to the all the questions I had and felt much more comfortable with the whole process. In addition, my counselor’s advice and editing helped me significantly improve my personal statements. She helped me find a writing voice, shave off unnecessary parts and hone in on what I wanted to highlight. For prompts where I didn’t know what to write about she also provided me with advice on how to start.

Overall, my college counselor is very, very good at what she does and is extremely knowledgeable on the topic of college admissions. She took my four years of high school - my grades, experiences, extracurriculars, and standardized test scores - and packaged them into effective college applications that got me admitted into every college I applied to (Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCI, USC - Trustee Scholarship, UCSD, UCSB - Regent's Scholarship, UC Davis).

Coming from a low-income and immigrant family, the idea of attending a university like Stanford was a pipe dream. However, with my counselor’s help I was able to turn that dream into a reality.