How to Build an Effective College Admissions Strategy

Webinar Transcription

2025-12-22-How to Build an Effective College Admissions Strategy

Anesha: [00:00:00] Hi everyone. Welcome to tonight’s webinar. My name is Anesha Grant. I’m a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor and I will be your moderator for today’s session. Today’s webinar is how to Build an Effective Admission Strategy. Before we get started, just to orient everyone with the webinar’s timing, we’ll start with a presentation, and then we’ll answer your questions in a live q and a on the sidebar.

Anesha: You can download our slides under the handouts tab and you can start submitting your questions in the q and a under the q and a tab whenever you get started. But first, let’s meet our presenter, Manuel Stefano Castaño. Hi. Hi Manuel. How are you doing?

Manuel: Good evening, uh, Anesha. Thank you and good evening to everyone that’s connected.

Manuel: My name is Manuel Stefano Castaño. I graduated from Princeton University. I’ve been working with CollegeAdvisor. For around three years now as a senior advisor, I’ve done my Master’s in public administration and currently doing my PhD in the same field. I’ve worked as a consultant for the UN and my home government in, in Columbia as well.

Manuel: And [00:01:00] tonight it’s a pleasure for me to share this presentation with all of you.

Anesha: Awesome. We’re looking forward to hearing from you, but first we’re gonna take a quick little poll, um, to see who all is in the room with us. So if you are a parent or a teacher, we welcome you. You can go ahead and select other.

Anesha: Otherwise please select the grade level that is appropriate for you. Um, as we’re waiting, um, I know you won’t get a chance to share too much of your personal story, but I’m wondering what, how would you summarize the strategy that you used in your road to Princeton?

Manuel: I think that basically this presentation is what I would’ve very, very dearly needed.

Manuel: Mm-hmm. Back when I did my application, because what I did is the complete opposite and what I would never recommend anyone to do, um, I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was a lot of guessing, a lot of, uh, scrambling, a lot of rushing to, you know, try to figure things out and therefore it was a lot of stress.

Manuel: So this presentation is kind of geared towards avoiding all of those things and therefore, uh, being a lot more efficient and strategic in, [00:02:00] uh, everything that we do.

Anesha: I appreciate that. I can also relate, but not replicate my process for any of my advisees. So, um, but oh, that makes your, uh, presentation all the more intriguing.

Anesha: Um, okay. We’ll go ahead and close our poll, uh, just so you know who’s in the space with us. So we have a pretty good spread, but we have mostly ninth, 10 and 11th graders. So we have an even spread amongst those students. And then our fourth quarter are a mixture of parents and teachers. So that’s in the room, no seniors, all underclassmen and some parents, um, who I think are eager to speak to.

Anesha: I’ll stop talking, hit it over to you and be back for our q and a.

Manuel: Awesome. Thank you very much. So I’m glad, uh, to see, you know, kind of the mix that we have today. Uh, definitely good that we have a lot of ninth and 10th graders and those that are in 11th grade, you know, it’s good for you to also, uh, hear this presentation.

Manuel: So the first thing that we’re gonna, you know, ask is, you know, sense of presentation is about an admission strategy. You know, what does that actually mean and why is it important? So basically what we wanna try to do in our [00:03:00] applications is. That we have, on the one hand, our student, right? We have everything that embodies the student.

Manuel: But on the other hand, we have a university, we have a college. And what we wanna try to do is connect those two as much as we can, right? Because the more that we, that we’re able to do that with what the college or the university expects or desires, and as much as the student matches that, that’s going to increase our probability of getting in.

Manuel: So this strategy entails a lot of things, a lot of elements. There’s lots of in ins and outs. So we’re gonna go through all of those little by little point by point. But one of the main ideas that we want to understand tonight is that the strategy is not just a checklist, right? It’s not just about checking things off, um, individually, as if they were separate parts, but you know, it’s actually the complete opposite.

Manuel: We want to have it all be in one cohesive direction. You know, everything that we’re doing needs to be cohesive. [00:04:00] Because at the end of the day, what colleges look for in our applications is a pattern, right? They want to be able to recognize purpose, they want to be able to see progression. You know, how have you grown?

Manuel: How have you matured, what have you learned? And building an effective strategy and understanding what the strategy should be and how these things work. It just makes all of those things a lot more visible. And in terms of why it matters is because, as I said before, they look for patterns. So selective admissions committees will reward clarity.

Manuel: They will reward things that seem to be organized and put together. Um, so having a strong strategy is really just gonna help us do that at the same time, as I was sharing earlier, if you do this correctly, you’re not gonna be stressed. You’re not gonna burn out like I did back when I was doing my applications.

Manuel: And that’s going to allow you to focus and put forth the best application that you can. [00:05:00] So the core idea is that having a good strategy is what’s going to transform the application from just a random list of achievements or everything kind of in its own little pocket, into a coherent and compelling story that’s going to make sense to at admissions readers.

Manuel: So the first thing that we wanna look at before getting into the details of each and every one of these different elements is the general components that the application has. So we have our transcript, we have ours, a t, our acts, you know, everything that has to do with standardized testing. Our essays super important.

Manuel: I’ll get, uh, in more into detail in those later on our activities list, which is basically what’s going to help us show the leadership that we have had or that we have developed throughout our high school career, our recommendations. Depending on, uh, what program we are applying to or what different fields we’re interested in studying, you know, we might have portfolios or [00:06:00] extras, that’s why it’s if applicable.

Manuel: And, you know, additional application platform material. So very briefly and in a very, very general way. So in terms of transcript, you know, kind of what admissions committees want to see here is course rigor. You know, obviously they’re gonna look at your grades and your core classes, but the question that they want to have answered is if you challenged yourself appropriately.

Manuel: So in this, it’s not just trying to have the hardest classes possible, but it’s balancing rigor and, and challenging yourself, but also being able to perform as best as you can. And at the same time, in regard to our transcript, trends matter just as much as individual grades. So having an upward trajectory.

Manuel: Of positive progress is better than starting high and then having a little bit of a decline towards the end of our, our, our high school career. So trends are also very important in terms of our transcript [00:07:00] in standardized testing. You know, now universities are starting to roll out a lot more, uh, having them be mandatory as they were before.

Manuel: So this is super important to keep in mind, but if we still have these options of whether we want to submit or not, at least as you know, as long as that option is available, kind of the question that we want to have answered is, is including my standardized test score going to enhance my application or not?

Manuel: Right? Um, in a world where we have to do standardized testing, you know, obviously the, the strategy there is going to be the study. We’ll talk about that later on. But in a world where it’s still test optional, the strategic part of it is asking that question, will it enhance my application or not? In terms of essays, you know, I always say that this is the most important part of our application because it’s where we can stand out as individuals in terms of our values, in terms of our growth, um, in terms of revealing why we are unique, why [00:08:00] our story is unique.

Manuel: And this is really a great opportunity because if we wouldn’t have the essays and we’re only comparing transcripts and SATs and activities list, it’s really hard to stand out. But the essays are basically designed to help you do that. So whether it’s the personal statement essay, which is the longer 650 word, um, essay, or the supplementals, which you know, are more geared towards showing fit, motivation, campus contribution, you know, this whole component of the essays is, it’s what forms, what we would call the narrative backbone of the application.

Manuel: And it’s very, very important. And we’ll get into that a little bit later. In terms of activities and, and, and leadership, you know, here, really the, the main message is it’s. Quality over quantity. You know, the way that an admissions committee is going to evaluate you in, in this element is in terms of depth, in terms of impact, in terms of initiative, in terms of contribution, not the number of clubs that we’re [00:09:00] a part of, not the number of things that we’ve done.

Manuel: It’s more about, you know, the quality of the things that we’ve done. And something important to note here as well is that work experience, family responsibilities, all of these things also count. So, uh, if that is the case for you, this is definitely something that you should include in, in your application, um, because it’s something that college admissions committees, uh, value and understand, that is a reality for a lot of students.

Manuel: In terms of, in terms of recommendations, you know, it’s pretty self-explanatory, but for the most part, you’re gonna have teacher recommendations. So that’s gonna help you validate your academic character, your intellectual curiosity. Um, but at the same time, you know, your counselor letter or if you’re able to have, you know, optional recommenders, which depends on the university, depends on the application.

Manuel: Sometimes they ask for them, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they permit them, sometimes they don’t. But if they do, this can also help with other things like community presence or leadership in different projects, sports, et cetera. Um, [00:10:00] as I mentioned before, the portfolio and the additional evidence, you know, for fields like, for example, architecture.

Manuel: Or design or art or engineering. You know, sometimes portfolios or project samples are a, a part of the application. They’re, uh, an obligation. Um, so this can also strongly influence outcomes, but again, this is only if applicable. And then the very last thing, you know, there’s gonna be a lot of different administrative, uh, components to the application, whether it’s financial aid, whether it’s your, I don’t know, biographical details and your family and, and whatnot.

Manuel: So not really too much to say there, but to keep in mind that there are a lot of different things that you also have to fill out in the application itself. Okay. Right. So now we can actually get into, uh, the details of each and every one of those, each and every question that we wanna have in terms of our application strategy.

Manuel: So the first thing that we wanna ask ourselves is, okay, so I’ve understood that one of the components to the application and [00:11:00] to my strategy is academics, my transcripts, et cetera. So how can I begin to identify my academic and career interests? Four points, explore broadly, then narrow down, notice what excites your curiosity.

Manuel: Test your interests through real experiences and track patterns through time. So you’re gonna see that my, my way of presenting is, is very minimalist, but for me it’s, it’s more of the message and the information being given rather than, uh, trying to be very creative and artsy, which I am definitely not.

Manuel: So in terms of the first one, right? So early in your high school career. Should feel like a sample, like a sampling phase. Obviously you might not know exactly what you wanna study, what you’re super interested in doing, and that’s normal. So you’re gonna benefit from taking a variety of different classes, maybe even joining different clubs to see what sorts of career interests you might have as well.

Manuel: And the idea is to expose yourselves early to a lot of new topics, you [00:12:00] know, without pressure on, on, like maybe deciding super quick on what you’re interested in. But what you wanna do is explore broadly. And then as you gain those experiences, then you begin to to narrow down. And the idea there is because you know, if you don’t explore broadly, broadly, first, it’s gonna be really hard for you to maybe figure out what you want to do and you might end up kind of cornering your, cornering yourself into a topic that later on is actually not super interesting to you.

Manuel: The second thing about noticing curiosity. So interest often reveal themselves through these moments. Whether it’s through sustained attention, whether it’s in class, whether it’s in a project, whether it’s in some form of research that you have to do on your own. So exposing yourself to these experiences will also allow you to have those moments where you’re gonna realize, you know, what excites you, what motivates you, what impassions you.

Manuel: And then, you know, this kind of idea is the same thing of testing interests through real experiences. So once you [00:13:00] maybe have a clearer idea, you’re in your 10th grade, maybe 11th grade, and you have begun to maybe, you know, realize what it is that, that you like doing, there’s a lot of different things that you could do, whether it’s shadowing, um, at an organization or at a clinic, for example, or being a part of summer programs, creating your own personal projects, volunteering, being a part of competitions, or even internships, right?

Manuel: So all of these different things. And these real experiences allow you to test your interest. They allow you to transform something that’s vague in general into something that’s real and specific. This hands-on exposure, you know, it’s gonna also help you realize whether an interest feels, uh, like something that’s real or whether it was merely theoretical or in an idea.

Manuel: Um, and at the same time, you know, all of this also helps you create your profile, right? Because it goes on your resume, it goes on your activities list. So it’s really a win-win. And then the [00:14:00] idea here is to be able to track these patterns over time. So as you begin to do these things, explore these interests, have these real experiences.

Manuel: You’re gonna be able to reflect more on what is motivating you, and that’s what’s gonna help you later on with your essays. It’s gonna help you later on with kind of speaking about who you are, what you like, what you’re interested in, et cetera. What I would say here in this point is to avoid premature lock-in.

Manuel: So the goal is not to choose your college major at 14 years old or 15 years old. That’s not the idea. The goal is to identify through time, you know, these emerging themes that can end up being, uh, that guide in your choices in what you wanna study, what activities you want to do, and it’s gonna help for your essays as well.

Manuel: So the idea is to avoid premature lock-in, but you definitely want to expose yourself to different courses, experiences, et cetera. Moving on to our second point, so something that’s also [00:15:00] really important to analyze is what we call school fit and what we call a college list. So what’s important here is to understand what does fit mean?

Manuel: What does school fit actually mean? The next thing we wanna talk about is research, academics, culture. Third thing is compare data outcomes, majors, et cetera. And then lastly, build a balance list. So in terms of defining what fit really means, so fit is not just about rankings, right? Students should reflect on the learning style that they have, what environment they like being in, whether it’s in, you know, being amongst a lot of people, fewer people, urban settings, rural settings, semi-urban settings, et cetera.

Manuel: Uh, the values that you have, your financial needs, your long-term goals. So all of these things are questions that we have to ask ourselves to basically understand does this school fit with what I also like? [00:16:00] It’s not just about what, what the ranking is. There’s a lot of great universities, but not all of them are the same.

Manuel: So thinking of this is also gonna help us build that college list. So, you know, do I want something that’s collaborative or something that’s ultra competitive, right? Do I want a large research university or a small liberal arts college? So these are the sorts of questions that are gonna help us understand whether a school is a good fit for us in terms of research, academics, and culture.

Manuel: Because you know, obviously, you know, we go to school to study. So this is super important. Um, it’s important to, to see, you know, what majors do they have, you know, what are the strengths that they have? What departments are like known for being very, very good or, you know, very prestigious or have, you know, amazing professors.

Manuel: Um, what research opportunities do they, you know, do they allow, can I travel? Can I get, you know. Uh, a, a project, uh, stipend and be able to, you know, do different things. So all of these different things are, are important to also, [00:17:00] um, research. And the good thing is that, you know, all of this is available online.

Manuel: You know, even if you don’t travel to the university to visit, all of these things are things that you can research and that you can definitely have a very good idea of what the academic and research culture, um, is at a university. Then you also want to compare data. You know, what is, what is the acceptance rate, you know, this is helpful.

Manuel: Um, we want to talk about graduation rates, you know, job placements, um, whether they have internship pipelines. In other words, you know, is this university known for sending a lot of students to work at certain companies or in certain fields? Um, do they offer good study abroad programs? All of these, all of all of these different things.

Manuel: Also very important to know because we want to understand whether this school is going to offer. A strong potential, uh, for the things that we are, um, that, that we are interested in. Right? So, so this is also very important. And then all of this research, which, which is basically just online [00:18:00] research. It’s gonna help us build a balanced list.

Manuel: So a balanced list is gonna include the following three concepts, reach, match, and safety. So a reach school is something that’s very highly selective or, you know, very difficult to get into a match. School can be a school that even though it’s, it’s competitive and you know, and has a good prestige or, you know, a good ranking, it aligns very well with, you know, the student profile.

Manuel: And then a safety school would be something where acceptance is highly likely. So the, the idea about balance is that we don’t want to only apply to reach schools. We wanna combine our list with some match schools and some safety schools with a caveat that wherever we apply to, if we do this research, we’re gonna at least apply to schools that even though maybe their ranking isn’t the highest, even though maybe their acceptance rate is a lot higher, it’s gonna be somewhere where we will still be happy to go to and where we would know that we’re gonna be able to [00:19:00] study the things that we wanna study.

Manuel: Okay. Moving on to the next one. So what do we wanna talk about in terms of, you know, academics and what role this plays in? Its in a, in a successful admission strategy. So, very similar to what we said before, we want basic combination of rigor and strong performance. What this means is that in a perfect world, you know, we’re gonna wanna pick the hardest classes that we can, where we’re also going to be able to get the highest grades.

Manuel: To put it very, very clearly, if we’re gonna end up having lower grades because our rigor’s too high, we’re not gonna benefit from that. We’re actually, it’s actually gonna be in our detriment. Or if we have perfect grades. But our courses were very easy. You know, admissions committees can see through that too.

Manuel: So we wanna strike that balance of rigor and strong performance. We wanna have solid grades, but at the same time, we [00:20:00] wanna challenge ourselves. So here’s where we have that thoughtful course selection. So being able to achieve that balance is also about planning ahead. So we wanna know about prerequisites for AP, IB honors tracks.

Manuel: If STEM sequences are important to us, we wanna research that prior as well. Talk to our counselors, see what things our high school, you know, offers us and make sure that we’re able to really pick and choose. What is going to be most beneficial for us? So early planning is what’s going to prevent us having scheduling conflicts later on in junior or senior year.

Manuel: So again, planning here, super, super essential. The idea as well here, as I said before, that upward traject uh, trajectory, we want to also signal improvement over time. So improvement isn’t just that we go from from a B to an A, but improvement can be if, if I get an A in, in one [00:21:00] level of, of a course, but then the next year I take the higher level of that course and I also get an A.

Manuel: That also shows improvement. The idea is that we’re always scaling upwards. Um, and this is good because it’s always viewed positively. It’s viewed as a student that’s resilient, that’s mature, um. Rather than someone that’s always static and kind of always having the same results. So we, we always wanna challenge ourselves, but always achieve, uh, something positive.

Manuel: And then, you know, the last thing, aligning with interest. So as we talked about before, student narrative super important. So if we’ve begun to have experiences that, for example, have Amy realize that medicine is important for me. So we wanna pick courses that are aligned with that. So STEM courses, biology, chemistry, et cetera.

Manuel: We want everything to align. So if, if we are gonna write our essays later on about, you know, having, you know, a future desire to be an architect, but we haven’t even done calculus or something like that, or we haven’t done physics, these things no longer align. [00:22:00] So the idea here is that as we begin to realize what we are interested in academically and in our future career interests, we wanna have our courses also match that same theme.

Manuel: Okay. So we’ve talked about school list, we’ve talked about academics. Now we wanna talk about extracurricular profiles. So again, remember the application is not just your grades, not just your transcript. There is this other part of your profile, which is outside of school. And here we have, again, four.

Manuel: Four very important points, depth over breath, show initiative and impact. Follow genuine interest and grow your roles over time. So what does each one of these mean? So the first one is what we talked before, quality over quantity. Admissions officers are not going to reward long lists of activities and clubs and being a part of every single thing that is possible.

Manuel: And that exists. No, what they reward is commitment, right? And even if we [00:23:00] pursue fewer activities, but if we pursue them deeply and you know, over several years we have some sort of measurable progress within these activities. This carries far more weight. Than 10, 15 surface level clubs that we have been a part of.

Manuel: So what do I mean by measurable progress? So if we join something in ninth or 10th grade and by 11th or 12th grade, we have a leadership position within a club or a project or whatever the case might be, that’s progress. Or if we started something small, you know, in ninth, 10th grade I had an idea for a project, and little by little it began growing and growing.

Manuel: That shows commitment and progress. So these are the things that we talk about when we say that depth over breadth. Um, and that’s why we say the idea with our extracurricular profile is to show initiative and impact. So leadership isn’t just a title, right? You, you can say that you’re a president of, of such and such club, but you wanna be able to show that you’ve left the mark, you [00:24:00] improved something, or you started something.

Manuel: So, you know, whether it’s organizing a community event that had, you know, impact in a community. Or whether you created a tutoring program to help underprivileged people, whether it’s in their language or with, I don’t know, a citizenship, citizenship application or, or something related. Um, if you’ve done research on a, on a topic and, you know, you end up presenting in front of city council, for example.

Manuel: Um, the point is, is that we also wanna do things that show that we are creating impact, that we’re doing something positive, and that we’re showing initiative in the sense that, you know, we’re trying to do something, um, that’s, that’s worthwhile. The last thing here about, you know, following genuine interest is the same thing that we talked about with our academic profile.

Manuel: Everything should match. So if we wanna, you know, build a narrative that’s cohesive, remember that keyword, everything needs to be cohesive, everything needs to be like a roadmap that’s going towards the same place. What we do in [00:25:00] our extracurricular profile should also be something genuine to us, something that we.

Manuel: Enjoy is something we are, that we are passionate about, something that we believe in. So this is where authenticity will stand out. So lean into activities that spark your curiosity, that spark your joy, not just those that you think, oh, this looks good on a resume. Right? Real enthusiasm leads to better stories, stronger essays, and therefore sustained engagement in those activities, which at the end of the day is always going to, you know, be, be a lot, uh, more impactful in your applications.

Manuel: And then the growing roles over time, as I said before, the idea is to show this positive progression. So if you started off as a volunteer, then you end up leading, uh, and creating and being a president, vice president, whatever the case might be. But the idea is that, you know, you start off with something small, but you grow, whether it’s in your, um, that the title that you have, the responsibility that you [00:26:00] have, or the impact that you had.

Manuel: The point is to grow this over time, and that’s why it’s good to be able to start these things early. Okay, moving on to a topic that maybe not too many people like, um, standardized testing. So today, you know, most selective colleges to remain test optional, um, which means that you don’t need to, uh, turn in a standardized test score.

Manuel: Other schools are beginning to transition back to what they had before where it was an obligation to turn in these, uh, turn in these scores. Um, but here the idea is, you know, as long as it’s test optional, it’s about a strategic choice. So what we will always say is, you know, submit only if it strengthens.

Manuel: But it’s always going to be more beneficial to submit a good score than to not submit a score. Because think of it this way, if you are competing against a lot of other students. [00:27:00] And another student has an equally good application, but they also submitted a good score and you didn’t, they have an advantage.

Manuel: It’s just rational. That’s logical. So we wanna try to plan early, to test early. So the idea is, you know, maybe in sophomore year you can explore a little bit, maybe some light practice, whether it’s a PSAT or something that’s more introductory for you to get your feet wet. So, so to speak. And begin to understand, you know, how these tests are, what does it feel like to take one?

Manuel: And what you wanna do is that by your junior fall, you wanna have begun to study. Even if you can begin studying in, in sophomore summer, even better, because the earlier that you can take your first official exam, it’s going to create a larger window for you to be able to first study more. Because in theory, let’s say that I began studying in sophomore summer to take my first test, junior winter.

Manuel: I had be giving [00:28:00] myself a really, really good window, not only to prepare for my first one, but also to give myself a chance in the case of me wanting to take a second and maximum a third, uh, a, a third, um, you know, crack at, at a standardized test. But if I start studying too late, not only do I give myself less time to study, which is gonna be more stressful.

Manuel: ’cause you’re also gonna be studying, you know, during the academic year, you’re gonna have a lot of other things going on, a lot of other things on your mind. If you don’t get the score that you really wanted in your first attempt, you’re really cutting it short and trying and being able to try to have other, other takes.

Manuel: So the idea is again, plan early, test early, and then that way, you know, ideally you would have this resolved by junior year and as a last result, if it’s truly needed, you would still have final opportunities. Um, in, in, in senior fall. The idea here too is that if you’re able to [00:29:00] test early, it’s gonna allow you, you know, to focus more on your essays, on your grades, on your extracurriculars, when it matters the most.

Manuel: So I would definitely say that using a summer, super, super beneficial to try to study and to try to prepare. And then that way you can, um, you can just, you know, be more efficient and optimize your results a lot more here. What I would say in terms of practice data, you know, the most important practice that you can have is having experiences that are as near and identical to, uh, the real thing is possible.

Manuel: So, full length diagnostics are basically the best thing that you could do. Obviously, it’s good to begin to study beforehand, you know, more. More often than not, it’s, it’s like for the math sections, like what are the things that that, that they are asking, whether it’s geometry, whether it’s algebra, what are the things that I have to know, make sure I know how to, you know, [00:30:00] work with these formulas, work with these ideas, um, in terms of English, you know, and grammar, not so much studying, but you know, maybe having an idea of what the test is like.

Manuel: But once you, once you have that, you know, consistent practice tests are the best thing because it’s gonna allow you to feel more comfortable, feel less under pressure, and you’re gonna be able to begin to identify, you know, what you need to improve upon. You know, whether it’s time, whether it’s anxiety, whatever it is.

Manuel: But making the experience of taking the test as real as possible is what’s gonna help you day of feel comfortable. And the more comfortable that you feel day of taking the test, you know, the easier it’s going to be. So again, you know, maybe to wrap the standardized testing portion is. Insofar as it’s still test optional, it’s gonna be, it’s gonna, you know, be a strategic choice at the end of the day.

Manuel: But I would always say, and I know a lot of our senior advisors would always recommend, take the [00:31:00] test plan, study, make sure that you try to give yourself the best shot to have a good score. ’cause it will always be better to turn in a good score than to not turn in a score, um, at all. Okay. So here we can transition to something that is definitely, you know, very related, as I said before with, with, with our summer.

Manuel: So how can we strategically use our summer? So aside from, you know, what I said about studying and, and, you know, getting an advantage in terms of standardized testing, as you mentioned before, it can help us explore our interest more deeply. So since we have more uninterrupted time, which is, you know, rare, especially in high school, college, and, and life really, um, it’s perfect for diving deeper, whether it’s into extracurricular interests, academic interests.

Manuel: So I would definitely invite you to make best use of your summers. It’s not just obviously, you know, rest, have fun, um, reset your mind. All of those things are true. We [00:32:00] can’t just always be working 24/7, but, but you can definitely try to sign up for a program, a course, an independent project, volunteering things that maybe you wouldn’t be able to do throughout the school year because of the time commitment that you know, that, that, that they entail.

Manuel: But all of these things are also very good for your application. So, um, I would definitely explore interest more deeply. Also, you know. You can be a part of a research program. You could build more skills and more experience through college prep or academic courses, you know, internships, as we talked about before, shadowing as we mentioned before, um, and all of these things.

Manuel: At the end of the day, again, they just start building your profile more and more. It just makes your application that much stronger. Um, so, you know, as I said before, with standardized testing, we wanna take advantage of the opportunities that we have. So the same thing goes for summers. As for standardized testing, is it optional?

Manuel: Yeah, I mean, of course you, you could definitely [00:33:00] choose to just take your summer off and just relax and, and have fun. The same way that if you’re given the choice to not turn in your SAT, you know, someone can can say, you know, I’d rather just not do it then fair, but others will, right? So, um, if others are gonna take advantage of those opportunities, it’s always gonna be good for us to take advantage of this opportunities just because it’s also going to help our application be that much stronger.

Manuel: Um, and you know, as we’ve talked about before, the idea here is, and I’m gonna repeat it a lot because it really is one of the main themes, everything should align. So if we’re gonna try to explore something in the summer, whether it’s an internship, volunteering opportunity, whatever it might be, the idea is for it to connect to this whole narrative or long-term goals, the things we’re trying to achieve, the things we’re passionate about.

Manuel: Because again, not only is it going to make your application that much stronger, but it’s also going to give you more content for your essays, for your supplemental essays, [00:34:00] for all of these different opportunities and components of the application that are gonna help you stand out. So summers in short.

Manuel: Definitely take advantage, explore interest more deeply, build skills, build more experience, take initiative and do things that maybe you wouldn’t be able to do throughout the academic year. And be strategic. Make sure that these can align with the long-term goals, interests, and passions that you have.

Manuel: Okay, so talking about personal narratives, as I said before, this is probably, I would say the most important part of, of your application, the most impactful part of your application, but also the one that’s gonna help you the most get into these universities and the colleges that you definitely wanna be a part of.

Manuel: So how do we build a personal narrative that’s compelling and that’s cohesive? The first thing is identifying core themes. So, you know, we want to think of it [00:35:00] kind of like a thread that ties everything together. So what is the thread that is tying your, your choices together? Your interests, your values, your goals, right?

Manuel: These are the things that we want to identify. So, um, these themes often emerge from everything that we talked about before, academic interests, uh, long-term projects or career goals that we might have. It could be a family story, a personal motivation, things that we’ve lived and gone through that, you know, have really defined who we are and defined the things that we want to do and why we want to do them.

Manuel: Maybe problems that we have identified that we want to try to resolve. Um, but the idea here is that these themes should feel natural and not manufactured. Manufactured in the sense of don’t try to build themes because you think it sounds nice or because you think that others want you to say those sorts of things.

Manuel: The idea here is that it should be sincere, it [00:36:00] should be genuine, um, because if it is. It’s gonna be impactful. It’s gonna be definitely noteworthy if it’s not, even if you try to kind of, uh, I don’t know, like dress it in a way where you wanna try to convince others that you’re really interested. It’s, it’s always going to come through as something that just, that just doesn’t really connect.

Manuel: The idea here as well is that, as we talked about before, this personal narrative should show growth and impact. So it’s going to be natural for your ninth grade version of yourself to not be the same as your 12th grade version. That’s, that’s the idea. And even though this is normal and you know, obviously you’re going to change in those four years, we wanna try to show what that change was like.

Manuel: What was that evolution? What was that change? What did you learn? How did you mature? How did you grow? What impact did you have? All of these things, or what gives [00:37:00] credibility to the narrative? It’s what separates a student from just being interesting to being compelling, right? So that’s why you, you always wanna have those keywords in mind.

Manuel: Growth and impact. That’s what you wanna demonstrate with your personal narrative as well. And again, hammering on that same metaphor of everything being connected. Our personal narrative should definitely be connected to our academics, to our activities. Because again, at the end of the day, remember universities and colleges, the point is that you’re gonna go to study, right?

Manuel: So they wanna also see that what you wanna do, what you’re interested in, what impassions you, is something that you’re gonna be able to explore there and develop there and learn there. So that’s why everything needs to always, um, be connected. And here’s where, as we talked about previously, these, this is where the essays begin to reveal that identity.

Manuel: So the personal statement with all of these things in mind, your personal narrative. Your extracurriculars, your academics, uh, [00:38:00] your summers, all the things that you’ve done. Here’s where you are able to reveal who you are, you know, why you’re a good fit for this school, uh, why, you know, they want you, not so much why you want them, but why they want you.

Manuel: So that’s why the essays are, are so important. At the end of the day, as I said before, everything should always maintain consistent and cross components. Everything should be connected, but ultimately authenticity always wins. So your narrative should reflect something that’s truthful to you. Um, when students are maybe exaggerated or when they’re writing things that they think colleges want to read, applications just lose their sincerity.

Manuel: They lose their their coherence. So the idea here is to really put in that work to be as authentic as possible. And here’s what we talk about, the essays. So since. A lot of the things we’ve talked about before kind of fit into this. I won’t take too [00:39:00] much time, but the idea is to start early because great essays take time.

Manuel: What does it mean to start early? I don’t mean that you should begin to draft your essays today. No. But brainstorming, reflecting, meditating on who you are, the things that you like, that’s starting, right? But ideally in terms of the actual process, you know, you should probably by the end of junior year, begin to think about what you wanna write about.

Manuel: And in the summer, you can take advantage and, and begin to think because you know, for the most part, the common app essay or like the general personal statement essay is, is an open prompt. You know, they give options, but basically every single year they have the open prompt, meaning that you can write whatever you want to write about.

Manuel: So early drafting, early reflecting, you know, removes pressure because you’re not gonna feel rushed in writing, but you’re gonna feel that you would’ve had time to really think about what you wanna say. Um, so brainstorm deeply, as I said, you want to choose meaningful stories so you know, you know, what experiences have shaped you, what challenges have [00:40:00] changed you, what do you value and why?

Manuel: What perspectives might you bring to their campus? The goal isn’t so much in finding a perfect topic, it’s more about discovering an authentic one, right? So standout essays come from reflection, as I said before, not resume recaps. Um, a powerful essay often grows from a small moment that then captures something important, something essential about your character, your worldview.

Manuel: And that’s why the key really is insight, insight into who you are and, and why, and why that matters. And then once you have all of these things kind of. Structured and a good draft. You wanna revise with intention, meaning that’s normal, that you’re gonna go through multiple drafts. You know, you’re not gonna sculpt something from the very beginning and it be perfect, you know, you’re gonna have to refine.

Manuel: So you want to think about, you know, what’s my voice like? Is it authentic? Is it personal? What’s my structure like? Do I have a clear arc of growth, A clear arc of change? [00:41:00] Does this narrative make sense? You know, have I really reflected on why these things matter to myself? Am I being specific? Am I showing rather than telling all of these different things or what we want to, to do to be able to prepare a good essay?

Manuel: What we wanna do is, what we want to avoid doing is common pitfalls. So cliches, overly broad topics. Uh, trauma dumping without reflection, um, and essays that sound like someone else wrote them, like essays that just don’t really sound like you. Again, authenticity, introspection will always matter than trying to impress someone.

Manuel: With an essay. Now all of this summed up. You know, what would be an effective timeline? As I said before, early planning means less stress. So the earlier that you can begin better, um, junior year is, is the pivot. So once you get into junior year, you wanna take rigorous courses, appropriate classes, you wanna begin, start [00:42:00] finalizing your standardized testing, develop that deep extracurricular impact, begin researching colleges and majors, start building their preliminary college list, um, junior years, basically where direction becomes visible.

Manuel: If ninth and 10th grade were there to kind of build direction junior years where that direction is executed and it becomes actually visible. And summer before senior year, think about your essays. You know, there’s Windows Essential to begin thinking about your personal state. You can pre-draft, you know, very common supplemental themes of like the why us questions, like, why do you wanna come to this university?

Manuel: What are you going to, you know, give to our community? Um, what activities or academic interests do you have? You can think about those questions too. You wanna sort of finalizing your, at your college list. And then that way once you get the, the senior fall, all that you’re thinking about is just finishing your applications.[00:43:00]

Manuel: You know, asking for your recommendation letters, making sure that your standardized test things good to go, making sure that your trans transcript’s good to go, but that for the most part you’ve gone ahead and done most of the other things. In terms of final advice, all of this being said, you know, the first thing is be intentional.

Manuel: So every choice does not need to be perfect, but it should make sense. There should be some sort of thought that went through why you made the choice that you. In any of the regard, in any regard for the elements that you know that we talked about today. Because at the end of the day, students thrive when their academic path, their activities, and their summer experiences all align with this evolving interest that we are exploring.

Manuel: Second thing, as I’ve repeated many, many times, is stay authentic. You know, admissions officers can definitely sense when a student is trying to be someone that they’re not. So the strongest applications come from real cur curiosity, [00:44:00] real values, and real stories. You wanna focus on growth. So you know, selective colleges look, as I said before, for trajectory, something positive, something that’s growing.

Manuel: Evidence that you’re maturing, that you’re taking initiative, that you’re pushing yourself, that you’re challenging yourself. Growth is more influential than trying to be overly perfect with everything. So definitely focus on growth and trust the process, you know, the journey is long. That’s fine. Pressure can feel intense, that’s normal.

Manuel: But a thoughtful strategy reduces that stress and increases clarity with everything that you’re doing. So lean on your support systems, you know, whoever they might be, pace yourselves. Do things little by little every single day, will have its own tasks that you need to, that you need to accomplish. And remember that success does not come from doing everything perfectly or doing everything.

Manuel: It just comes from doing the right things and doing them as well as you can. And [00:45:00] ultimately, you know, the bigger, the bigger picture. And what I want to conclude with is, you know, a successful admission strategy is really just a personal development strategy. That’s really all that it’s about. When you focus on becoming a better student, a stronger thinker, a kinder person, a more engaged contributor, the application takes care of itself.

Manuel: ’cause really, it’s just gonna be a, a reflection of that. Of what choices you made to develop yourself as the best candidate pro, uh, possible for any and all of these admissions committees and universities.

Anesha: Awesome. Thank you so much, Manuel, for that awesome presentation. Um, it was very detailed and thorough.

Anesha: Um, and I, I know some folks appreciated you going step-by-step through the application components as that was a question that came up in the registration. Um, we’re gonna move on to our live q and a, but before we get there, I’m just gonna take a quick pause to tell you a little bit about CollegeAdvisor.

Anesha: So for those in [00:46:00] the room who aren’t already working with us, we know how, um, overwhelming and complicated the college process can be as Manuel just laid out. And so, um, we invite you to, uh, participate in CollegeAdvisor’s team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts who are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process through one-on-one advising sessions.

Anesha: Um. We have had over 10,000 total lifetime clients, and we have a 4.8 out of five star rating on Trustpilot with over 750 reviews. After analyzing our 2023 through 2025 data, we found that clients working with CollegeAdvisor who have a strong academic and testing record are 2.6 times more likely to get into an Ivy League school around three times more likely to get into a Top 20 college and around five times more likely to get into Johns Hopkins, UCLA and uh, NYU when compared to the national acceptance rates. You can increase your odds and take the next step of your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 60-minute strategy session, uh, with an admission specialist by using the QR code that is on the screen.

Anesha: During that meeting, you’ll [00:47:00] receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile along with some initial recommendations. Um, so yeah, take the next step in your journey. We’re here for the entire process. Feel free to take advantage of the QR code on the screen. All right. The way that our questions will work, you can go ahead and submit questions, um, into the chat.

Anesha: I will read them aloud so that Manuel has an opportunity to respond to them and then paste them in the chat for everyone to see. If you’re having any challenges submitting questions, know that you might have to log on, log back in. All right. Um, alright. Sorry, sorry, I’m reading this question as All right.

Anesha: The first question someone asked was, by taking several dual enrollment, well, okay, can I, en essentially is can I enhance my resume? Mm-hmm. By taking several dual enrollment courses?

Manuel: Good. I think this is a very important question. Um, and it goes to one of the things that we saw in our earlier slides where the ideas that you wanna have a balance between rigor and performance.

Manuel: So the answer is, it depends because if by doing so, if you’re not [00:48:00] performing as well, then it’s not gonna benefit. If you do so and you’re still performing well, then you are gonna benefit. So the idea is, is very dependent on the student. That’s where I would say that you would have to kind of analyze your strengths, um, how strong of a student you feel you are, how have you performed before, and if those answers lead you to believe that you can get good grades even with this, then the answer would, would be yes.

Manuel: If no, then you wanna challenge yourself as much as you can, but without, um, affecting your performance.

Anesha: Um, someone said, you said, I know that I can write about nearly anything in your essay because it’s about you, but are there any topics that a student should stay away from in their personal statement?

Manuel: Good. Good. Okay. I think, I think this is a question that’s actually asked a lot more than, than we might realize. So, um, let’s remember that there were some cliches that we [00:49:00] want, uh, you know, stray away from, so. One thing that we definitely talked about is not being authentic. So if you’re writing something that’s not really you, that would be something that I would stray, stray away from.

Manuel: Just because, you know, it’s, it’s gonna be obvious for admissions committees when you’re either trying to impress them or your resume dumping, or your name dropping, or, or, or you’re not really saying something that’s authentic to your, to your experience, to your life story, to your motivation. Because remember, they’re gonna see everything else.

Manuel: You know, your transcript, your activities list, your resume, all of these different things, they’re gonna be able to take a look at it. So it’s gonna be, um, very, very indicative of whether it’s something that’s really authentic to you or not. The other thing that we talked about is, is trauma dumping without, without context.

Manuel: So it is true that many times, you know, students have, you know, tough upbringings or, you know, challenges that they and their families have to [00:50:00] go through early on. Um, what I would always stress here is, you know, it’s, it’s good to use these stories insofar as they build something positive of, you know, overcoming of something that you were challenged by, but that you, you were able to learn.

Manuel: So we don’t wanna just focus on the negative because sometimes it might read as if maybe you want someone to, to feel sorry for you or, or, or to feel empathy, which you know, is fair and it’s fine. But remember that our goal in our essays is to, one, try to say who we are, something specific and revealing to who we are.

Manuel: Two, something that’s unique, but in a positive sense, you know, something that we were able to do, but that is, is positive and good. And three, something that’s forward looking and definitely connected to the question of why you wanna be on that campus, but also why they want to have you on their campus.

Manuel: So, you know, to sum up trauma dumping without context, we [00:51:00] wanna stray away from. Uh, wanting to impress without being authentic. We definitely wanna stray away from, and if possible, always, always write about something that, you know is, is connected to your personal narrative. If, if it’s gonna be something that, you know, maybe it’s not gonna be understood or, or where it is that that idea came from, maybe that would be a topic that we would wanna stray from.

Manuel: I mean, obviously there’s gonna be a lot of examples of, of what we wouldn’t wanna write. Um, I don’t think I would have time to give all of the examples of things that we don’t wanna write, but generally speaking, maybe those are some things that we want to avoid.

Anesha: Um, I’ll just say, I, I will, my advice would be athletes don’t write about being an athlete, um, in your personal statement at the very least.

Anesha: But, um, uh, but otherwise, yeah. I will also recommend that folks take a look at our other webinars. We have a lot of, of webinars where we’ve talked about essays, essay topics. Um, I’m gonna drop that in the chat. Um, we have some specific to athletes specific to pre-med. Um, so take a look at that so that Manuel doesn’t have to carry [00:52:00] out the weight of all of the, that question on his shoulders.

Anesha: But, um, okay. Our next question for you, uh, someone, someone was saying, I do three varsity sports, but I don’t have time for clubs. Is that really important? Are those really important?

Manuel: So I relate. I also did three varsity sports. I did basketball, football, and track. And this counts, you know, sports are extracurricular.

Manuel: So if this is something that you’re really dedicating a good amount of time to. Um, that’s what you wanna try to demonstrate the application. So if you’re doing three varsity sports and they are basically taking up your extra time, that’s fair. Admissions committees understand that. What we want to do though is to make sure that we’re showing a positive growth within those sports.

Manuel: Did you become a captain? Um, what did you learn? You know, what are the things that you developed, whether it’s teamwork, whether it’s communication, but you always wanna be able to frame it in a sense where you show what your positive [00:53:00] trajectory was within, um, those organizations. But yes, varsity sports extracurriculars are the larger umbrella.

Manuel: Sports clubs, volunteering, all of those things are just examples of extracurricular activities. So yes, that would be fair.

Manuel: I see that your audio is working. All right. Sorry, can you hear me now? I can hear you. Yes. Oh,

Anesha: sorry. Sorry. Okay. Um, uh, someone asked how is the rise of AI impacting the essay writing component? Our admissions offices, I’m assuming, able to determine which applicants are using ai, um, in our admissions offices using AI to read applicants.

Manuel: Okay. Uh, to start with the last one, I don’t know what admissions officers are using. I’m not an admissions officer, but what I can say is that, you know, both from a university perspective, ’cause I’m still studying, you know, [00:54:00] I’m still doing my, my, my PhD thesis admissions boards and universities are fully aware of this.

Manuel: There are technologies that can be used to flag essays that are, um, more likely than not AI written. So I would handle this with an abundant, uh, abundance of caution. Um, I know that there’s the, the topic of like false positives, no, I actually really did write this, but it was still flagged. I wouldn’t worry too much about that idea, but what I would worry about is being sincere, being honest, um, because it is a temptation.

Manuel: You know, obviously it’s a lot easier to have ChatGPT write my essay for me. And in this case, you know, the, the easiest advice is if you want to avoid any sorts of issues with that, then don’t rely on AI to write your essays. Actually write them yourself, you know, do the process, edit, refine, [00:55:00] have someone else read them.

Manuel: Be honest, be sincere in the work that you’re doing. And if you do that, you know, it’s, it’s not gonna matter. But does the AI component matter? Yes. Are essays being flagged? Have I heard of cases where, you know, personal statement essays were flagged as being almost 100% written by by AI. Yes. And you definitely want to avoid that because if you do that and, and, and you get caught, I mean, you’re kind of eliminating your chance of being able to be accepted into that university and it’s something that you would definitely regret.

Manuel: So an abundance of caution is what I would suggest in terms of that topic. Uh, yes.

Anesha: I, I don’t, uh, I don’t know that people that AIs are reading essays. I will say, I know that there is an algorithm involved in some way, but it’s not an AI. I think it is human driven and human intervened at various points at admissions.

Anesha: I just, I’ve heard that a lot of, like AI is reading the essays on the admissions side. I don’t believe that that to be true at all. But, um, uh, okay. Someone asked, how does applying undecided slash undeclared [00:56:00] affect your admissions chances if you’re not a hundred percent clear on, I think your major, your potential major.

Manuel: So I would say that this is not so much a question of how much it’s going to affect your admission’s chance more than what does your application actually demonstrate. So you could be undecided, but have an application that shows a good personal narrative, that shows things that you are interested in.

Manuel: Even though you might not know 100% what you wanna do with your life and what major you wanna pick. Um, you still have an application that is cohesive and that, you know, reveals who you are. So I would say it’s not so much the worry of having already a major that you wanna declare to, but more about having done the work so that your application is cohesive, so that your narrative makes sense, that you would’ve had at least, you know, reflected upon like what things interest you.

Manuel: And even if that list is still, you know, three or four things that interest you, if your [00:57:00] application shows that. That you do, that you matured, that you challenge yourself, that you overcame and your essays, you know, are very revealing or very unique or forward-looking. The question of being undecided is not going to, um, you know, be what’s going to affect your chance of, of getting it.

Manuel: A lot of people are, are undecided. I was undecided. A lot of friends that I knew were definitely undecided. So that’s normal. What’s most important is what your actual application looks like.

Anesha: Um, okay, lemme see. Next question. I have you, did you apply through QuestBridge?

Manuel: No. No idea? No.

Anesha: Okay. Someone asked about QuestBridge and I was like, I, I didn’t think you had, I wasn’t sure if you applied through that. Um, I’ll answer that question in the chat independently. I won’t ask it aloud. Um, someone asked, oh, so I’m gonna ask the two part question.

Anesha: Someone asked, does the amount of APs you take matter. And then someone else asked, what is the difference between AP and IB? So can we say [00:58:00] what’s the difference between those two and then does the amount of classes you take it either.

Manuel: Okay. So I did the IB for example. It’s the International Baccalaureate Program.

Manuel: Uh, the AP is the Advanced Placement Program. So they’re both just different programs, um, that are definitely challenging, that have different courses. Um, I wouldn’t say that one or the other is better. Um, I would say that the same thing with the SAT and the ACT. There might be students that are more comfortable with one or the other.

Manuel: Sometimes we might not have a choice to pick one or the other. It really also depends on what our high school offers. But they’re both just programs that offer advanced courses, honors courses, uh, they both have a recognized level of rigor that college admissions committees definitely look for in terms of your transcripts and what it is that you did in terms of the number of aps this goes towards one of like the earlier questions that we had, that the important thing here [00:59:00] is to balance rigor and performance.

Manuel: So does having more APs uh, look better? In theory, yes. But if you have a lot of APs, but if you’re not performing as well, it’s actually going to affect you negatively. So, um. You wanna make strategic decisions, not just on the number, but also on which ones. So if you have a specific academic interest, again, for example, if I wanna do engineering, if I wanna do architecture, is it gonna be important if I wanna be competitive to take AP level physics or AP level calc?

Manuel: Yes, because of that specific interest that I have. So remember what we said, not so much quantity, but quality. So let’s not worry so much about the number, but definitely on the why behind each decision. And also to try to make sure that we have the best performance possible with the courses that we are taking.

Anesha: Thank you. Okay. Uh, we’ll ask one more question just ’cause we [01:00:00] went a little bit long with the presentation. So, um, where are we

Anesha: looking for?

Anesha: Oh, okay. Um, someone asked, how do ex do extracurriculars need to pertain to my academic focus?

Manuel: Um, no. So sometimes they will align, sometimes they won’t. Um, you know, I’ve met many, many colleagues that are brilliant engineers and they love painting and they’re very artsy, or, you know, people that are, are very sporty, but at the same time wanna be doctors.

Manuel: So I would say they can, and if they do, that’s great. And if they don’t, that’s also fine. The idea is for you to be able to understand why it is that you wanna do that extracurricular. What is it about that activity that impassions you? What is it about that activity that motivates you? Um, to use myself as [01:01:00] an example, you know, I did a lot of sports, but I’m also very, um, community-based, right.

Manuel: I studied politics for, for a reason. So when I was in high school, I did a lot of volunteering. I did a lot of social community work. I liked getting involved with the community. Um, so even though that was like very different from everything else that I was doing with sports, at the end of the day, uh, there was a reason for that narrative.

Manuel: There was a why behind that narrative. There was a purpose, that narrative. So as long as the extracurriculars that we are choosing and, you know, pursuing answer those questions as to why they are important, that’s what matters most. Not so much if they connect always with our academic issues because they’re not always going to connect.

Anesha: Okay. All right. Well, we will have to leave it there. There are so many questions left unanswered. I’m trying to answer one more in the clap before we go. But, um, thank you so much Manuel. Thank you so much for, uh, those who stayed with us, visited us, um, today. We hope that you learned, uh, what you needed to hear about [01:02:00] building an effective strategy.

Anesha: We’ll be join us for our future webinars. But until next time, take care and happy holidays. Enjoy your evening everybody.