Overview: CollegeAdvisor.com Client Success Stories
There is no single path in the college admissions process. Every student has their own unique journey, complete with different challenges and triumphs. While many share similar concerns, such as where to begin, each handles the process differently. Of course, having someone in your corner to help you through the process is a huge advantage, no matter your approach.
CollegeAdvisor has helped thousands of students successfully apply to college. Our experienced advisors provide personalized advising to students based on their individual needs, interests, and goals. We feel so honored to be able to support such a wide array of students in their college journeys, and we’re so proud of all they’ve achieved.
Our Client Success Stories are opportunities to highlight individual students and their personal journeys. Through these interviews, we learn about how students navigated their college application process: their worries, their difficulties, and ultimately, their final college decisions. These stories provide us a glimpse into the work that goes behind each college application. Often, there’s months or even years of planning.
In this edition of our Client Success Stories, we spoke with Anya Bhojwani, a driven student who will attend a top university this fall.
Meet Anya
Anya Bhojwani is a Houston, Texas native. While she’s enjoyed growing up there, she knew she wanted something different for her college experience. One change she was especially excited about? Leaving the Texas heat behind. She explained, “I like it here, but it’s hot all the time, which is why I wanted to go to a school in the Northeast.”
More than just location, Anya was looking for a college that fit her academic goals. She wanted a smaller, liberal arts school, but it still needed to have the program of her choice, as well as top research facilities.
Exploring her future major
Anya’s known what she wants to study for a while. She said, “I’ve always been interested in psychology. I’ve been saying since middle school I’m gonna major in psychology. Especially during COVID, I saw people’s mental health going down, and I really wanted to find a way to help. And then in high school I got more involved.”
She brought that curiosity into the classroom, incorporating psychology into her coursework whenever she could. “I do IB, so we have to write a 4,000 word essay in a subject. I chose psychology to write about. And I did some research about neurotransmitters. People say serotonin makes you happy and stuff. So I did research about that to see how true it is and how neurotransmitters play a role in psychiatric medications and how they function. And I found that they don’t really explain why medications function, which is interesting because people are just taking these medications and they’re not knowing how they work.”
Finding ways to fuel her interest
Anya also found ways to gain hands-on experience in psychology outside of school. She told us about one especially unique opportunity she created for herself:
“I currently have an internship with a psychologist. I’ve been doing it since 10th grade. She came to my school and she had a talk about mental health and the bad effect of drugs on your brain. So afterwards, I reached out to her because I found her research really interesting. I was able to get an internship with her after an interview…I sit in on therapy sessions. I’ve also helped her do research about hypofrontality, which is basically when the frontal lobe shuts off because of high risk behaviors like drug abuse. And I wrote the introduction chapter about that in her book which was a mental health guide for teens by teens.”
Leadership beyond the classroom
Apart from psychology, Anya was also a leader in other activities she’s been involved in. She told us about one particular passion that has been an integral part of her life since she was a young child.
“I’ve done a lot of dance. Since I was five I’ve been part of this Bollywood dance team that my mom started because she wanted Indians in our community to bond with our culture through dance. So I’ve been participating in that for 13 years. And then in 10th grade, our dance instructor left us and the team was going to end. But I didn’t want it to because we built a really nice community and helped everyone connect with their cultures. So I volunteered to teach the dance group.”
Anya held another leadership position as the founder of a creative writing club at her school. She mentioned how it began, “My school is very academically focused. I feel like there wasn’t as much creativity going on, and I really enjoy writing. So I started this club to promote creativity and allow people to have an outlet to express themselves. I think we have 20 members.”
Her love of writing and action-oriented attitude even led her to a unique senior project. Anya explained, “The last thing I did as a senior is we created an anthology that was published in a magazine. So we had our club members’ pieces all published together.”
With an impressive list of extracurriculars and a clear plan for her intended major, Anya had built a strong foundation for her college applications. Even so, she still had questions about navigating the application process.
Getting Started With CollegeAdvisor
Anya started working with CollegeAdvisor the summer before her junior year. However, it wasn’t her first experience with professional college advising.
She explained, “I had two different college advisors because my parents wanted me to start early with a college advisor and figure out what activities I should be doing. [For example,] what summer programs I should be doing to get ahead and prepare for the college application process. But the other two [advisors] weren’t really that good.”
Not pleased with her first college advising experiences, Anya was open to working with someone else. Recalling how she ended up with CollegeAdvisor she said, “My friend was telling me about it and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve been looking for a new college advisor. I’ll check them out.’ So I did that introduction call and it seemed pretty good. Then I ended up joining CollegeAdvisor.”
Once the decision was made, Anya was set to get started with her advisors: Hiliana Ramos and Madeline Schloss.
What was Anya’s biggest application challenge?
When asked about the biggest challenges she faced during the application process, Anya pointed to two areas in particular. She shared, “I think it was probably the essays and also the activities, because trying to fit so much in just 150 characters was really hard.”
While the activities section challenged her to be concise, the essays tested a different skill. She explained, “I’m a writer, so I like writing the different essays and prompts. But the thing is tailoring it to each school and [understanding] what they’re looking for. That’s what I needed help with.”
How did Anya’s advisors support her?
With so many meaningful experiences to highlight in her activities list and essays, Anya worked closely with both of her advisors throughout the writing process. She would draft each essay before working through several rounds of edits with Hiliana. Once those revisions were complete, Madeline would review the essay and offer another round of feedback.
Anya also appreciated having the chance to work with Hiliana over such a long period of time. “I really liked Hiliana. She was really helpful in writing the essays and stuff. And since we were together for so long, I feel like she understood what I was trying to show through the essays.”
In addition to providing essay feedback, Anya’s advisors connected her with other CollegeAdvisor resources. When asked about her favorite part of the advising process, Anya said, “I like how CollegeAdvisor has a lot of different teams. I was able to get a giant college list from them… It was a list of 50 schools or something, but it was fun because I like to see all the different schools. And I also really liked the format of the sheets. It was really good and helpful. I definitely used the sheets all the way until I committed to a school.”
So, where did Anya ultimately commit?
Anya’s Admissions Results and the Road Ahead
When the admissions decisions began rolling in, Anya had plenty to celebrate. “I applied to 20 schools. I got into 13, rejected by 5, and waitlisted by 2… I got into University of Washington, Texas A&M, UC Davis, Brandeis University, Bryn Mawr College, UT Austin, Trinity University, UC Irvine, Reed College, UC San Diego, Haverford College, Tufts University, and UCLA.”
With so many great schools to choose from, Anya had a difficult time making her final decision. She explained, “I was mainly between Trinity and Tufts, and this was the hardest decision of my life. This is the one I debated for a long time. My dad actually bought a whiteboard, and we would be writing pros and cons lists in my room. So it was a lot of back and forth.”
In the end, Anya stuck to her initial desire to study in the Northeast. She said, “I ended up choosing Tufts because I really like Boston. [There’s} access to different medical hospitals, and a lot of research opportunities. I like the city, and I also really like the school itself because it was not as small of a school as I wanted, but it was still a small enough school to feel that sense of community. And I really like their psychology program.… [Tufts has] 20 different research labs for just psychology, and I really like all the different opportunities.”
Anya’s Advice for Future Applicants
When asked what advice she’d give to future college applicants, Anya said:
“Start early. I started [applications] the summer before 12th grade, and I feel like that was really helpful because by the end of the summer I had my Common App essay done and the UCP IQs…and I had my activities list done. So it was really helpful to have all that done going [into the school year]…I’m really glad I started earlier. I’d recommend people to start earlier because it’s really hard to do during the school year.”
Why CollegeAdvisor?
This fall, Anya will begin her next chapter at Tufts University, where she plans to major in psychology. Looking back on the admissions process, she believes getting started early and working with CollegeAdvisor made a meaningful difference.
“I agree that it’s hard, but I do think having a college advisor was very helpful. And so was joining CollegeAdvisor pretty early on.”
Anya’s path to Tufts didn’t happen by chance. It was built on years of hard work, thoughtful planning, and guidance along the way. If you want help with the college application process, CollegeAdvisor has experts who can support you through every stage. Whether it’s building a college list or writing essays, our advisors are committed to helping you build the strongest application possible.
This article was written by Sarah Kaminski. Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.
