This student, on-paper, left a lot to be desired academically. However, after tens of meetings, I had discovered that they enjoyed gardening, using the produce for baking, and even sold the baked goods to friends and even a former teacher for her wedding. She wanted to study agriculture and environmental science.

After uncovering these insights, I found the perfect school, one that would both teach her the academics she wanted and gave the financial aid to make it happen. We worked to find the strategy to communicate this to their first-choice school, aligning them with the school’s values, culture, and academics. Through the student’s essay, my letter of recommendation, and countless other channels of communication, the student got accepted, earned about $500,000 in scholarship from the school, and only has to pay $5,000/yr out of pocket.