Overview: CollegeAdvisor.com Client Success Stories
Welcome to another edition of our CollegeAdvisor.com Client Success Stories. In this series, we sit down with CollegeAdvisor students and ask them about their experience with our Admissions Experts. Through these interviews, we get a look at how personalized guidance from CollegeAdvisor helped them get into their dream schools.
CollegeAdvisor is honored to support students from a wide range of backgrounds and highlight their achievements. Our track record of strong positive feedback and proven results shows our dedication to our mission of helping students reach their potential. We hope this series encourages you in your own admissions journey, whether you are revising essays or just starting your college list.
Getting to Know Liam
For this Client Success Story, we chatted with Liam Clancy, who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. In high school, Liam was a self-motivated, ambitious student in and out of the classroom. He had a particular interest in chemistry and Spanish classes. In addition, he participated in multiple extracurricular activities.
“I did swim through the end of my junior year of high school, and then I did a lot of community volunteering stuff,” Liam said. “So I did a couple volunteer internships with a local hospital, and then I volunteered at a hospice center, and then some other volunteer organizations through school.”
Going into the college admissions process, Liam knew he had a good candidate profile. However, he also knew he needed help expressing his experiences in the style required for college applications.
What were Liam’s challenges as an applicant?
There are plenty of challenges that students face in the college application process. Even though Liam had good grades and plenty of extracurriculars, he still had his concerns. “I felt like for me as an applicant, I have decent test scores, decent grades, but I also felt like on paper, I’m an average applicant,” Liam told us.
It’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by college admissions, especially as top schools get more and more competitive. Liam felt like his academic and extracurricular achievements would need careful attention for a successful admissions cycle. With his eye on several well-ranked schools, Liam knew he needed guidance to create a strong application.
“I need to figure out how to market myself to a school and make myself stand out,” he remembered thinking at the time. Liam touched on an important point that many students struggle with: identifying their personal brand. This is a crucial part of getting the attention of admissions officers.
Liam’s approach to the college application process
First, Liam wanted to get his standardized testing out of the way. With a rough idea of the caliber of schools on his college list, Liam knew his ideal score range. Before jumping into the longer, more involved college application process, he decided to take the tests he needed.
“The way I thought of it is, first I got the test score I wanted, and then I thought about my college applications,” he said. “So, first I met with an ACT tutor, and got the ACT score I wanted.”
With testing out of the way, Liam turned his sights to college admissions. He explains, “Around spring of my junior year, … I thought about getting a college counselor. Just because I knew that I wanted to apply to so many schools, and I also knew that essays could make or break my application.”
Liam started looking for counseling services, mainly for help with his college essays. With strong essays, he reasoned, his extracurriculars and academics would make a great impression on admissions officers.
How did Liam learn about CollegeAdvisor?
Liam found CollegeAdvisor by searching online for college counseling. Through family, friends, and the web, he found several programs and worked with his parents to compare them. Through several consultations, they eventually settled on CollegeAdvisor for two main reasons.
“One, honestly, [was] the price of it. I remember the first [counseling service] we had a call with, they were like, ‘Our cheapest package is $11,000, but typically it’s $20-25,000,” he recounted. “My mom and I were … thinking, like $5,000, not $25,000. So that was part of why we chose College Advisor, just what it cost and what I could get for the cost.”
On a similar note, the second reason Liam and his family chose CollegeAdvisor was the availability of resources. CollegeAdvisor has an extensive network of admissions experts, admissions officers, and various specialty teams for students to utilize.
“I felt like I was getting access to so many more resources than I’d be able to gain access to myself or through school,” Liam said. “I think, even though it could be perceived as a negative that [CollegeAdvisor] is such a big company, and people would maybe be concerned about lacking individualized attention, I’m getting access to people and resources that I just wouldn’t get access to using a local advising person or company.”
Getting started with College Advisor
Liam worked with a primary admissions expert and an admissions officer. Admissions officers are former admissions staff from top schools who work with some of our students.
“My primary advisor was Chi Chan, and then my former admissions counselor, like advisor, was Andres Borray,” Liam said. “I worked with both of them. In all my meetings it was me and then the two of them on the call.”
They met about once a week to review Liam’s progress and address any questions or concerns he had. Outside of meetings, Liam also referenced articles and guides on our site. He says, “Some of the articles that are on your website about different steps to certain supplemental [essays], even for specific schools, I found helpful. And then some general advice … Then I looked at the extracurricular opportunities featured on the website.”
Finding the right fit
Initially, Liam had a different primary advisor. However, after some time, he realized they weren’t the best fit. Liam needed someone who would guide him in pacing himself while writing dozens of essays. Noting his needs, he reached out to us for some help.
“So I reached out to [CollegeAdvisor], called and was like, … I would like to be switched to somebody else. And I was switched that same day,” he said. “I really enjoyed both my advisors. I thought they both contributed different things. And so I was happy that I had both of them, but overall had a pretty positive experience.”
Advisors play a huge role in our students’ experiences. Liam was able to recognize what he needed and voice it in order to get his best advisor match.
How did Liam’s advisors help him find success?
By the time he was working with his advisors, Liam didn’t have too many concerns about choosing colleges.
“I think I had a pretty general idea of where I wanted to apply to school … But I will say that with my advisor initially, there were a couple of schools that I removed [when] we discussed it,” Liam said. “Like for example, initially I had UT Austin on my list, but I wasn’t really that into going there. And Chi was like, ‘If you don’t really care, don’t dedicate the energy to a school that has a 4% acceptance rate out-of-state.’”
In the end, Liam had a list of twenty schools — still not a small college list! With so many applications to complete, Liam had his essay-writing work cut out for him. Through senior year, he worked with Chi and Andres to figure out his essay strategy and style.
“[College application essays are] so different than any writing you ever do in school that it was the part that I felt the most lost about. But then having [Chi and Andres] there, I feel like my essays ultimately got me the results I wanted,” he said.
Writing stand out essays
With twenty schools on his list, Liam had over sixty essays to write. Rather than taking a more individual approach and dissecting each essay, Chi and Andres looked at the big picture with Liam. They focused on core skills like writing concise essays and strongly supporting a main idea. The three also worked on revising skills, so Liam could learn what to look out for when checking each essay.
“Working with them, I learned how to condense my essays to fit in so much content into 250 words or even 650 words,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to edit and structure an essay, no matter if I went to a writing tutor or how much work I did on it myself — I just wouldn’t have been able to structure it in the way that they were able to help me structure it.”
With their help, Liam got a better grasp on the format of college essays, which helped him write the dozens of essays he needed. Liam says, “I also think they taught me a lot about understanding the formula behind these essays. Once I got through the third school’s application, I knew every week I could do multiple essays.” Liam accomplished an impressive feat in this stressful part of the applications.
Building a candidate profile
Although the essays were Liam’s primary concern, he also had to think about the rest of his application. The extracurricular activities section is a crucial part of your candidate profile and personal narrative. Through your activities —and, more importantly, how you describe them — admissions officers will better understand you and your character.
“If I hadn’t met with [Chi and Andres], I wouldn’t have known how much of a difference the way you describe your clubs can make,” Liam said. “I would have thought that was just easy — fill it out, whatever. But we had multiple sessions going over my club descriptions.”
Liam’s admissions results and the road ahead
After getting through his many applications, how did things turn out for Liam? “I ended up turning in 20 applications for schools.” Liam continued, “I got some of my safeties back. I got University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, one of the Rutgers campuses, Indiana University, and maybe something else, I got that back.”
Additionally, Liam earned acceptances from the University of Tennessee and one of the University of Wisconsin campuses. But where will he go?“I [applied to] Boston University, which is where I’ve ended up going, by Early Decision I,” he told us.
Applying Early Action or Early Decision is a big decision, so students should feel confident in their choice. Chi and Andres checked in with Liam to find out just how sure he was about attending BU. “I went into it probably 95 percent sure I wanted to, because I had already done some college visits myself … But we did do a session when we talked about list building and strategic planning,” Liam said.
What will Liam major in?
Currently, Liam is pursuing his interest in the sciences at Boston University. “Right now it’s biochemistry and molecular biology, but subject to change,” he said.
Fortunately, Boston University allows students to remain undecided until the beginning of junior year. So Liam will have plenty of time before making his choice. Most schools provide students with this option. So, take advantage of those first semesters to see what sparks your interest, like Liam is doing.
Liam’s advice to future applicants
“I would just say the number one thing I always tell people is that if you’re organized and you plan it out correctly, [college admissions is] not the stressful process that people make it out to be,” said Liam.
While applying to college involves a lot of moving parts, from essays to grades to extracurriculars, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Liam advises college applicants to manage their materials and approach the process with a clear head. Especially if you have several applications, you should start by making a schedule or timeline to keep yourself organized.
Liam touches on an important point: “If you have time management, and you divide your work, and if you go into it with a game plan, it’s really not all that difficult.”
Why CollegeAdvisor?
Through over sixty essays and guidance on college visits, Chi and Andres worked closely with Liam to help him succeed. “I really think [writing essays] was the part that differentiated myself,” Liam said, “and without them, there would have been no chance that I would have been able to figure that out myself.
As Liam mentioned earlier, college admissions doesn’t have to be overwhelming. CollegeAdvisor.com offers a wealth of free articles and webinars to inform prospective applicants on admissions. These resources empower you with the knowledge you need to craft a strong application, navigate financial aid, and think beyond college.
However, if you’re like Liam and think you need personalized guidance, reach out to our expert team! Our admissions experts include former admissions officers from top universities including the Ivy League. We work on what you need, from recommendation letters to essays to your activities list.
If you want to learn more, our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews speak for themselves. You can find our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews on our website, alongside our free resources. Check out some more Success Stories or look at the schools that have accepted our students.
This Client Success Story was based on an interview with Liam Clancy and written by Gina Goosby. Liam reached out to us for help on his college applications. If you are looking for assistance with your college applications and are interested in working with a CollegeAdvisor.com Admissions Expert, register with CollegeAdvisor.com today.