Overview: CollegeAdvisor.com Client Success Stories
In our CollegeAdvisor.com Client Success Stories, we feature CollegeAdvisor students who received our college application guidance and achieved their college dreams.
In this series, we’ll interview our students to learn more about the college application guidance they used as they began the college admissions process. We’ll hear how they used the CollegeAdvisor network to ace the college admissions process. We’ll look at how they used the college application guidance to prepare their personal statement and college list. Finally, we’ll share their college admission advice as they reflect on CollegeAdvisor.com’s college application guidance.
Our Success Stories and the positive feedback we receive in our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews highlights the impact of our work. Our mission is to empower students of all backgrounds to achieve their college dreams. The CollegeAdvisor.com reviews show our mission in action. We hope that our Success Stories motivate you as you begin your college admissions process, start your college lists, write your personal statement for college, and more.
Introducing Aamani Guarjada
For this installment of our Client Success Stories, we spoke to one of our dedicated CollegeAdvisor.com students: Aamani Guarjada. Aamani joined CollegeAdvisor.com for tips on how to write her personal statement for college. She also wanted one-on-one college application guidance from our network of experienced Advisors.
This article focuses on Aamani’s experiences with CollegeAdvisor.com as she navigated the college admissions process. It highlights the college admission advice and college application guidance that helped her the most. Especially as she completed her personal statement for college.
The college admissions process has become very competitive so Aamani knew she needed to get expert college admission advice as she began her journey.
College admission advice: What Aamani hoped to gain from her CollegeAdvisor experience?
Firstly, we asked Aamani what she hoped to gain from working with CollegeAdvisor. “I struggle with organization and staying on track,” Aamani explained, “and I needed a timeline and someone to guide me… someone that was credible and qualified, obviously.”
After doing some research, Aamani came across CollegeAdvisor. “I looked up college services and CollegeAdvisor was one of the highest-rated,” Aamani told us. “I was reading through the reviews and I thought, ‘This sounds really interesting.’”
The value of collaboration
As our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews show, our Advisors collaborate with students. Advisors share their college application guidance as students begin the college admissions process. We have a network of over 300+ former Admissions Officers and Admissions Experts, many of whom recently completed the college admissions process themselves.
“I saw that everyone in CollegeAdvisor [were] people that have been through this process recently,” Aamani said. “I [felt] like it had a lot of credibility to it, which is what motivated me to join.”
When Aamani joined CollegeAdvisor.com, we matched her with the perfect expert to fit her goals. Her advisor, Brian Seo, helped Aamani stay on track through the college admissions process. “He’s been so supportive,” Aamani says.
Following Brian’s expert college application guidance, Aamani used the college admission advice he provided to build a college list, create her personal statement for college, and refine her UC essays.
Getting to know Aamani: Academic Interests & Extracurriculars
So, that’s why Aamani chose CollegeAdvisor to help her with the college admissions process. We wanted to know more about Aamani’s background, including her academic interests and extracurriculars.
“I was born in Fremont, California,” Aamani shared, “and then we moved to India for the first 12 years of my life. I came back to the Bay Area for middle school and high school. So, I feel like that way, I had a very different outlook on life.”
In high school, Aamani discovered her passion for politics. “I was involved in congressional campaigns,” Aamani told us. “I love the law and I think it’s so interesting to see how everything’s based on one document.”
Aamani took classes in high school that connected her interest in politics with her congressional campaign experience. Through this, she found the sectors of politics that interested her. “Having worked on a congressional campaign, I think [the] part I am most interested in is social justice and immigration law, because I want to be able to make a tangible change,” Aamani said.
Unique extracurriculars
In addition, Aamani took part in athletics and extracurriculars in high school. “I got interested in women’s wrestling,” Aamani shared, “and so I started that high school girls’ team and continued that throughout high school. I was also so interested in politics, so we started the Junior State of America (JSA) club.”
Aamani and her Advisor, Brian, worked together to showcase Aamani’s academic and personal interests in her college applications and personal statement for college. With Brian’s college admission advice and college application guidance, Aamani was ready to tackle the college application process.
How CollegeAdvisor helped Aamani manage the stress of the college application process
Like many students, Aamani felt stressed about the college application process. “I think the most unexpected part for me was [hearing] ‘Oh, senior year is so easy, like you don’t have much to do.’ But first semester was absolutely the most stressful time in my life,” Aamani told us.
We asked Aamani to explain more about how stress affects her. “I definitely am the type of person to get stressed out about things. If I get super stressed out, I just avoid it and [don’t] do the work,” she said.
To help with her stress, Brian got to know Aamani in their first college admission advice session. “I think our first meeting was in December of my junior year,” Aamani reflected. “I felt like it was ample time for me and him to get to know each other well.”
Brian got to know more about Aamani and how stress impacts her work. This meant he could make a strategy to help her with the college admissions process. “Between December and I think summer of my junior year, we’d set up meetings every month or so, and he’d give me a little task to do, like come up with a résumé and then he’d refine it, or come up with an activities list, which I did end up using for my UC applications,” Aamani told us.
Establishing deadlines
Along with college application guidance and college admission advice, Brian set up deadlines to help Aamani achieve each part of the application process. He broke up the college application process into manageable steps. So she could focus on one task at a time.
Brian’s strategy worked. Aamani did one part of the college admissions process at a time, making the entire college admissions process much easier. “He’d just give me a little task to do so it wasn’t super overwhelming, and then we’d just go from there each time,” Aamani said.
“He was very flexible with his timeline and whenever I needed, he was there,” Aamani told us. “Having deadlines and having someone that held me accountable, and also would actually [give] me constructive feedback on my work was really beneficial for me,” Aamani shared.
Choosing a Personal Statement topic
Aamani and Brian now had a strategy for the college admissions process. It was time to concentrate on choosing a topic for Aamani’s personal statement for college. We asked Aamani to describe how the college application guidance she received helped her build her personal statement for college.
“We first came up with four or five different ideas,” Aamani stated, “but then [there was] one that both him and I were drawn to.”
Aamani knew how important it was to write a great college essay. She drew on her unique experiences as she chose her topic. “I think the topic itself came pretty easy to me,” Aamani told us.
“I knew I wanted to write about my background and growing up in a different country. And my grandma’s a huge part of that. So, the topic itself came easy to me. But refining it and making it sound more like a story rather than just like a school paper… was the most difficult part for me,” Aamani said.
Aamani worked with Brian to refine her personal statement for college. In the end, her personal statement for college reflected her distinct background and how it shaped her.
Personal statement final draft
We asked her to describe the final draft of her personal statement for college. “I grew up in India and then I was partially raised by my grandmother and then also my mother,” Aamani shared.
“My grandma [came] from an extremely conservative background, and my mom’s super open-minded [and] liberal. My whole essay was based around how the two main adult influences in my life, my mom and my grandma… how being raised by two different perspectives molded me to being a feminist for all women,” Aamani said.
With Brian’s college admission advice and college application guidance, Aamani completed her personal statement for college early in the summer. This gave her plenty of time to focus on the other essays and supplements she needed to write, including her UC essays.
“One really good thing was that I finished three out of four of my UC essays in the summer. And also my personal essay,” Aamani told us.
Once her UC essays and personal statement for college were complete, Aamani submitted her college applications.
Aamani’s admission results & the road ahead
The college admission advice and college application guidance we gave Aamani received as she completed her UC essays and personal statement for college paid off! Shewas excited to share her admission results and future college plans with us.
“So the first school I got into that was so exciting… literally the best moment of my life, was U-Mich,” Aamani said. “I loved Ann Arbor so much and my older brother goes there so he showed me around,” Aamani elaborated, “but I ended up not picking it because it’s too expensive.”
After University of Michigan – Ann Arbor sent their letter of acceptance, Aamani received the rest of her admission results. “I ended up getting into University of Washington, UIUC, Purdue [University], and then the UCs came,” Aamani said.
“I got rejected from UCLA flat out,” Aamani shared, “then I got into [UC] Berkeley… and then I got into NYU also.”
Accepted to two top choice schools
UC Berkeley and NYU were Aamani’s top two choices. We asked her to describe what factors helped her choose the right college.
“I want to go into the legal field [and] study pre-law in undergrad,” Aamani told us. “Berkeley’s graded, I think one of the top schools for that. So that was definitely a deciding factor. And I’m also an in-state student, so [Berkeley] is less than half the cost of NYU. Ultimately, the price is what made me pick Berkeley, but I also love the super liberal atmosphere at Berkeley,” Aamani said.
Aamani elaborated, “They’re always at the forefront of every single protest… just [this] past weekend they were having everyone come out and protest the Supreme Court, Roe V. Wade, trying not to overturn it. So that’s what I’m passionate about,” Aamani explained. “Being at a school that has [that] environment, it just makes me feel excited!”
Our college application guidance and college admission advice helped Aamani stand out from other applicants and get into UC Berkeley.
What is Aamani most looking forward to at UC Berkeley?
Using her advisor’s college admission advice and college application guidance, Aamani committed to attending UC Berkeley this fall. Now that her UC essays and personal statement for college are behind her, we asked Aamani what she’s most looking forward to at UC Berkeley.
“I definitely want to be involved in student government, or some sort of activism type of clubs,” Aamani told us, “but then also professional organizations that [will help] me get into law school.”
Because of her interest in politics, Aamani will be following Berkeley’s Pre-law pathway. “It has a pre-law track,” Aamani said, “but you still have to declare majors. So currently I’m thinking of [pursuing the] political economy major. Since the pre-recs for both are similar, it’s like one major, and I love econ. I’m super invested in it, but I also love poli sci. And then I’m going to be minoring in applied math.”
Aamani’s advice for high school students applying to college
With her UC essays and personal statement behind her, we asked Aamani to reflect on the college admissions process. Which college admission advice and college application guidance helped her the most? Here’s her advice for high school students that are about to embark on the college admissions process.
“Start early,” Aamani says. “Because when you get stressed out in a time crunch, I don’t think the results that you get are the best ones that you possibly could, and you literally have one shot at it. So, I think you should make the best of it.”
Most students start looking for college admission advice and college application guidance after their senior year has already started. Aamani thinks that the earlier you can get college application guidance and college admission advice, the better.
“The summer before senior year is definitely an important time to invest into working on it,” Aamani recommended.
Aamani has more advice for students writing their personal statement for college or their UC essays. “Write about stuff [that’s important to you]. Otherwise your passion doesn’t come through and it just sounds repetitive.”
Additionally, showcase what makes you unique in your UC essays or personal statement for college. “Showing your personality through your essays is important,” Aamani told us. “If you have a way with words… capitalize on that.”
The college admissions process is more competitive than ever. Therefore, seek out college admission advice and college application guidance to make your application stand out. One way to boost your application is through recommendation letters. Alternatively, highlight your interests and goals through your extracurricular activities.
Final Thoughts – Why CollegeAdvisor?
“Honestly, it was amazing,” Aamani said. “[My Advisor] always went out of his way to help me out… like he would go above and beyond.”
If you’re wondering how to get into UC Berkeley or any other top school, we’ve got you covered. When you register with CollegeAdvisor.com, you will receive personalized college application guidance on every aspect of the college admissions process. This includes college admission advice, tips on how to write your personal statement for college, and so much more.
Wondering if CollegeAdvisor.com is right for you? Our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews speak for themselves. As our CollegeAdvisor.com reviews show, our students benefit from personalized college application guidance. As a result, Ivy League and Top 50 colleges and universities regularly accept CollegeAdvisor students. To read more CollegeAdvisor.com reviews from previous clients, please visit our website.
This Client Success Story was written by Claire Babbs, and based on an interview with Aamani Guarjada. Aamani reached out to us for college essay tips for her Common App essay and to get one-on-one help building her college list. If you are also looking for assistance with your college applications and are interested in working with a CollegeAdvisor.com Admissions Expert, register with CollegeAdvisor.com today.
