Overview: AIɫɫAdvisor.com Client Success Stories
Have you been curious about AIɫɫAdvisor’s services, but weren’t sure what to expect? Our Client Success Stories help families understand the kind of support AIɫɫAdvisor provides by detailing a single student’s experience.
We’ll go through the whole admissions journey for one student, detailing the ways in which AIɫɫAdvisor helped support them from beginning to end. We’ll cover the challenges they faced, and their advice for students just starting their own college admissions journey.
In this edition of our Client Success Stories, we spoke with future engineer Elizabeth. Keep reading to learn how she earned an acceptance to !
Meet Elizabeth
Elizabeth joined AIɫɫAdvisor in the spring of her junior year. By that point, she had already built up an impressive amount of extracurricular activities. Growing up right outside of Philadelphia, Elizabeth was the captain of her school’s tennis team, captain of her debate club, and worked through her church to help tutor younger students.
While Elizabeth made sure her resume and experiences were well-rounded, science has always been a passion of hers. “I’ve always really been interested in environmentalism and sustainability,” she told us. “I used to wanna be an environmental lawyer… Then I took physics last year for the first time and I kind of had a light bulb moment of wait, why would I do environmental law if I don’t like writing and if I really, really like physics?” This realization eventually led her to her future major: engineering.
With a clear understanding of her interests and what she wanted to study in college, Elizabeth was ready to jump headfirst into the application process.
How did Elizabeth feel going into the college admissions process?
After watching her older sister apply to college, Elizabeth and her parents decided they wanted a bit more support this time around. “Even though we had already done it with my sister, they felt like maybe there would’ve been some strategy or some things that would’ve been better,” Elizabeth told us. “[My sister] loves where she’s at, but she didn’t have a lot of options at the end.”
Although she was still narrowing down her options, Elizabeth knew she wanted a college with a strong STEM focus. “I definitely wanted a school that would prioritize the sciences and have a lot of opportunity for research and internships and job opportunities,” she explained.
Just as importantly, Elizabeth hoped to find a community of students who shared her enthusiasm for science. “A lot of my friends are doing humanities, which of course is great, but I guess I don’t really have too many people to talk to who love science just as much as I do. So I definitely wanted that out of a college experience.”
Elizabeth had already done the hard work — she had gotten involved in extracurricular activities early, built up her leadership skills, and had figured out what she wanted to study. The next step was to get acquainted with her advisor, , and get started on her college application journey.
Getting Started with AIɫɫAdvisor
Starting the spring of her junior year left Elizabeth plenty of time to figure out her college list and start working on her essays. Her first few meetings with Alyssa were focused on getting to know each other, and building her college list.
Even though Alyssa did not have a STEM background, she was still able to help Elizabeth navigate her options. When talking about Alyssa, Elizabeth said, “At first, I was kind of confused at how the fit was made, but she was so sweet and I feel like we were both really able to communicate with each other… Personality wise, it was a great fit.”
Alyssa’s humanities background helped Elizabeth consider other perspectives. She said, “Sometimes I was super into like, ‘Oh, what school has this tech program,’ and she would offer a different perspective, which was really helpful.”
Deciding Which Schools to Apply To
Elizabeth’s work with Alyssa picked up in May of her junior year. Their first task was deciding which schools to apply to. According to Elizabeth, this was the hardest part of the process.
Here’s how Elizabeth described it: “I just looked up the top engineering schools and made a list that way. Then [Alyssa] would suggest some other big state schools that she knew about. And then it’s also just good to sit with them for a while and think, ‘Okay, am I applying to these 15 schools? Would I really go there?’”
Starting early was a huge benefit to Elizabeth, giving her the time and space to deeply consider each school. She said, “It [was] kind of trial and error as I would look up the schools.” Still, Elizabeth always had her top criteria in mind. “The biggest thing I was looking for was its size and its engineering program ranking.”
Elizabeth ended up applying to 17 different schools, casting a wide net and ensuring she was going to have options. With so many schools to juggle, Alyssa’s help became even more important!
Tackling Supplemental Essays
Writing all the different supplemental essays was a daunting task, but Elizabeth was up for the challenge. The first step was researching each of her schools. “That was the most time consuming,” Elizabeth told us, “researching the school itself and getting all that specific information. For 17 different schools, I had to have two or three niche things for each that I would write about in a supplemental. And then finding a niche way to show my interest for it that wasn’t just, ‘Oh, I like the campus’ or something silly like that.”
Fusing her passion for the environment and engineering, Elizabeth described the unique approach she took to her supplemental essays. “Because I want to do environmental engineering, I was looking into how sustainable the school itself was….kind of saying, I’m interested in your school because not only will it allow me to learn about environmental sustainability, but it’s also an example of it, and I can trust that the morals of the school are fit with my own morals and my interests.”
Although the research process took time, Elizabeth’s approach helped her feel confident about the schools on her list. She also emphasized how helpful it was to start early, since it gave her plenty of time to brainstorm and draft her essays.
Getting Feedback from the Essay Review Team
The Essay Review Team helped Elizabeth refine and polish all of her essays, ensuring she got multiple perspectives and a diverse range of feedback. Elizabeth said, “I really feel like they saw what I was writing, understood my message, and then gave me suggestions about how to make it better.”
Elizabeth appreciated that the Essay Review Team gave clear feedback, with specific examples on how to improve her essays. She said, “I didn’t feel like they were just giving me tedious fixes to make that I didn’t know how to approach…. They would tell me, ‘Oh, I don’t think this idea is so clear,’ but they were always giving me suggestions.”
The Essay Review Team allowed Elizabeth to retain her unique writing style and voice while helping her ideas stand out. When talking about the feedback, Elizabeth said, “It was keeping my voice, but just enhancing it, making it clear, more cohesive. But they weren’t ever writing it for me.”
Additionally, by having multiple members of the team review her essays, Elizabeth felt like she got well-rounded feedback from different perspectives. Each review gave her new insights into her writing style and new ideas on how to improve, helping Elizabeth hone and perfect all of her essays.
The quick turnaround time for feedback helped Elizabeth stay on pace with her essays, and with 17 schools on her list, she had no time to waste. Despite the workload, Elizabeth found herself way ahead of her peers by the end of the summer. “Everybody at school was kind of freaking out when the deadlines came up,” she said. “It was nice to just get it done without the pressure of a deadline.”
What was Elizabeth’s favorite part about working with AIɫɫAdvisor?
Elizabeth appreciated how responsive and available her advisor was. Elizabeth said this about Alyssa: “She was just so easy to reach… I would text her and she would respond to me in two seconds. And she’s always very supportive about my questions…she never made me feel silly for asking kind of silly things.”
Alyssa also helped keep Elizabeth on track with her essay writing and application work. Elizabeth noted, “Alyssa had made me a schedule, breaking up the weeks of the summer… That was really helpful to just see it all on a piece of paper and have it all mapped out.”
With all of her work complete before senior year started, Elizabeth saved herself a lot of stress. She said, “So many people, they don’t realize how much work they actually have to do. So it was nice that I had a sense of it, but I was also able to stay on track and even get ahead.”
Alyssa supported Elizabeth in managing all the work that came with the application process. So, when Elizabeth started to get decisions in, she had more than a few acceptances to choose from!
Elizabeth’s Admissions Results and the Road Ahead
After applying to 17 schools, Elizabeth faced a hard decision. She was fortunate enough to not receive any outright rejections, but was initially deferred from her first choice, Georgia Tech.
The first acceptance she was excited to receive was from Purdue. Elizabeth said, “I really, really loved Purdue…I knew that it had such a high engineering ranking, so that gave me a lot of confidence that, you know, I could get into other schools that also have high engineering rankings.”
After her acceptance to Purdue, Elizabeth received acceptances from Virginia Tech, University of Washington Seattle, Tufts, BU and George Washington — just to name a few! While she waited to hear from Georgia Tech, Elizabeth knew she had great options no matter the final outcome. She said, “I had so many good options and I had visited so many places that I was like, you know, no matter what happens, I’ll be happy.”
Still, Elizabeth stayed proactive throughout the process, even submitting a letter of continued interest to Georgia Tech. In the letter, she highlighted the ways she had remained involved during her senior year. “I wrote about continuing some of the extracurriculars that I’d already done, kind of just showing that I hadn’t, you know, slacked off as a senior. I was still leading my debate team, participating in competitions, things like that.”
Elizabeth ultimately received an acceptance from Georgia Tech, the same week she was visiting the University of Washington Seattle with a friend. While she was excited to get into her top-choice school, Elizabeth still wanted to stay flexible as she weighed her options. She told herself, “I should just keep an open mind, and not, you know, lock myself too hard into it in case I really, really like University of Washington.”
However, Elizabeth knew that Georgia Tech would be hard to beat. She said “It would’ve been such a hard decision to pick between Purdue and Virginia Tech and University of Maryland…in my mind, they were all equal about how great they were, and then Georgia Tech was all the way up here.”
Georgia Tech offered Elizabeth a prestigious engineering program and the type of college campus she was interested in. She said, “I definitely want a more urban campus and to be able to have the college experience, but also to be able to explore a new place and engage in the Atlanta culture and it has good sports, a good balance.”
In reflecting on her decision, Elizabeth knew that Georgia Tech was the right choice, saying, “For a year it’d been my dream school, and I told people that’s where I want to go. So it felt like I owed it to myself to do what I always wanted.”
Elizabeth’s Advice for Future Applicants
So, what does Elizabeth recommend for future applicants? “Start right now,” she said. “If you’re a sophomore, start looking at schools. I’ve been telling that to some people and they get kind of stressed out by that. But it made it so much less stressful that I was thinking about it already.”
Starting early gave her an advantage over peers who procrastinated on applications and school research. By the time application season arrived, Elizabeth already had a clear vision of the schools she was interested in, which allowed her to focus on the applications themselves.
Elizabeth further emphasized her point, saying “This is something you don’t wanna procrastinate. You don’t want to regret giving yourself too little time, so start early. That doesn’t have to be a stressful thing… Get it done early so that you can enjoy senior year.”
She also emphasized the importance of applying as your authentic self. “Just be confident in what you’ve done at the time that you’re applying to these schools. You can’t really change much about yourself or your extracurriculars. I know…some people beef up the classes they’re taking and their extracurriculars. But for me, I’d done all that already, so it was just how do I present myself in a way that will stand out?”
Elizabeth worked hard throughout high school so she could focus entirely on her college applications. Starting early helped Elizabeth feel confident in her accomplishments, and allowed her to work with Alyssa on the best way to reflect her experience on her applications.
Why AIɫɫAdvisor?
As Elizabeth reflected on her experience with AIɫɫAdvisor, she noted the benefit of having a personal advisor dedicated to helping her throughout the entire process. Elizabeth said, “It was really nice to have somebody by my side… I do credit a lot of my success to having somebody to walk me through it.”
With Elizabeth’s accomplishments and focus, she knows that her college application journey would have been successful either way. However, she appreciated having the support she received from Alyssa and the Essay Review Team. Having a team behind her helped minimize her stress because she knew she had resources to rely on when things got hectic.
Elizabeth said, “I would definitely recommend [AIɫɫAdvisor] to people who are just stressed out about the whole process, who want somebody to talk to, who want somebody to keep them accountable.”
Having a team in her corner allowed Elizabeth to focus on what was important — finishing her applications and enjoying her senior year. Congratulations to Elizabeth on such an impressive application journey. We wish her luck at Georgia Tech next year!
This article was written by Jessica Klein. Looking for more admissions support? Click 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 can support you in the college application process.
