Maximize Your Child’s Potential and earn Scholarships

Hey Shellee, so you've, you've spent nearly 2 decades helping students secure coveted spots at top-tier universities, including Ivy League. Could you start by sharing a bit of your personal journey with folks and, and how your own experience guiding your child to Harvard debt-free shaped the philosophy behind your practice?

I would love to share. So my story actually starts when my oldest was planning to just get into high school. So he came home one day in 8th grade, said, Mom, I know exactly what I want to do and exactly where I want to go to college. And I'm like, wow, what happened at school today? He said, a high school counselor came in and asked us to pick classes, and I told her I wanted to be a brain surgeon. Could she help me? And she said No. And so now I'm asking you, can you help me? And I said, absolutely, right? What every parent would say to their child. And that's actually what started this whole journey of College Ready. When that firstborn asked for my help, I knew it was going to be a big task. So I took him to his high school counselor and I said, now you tell her What you told me, because I don't want to be that parent. And he very quickly said, I want to be a brain surgeon. I want to go to a top-tier college. She looked at him and said, why would you waste your time or money doing that? They don't make money anymore. And the look on his face was just pure disappointment, like bursting his bubble. So on our way out, He looked at me and says, "Now what, Mom?" And that's when this whole college journey really started because I knew it was going to have to be me doing it with him. So I went back to school and I got my Certified Independent College Consulting degree from UC San Diego, and I started touring 25 colleges a semester, built 33 spreadsheets And for 4 years, I reversed engineered his dream of getting into an Ivy League college and doing it without debt. Fast forward, when he was a high school senior, he's giving the salutatorian speech and a young man next to me, he says, "Dude!" I'm like, "Wow!" And he says, "I didn't even know that kid was smart." And that's when I realized that the strategy we had built was beautiful because He wasn't a stressed-out teenager. My son really enjoyed high school and got into 7 top-tier colleges, got a full ride to USC, and Harvard matched it. And that is how this whole journey got started.

Wow, wow, wow, wow. You know, your approach really goes beyond standard college counseling, right? You can really emphasize It's not just about excellent grades or test scores. So I want you to explain for folks why you believe identifying a student's unique strengths and aligning those with a well-defined leadership program and a passion project is really the critical differentiator for students standing out, especially in Ivy League admissions.

So college is so different. Even if you did get a degree, as a parent here in the United States, it is nothing like it used to be. I will tell you, most of us probably would not have gotten into the college we did attend. So why is that important? Because colleges are looking for so much more than just a GPA and a test score and an essay, which is probably what most of us had to do. The challenge with all of that is how will they stand out? The other challenge is for the very first time in a child's life, they're being asked to figure out their whole future, and they're only 14, 15, 16, 17, and colleges say, we want to know what major, we want to know your positioning, we want to know who you are, what matters to you, how you're going to stand out, how you're going to come and lead, and they're just teenagers. And at the high school level, Nobody is working on any of that. So our approach is very unique in the fact that we start with the student. Most people think, let's start with the university, but that doesn't work anymore. Now you have to start with the student and help them learn who they are, what matters, who they advocate for, and their core values. Most teenagers do not know how to articulate any of that. So now we're asking them to pick a major, pick a career, and do that all by the time they're 18. Unfortunately, they are not ready to do that. So we start with the student, then we help to pick the process. What does that look like? It could be, uh, the assessments that they take. It could be the one-to-one time they spend in building their Passion with Purpose project. It could be interviewing and preparing for essay. So all of this is really what it takes to get into college now. It is so much more competitive and expensive that these kids have to have a longer runway. And that is why we now start with students at a younger age in middle and early high school.

Wow. So in an environment where thousands of applicants present near-perfect GPAs, and test scores, what kind of intangible qualities like the leadership and passion are top-tier admissions officers really truly looking for? And why do you think it's become so critical?

So there are many types of leadership, and so I should start there, right? There's the quiet leaders, there are the presidents of the university, and there's everything in between. I'll give you an example of what my son's leadership look like so you can see what a top-tier leadership opportunity would be. So his freshman year, he was freshman class president, sophomore class vice president, junior class president, then he was ASB president. All of this at a large public university. That's an example of a leadership path. Not only that, he took it to another level and he was part of an organization that, uh, worked with student leaders, and he was part of that group. So he took leadership to the highest level. Then he started Passion with Purpose Project, and he led other students to create change. Again, more leadership. Why is this important? Because colleges are looking for students to come and lead others to create change. They're not looking for a student to come take an education and leave. They— that would not help them market their school for the next generation. So colleges are looking for students to be leaders. It could be first chair in music, it could be captain of a, a sport, it could be, uh, lead on a— in a school play. It doesn't have to be one way. It's just how will your child lead And how will they know how to do that? They have to start practicing this while they're in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade in order to be ready to stand up and lead in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. Colleges are looking for leaders, the next Nobel Prize winner, whatever that looks like. So it's important that your child figure out how they will show colleges that they can lead, they can work in groups, they can collaborate and make an impact.

I know you do— you offer leadership certificates as part of your program. Can you talk a little bit about how the structured leadership development translates into a more compelling application, but also maybe break down how a student evolves from that participant into a leader capable of catching that admissions officer's eyes?

For sure. And this is the biggest struggle for teenagers. Honestly, every time I meet with a family, this is their weakest link. And that is because if a parent says, "Why don't you?" the student hears, "Want, want, want." And it is really frustrating for the parent who has all these great ideas. I was, I am a parent of 4. I thought I had pretty amazing ideas. And only my firstborn really listened to my ideas. So when I work with students, the first thing we help them understand is what are you passionate about? What is that thing that you're going to advocate for? How will you lead others to create change? And they're like, I don't know. So we have to help them understand how to lead. With that, we offer National Leadership Certifications. So we're teaching them how to lead, we're teaching them how to interview, how public speak, how to have a conversation, how to handle diversity and equality. All of these are taught. They're not stuff they come with. And so in our program, we believe in order for them to be successful in college and in life, they need to learn these leadership skills. How we do that is during our one-to-one conversations in our Passion with Purpose international organizations and working with us to help them uplevel their leadership opportunities.

So a passion project's not like a club or membership, right? So from what I'm hearing, it's a tangible demonstration of initiative, creativity, and commitment. So can you walk us through how a student identifies, launches, and nurtures a meaningful passion project? That, like, reflects their deepest interests and why that matters to, like, Ivy League schools?

Well, first I will say it matters to all schools because that is going to be the differentiator. That essay will show them compassion, tenacity, determination, focus, leadership, all of the things that every university is looking for. So the Ivy just takes it to a whole nother level. What most students do before they meet me is they check boxes. Okay, I fed the homeless, check the box. Okay, I tutored, check the box. There's not one college admissions reader who's going to go, wow, they tutored, because every one of our students at some point has tutored or helped another child. What they're looking for is to learn about the student, the child, through demonstration. So how to do it? Well, the first thing we do is we help the student figure out what are they passionate about. And honest to goodness, most of them don't know. Most of them will shrug their shoulders, or they'll say, you know, I like my phone, I like gaming, I like my computer, I like my friends, I like going to the beach. But None of those are going to impress colleges. So what we have to help them do is we bring it out of them one-to-one and with assessments. As part of my graduate work, I built a program called the College Match, which really is helping a student figure out, do I like big schools, small schools, East Coast, West Coast? What am I going to do when I get there? Well, we start now, and that way when they're applying for the, the application, it's a simple essay that needs to be written. So step 1, identify the passion. Step 2, what do they advocate with or, or for, right? In other words, I love this, I want this to stop. Then we start to brainstorm how can you use your passion and change and impact other people's lives for the better. Why do we do this? Because students, they don't like to fail. This generation is— they don't want anything to do with failure. When they're serving another person, they're not worried about failing. They're just helping. So it takes away that element of I can't, I don't know how, I don't want to mess up. And so we brainstorm. What do you want to do? An example of this, I could go on and on, and hopefully we'll get into that. The most important piece that I can share is it has to be student-led. Every time a parent, well-meaning as we are, says, "What about this and this and this and this?" If a student is not passionate about it, They can't write an essay about, my mom said to do this, or my dad said to do this. They have to have a really good reason of why they're leaning in and serving and looking to impact these other people. So it really has to come from within, and it's not easy, but it is possible.

What a great point that this generation does not want to fail. I see that, I see it with my own kids, and I see that all the time. Before we get into some real-world examples, some like case studies, can you talk a little bit about the synergy between, um, these two? So you've emphasized having both leadership, uh, experience and a sustained passion project that create— I think it creates a unique synergy. So how do those two elements reinforce each other in a student's profile? And then how do you integrate that into a story that elevates them above the other qualified applicants?

That's where CollegeReady stands out because what we have found, and it all started when my son was going through this process, what we have found is when a student is crystal clear who they are, what matters to them, how people see them, how they're going to impact the world, their confidence raises. So that's number 1. Number 2, is they can speak eloquently about an experience and what that felt like and how it was impactful. They can talk about their tenacity, their determination when a student let them down, how they handled it. So now they have real-world positioning, and that positioning is critical because I can share with a family the positioning for any school in the world. And the positioning for Harvard and UCLA, very different, right? Public, private, very different. So knowing what is the dream school and then setting up the student's positioning is going to be so critical because now a student doesn't have to just check off boxes. Their essay is going to tie it all together their proof of concept, proof of experience, proof of determination, proof of leadership, there's no longer any question that the student walks that talk of what the university is looking for. So without having to say exactly what they— the university wants them to say, they are proving it time and time again through their positioning and their standout strategy.

So let's, let's talk a little bit about some of the students you've worked with, um, students that maybe took a passion for community service or for science or what have you and, and, you know, went through your program obviously and then built it into a standout leadership-driven project. And then like maybe talk a little bit about how that transformed their college admissions.

Well, it's been game-changing. I will tell you, we are, we're 100% successful When students figure this out, not only does it help them to be more confident, it really helps them to articulate. And when they are able to do that, that's what helps them stand out. Let me give you an example. So I have a student, and her passion was for fashion. And her parents were like, there is no way I'm paying for a college degree to do fashion. And so we had to think about how can she use her love of fashion to also— her dream was to be a business major. And so she had the opportunity to see some pictures of when her older brother did a missions trip. And she was devastated that these little girls, especially the boys too, but the little girls were dressed in tattered, dirty clothes with no shoes on and just really nothing of their own. She was fired up and she's like, Shellee, I want to do something, I want to impact. And we started brainstorming, we really started figuring out how do we show you want to go into business, how do we show that you have a passion and a heart for these children. Long story short, she taught herself how to sew, she got a group of friends together, and they learned how to sew. Every Friday night for as long as I can remember, they got together, enjoyed pizza, enjoyed music, and took old or gently used pillowcases and turned them into pretty little dresses. The next thing that was so difficult for her to figure out is how do we get them to these people in third world countries? So they started brainstorming, and one young lady in the group says, I know a doctor who goes all all over the world and does Doctors Without Borders. Let's see if we can get the dresses that are very light into their suitcases. So they connected with Doctors Without Borders, had their dresses sent all over the world, photographed by that doctor, and videotaped. So they got to see in real time how they impacted these children. The idea is giving these young children, these little girls, their first thing that they own, which will give them confidence and independence and the belief that they too can do something powerful. That's an example of a passion project that got this young lady into a top-tier nursing program because it showed her, her, you know, her capacity for empathy and determination and leaning into serving other people. It was an easy connection— nurse and service— and is how we are able to help students stand out.

That's a great— that's, that's amazing. So admission officers, they read, I guess, countless essays and resumes, right? So talk to me about, uh, what your recommendations are to help have students turn their leadership growth and the passion project journey into a cohesive narrative that feels authentic, memorable, rather than just like a bullet-pointed application?

Absolutely. So this is another challenge for teenagers because as parents, we teach them, don't brag, don't boast, people don't like it. And now I have to unteach that and teach them, you have to brag, You have to boast. You have to sell yourself. You have to sell the best version of yourself, or they're going to just turn your application over. Because you have to think, they have between 4 and 6 minutes to read your entire application and read your essay. So if it is not set out in the— set up in the right way, there will be a huge disconnect. Let me explain. On the Common App, there are— there's a place on the application for 10 activities, honors, and awards. On the University of California application, there are 20. That means that a student has to list all of these activities, honors, and awards. Well, a student being a teenager will just, like they would text to somebody, "I did this and this and this and this and this," and then they turn it in. That is disaster because the reader may only get to the top 1, 2, or 3 and think, "They have not impressed me." So, we have to help that student articulate and help the reader understand what they've done. Now, we're not making anything up. It's truly ethical and it's done. But what happens is a teenager may say, I'm part of National Honor Society. At some schools, that's a pizza party. At other schools, it's a rigorous competitive organization. So if your teenager just puts, I'm part of National Honor Society, it's not going to wow anybody. But if they say, I was chosen 1 out of 280 students by interview panel selection with a resume and an essay, and now I am leading that as club president. That's the difference. So the reason why we're doing all this is not only to help the student grow, mature, become a great citizen, it's to help them to understand we need to polish and rank what colleges are going to be impressed with. I've had students who put Eagle Scout as number 20. Eagle Scout is not a number 20. Eagle Scout's a top 3. And that is a perfect example of leaving this process up to your teenager.

Makes a lot of sense. So when crafting a passion project, I know you share with some families worry that their child isn't passionate about anything like big, big enough, right? Big enough. So how, how do you guide students to identify a cause that's both genuinely meaningful for them, but also strategically appealing in the eyes of the selection colleges?

And it doesn't come easy. So if everybody is like, I'm super frustrated, I've tried, you're going to have to keep trying. This is really when tenacity comes in. A student, if this was easy, they would do it. This is a really difficult thing for them to do. How we're able to do it is we have custom-built 10 teenage assessments, which means we've gamified the assessments, which means they're actually going to do the assessments, and then we meet with them and we talk about what the assessment showed us. In other words, are they really good? With math and science and technology? Are they really good in reading, writing, and liberal arts? What kind of career would be a good fit for that? What kind of major would get you to that career? And would that student be successful? So when we're talking about putting the project together and, and putting all of the, the timeline together, the first thing we have to figure out is helping that student understand what they want to do. So it goes back to the student and they're going to shrug. So as soon as we can get them to their top 3 majors, their top 3 careers, their top 3 passions, top 3 things they advocate for, it all comes smooth. Then we brainstorm. Can you use this to alleviate this? Then we're able to take them to the next level. Then we help them create their own mission statement. Who will they help? How will they do it? When will they do it? How many people will it affect? What is the timeline? And their eyes are getting bigger and bigger because they have no idea. That is how we guide them to understand, because a student will say, um, I want to let people know about mental illness. That's a very big topic right now. That is vague and ambiguous. How are you going to explain that to a university? So we help the child understand we need specific and measurable goals, and that's where they get scared because they don't want to fail. That's why I have to help them. Even in the failure, the story is impressive to a university. So it really comes down to helping one-to-one create this identity and this passion to get them to that purpose.

And I know you mentioned somebody taking a trip overseas and doing some work in, in other, like, third world country. Can you talk a little bit about that experience too?

Absolutely. So my firstborn, actually, um, him and I went to Kenya, Africa the summer before his senior year because he was lacking in community service. And I knew if he wanted to be a doctor, that was going to be a big part of his positioning and his profile. What was hard is he was a scholar athlete and very busy. And so sometimes, do you have more time? Do you have more money? What is it going to be? For him, he said, Mom, I can give you 2 weeks. That's it. That's all I've got. And so we needed to make it impactful. We needed to prove that he had the heart of a doctor. We needed to prove that he wanted to serve his community. So once you identify what it is that that child wants, then you can identify how do you prove that that's what they want. So when we went to, um, Kenya, what he learned is he thought he was going to serve another human. He actually learned so much about himself. He learned that he likes little people, not elderly people. And nothing bad about that, that they just weren't his people. And what he learned is he liked one-to-one, not one-to-many. And all of a sudden, he started to be able to articulate who he was and what mattered to him. So it wasn't about as much of going to a third world country as much as it was for him figuring out about himself. Now, since then, I put together multiple programs inside of College Ready where a student can work on an international program without ever leaving the comfort of their own home. COVID did a great job of helping us navigate that. So over this past year, I took 5 suitcases and, um, I believe it was about $18,000 US, and we went over to Uganda. We built them a soccer field, we built them a basketball field, 2 classrooms, fed the children, all from this individual, um, who started this passion project. He couldn't go there because he couldn't get the yellow fever shot. I delivered it for him and videotaped the entire thing, tears rolling down his eyes when he saw the impact in which he made.

Wow, amazing that you'd be able to figure that out. So I guess it's just, this is a very good example where if parents are thinking, oh my God, my kids aren't really sleeping right now, how are they gonna be able to do a passion project? You just demonstrated that. How else can they streamline this and get it into their plans for their students?

So there's two challenges here. One, you have to have a child who really will listen to you. Like I mentioned before, child number one did, 2, 3, and 4, not so much. So I had to pay somebody else to tell them what I needed to tell them. So if you can cross that barrier as the parent and the child's going to listen, the next thing that, that is the challenge is helping them understand what do they want to do. That's it. And getting them started. Getting it done is the hardest part. The idea— they're huge advocates. I love this generation. They are passionate and they want to change lives. Motivating them to get it done is the challenging part. What we do is we're right there with them. I meet with our students every week for an hour online, listening to what they want, helping them understand what is the next step. If you're a busy working parent and you don't have a lot of desire or time for community service, This could be a really difficult project. This happens to be my passion, and my purpose is to inspire teenagers to serve, um, other human beings. So for me, I can talk about it all day long, and that's why our passion projects have been written up in newspapers and in magazines and actually in books. So it really comes down to, do you have the time, energy, and desire to do this with your child because I've not met a 17-year-old yet who's navigated this on their own well.

You said something very important. Sometimes it takes a third party to really reinforce that with, with your teens. So that's amazing. So switching gears a little bit, so I know there's a lot of myths around admissions, you know, such as only perfect students get into top schools. How do leadership experiences and the passion projects help dispel these myths and really show that authenticity, the ingenuity of the student outweigh maybe not a flawless, you know, one-dimensional profile.

So it's important to think through the entire process when it comes to putting all the pieces together, but let's talk about the myths because that, that's probably the first thing we should get rid of. Myth number 1 is you have to have an amazingly brilliant student to get into an Ivy. That is truly not the case. My son didn't have a perfect GPA. He didn't have a perfect test score. He didn't have perfect service hours. In other words, he wasn't perfect, but what he was is he was the perfect example of the student they wanted at their university in a pre-med major, right? So it comes down to how do you help your student be the best version of themself. So the myth, right, is only brilliant students get in. That's truly not the case. The second myth is our family can't afford college. There are 11 colleges that are tuition-free. So that, that myth of throwing up my hands, we just can't afford it, that is not the case. As I mentioned, My son was able to get multiple. Our students just last year got $9.2 million on top of need-based. So the myths go on and on. If you Google it, there's over a million different topics that you can read about regards to college planning, and a good portion of them are— have no right being online. So just be very careful when you go to Google this because you can end up on a completely wrong path. The, the next and most important myth is my child is getting all this done at high school. Unfortunately, if you have a student who is a good student, the high school counselor is like, yes, they're good, I don't need to spend time with them. I need to help the kids who are struggling, the ones who are not showing up to school, I need to help them, or the ones who are having mental illness or all of that. So it is counterintuitive. It wasn't until COVID that parents realized that the high school is not doing this work. So understanding then who's going to do it— your 16 or 17-year-old, they have no idea how to do this. What it looks like to a parent is procrastination. What's really happening is they're deer in headlights and they have no idea how to get started. Think of it as yourself. Would you know how to get started even as an adult? That's the challenge that you're faced with. So those myths of your child is going to have all this done for them and they can do it on their own. And then the final one is, I think my child should prove themself to be able to do this on their own. The problem is they're going to pick a school based on a football team or a basketball team. And now all of a sudden you're paying for a very cool social 4 years. So it's very hard for a student to understand what $300,000 in debt feels like. They have no concept of what $100,000 or $1,000 feels like. So understanding these are all things that you have to realize, and now it's up to you to decide, will you do it? Will you and your child do it, or will you get outside support to do it?

That's great. So, I mean, your track record includes securing over $23 million in scholarships for families. So talk a little bit about how developing the leadership and the passion-driven projects not only— we've talked about it being improving their odds, but also positions a student more for substantial scholarships and financial aid packages?

So there's many ways you can get scholarships. I'll put them in buckets. There's the merit bucket of, you know, your student's a great student, colleges want them, they're going to pay for them. College is a business. Then there is the need-based. We don't have enough money to send our child there. Not the middle class. That's a whole nother thing. So they're not need., right? And then there is what we call independent. So that's going to be your Nordstrom's, your Coca-Cola. Those are going to be some big, uh, $25,000 or more scholarships. But most students don't realize you have to start applying the junior year, not the senior year. So they miss out on all of those just for lack of knowledge. Then you get into the final bucket, which is the, the local. So it's your Rotary Club, it's your work, it's your PTA. So here's all of this money, but you have to prove that you're worthy. How do you prove that? You prove that with a high test score. You prove that with a high GPA. You, you prove that with, I serve my community and therefore I am deserving. You do that through proving leadership. Or athletics. They just don't give money away to give it away. Your child has to earn it, and the way they earn that is through service, leadership, standing out, athletics. All of that equals the big money, and that is how we're, we're able to get our students all of that money on top of need-based.

Amazing. That leads to potentially debt-free education as well. That's amazing. So, I mean, timing can be everything. At what point in a student's high school career should they begin shaping their leadership profile, initiating a passion project? And then the second of that is, is like, how does starting early optimize their, their college list and multiply scholarship opportunities?

And that's, that's a couple of different things, right? Getting in is one thing. Right? There's the challenge when I talk to families because I help them with their FAFSA, CSS Profile, Student Aid Index. I help them to get the big money by understanding to get their financial house in order. What they don't understand is the FAFSA looks at the second semester of the sophomore year and the first semester of the junior year. So parents are shocked when they realize that they're just starting this process the junior year and now they are in a, they're in a situation that's not going to be helpful, where if they would have started in middle school or the beginning of high school, the runway would have been so much longer. One, to get their financial house in order. Two, to make sure that that child has all of the classes they need. I'll give you an example. Yesterday, I got a phone call from a parent who was very upset because their child took geometry at a local college. The UC system, University of California system, did not recognize it. They cannot apply to one University of California school. Why? Because they did not know that that class did not meet the A through G requirements. So all of this has to be done. We start— I, I say that the perfect most ultimate time is before the student picks their first classes for high school.

Why?

Because once they get on that path of Advanced Placement or honors or easy classes, ceramics, it is really hard to get off one of those paths. It is much easier to stay on that same path and take honors than college prep then AP, then dual enrollment, then college. Like, it's a very smooth— and the, the child has no idea. They just think they're going through the normal path. When a student starts late and they pick the wrong classes to begin with, now the student's doing summer school, now they're doing college on top of high school, now they're playing the catch-up game all the way through, and it is painful. Is it possible? Yes, we take students from 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, but it's like planning for retirement when you're 75. That's what it's like when you're a senior planning for, for college. So when is the best time? Really, it's where you're at right now, because if you want scholarships, it needs to be at least by your sophomore year to get the big money.

So, I mean, leadership and passion projects are more about more than just impressing colleges, right? They create real-world impact. So talk a little bit about maybe how you've guided another student through this and presented tangible results for their projects, whether it was raising funds or helping people or technology or whatnot.

Wow, there's so many, and I'm so proud of our students for, for this reason, but I'll talk about a recent one. I have a student, his name is Henry, and he has been with our program. This is his 4th year, so he is a rising— or he is a senior, and he's rising, uh, this year coming up to college. And, uh, when I first met with Henry, he was a squirrely little 8th grader just trying to figure out, I hope high school is going to be okay. And his family was deciding, should I do early college, should I do public, should I do private, like That's where we were at, and it was beautiful because I got to help them really lean into what does Henry want and need. And so Henry has this huge love for education. He speaks 5 languages. He thinks international education is such a gift. And when I came back from my first trip from Uganda, when I was there helping women create businesses, I was telling him, that the children there walk 3 hours to school and 3 hours home, and he was devastated. And then I shared with him that when they go home, there's no light, you can't study outside of school, and that there's 300 kids sitting in one little classroom with no windows and, you know, no roof. And he was on fire. He's like, Shellee, let's do this. What can I do? How can I help? And I was like, Okay, like once it caught on, it was wild. That young man is now leading 47 other students from all over the world. He has won 8 international awards, 4 leadership certifications. He's applying to some of the best of the best schools, but I believe that he is going to end up exactly where his dream is taking him. And I don't want to jinx it because Henry is right in the thick, thick of it, and we're cheering you on, Henry. But what's super impressive is he's now passing this on to his younger brother, and his younger brother has the same passion. And so he's picking it up and he's going to grow it, and his goal is 100 students. So the impact is these kids have raised over $20,000, built classrooms, fed children, you know, they're, they're making an impact and they're changing lives. That's what colleges are looking for, and that's an easy yes versus somebody who is tutoring.

Yeah, that's a huge, huge difference between those two. So with, with college admissions evolving, do you see the, do you see the importance of the leadership passion projects growing in the coming years and And how might students who master this approach remain competitive as schools sort of refine their search criteria?

Um, as— can you repeat that?

With admissions continually evolving, do you see a greater importance of leadership and passion projects growing in the coming years?

Oh, it's just going to get more and more important. The reason why is More and more students are going to college. There's stuff all over the internet that tries to prove otherwise, but colleges are a very healthy business. They're not going anywhere. And so because it's more competitive and it's going to cost more, it's critical that your child has what it takes to stand out on their application. If they are not doing a standout strategy or a Passion with Purpose project or they're not focused on their positioning and they're doing what everybody else or all their friends are doing, how are they planning on standing out? Because even a GPA and a test score are not enough. So I really want to encourage families to look at passion with purpose and leadership are not only good for them to adult with and head off to college, but it's what it's going to take today and even more so coming in the future.

So, Shellee, what really— just map this out for folks. What does it take to get a full-ride scholarship? Because I know you do this in your program, but just what does it take?

So that's what's unique about College Ready is we are all-encompassing. We look at the entire student and the family, and that's what it takes. It's not just a GPA. It's not just a test score. It's not just community service hours. So here's what it takes. Everybody wants to know, how did your son get into Harvard and graduate debt-free, right? So let's just outline it here. The first thing is a standout strategy. What will help him uniquely stand out? Because he has to get in, or who cares how he's going to get out? So that's step number 1. Then positioning him to the type of university he wants to attend. Some universities care a lot about extracurriculars. Some don't carry anything at all. So understanding what is that child's positioning. Then the next thing we look at is their essays. Those essays are going to be the icing on the cake, right? The application's the cake. This is what I did, but the essay has to tell the university, okay, well, what else did you do? And that essay is where we get back to the Passion with Purpose Project. We get back to leadership, we get back to extracurriculars. So we're now working on that. Then the letters of recommendation are so important. Most people have no idea how important they are. So we teach students how to ask the right people, when to ask, and are they the right person. Then we package it all up and we polish it with essay editors and application reviewers. So now they have this beautiful package, but we're still not done. The most critical piece to a Fulbright scholarship is having the right college list. So they need to have reach schools, comfort schools, and safety schools. Those are based on their GPA, test scores, community service, leadership, extracurriculars, letters of recommendation, and essay. You see how this is all building? So now they have this list. Well, their list makes no sense most of the time, and we're like, wow, why did you pick that? Well, I love where the location is. So they're picking it based on a location or a football team. Now we have to help them think, what is the academic fit, the social fit, the financial fit? Now we build the list and we put in generous colleges, right? We know the ones who give all of the money. After 17 years of doing this, I know who's going to give you money and who is not. I could save you a lot of time and frustration and the cost savings of not even applying if you can't truly afford it. So now we have the college list We can do financial negotiations. How can we do that? Because we've helped the family complete the FAFSA, the CSS Profile, and bring down their student aid index. So it takes the entire process to get a full ride.

Wow, that's a lot. And you do that all in your program?

We do everything. The parent can be as involved or not involved Completely up to them.

Wow. Well, listen, I also know that you guys also have worked and work with athletes and visual artists. I know that process is a little different. It's almost like applying twice. So we'll talk a little bit about that for those parents that have those athletes or visual artists.

So important. This group of students, they've been, you know, they have these gifts and talents. They stand out, right? Your 4-year varsity athlete, they want to play at a D1 school. They're getting calls and emails and, and talking to the coaches. Well, here's the thing. There are rules of engagement. If your student talks to a coach in a blackout zone, they can get disqualified. If a coach makes promises, um, that are illegal, that can potentially hurt your student from getting accepted. So those are just some, some straight-up concerns we have to help students understand. But it is like applying twice, right? My first two were scholar athletes. So first thing is you're, you're working on their athletic abilities and you're working on their academia. Well, here's the thing: if you do it well, both of them are going to make it doubly impressive and you're going to get a lot of money and get accepted. Okay, here's the thing: scholar athletes think, if I'm just a good athlete, that's going to get me in. Unfortunately, it's about a maybe 3% chance that that will happen. What usually happens is a good academic student who's a good athlete uses their athleticism to get them noticed by the coach who walks in the application and says, I'd like you to take a second look at this child. So it's really understanding that you are applying twice, but they have to talk to each other and they have to make sense. Because if you want to play at a D1 school, you may not get to pick your major. They may pick your major, and then you may need to decide, do I even want that for my child? Are they going to play professional or not? Then you look at your visual and performing artists. It could be a painter or it could be somebody on stage. They have to show proof going into the application of awards, of productions they've led, of all of these accolades and reels of proof. And so we have to help them understand it takes time to build up this portfolio for both the athlete and the visual and performing artist. So to think that one is going to get them there, probably not realistic because colleges need the academia piece in order to keep their GPA up high. So it's very important that even the athlete, even the visual and performing artists have a good academic strategy, and we do all of that for our students.

So if families watching today who are ready to set their child on a path to, let's say, an Ivy League school, um, and long-term success that what comes with that, what's the very first action they should take to start identifying those, those leadership opportunities and crafting a meaningful passion project?

The very first thing is help your child figure out who they are. Without that, it can't be passion. If they're doing something because somebody told them to go and do it, they're going to put in their time, but there's no essay. The essay cannot read, "My school made me do this on the weekend and I really didn't want to get up at 7 AM." If they're passionate, what I tell families is ask your child this: if you had no chores, no homework, zero, you could do anything you wanted on a Saturday morning, What would get you to jump out of bed and head into your day? That's a passion. And they can write about that all day long. And now if they're doing it with friends and family and they're stopping human trafficking or they're empowering education or they're providing food or, you know, they're helping the elderly connect with their family via a cellular service, there's so many cool things they can do. But if they're just doing community service, that is not going to be helpful.

Shellee, thank you so much for sharing these invaluable insights and strategies with us today. I know I got a lot out of it, and I'm sure the audience did too. You've given the audience just a clear picture, I think, of how deeply impactful leadership development and passion projects can really be. In helping students stand out, you know, secure that top admissions, and of course, possibly graduate debt-free as well. So for parents and students who are eager to learn more, to ask specific questions about their own situations, you know, to begin crafting a personalized roadmap, what's the best way for them to explore working with you and your team?