Student Story: How Empowerly Changed My Life

This article offers a real Empowerly student story. This former high school student explains how their life path changed after working with an Empowerly counselor. Read on for an example of how we help each Empowerly student create a story and reach for the stars.

Stepping back in America for high school after spending over three years in India was not an easy experience for me. I had no clue as to what to expect from the educational system and the college admissions process—but students today in the LA area don't have to navigate it alone thanks to our private college counseling in Los Angeles.

In fact, I was intimidated by the fact that my peers were already presidents of several clubs, engaged in community service, and varsity sports players. Meanwhile, I was still navigating the waters of my new high school. If someone told me in two years that I would be a Charles Prescott Davis scholar at Columbia University? I would have simply laughed, and called them naive for overestimating my talent.

One day, however, things started to change when my mom told me she stumbled upon a firm called Empowerly. We decided to schedule a meeting; during this, I got a chance to talk to their team about my interests and ambitions in life. They noticed I had a seed of an idea of my interest in entrepreneurship. However, they also knew that I had no specific goal in mind as to how I would explore this space. They told me to experiment with 4 to 5 different activities. At the same time, to think about my experience deeply to find a passion to explore over the next year.

As a result, I got involved with a local organization in the environmental sector and a green club. I began to noticed that I was particularly passionate about the clean-tech movement and sustainable development. I talked to the team about this; and they told me to get engaged in research within the field to start exploring this interest. This was something I never thought of. Before meeting Empowerly, I always assumed that these opportunities were reserved for undergraduates. But their team helped me realize that age is no barrier to innovate.

I emailed over 300 professors over the course of the next few weeks. Eventually I was able to land an internship with Dr. June Flora at Stanford University. The Empowerly team taught me how to be a powerful communicator, and how to structure emails with these professors. This is a skill that still has served me effectively in college. I was even able to leverage it to land a job at a venture capital firm this past summer.  

I slowly grew more ambitious after I engaged in research and became involved in the startup community. Empowerly helped me identify specific summer programs. This included MIT Launch, a four-week-long incubator for high school students. The program's acceptance rate was roughly 10 percent and I knew that the odds were against me; but Empowerly  helped me put together a compelling application and taught me how to sell myself effectively in interviews. Within a few weeks, I was accepted and got the opportunity to work at the MIT Sloan School of Management with some of the most talented students on my own startup. Had it not been for Empowerly, I would have never gotten this opportunity to dive into the startup ecosystem at such a young age.

Eventually, I started becoming more creative thanks to the Empowerly team's  guidance and I started developing my own opportunities. I was able to start my own nonprofit, FIERCE, that helped foster student interest in environmentalism by approaching issues through a technological lens. Empowerly  helped me learn how to fundraise, file for 501 certification and build a successful team. I started to realize that rather than just offering college guidance, Empowerly almost becomes a platform for offering personal mentorship to allow students to harness their talents more effectively.  

Due to Empowerly, I had an exciting story to talk about for my college application and the entire process to me was lots of fun. My classmates, on the other hand, were stressed about the process. They didn't enjoy the activities they were engaged in within the community. I was able to win awards, build my own startup, engage in research and run a nonprofit around the environmental sector. Empowerly helped me position this entire experience into one powerful story that helped me stand out as an applicant. I worked with Empowerly on over 50 different essays and we were able to finish all of them by November, while my peers were stressing out until the last minute.

Within a few weeks of applying, I started getting multiple likely letters and admissions officers from different schools like USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon and Duke. My experience with Empowerly, however, has helped me for more than just the purpose of college admissions. Looking back, after my Empowerly experience I was able to mature as a person and develop skills that I find applicable in the real world. For instance, the Empowerly team's  feedback on my MIT Launch application and interviewing has helped me get into selective clubs within the Columbia Community; clubs that have over 230 people applying for 10 spots. I also have a deeper insight about my career and the impact I want to have in the world, whereas, most of my peers are still struggling to even determine their majors.

So the big question is: why Empowerly over other college counseling firms? Empowerly is run by people who don't approach this process in a formulaic manner, but focus on personal development as a tool to shine. If there was a formula to get into a top university then everyone would know it, but the secret itself is to discover your interests and make an impact within these spaces. Empowerly isn't just about college counseling, but it's a firm that offers you the mentors and tools to grow and eventually position yourself as a powerful applicant.

This Empowerly student story highlights why our approach truly works. We care about helping students grow. Book a consult to start YOUR Empowerly student success story today.