Blog Details

In this series, we spotlight a student who worked with Vanguard on their college admissions process. Here is our interview with Medha, who applied to college for the fall of 2023 and was accepted to UCLA and UC Berkeley!

What were you most nervous about when you started the college process?

I was so scared that I wouldn’t get into college. There were other kids with crazy stats and mine weren't quite as high, so I was really depending on my essays. 

Why did you choose to work with Vanguard on your college essays?

My cousin went to Vanguard and she had good results. That was enough for me.

What was the biggest help to you in our process?

The biggest help was the structure and organized tasks. I still use the activities list and resume template, and I have a headstart on my resume since I can build on the one Vanguard helped me with.

What was the essay coaching process like?

I thought it was going to be a lot more stressful than it was, but it was really relaxed. I didn’t feel stressed about the applications, and everything got done in a timely manner. I was never too worried about anything. 

What did you end up writing your essays about?

One of my Personal Insight Questions was about me approaching my classes and everything I was doing with a different perspective. Previously I was looking at it as work, but when I added a sense of creativity in it changed my perspective and inspired me. 

Did you feel like your writing skills improved in general after working with Vanguard?

Yeah. They were okay before, but now I know how to write from a narrative perspective, which I didn’t know how to do before Vanguard. 

In what ways did you feel more prepared in your college application journey than your peers who did not seek our services?

I feel like I knew what was going on prior to my friends, in the sense that I knew where I was going to be applying, and I had an idea of what my essays were going to be about. My friends approached each application step as a difficult task, but I had the whole process laid out for me in assignments with structure and revision that was really helpful.