In this series, we spotlight a Vanguard student who participated in both the Test Prep and College Counseling programs. Here is our interview with Srimann, who applied to numerous colleges for Aerospace Engineering for the Fall of 2025. He was accepted to UT Austin, University of Michigan, Texas A&M, Purdue University, University of Maryland, and more!
Why did you choose Vanguard to work with you during the college application process?
I initially started with Vanguard for my SAT prep and I had a good experience with that. I honestly thought it was very structured. They had a clear plan—it wasn't really loosey goosey. I got a 1540 on my first time and I probably could not have gotten that or close to it without Vanguard's help, especially with the resources they provided. The teaching was great but there were also so many practice tests. Then me and my parents weighed a couple college counselors, but Vanguard built credibility in our family through SAT prep. One of the things we really loved about Vanguard—or at least I really loved—was how it felt like a network of professionals. It wasn't like a single college counselor that was doing everything. If I needed an essay to go get reviewed, I can tell there's many minds that are picking at that essay. There's many minds that are making it as good as possible—and these are obviously really smart minds, too.
What was the biggest help to you in our process?
You're gonna hear me say this a lot, but [Essay Specialist] Sara is absolutely awesome. There's zero chance I would be accepted to Michigan, UT Austin, UMD, anywhere without her. I'd say the biggest help was how it felt super friendly and I was almost doing essays with a friend—who is super smart and has degrees from Cambridge! Especially as a STEM kid, I'm not the greatest at writing. I think I'm a decent writer, but she taught me how to organize my thoughts and write well. She did a lot on the editing side. I would literally write 1500 words over word count—just dump everything on the page—and she would help me slowly pick that apart to get the best 300 words I needed for that essay. I could not have done it without Sara. Going past that, the best part that I found with Vanguard is once again the network. When Sara wanted to double check something, there were other specialists she could go to. I think [Co-Founders] Natasha and Seaver reviewed a lot of my essays. It just gave me peace of mind knowing that many eyes read this essay.
What were you the most nervous about going into the college process?
I was nervous about a lot of things. I was nervous about what my major would be—I mean, I didn't really know what I exactly wanted to do. I was also worried about how I go to a really competitive school and how the entire Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex is super competitive. I knew I was smart, but I worried that my rank would hurt me.
Going into last summer, my Vanguard College Counselor recommended a niche program as well as an internship in the data science realm. In all honesty, before these recommendations, I was seriously lacking in extracurriculars because I had focused so much time on marching band and music. I talked to [Director of College Counseling] Alina about it and Sara about it, as I was a little worried that I put all my eggs in the band basket. But thanks to their help, I was able to course correct. In fact, my experience goes to show that you don't need to research with a professor every summer and do fifteen different internships to get into your program. You can do things you like to do and then also get the right experiences in major-related things.
In what ways did you feel more prepared in your college application journey than your peers who did not seek our services?
Talking to a lot of my peers, there are a good amount of them that were like, “I kind of hate my college counselor." Or, "I'm kind of doing it all by myself." and I was like, "Oh, mine's great. I really like mine.” Sara would give me reassurance, but she wouldn't lie to me like, "You have a chance." She would give it to me straight, but when she did that, it was always reassuring. I joke with some of my friends that she's lowkey been my best friend for the past 6 months. In every email she'd include something like fun I told her, which was a nice way of knowing she's paying attention. She’d ask how my band competition went or how NASA SEES was—it was not all college talk. So I would definitely say I think I had that over my peers who didn't seek Vanguard services. I think some of them went to college counselors that made them really nervous. I'm sure they had good essays, but there's more to college counseling than just good essays.
If you are willing to share, what did you end up writing your college essay about and how did the end result turn out? How does the essay you wrote with Vanguard compare to what you would have written about on your own?
So, in all honesty, I don't know what I would have written on my own. I think it was pretty obvious my Narrative Essay was going to be something about music, but not just music generally. We structured it like a playlist that takes the reader through my day and there's actually a lot of layers to it. It turned out really well and it's one of my favorite pieces of writing. It was almost like the music was an imaginary friend that I'm taking along in my day. It turned out great. I am pretty confident it helped bump my chances at every college.
What colleges did you get into? Where did you choose to go and what are you studying?
I got into UT Austin for aerospace engineering. I got into the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s College of Engineering, Texas A&M for their college of engineering, and Purdue University for their college of engineering. I also got into University of Maryland for aerospace engineering and their College Park Scholars honors program as well. And I got into Ohio State University and UT Dallas as my safeties. And I will be going to UT Austin for aerospace engineering for the next four years.
What are your future goals with your degree?
Aerospace engineering is super cool and the location of Austin is so great. I get to be near SpaceX, NASA, like so many great aerospace companies. Propulsion really interests me, like rocket propulsion and just regular airplane propulsion or jet turbine propulsion. I would love to become an engineer of some sorts with either Boeing or SpaceX doing propulsion, but I'm also kind of interested in electrical engineering to an extent too. So I would love to go get a masters of electrical engineering at University of Michigan or Georgia Tech. So I’ll do aerospace for four years, get my masters in electrical engineering and then find the marriage of those two things. There's a lot of overlap. There's electric based propulsion systems—just like how we have electric cars, it would be like electric planes, which would be a super cool field to do research in or do a startup.
What was your favorite part of working with Vanguard or your most proud achievement during your time working with us? Is there anything else you would like to highlight about your experience?
I mean, I'm beating a dead horse, but working with Sara was awesome. I couldn't imagine doing it with another specialist, but I know the other specialists are awesome. My proudest moment was definitely getting into Michigan, honestly a little more than UT even though I am going to UT. I just opened my Michigan admissions decision thinking, "Just defer me and take me to the regular round and see if I can get in there." But then, I saw the confetti on my screen! I ran around the house, and my dad was on a business call, and I just ran into his room, and was like, "I got in!" And his colleagues saw me on the call, and they were confused for a second, but my dad clarified. But most importantly, the weight was off my shoulders: I got into a top 10 engineering program, and I could finally rest.
How did the skills you learned at Vanguard help you after you left the program? Perhaps at school or other areas?
Vanguard inherently forced me to just be more organized than I previously was, because there's a lot to keep track of. I started keeping a really tight schedule with a calendar that I keep track of things in, like when am I writing this essay, when am I finishing this paragraph, this sentence. That just translated to my general school assignments and my meetings. Now, I keep track of when I’m tutoring. Vanguard definitely increased my organization skills. And I wrote so much and from working with Sara, I inherently became a better writer because I could see a really good writer at work. Whenever I'm writing lab reports or anything for research or even if I'm reaching out to professors, I come off sounding more organized, eloquent, and professional. Vanguard really raised my professionalism.
What advice would you give to younger Vanguardians embarking on their College Application process?
Just stay on top of your tasks. If you do that, it'll all work out. You'll think you're too busy one day, but it really is just a matter of time management. Once you schedule your day or week, you realize that you actually have more time than you think and so you can get drafting done that day. Another thing I would say is, and this is general life advice, bring your laptop or phone or something to draft on everywhere and anywhere. If you have a spare 10 minutes, those 10 minutes could be your brightest thoughts. Any words on the page is better than no words on the page. I've probably had my brightest ideas in the most chaotic moments on the outside. And then just more generally, cherish the highs and don't dwell on the lows. If you get accepted to a college, it's an achievement. And if you get rejected, it's just one admission committee's opinion. Don't do what I did and completely overthink, reflect, and dwell on the last four years of your life. It worked out for me. It will work out for you.
The people I see it not working out for are the people that give up at the end of the race in the college essays part. Know that college essays can have a bigger impact on decisions than you think—that's your last significant thing that still has an effect on your application and the most personal things Admissions Committees will read. They're not cold hard facts about a competition you did. I think my personality really brought me over the top in a lot of places. I don't have the most engineering experience on my activity list, I don't have the most awards on my resume, but I do have a big personality, as I'd like to think, and Sara helped draw that all out of me. Everyone has something unique to them. You just have to get outside the box a little—think in places you're not used to. Go on a walk and think instead of thinking in your room. And especially if you start this early, you'll have time and it'll be less stressful. Which is good, since Vanguard starts the college application process early.
Specialist Madison L.
Hamilton College