Free workshop to be held at 6 p.m. July 28 at the Morgan Hill Library
Published in the July 22 – Aug. 4, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Marisela Gomez
Collegewise is a private counseling company that families use to guide their kids through the college admissions process. It “coaches” young people to pick appropriate schools, gives them advice about how to improve their chances of getting in and helps them navigate the applications and essays.
Marisela Gomez is the director of Collegewise’s Morgan Hill site. At 6:30 p.m. July 28 at the Morgan Hill Library, she will give a free workshop on how to write college entrance essays. We asked her why now is the time for high school seniors to start the process.
How did Collegewise get started and how did it come to the Bay Area?
Collegewise was founded by Kevin McMullin in Irvine in 1999. At the end of 2012, Kevin sold the company to The Princeton Review. Together, they opened offices across the country, including the Morgan Hill site. Collegewise recruited me from Santa Clara University, where I worked for 12 years. We opened the Morgan Hill office in August 2014 and we have been working with students in the South Bay since then.
Tell us more about your special “Writing College Essays” workshop for students at the Morgan Hill Library. What advice do you give students in preparing a college entry essay?
The best advice I can give is to not try to impress. Often, students try to figure out what colleges want to hear. Ultimately, every kid who does this ends up saying the same thing, how soccer taught them the value of hard work, how travel broadened their horizons, how volunteering showed them that helping people is good. Really, colleges want to get to know the student through their essay, so being your true, honest self is the best way to stand out. The essay is a great opportunity to share a part of yourself that colleges can’t see from any other piece of your application.
Why is summer the right time for high school students to start preparing for their college application process?
It is never too early to start working on the admission process. We work with families as early as middle school and go all the way through high school. However, if rising seniors have not started the application process, I would encourage them to start sooner rather than later. Last year, I worked with students who started their admission process later in the fall. They had to juggle their schoolwork, extracurricular activities, home responsibilities and the application process at the same time. This created unnecessary stress. Getting things done during the summer allows you to do a better job with each piece of the process.
Does Collegewise help with the process of scholarships and financial aid in getting into college and if so how does it help?
We can help students maximize their amount of scholarships. Many families believe that the majority of financial aid comes from external sources, but in reality, outside scholarships only make up 5 percent of the total amount awarded. This means that the majority of financial support comes from the colleges themselves. Knowing this information, we help students build a smart list of schools to apply to where we think they have a good chance of receiving merit aid.
We also offer a presentation called “Paying For College.” We cover how financial aid works for all families (including middle-income families). Currently, we do not have a financial aid presentation scheduled, but if you have a group of parents, coworkers, or friends who want to learn about financial aid in admissions, you can contact me directly to schedule a seminar.
While Collegewise doesn’t believe that prestigious colleges are necessarily better colleges, you want students who are interested in these schools to have straight answers about what it will take to have a shot at getting in. What advice would you give students?
Collegewise believes that it is not the college that creates the opportunities, but rather the students themselves. With this in mind, we talk about information that we have learned within the past 15 years. There are two realities in highly selective admissions that you just have to accept: Grades and test scores don’t get you in, they just keep you out; these colleges are reaches for everyone given that everyone who applies does not get admitted.
Why are you personally involved with CW in helping students get into college?
I have to say this passion comes from my own experience of not understanding the admission process. I remember I didn’t fill out one of the forms the college required for financial aid, so the summer before college, I worked hard looking for scholarships. During my journey, I met great mentors. As I finished my freshman year in college, I realized that I wanted to help students avoid what I went through, so I decided to look for a job in undergraduate admissions. Before I left Santa Clara University, I did a lot of research on Collegewise to make sure they were aligned with my values of creating college opportunities for all families and being absolutely transparent on the admissions process. With Collegewise, I have been able to go out in the community and talk to families. They are so surprised that there are more than 2,000 colleges in this country and that only about 60 of them admit less than 20 percent of their applicants. When families leave my presentations more comfortable with the admission process, I feel great.
