I hope that you've all found the resources on this page useful! This site is a part of my Girl Scout Gold Award Project and is meant to empower YOU to embark upon your college admissions journey. Here, I will reflect on the process of pursuing this project and the things I learned along the way. 

First of all, picking the topic for my Gold Award was a struggle in itself. For the longest time, I couldn't think of anything I was passionate enough to pursue for the next six months of my life. I had just undergone the college admissions process, and at first, I was unsure of how to approach it. Through a lot of trial and error, I learned a lot about the process and how to tackle challenging aspects of it. I wished I had someone to give me advice and point me in the right direction when I began the process, so I decided to be that person for as many individuals as I could. With LIP, I hope that I am pointing you in the right direction, and steering you away from any common mistakes made throughout the process.  

Once I began working with LIP, I became more and more excited about presenting my information to students. I worked with LIP, LIP alumni, and others who had recently undergone the college admissions process to formulate the best presentation and website I could. I asked students what they wished they knew about the process before they underwent it and used their responses to guide the material I covered in the seminar and on this website. I also did a lot of internal reflection, what would have I wanted to know about the Common App? About essay writing? About asking for rec letters? I took all the questions that plagued me throughout the first semester of my senior year of high school and channeled them into this project. One thing I took away from this, is that it's important to learn from your successes, but it's even more imperative to learn from your mistakes. Some of my mistakes included waiting too long to ask for rec letters and being unprepared for difficult questions during college interviews. I took these mistakes and made them a part of my seminar because I hope others can learn from them and avoid committing them. 

Another reason why I was so passionate about working with LIP and sharing my resources with them is because many LIP students are in the same position I was in when I first applied to college. I am the daughter of immigrants, and while both my parents attended college in Mexico, they never underwent the American admissions process, leaving me to fend for myself. Discovering how to apply to scholarships, writing essays, and more by myself was incredibly challenging and made the process seem all the more daunting. My parents were always there to support me, but it still left me figuring a lot of things out by myself. I attended countless information sessions, spent hours researching the admissions process, and communicated with my counselor as much as I could to grasp the process. I put in a lot of time and effort that could have been spared had I been introduced to the American system of applying to college earlier. For this reason, I hope that the seminar and this website serve almost as a shortcut to students who are also not familiar with the process.

Presenting the seminar was one of the best moments of my life. Truly. If you were there and you're reading this now I just want to thank you for all your cooperation and collaboration. Everyone seemed interested in the materials I was presenting and asked insightful questions. The best part was the essay-writing portion of the seminar. The girls broke into small groups and dissected the example essays. They successfully discovered the strengths and weaknesses of the essays, and through their collaboration, they learned what to avoid and what to do when writing essays for college applications. In addition to this, the girls asked incredible questions to our panel, with some even staying to ask more after the seminar concluded. They made this experience the best I could've asked for!

Finally, I would like to thank LIP for presenting me with this opportunity and allowing me to channel my passion into helping their incredible organization. I would also like to thank my mentor, Mariana, for supporting me throughout the process and providing me with guidance whenever I needed it. I appreciate everyone who helped with the seminar and its planning, and while I won't mention them all by name, I greatly appreciate their contributions. Last but not least, a special thanks to my mom who always encouraged me throughout this process and whose leadership inspired me to take on this exciting challenge!