At ScholarMatch, we provide free, virtual college counseling to high school students across the United States.

In 2010, we started off as a college drop-in center on Valencia Street and have since expanded our services to reach 2,000+ high school youth across the country. In partnership with CollegePoint, our virtual advising platform connects passionate volunteers to high school seniors from California to Kentucky to even Hawaii, making higher education more accessible for under-resourced students through free, individualized college counseling.

We’ve had the opportunity to support such amazing students — and we want the rest of the world to know just how great they are! To continue our student feature series, we spoke with Jane, one of the incredible students who participated in our Virtual College Coaching program last year. Read on to learn about Jane’s plans to take her passion for ceramics from Fountain Valley, California to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where she will attend Swarthmore College in the fall.

Hi Jane! To start off, we wanted to ask: How did you feel about the college application process before you started?

The most intimidating part was all the writing I knew I’d have to do, especially the personal statement for the Common App. Choosing which schools to apply to and making a balanced college list was another really intimidating part for me, because I didn’t really know what kind of school I’d want to attend or what I wanted to study. I didn’t know what I was looking for until I started researching different colleges, so it seemed really challenging at first to figure out a list.

What was it like working with your ScholarMatch College Coach?

She was super helpful during the actual application process and was a fantastic editor. I titled one of my documents “Swat’s Supp” referring to Swarthmore’s supplemental essay and my College Coach pointed out that it could be used as a pun, “Swat’s supp?” (as in “What’s up?”). I ended up keeping it in my essay because I loved it so much and thought Swarthmore would appreciate it as well!

What advice would you give a high school senior in the class of 2019 for applying to college?

Don’t stress too much. Don’t stress too little. Do your research, work hard, don’t be afraid to ask questions, be confident in yourself, and know that things will be ok! I would say to not procrastinate, but it may be a little hypocritical because I am the biggest procrastinator!

Do you have a fun fact or a special hobby, talent or skill that you’d like to share about yourself?

I do ceramics! I’ve taken Ceramics at school since my freshman year and I really really love it! It’s such a wonderful art form that has taught me so much about life. Sounds super deep, but it’s true! I could go on for ages. Mostly though, it’s taught me to take care of myself and to trust the process. You can check out my website/portfolio at jane-art.weebly.com :)

And lastly, what are you MOST looking forward to in college?

I’m super excited to check out the ceramics studio! (This would be true regardless of where I went, but still exciting!) I just can’t wait to be in an environment that is so diverse and friendly and to learn and grow! I’d also love to explore Philadelphia but don’t really know if I’ll get many chances to do so; Swatties love being at Swarthmore but there’s also a lot of work that keeps them there haha. I’m also really looking forward to spending time in the woods and being surrounded by so much natural beauty and serenity!

ScholarMatch’s Virtual Destination College program provides free college admissions counseling to high-achieving, low- and moderate-income high school seniors nationwide. After students like Jane are referred to ScholarMatch by CollegePoint, we match them with a trained College Coach. Coaches provide one-on-one support for students with everything from personal statements to the financial aid process, and work to ensure that students are accepted to and enroll in a top-performing, best-fit school.

To learn more about our Virtual Destination College program, check out scholarmatch.org!

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