Jake Shares How Quad Education Helped Him Get Accepted to His First-Choice College Through Early Decision

Jake felt anxious about the college admissions process and constantly worried about it. “I was really anxious about the college process and scared I would end up being unlucky and not get in anywhere because that’s just how it goes for some people sometimes,” he said. 

Jake’s apprehension led to him jumping into essays without spending the amount of time required to polish them. “In a sense, I was ‘reverse-procrastinating’ with my essays, doing them way too early and kind of rushing it. That just made it a lot more nerve-wracking,” he said. 

As a STEM-oriented student, Jake struggled more in writing-intensive courses like English and history while excelling in math and science. “Going into the college application process, I was particularly apprehensive of writing essays—the Common App essay and supplements,” he said. 

He felt intimidated by the personal nature of Common App and supplemental essay prompts and how much they differed from academic essays he’d written in the past.  

“They’re very personal questions and it all felt really foreign to me because I had never written anything like that before. I was really scared that I was not going to write as well as I could without any help, so I looked for help and found it at Quad.” Let’s explore how we helped Jake conquer college essays and confidently navigate the admissions cycle! 

We helped Jake slow down and take a thoughtful, systematic approach to completing his essays and polishing his application. It went very well from start to finish. I never felt an overwhelming amount of pressure on my shoulders—the pacing was really good. There were no harsh deadlines I had to meet…that would force me to rush things,” he said. 

Jake received actionable advice on how to build a targeted college list and format and complete his activities list and resume. “Over the summer, we steadily brainstormed to look for a Common App essay topic and eventually stumbled across one I really enjoyed writing and also really enjoyed editing alongside [my counselor].” Jake was incredibly proud of his Common App essay, sharing that he “couldn’t have done it” without his counselor’s guidance. 

Quad Education inspired Jake to stay calm even in the face of many supplemental essays requiring his attention. “[My counselor] was very helpful in making sure I didn’t worry about it too much, and reminding me that a lot of them were similar. It was really helpful to have someone there to help me with the process, make sure I didn’t worry too much, and help me with actually writing the essays.” 

Our approach to application support helped Jake manage his stress and craft a winning early decision application!