YouTube Deep Summary

## Introduction [00:00] Hello everyone. We'll get started in just a few seconds. Let me just pull up my presentation and then we can go ahead and get going. Right. Okay. Uh, welcome everyone. Today's topic is about leadership and UC admissions and how important is it really? Uh, so I know a lot of folks have been reaching out to be able to figure out what kind of leadership opportunities or activities that can kind of help you stand out. And so we're going to talk about what exactly are they going to be looking for and also give you uh some examples of what is it that we've seen students being able to do. So uh we'll talk about the way that ## Why Leadership & Writing Matter More Than GPA [01:00] UC's evaluate leadership. We'll talk about the myth and realities and also the kind of misconceptions that a lot of people think. Uh some uh showcase uh how to showcase it as well the specific examples so that way you know how to write about it. Even though uh doing it is part of the majority of the work. writing about it and being able to articulate it is really what's going to matter the most here because they won't really know what it is until you talk about it. Uh housekeeping stuff. Uh please uh put in in the chat about your high school graduation year just so I know about who is it that I should be catering this audience to. And throughout the entire time if you are able if you have any specific questions drop in the Q&A and also of course replay notes will always be available after 40 hours. Quick background for myself. I used to formerly work in UC Berkeley's admissions office as a outreach coordinator and instructor. That's where I went to different high schools to talk about college admissions process and also uh taught a course on how to get into graduate school. Uh that's actually where I met Coach Tony where we worked in admissions together. And secondly, I was uh fun fact scholar for UC Berkeley for undergrad and graduate school. Congratulations to our uh students who are part of our coaching programs. We uh have seen a lot of Berkeley admissions come in today. So, it's really exciting to be able to see folks uh to celebrate that. And lastly, uh terms of my background, I used to work in ed uh education policy, edtech, and also working now as an admissions advisor. Okay. So, um some quick kind of uh screenshots of what we've seen as of recently. Uh we've seen a few of our students get accepted within the past few days. So, all these screenshots were recently of our 2025 students. Someone that got accepted to USC uh just more just recently. Uh, someone got accepted to UCLA, UC Irvine, uh, UC Santa Barbara. Oh, well, this student got weight listed, but we did get some UCLA acceptances as well. And also a few days ago, we were able to see all these different admissions as well. So, really exciting time. Uh, really love being able to be a part of this work and this community just because we're able to uh celebrate each other's successes. So, if you haven't been a part of our program yet, definitely consider um to join if you wanted to so that you could be a part of this experience. All right. So, uh, quick pop quiz to the audience here that's with us today. Uh, what is the ## How UC Schools Really Review Applications [03:15] least important out of the following? Is it GPA and test scores? Is it leadership and extracurriculars? Or is it the application writing? So, curious if folks happen to know the answer to this particular question here. Throw in the chat if you uh happen to uh have a guess or if you know it already based off your experience working with us so far. Okay, someone said one which is GPA and test scores. Any other guesses that we have from this audience? All right, I see a few posts into uh some people posting the to the host and panelist saying it's number two uh leadership and extracurriculars. I see a few other number ones and also uh number ones here. Okay, so uh it is actually TPM test scores. It is the least important factor. Remember that one of the most important things out of all three of this is the application. Writing is the most important thing because you could have great scores, great academics, great activities and all that such, but if you can't write about yourself, if you don't know how to articulate yourself, then it really doesn't matter. And so that's why the application writing is the most important thing. Followed by leadership and extracurriculars. And then lastly is the GPA test scores. Generally speaking, if you think about it, a lot of students can have a lot of similarities in their academics. Most uh remember students are going to be compared against their high school and their geographical location. Certain ways, a lot of students will tend to look the same in regards to their GPA or test scores and also the courses they've taken. But the things that you cannot copy are the kind of the leadership uh opportunities and also the way that you write about it. Extracurriculars, yes, there's some kind of overlap here. A lot of students are going to be a part of the same clubs or same kind of activities. But again, if you are a part of a leadership position or you take leadership, that's something that not a lot of people are able to write the same thing about. So that is why application is the most important thing followed by leadership and extracurriculars and then lastly the GPA and test scores. So let's review a bit about how UC admissions works. Okay. Uh so they have 13 factors that they consider into their comprehensive review process. And I know some folks here are also interested in applying to Ivy Leagues. And just so you know, like in terms of like general college admissions, a lot of it tends to be the same. Like uh there isn't much of a huge difference in terms of how UC's consider doing it and also other IV league schools as well. Uh the thing about the UC admissions, they just consider a little bit more factors in terms of like their uh geographical location and context. um especially given that in California we have this thing called ELC eligibility uh which is being able to see who is in the top um top percentage of this the class. So just to review it from the very top overall GPA in AG courses. Something to note here it's that it's the specific courses that are A throughG. It's not just like any type of elective course. And also depending on which pathway you decide to apply to, they're going to be looking for the grades in particular courses that which also relates to rigor and performance in A throughG subjects. Number two, and so um it's not just about being able to get all A's, right? A lot of students or parents have asked this question, is it better to take a harder course and risk ## Debunking Leadership Myths (It’s NOT Just Club President) [06:30] getting a B or C in the course versus uh taking more rigorous courses? And it's always going to be go for the rigger. rigor is the most important thing because uh at the end of the day GPA is just being able to help us understand uh like what it matters it matters less about GPA actually it matters more so about the uh kind of trends are you able to see upper grade trend which is actually number nine here and or seeing persistence of a high A's and B's throughout the whole entire time so again um go for the rigger if you are able to take that AP course or take that IB or honors always go for that and because remember the goal is to be able to understand can this student actually handle the amount of college rigor when you go into our university. So that's why we would consider that for 1, two and three. Um advanced course work also relates to dual enrollment as well taking the community college courses which is super important. So don't just take the same courses offered at your high school because generally if you take the same uh courses as your peers then you're going to look like the same. Number four, top nine% in high school ELC eligibility, meaning that you are the top uh like performing students within the class. So, usually there is like a kind of uh seat ranking within your entire uh within your entire school cohort. And so, usually that is based off of GPA and grades. And so, if you're able to determine if you are a part of that top 9%, then you also have a stronger uh indicator that you will be successful. Uh strength in your schedule. It's not just about freshman, sophomore, or junior year. It's a kind of a misconception that they only look at sophomore and junior year. In fact, they look at everything and including the courses that you might take later on in senior year. Uh I just talked to a few families just yesterday. Do not take the TA courses. Do not take the open periods, okay? Because the thing is those open periods can be utilized for some other course. The only exception that you might want to do that open period is if you're taking a dual enrollment course where you're using that time to take an alternate course at the same time. So, uh please please don't yeah don't do the TA or the open period. A lot of students really look forward to it in senior year, but in reality it's not it's not going to benefit you in terms of being able to get to your school. Um performance in context. So really what we are looking at is like the geographical location and how well are you uh doing in comparison to your peers because there is an assumption that you have the same kind of opportunities in the area. And so we don't compare like you know a student from like the Bay Area versus a student in Southern California because that's just unfair. It's just one of those things where it it's um the context really matters because one school might offer calculus A and BC but they don't offer it at one other school. So that's why we really encourage um to diversify your academic rigor from other places in the area. So that way you can build a more robust kind of academics there. Uh excellence in specific academic area, academic projects or research. So these are kind of like awards or kind of things that help you like kind of stand out. um upward great trend as we already mentioned and also things that matter uh a lot more that we're going to talk about later on in this uh webinar is the special talents and accomplishments and cultural or leadership engagement. Now for these particular parts uh there's only two points that are really related to the um activities but they also are one of the more most important parts because it is what helps students stand out from the rest. Generally speaking, if you look at the kind of first few ## Real Examples of Leadership from Family to Personal Projects [10:00] regarding uh relating to the academics, a lot of students are going to look very similar for the most part that are applying to these competitive schools. But the ones that you can differentiate are the ones that go a little bit later on here in 10 11 and also 12 and 13. Uh the 12 is like taking consideration of your personal circumstances or life experiences. Uh there is a sometimes misconception that you need a soft story in order to get into these like colleges which is not abs not true at all. It's just a matter of showing that you're able to demonstrate resilience in spite of your challenges or if there's anything that we should be aware of that might have impacted your academics or activities. And uh this is taken into consideration because uh not everyone is like, you know, uh starts off with the same amount of resources. And so it's important to uh to understand that and recognize that even if you grew up in a privileged area or you grew up like wealthy or anything of that sort, that is not a negative thing either. It's just more so of just being able to uh take consideration that you're likely going to have more resources than somebody else who doesn't have it. And so if they were to compare their grades versus your grades or or your kind of um accomplishments versus someone else that might not had that access to opportunity, they just take that into consideration. And lastly, school and geographical context to be able to uh compare apples to apples. So, that being said, um this was a kind of like a um overview of all those 13, but we're not going to go through each individual one. We're just going to be focusing primarily on the 10 and 11 here. When it comes to 10 and 11, um this is what they uh write within the specific UC admissions uh guidelines. And so, we're going to review go each one and go into a little bit of a deep dive. So when it comes to special talents, um they're looking for the achievements and awards in a particular field such as visual performing arts, communication, a athletic endeavors, special skills such as demonstrated written and oral proficiency in other languages, special interests such as intensive study, exploration of other cultures, experiences that demonstrate unusual promise for leadership, such as significant community service or significant participation in student government, or other significant experiences or achievements that demonstrate the promise to contributing towards the vitality of the campus. Whoa, that was a mouthful. Uh, if you if you kind of notice, right, this is kind of open-ended, meaning that they're not looking for a specific activity, right? The goal isn't for you to do every single little thing. It's always quality over quantity, and you could just focus on one particular area that you feel like you are the most um uh excited or interested about. So, if you're a uh parent that's trying to support your child and you're telling them like, "Hey, uh you know, you should continue doing piano for the next four years because it's going to help on your application process." Yes. Uh showing persistence is great, right? But yet, at the same time, like what is the actual accomplishment that we're looking towards here? Just playing piano by itself is not going to help, but being able to show like were you participating in competitions? Were you able to get any awards? Were you able to um show that you went further and beyond than other people? Because generally, think of this way. Um I can you know a lot of students can just generally say that they have played a music instrument for like 10 years and everyone could say the same exact thing. And the thing is, uh, is there something that you can show as like a an an award or accomplishment that proves that you actually did it, that you actually not just picked it up once every week and and checked off a box and said that you accomplished that. So again, the goal is find the things that are most interesting to you and find the opportunities to be able to demonstrate that. uh whether that's through like kind of competitions or being able to uh create an impact with that particular skill set. Uh going to number 11, right? Cultural or leadership engagement. It's the completion of special projects undertaking in the context of a student's high school curriculum or in conjunction with school events, projects or programs. What they're looking at right here, right, is really what is your influence? What is your impact of being able to improve the school community? um and not just being able to be a participant, but what have you done to be able to uh leave like an like a long-term impact here? And we're going to talk about impact about like what that exactly means. So, let's first go into like what is it that they are looking for or why is it that the activities are important here. Um one, they want to be able to understand are you taking initiative? Are you taking um creating impact within your community? And also, are you feeling that personal growth? One of the ways that we talk about um activities, it's like kind of a way to validate is this something that you really want to pursue later on in the future. So for example, if you are uh ## What Makes an Impactful Activity Description [14:45] interested in studying engineering then uh a kind of question I would have as admissions reader is like how do you know that you really want to study engineering? uh aside from taking the classes or um taking math classes, how have you really shown initiative to learn more about the field and the kind of best kind of activities are a demonstration that you don't need to wait till college to actually start learning. You can start learning now and that's what the initiative really means here. When it comes to impact, right, it's not just about uh are you able to create an amazing machine or amazing like project out of the uh you know your engineering interest, but also are you able to create an impact on the ones uh people around you. One of the people that we uh are coaching right now, they're very interested in robotics and one of the things that they want really want to do is change the ways that ninth uh robotics is taught to ninth graders. And so right now one of their personal projects and leadership uh opportunities is that they are working with the teachers to recreate the curriculum and to try to show that there's a more engaging way to teach this particular subject. That is leadership right there. Leadership is being able to lead others. I mean it's kind of like a like a you know part of the definition of leading others. And you lead others by being able to share like a change behavior or or a um change result that you wish that you could have experienced or maybe you want to see other people experiencing. And that personal growth like uh the personal growth is the learning. It's it's how you communicate within your PIQS or your uh personal statements on uh what did this teach you about yourself and also how does it translate to what you might want to do later on in the future. So just so you know too like leadership opportunities doesn't always need to relate to your major of interest. It could be things that are unrelated. It could be like you know ASB or um leadership or any type of volunteering club or whichever. But the whole point of what leadership is able to uh show for the admissions readers is like how would this person uh create a impact even within our communities here on our campus because by seeing your uh your actions come to life or that uh whatever you're trying to create that is something that they would expect to hopefully see at their university. And so they're trying to gauge whether are you a good uh personal fit or cultural fit for our uh or our our community. And so there's actually going to be four personal insight questions that relate to your leadership experience. And so this is uh where uh you can strategically use these to be able to describe uh your ways of impact because uh like for example PIQ number one uh says it pretty blatantly in terms of like what is your leadership experience and how have you influenced others which totally makes sense but also there are other PIQ's that are good opportunities to also demonstrate the leadership as well. So for example, PIQ number four, PIQ number six, uh four is really about the significant educational opportunities and how you overcame that educational barrier. And in ways this is more so like talking about like your previous experiences and your challenges that you've had like growing up. And the what you can be able to show here is actually what did you learn from that experience and how have you uh lifted others up with you while you're in the ## The UC PIQs That Help You Show Leadership [18:20] process of overcoming that educational opportunity. So that being said, like this um this is like a really great example or great opportunity to show that you're not just overcoming these particular challenges, but you're creating a ripple effect by you like uh going to the next level or creating these accomplishments. You're creating um opportunities for others around you to do the same. And as a reader, wouldn't it be great to have you on our campus? Because if you are able to lift others with you as you overcome barriers, then we can expect that you would be a great cultural asset or fit into our community. Uh number six is also about an academic subject that inspires you and how have you further that interest inside or outside the classroom. Same here, right? the example I told you about about the student who wanted to update the robotics curriculum that is probably something that he's going to use for PIQ number six and it's so valuable um especially to get into these uh really uh competitive majors because for like like the robotics engineering computer science like these are the most uh impacted majors and they want to accept the people who really know that this is something that they really want to study and they can validate that based off what are what they are trying to do right now in their curriculum at their school. And so if they're able to demonstrate that they are trying to expand their knowledge and expand the knowledge of others around them, then that proves to the university that this person is really invested in this particular major and they're not going to like switch out all of a sudden. So that's where you can be able to leverage leadership in in uh how you can like frame that in PIQ6. And number seven, what have you done to make your school or your community a better place? This is an open-ended question, but obviously this is like kind of a leadership uh question as well where you can talk about almost anything here. And again, the goal is to show uh what's an issue that you really care about, what is it uh why is an issue in the first place, and also what did you do to address that issue? And then from there like you kind of wrap it up in terms of what did you learn from the experience about yourself and what does it how does that translate to things that you want to accomplish in the future. Again there's kind of a formula to this right. So let's actually walk through um uh the formula in just a bit um once we go through a bit about the misconceptions. So misconceptions about how uh leadership and activities are considered. First of all, leadership is not about just having the most fanciest title or the name of being a club president. Uh because you can technically anyone could be a president of the club. It's not like as if we are uh thoroughly checking through every single uh every everyone's like activities to be able to determine like are they really their president as like what they say. And you can kind of tell when someone is faking it too because if they're not able to talk about it in their piqs or it wasn't like really significantly discussed then it it it's it kind of just shows that like okay maybe this was not that much of a significant impact in their life or that they didn't really do much for this. Uh second is only schoolbased leadership counts. Uh there is outside of your community as well. You don't have to be a part of just clubs on your campus. You can go through community organizations. Also, leadership even within your family or your household also counts as well. Leadership is not bound to a specific definition or geographical location. It could be anywhere. And now, especially ## How to Develop Leadership If You’re Just Getting Started [22:00] with remote kind of learning or remote environments. Uh leadership can also look like virtual as well. Like I know that there's uh some students that are probably writing about like how they have developed discord communities and they've attracted thousands of of other students to create um safe spaces about a particular subject or interest groups. And that's an example of leadership as well uh being able to manage some type of public forum. And also another misconception uh quantity over quality. We're not trying to create a laundry list here. We're trying to be able to make sure we identify the top main ones and then be able to expand on it. The way to kind of think about it is remember that there's four PIQs, personal insight questions. And for those four PIQ's, uh what are your four different personal branding elements that you can talk about? And so maybe one could be about your, you know, one of your activities uh being a club president. Second could be about trying to improve the curriculum on your campus. Third and fourth can be about other things. So in ways a way to kind of think about it is what are the four major activities that you want to talk about in your uh in your application. Also to consider you do have 20 different uh eligible areas to be able to write either about extracurriculars or about your awards. And so to really show like depth of each of your club activities, right? You can be able to show like the uh different types of awards for each individual like club experience. So uh it could be that you were a part of robotics club and that you participated in like five competitions and you placed. So that might take like five different like activities as well um out of the 20. So that shows like that you're going in depth about that particular uh uh field and the activity which is really great. And so uh the one that's highlighted in green right just as a reminder that the whole point of leadership right it's about the influence not the title. meaning that you're trying to demonstrate how you created a ripple effect and how you were able to uh empower or inspire others to do the same. A great example in terms of uh the difference here is like uh some students have talked about doing like a personal project and being a leader of like a environmental club and they want to organize like a beach cleanup. Okay? And sure, that's fine to do some beach cleanups and to organize events, which is great. And but the thing is, if you were to graduate from high school and you were to leave from that beach cleanup, the trash is still going to come back. Meaning that like there's not going to be a long-lasting impact with that one-time event. A lot of people sometimes uh write about these one-time off events that they've spent a lot of time planning for, which I'm sure really matters to them, and that's really important. But the importance is what this what did this event do and how did it create like a long-term impact. So going back to like the litter and the trash like kind of example, what is a kind of opportunity where you can be able to prevent trash from even coming in the first place? So for example, instead of organizing trash cleanups, what if you were to do more like recycling campaigns or recycling uh kind of education in the area? being able to see if you can put up signs or uh work with the city and county to be able to uh create more signage or more reminders about uh the importance of recycling. Um that is creating a ripple effect in the community because if you're able to even just be successful in having like a sign that can stay there forever like that is going to be a part of the community and have a long-lasting impact uh way after you're gone. So again, think about the time horizon. What is something that you can be able to create or do that can expand your time in this like particular club? Okay, so some things that actually count for leadership. Uh and the thing about leadership is that it it has a lot of different definitions and it can be anything. It really can be. It's just about how you articulate it. So for example, it can be something as starting from scratch like you don't necessarily need to be a part of a formal organization, a formal club, a formal uh I don't know summer program or something to have a leadership experience. You can start from like by yourself and maybe one or two other friends. Like just think about something that you're interested in that you're invested in and then just kind of go from there. Uh ## How to Track and Write About Your Accomplishments [26:30] second, leading siblings and family responsibilities as I mentioned, right? If you are constantly at home and you got to take care of your family because you have younger siblings, that is also an example of leadership. And so being able to show that you have like a long-term uh like impact and and like fundamental like role in your family. Uh, so for example, even for myself, like way way back then when I was applying, like I would talk about how for me like I used to work part-time jobs because I would have to like pay for like help support with like bills and stuff like that. That was something as a family responsibility that was really uh like that could have been impactful towards like my own academics and activities. And so my goal was to be able to demonstrate that like it wasn't the actual job itself that was the excite that was what I was focusing on. But it was the focus of I had to work a part-time job because I needed to pay for these particular things because of the uh financial obligations that we had to be able to support. And so when you take a part-time job and frame it as like what why the part-time job was important or why did I like sacrifice more time towards money that was that was what the most important thing. It wasn't actually about the job itself. That's leadership right there because you're showing that you are contributing uh your time towards something for a greater purpose. Third is taking initiative in a group project. That is also something honestly um with group projects it might not be as like impactful or strong. Um uh just because like when it comes to group projects, people have to facilitate that moment for you, right? Like for example uh if the teacher didn't create group projects, would you have nothing to write about in terms of your leadership? So when we do see like group projects as like a leadership example and people talk about that uh we sometimes try to encourage them to think of something more creative or something that is more impactful because it doesn't show like sure it shows that they're taking initiative to be able to work with their peers and like get them like going and get them organized but it doesn't show initiative in terms of creating that project in the first place. So that's something that can um not be as strong. Uh so but then you can always still talk about it. Fourth, or organizing events or campaigns. And the whole thing about campaigns is to raise awareness about a particular issue. And again, um that's the ripple effect that we're talking about. How can you influence others and be able to create a long-lasting impact? And lastly, advocacy, volunteering, personal projects. Uh a lot of different things can be uh can be considered that personal project and be seen as leadership. Again, as long as you're able to connect like what was the issue that you really cared about? um how did you step in to be able to like drive leadership and lastly like why was this important to you or like how like why did it matter? Uh so that being said uh let's actually go into how to actually write about it and talk about it. So within the activity section that you see is you're going to have 350 characters to describe each activity which is very little. It's not much at all and really every single word really matters here. And uh if you haven't started writing your activities yet and you're about to start writing it, don't worry, we'll help you. Remember that you can always send your uh activity uh activities to us through the college essay service if you're part of our coaching families and we'll be able to like help you uh like revise it and like try to help uh yeah try to make it more concise. So first off, always start with try to start with action verbs, right? You don't necessarily need to provide so much context because every single word is so like valuable here. You want to get straight to the point. So try not to best to get so descriptive. Just focus on the results and your personal contribution. A general kind of formula in terms of how to write about this is like what did you do, how you did it, and also why it mattered. What you did is just like what are your actions? How you did it? Uh it's like how did you go about the process? uh what what was the kind of uh things that you uh did in your own way and lastly why did it matter whether what it relates to the impact that you're trying to make or the uh significance towards your college or career. So we're going to go through a few examples. We're going to go through some uh you know some bad examples and also some good examples that we have seen potentially in the past. So, first off, example one here, uh, an extracurricular activity of winning an Overwatch tournament finalist winner. Uh, so Overwatch is a game, uh, if you didn't know, it's like a there's like a esports kind of thing to it. So, a student wrote about, uh, how they won this tournament. And they talked and in the application, you have to write down what years did you participate in and also the hours per week. This is why we always encourage students to get anywhere between 20 to 30 hours for the UC's, 25 plus for UC Berkeley, UCLA, and 30 hours plus for the Ivy Leagues. And that's again based off what we seen for our students that get into these uh particular schools. So, this student played a lot of hours of Overwatch. And so, the description they wrote here, out of 100 gamers, I placed first place uh first overall in my local single elimination esports tournament, winning a $500 cash prize. The tournament requires a preliminary qualifier of over 300 players to play. Uh curious if uh this group has any thoughts like do you think that this is um uh what's what's your opinion on this? Is this effective? Is this strong? What do you like about it? What you don't like about it? Does anyone have any thoughts here? Okay. a bit of a quiet group from what it seems like. Um, so something that I took note here is that uh what this what the student uh what's great is that the student did quantify which is something that's really great to be able to see. Um because having numbers is uh makes it really clear and to the point about like how impactful it was. uh they uh could have um focused a little bit more on like how did they actually support their either their teams or like what kind of leadership opportunities was it actually there because also in ways like this doesn't really tell me much honestly about the student itself. It just means like this student loves to game and like that's cool, right? And it's like one of those things of uh it's not necessarily something that is showing like they are impacting others or they're like supporting others. So maybe a way that they can talk about is like were they a team leader on their like Overwatch team? Did they create a strategy? Um how did they lead during the games? Uh did they coach the team to improve? So, being able to get a little bit more into detail about what specifically did they do to be able to get them into first place, it doesn't really matter about being in the first place overall. Like, I don't really care about that. What I care about is what did they do in order to get to first place. And that's how you demonstrate leadership is through your activities that have led you there and your team there. Let's go next into example two. So, example two is uh a student who played soccer where they spent about 30 hours per week. And they the way they mentioned it playing soccer competitively since elementary school, played for school and clubs outside of school, captain of both teams for the last two years, organized practice with coaches, lead drills, work with members of the team, and oh, looks like my bad for the typo there. Host team uh planning events for new and veteran members. So first off in terms of some uh uh kind of positive things here they were very concise. They showed progression leadership and commitment as in like they actually uh shared like the duration of how long they've been doing it for so long. They shared about the specific kind of activities that led them to also even becoming a captain of the team as well. Uh the only thing that uh could have been a lot more impactful was like what uh can they have shared any metrics with us? Are they can they have uh show what was the actual results? So quantifying is really important here. And it's not just about the act of doing which what they said here organized practices, lead drills, work with team members. It's about what was the ending impact like did they get to first place in a competition? uh and also how uh what is kind of that ripple effect that they were able to influence within their team members. So what they're missing here is the kind of the impact and the quantification. They did a great job of being able to demonstrate what they do but they needed to go a little bit deeper in terms of the results. Uh next is example three which is about tutoring. So for this student, they mentioned they organized free tutoring for up uh underassmen struggling in math by recruiting volunteers, designing weekly sessions, and tracking progress, increase average student grades by 15% and built a more supportive academic culture at school. Okay. Uh this one here, I would say it's a lot more effective generally speaking because they went straight to the point. They immediately started talking about the actions that they did and then also talked about what was the impact which was increasing student grades by 15%. And also the built a supportive academic culture at the school that also demonstrates like um a cultural impact as well. So it's not just about the uh the getting the actual grade down but being able to influence their peers around them. Next, going to example number four. This student was an ASB president where they served as ASB during a year without an activities director. Uh they led schoolwide events, managed a 50 member leadership team, uh created systems for communication and planning, and increase student engagement through spirit weeks, rallies, and service drives. Uh so for this one, actually, this was actually for um myself. If you missed it before, uh I did have like a webinar about about a month ago about how I got a full ride scholarship to UC Berkeley. And actually, this was actually one of my activities that I did do, which was um exactly this to be an ASB president and to lead a whole entire class um uh on how to um get kind of create these events uh improve like the student culture and all this without like a staff member like present. And so this was actually one of the things I did actually write about. Um not sure if I use the exact same wording here during that time, but this would be an example of what um what I would have wrote back then uh during that time. And so uh it is also expected that it's more than likely that you're going to expand on these and the PIQ's as well. But this at least shows you like a quick like um list of all your accomplishments and activities so far so that they can quickly review and scroll through. Okay. So now that you know how to write about it, right, the next thing is how to develop your leadership opportunities. And really, if you don't have any leadership roles right now, the most the the simplest place to start is just figure out what do you actually care about? Like the whole point of leadership is you are taking initiative because no one else wants to uh or maybe others do, but you feel more empowered that you should like take the lead here. I mean, if you think about it for like student council for ASB or something like that, right? Students run and 99% or 90% of the students actually don't run at all because they don't care. And uh but the students who do run for the ASB president, it's because they want to accomplish something, right? they want to do something because either um they're motivated by a particular problem on their school or that they see themselves as being accountable to the culture and experience of the rest of the students. And that's something that they feel empowered to do. So for yourself, uh the most important place to start is just figuring out what do you feel empowered to actually wake up uh the next day to be able to look forward to and start something small. you don't have to, you know, create a huge, I don't know, massive campaign impacting a thousand students or uh doing large impacts because also you might not have the skill sets to be able to do that yet just yet. And if you are starting early at like 9th and 10th grade, then you still have time also. So don't feel as if like you have to rush it just to be able to get something down on paper. Think about the problems you care about and think about how do you want to solve it given your experiences uh so far. uh staying consistent. It's not just about like a one-time event or onetime thing that you're working on, but it's something that you uh you foster and cultivate over the next few years throughout your high school experiences. And that's what great leadership or activities actually look like as well is that you're able to show uh persistent hours. That's why for us when we talk about summer programs, it's not necessary to get into summer programs in order to get into top schools. uh a very effective like summer experience is even just staying consistent with what you were doing throughout the school year and just being able to take a deeper dive within the summer as well. So no, again, it's not about what is it that you did, it's more so about why you did it and also um uh like yeah and why do you care about this so much? uh ask for support or mentorship, working with your coaches, working with uh your teachers, working with like upper classmen to be able to kind of determine what are some leadership opportunities if you don't have any ideas. Uh and uh lastly, track your impact. Uh making sure that this is a portfolio that you're building over time. Uh this also goes for those who are interested in going into sports scholarships as well. You want to be able to record your videos, track your progress and uh so that you can easily share with your recruiter. And in this case as well, this is the same kind of line of thinking of if you are doing any kind of leadership or activities or anything of that sort, just keep note of like a running resume of all your accomplishments that you've done so far. So that way you can easily pull it up during your um your application time. All right. So that brings us uh towards the end of our webinar for today. And so for some quick resources and next steps and then we'll go into Q&A is if you want the notes and replay uh text 949775865 with notes and replay and then we can be able to share it with you there uh and we'll get back to you in 48 hours. Also if you want our UC activity tracker we have this available where you can use it for the next few years as well. So this is something that we give to all of our uh coaching students to uh make it easier for yourself um that to just update this um every like month or so. Uh so that way by the time you start writing the application you don't have to dig all the way back to your old files and uh try to remember all the things that you've done. So, if you want the activity tracker, text 949-7750865. Uh, so that way you can start keeping track now. And also, especially if you're 2026 uh junior right now, you you likely need to put this together even now. So, if you're free uh or if you want to get started early, this is the this is the time. Now, next is that college app uh college application intensive starts in April. So for those who don't know and if you're not part of our families, we do have a workshop at the very beginning of summer and one at the end. Kickstart is where we'll be able to help you get started on how to uh think about your essay strategy and you know uh and to get started on your first drafts. Accelerator, you'll come uh and finish your final drafts by then. So you're going to be working with coaches to be able to review it and make sure that it is in the best shape possible. And remember that all these coaches here, right, were trained either within admissions or trained by someone by by emissions. And so that being said, you're going to be getting expert guidance on how to best formulate your essays. And lastly, schedule a 15-minute coaching call if you haven't already. This is for people who are not part of our coaching families. Uh we provide a free assessment to everyone. Uh and you don't, this is totally free. You can't even purchase anything if you wanted to. And that's just because we believe in being accessible to everybody. So if you haven't explored it already, uh take advantage of this free assessment call by texting coach. And also part of our newsletter as well, uh we have a weekly newsletter that comes out if you want to learn more about scholarships, want to get any like inside information about any college admission trends that you should learn about, definitely uh subscribe to that newsletter. And again, uh, if you wanted to just get all of it and get all the resources, text all these words to 949-7750865. All right, I have a few questions in the chat from what it seems like. And so if anyone has any Q&A, this is the time to do it. Uh, so, uh, someone has a question. If I have a question about accepting a weight list offer, if I accept the weight list offer, do I have to go to that school? If they say yes. Uh so not necessarily. So you can uh you have to do you submit your uh sir uh statement of intent to register. So you pay a registration fee and then you uh pretty much dedicate yourself to going to that school. Technically speaking, if you sir already and you wanted to like no longer uh go to that school, you just you don't have to. You can always just cancel it. It's not it's not really too big of a deal. And so you once you submit your SR which is like it costs money to register that's when you have uh kind of determined this is where you want to go. Uh number two text the activity tracker is right here on the screen. Uh would attending Mathnesium after school three times a week count as extracurricular activity? This has helped student accelerate in math at school but no awards or anything related to it. Uh yes, it can count as extracurricular activity, which is fine. But again, something to think about is is there any type of aside from practicing in math, is there something that we can show some type of impact that they have or some type of accomplishment that they've been able to attain or anything of that sort? Uh, I know you already mentioned that there's no awards or anything related to it, but again, like if we want to craft like a really well-rounded student, we want to show they can take an initiative in some type of way. Okay. Any other questions from this group right now? All right. Uh, seeing no other questions, thank you all for attending and uh, looking forward to be able to uh, see y'all next week. All right, take care everyone. Bye.