How Lena Got Into
UC Berkeley
Where it started
Lena came to AcceptU as a strong student with broad interests, but like many high-achieving students, she needed help turning that potential into a clear and compelling college applicant profile. Through long-term planning, focused extracurricular development, and personalized guidance from former admissions officers, she earned admission to UC Berkeley and several other selective universities.
- Start Point: Grade 9
- Home State: California
- High School Type: Public
- Academic Focus: English
- Acceptances: Tufts University, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin
- Enrolled: UC Berkeley
How we helped
At the start, Lena had a lot of strengths, but like many students, her interests were broad and not yet fully connected. Our focus early on was helping her step back, think through what actually interested her, and begin to shape a clearer direction.
Over time, she gravitated toward the humanities, with a particular interest in exploring identity and resilience through her writing and her experience in endurance athletics. Once that direction started to take shape, her decisions became more intentional. Instead of reacting to what she thought she should be doing, she began to make choices that built on each other.
That showed up in her academics, where she leaned into more rigorous humanities coursework, and in her extracurriculars, where she moved away from doing a little bit of everything and focused on a smaller number of activities that she could stay committed to over time.
As things became more focused, her voice developed as well. Her writing started to feel more personal and grounded in her actual experiences, rather than something constructed for applications.
Throughout the process, we worked closely with Lena and her family at key decision points — helping her evaluate options, take pressure off having everything figured out too early, and stay aligned with the direction she was building.
By the end, she was making decisions with a lot more confidence and independence. Her profile felt cohesive, thoughtful and clearly reflective of who she is.
