How to Stand Out in College Admissions: Leadership, Essays & Strategy with Seth Skaff

What separates a strong college application from a collection of good grades, activities, and accomplishments? College Ready student Seth Skaff joins Shellee Howard to share what he learned while navigating a highly competitive college admissions season. Seth is a high school senior involved in student government, Model United Nations, his school newspaper, Academic Decathlon, and varsity golf. Academically, he has taken an extensive schedule of AP exams and community college courses. But Seth's story demonstrates an important lesson for families: standing out isn't simply about doing more. It's about pursuing activities you genuinely care about and creating a cohesive story around who you are. Seth shares how he approached his applications strategically, including choosing majors based on his experiences and goals, researching individual universities, preparing for essays early, and considering the opportunities and career outcomes different colleges could provide. At the time of this conversation, Seth had already earned acceptances to multiple UC campuses, including UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Irvine's honors program, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz, with Regents Scholarships at UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara and a scholarship at UC Merced. In this episode, you'll hear about: Why students don't need to fill their schedules with activities just to impress colleges How genuine interests can develop into meaningful leadership Why a student's activities, intended major, and application story should make sense together How Seth approached major selection at different universities Why students should research the rules around changing majors before applying The value of seeing college essay prompts well before senior-year deadlines How early preparation made the application process easier What Seth learned from working with College Ready Why having an experienced advisor helped clarify confusing admissions questions How Seth evaluated colleges based on opportunities and career outcomes What he wishes he had started earlier How students can use AI for brainstorming and feedback while keeping their essays authentically their own One of Seth's biggest lessons for younger students is simple: you probably can't start too early. College planning isn't about knowing your entire future in middle school or freshman year. Starting early gives students time to explore their interests, develop meaningful experiences, understand themselves, and eventually tell a much stronger story when application season arrives. 🎧 Listen to hear about the college admissions process directly from a student who has just lived it and what he believes made the biggest difference. 🎁 Episode Gift & Contact 🎓 College Planning Support for ParentsWant help organizing next steps and avoiding costly college mistakes? 📘 Workbook Gift:https://go.collegereadyplan.com/podcast-gift-workbook 🤝 Interested in Collaborating with College Ready?Email or call [email protected] (949)235-7350