With the excitement of this year being the last for seniors, there also comes the stress of the college application process. At Downey, many seniors decide to apply to a UC as part of their college application process. 

If seniors do decide to apply to a UC, they will need to complete four out of the eight Personal Insight Questions. This is a tedious and stressful process for many seniors. However, there are many resources here at Downey High School that provide guidance and assistance, such as the College Consulting program.

This program, run by Mr. Glasser and Mr. Nevarez, gives seniors constructive feedback on their essays, as well as advice on the college admission process and finances. This program only offers guidance on the UC prompts. For those who do not know what the College Consulting program is, Mr. Nevarez goes in depth about what the program consists of.

“We provide a service of understanding. We wouldn’t discourage anyone from applying to schools they choose. We want to get them a realistic view. We also do a pretty good job of helping them figure out the financial aid once they’re accepted,” Mr. Nevarez said. “Giving them an opportunity to think about where they want to go, geographically speaking, and having a conversation with their parents. Sometimes students will apply to schools and don’t have that conversation with their parents and their parents are spending lots of money on their education. There are a lot of things we do in addition to the essays writings.”

This program takes place before school, during school, and after school. 

“[The program] started a number of years ago. About 4-5 years ago, I was helping students on the side. Mostly my TAs, people in AP; who were people just I knew and who asked me for help. Very informal,” Mr. Glasser stated. “And what the district realized was that a couple of kids were getting into schools. So the district decided to formalize this and because I was helping kids already, they decided to hire me as College Consulting.” 

With the support and guidance of Mr. Glasser and Mr. Nevarez, seniors’ essays are improved and better equipped to showcase who they are as an individual to present to the UCs. 

Class of 2022 graduate, Jasmine Vallejo, a student at Stanford, reflects on the help she received as a participant. She is a 2022 valedictorian and majoring in Bioengineering.

“I believe all high schoolers should seek Mr. Nevarez and Glasser’s support- even if they already know what to write their essays about. The advice given throughout the consultations helps you make small edits and minor changes to your essays, or could even help lead you to a new way of approaching one of your prompts,” Vallejo explains. “Having another individual read your essays is always a great idea to get additional feedback.”

The help that seniors receive from the College Consulting program is very useful and eases the stress that many have. If you are a senior applying to UCs or private schools, feel free to message the advisors at [email protected] and [email protected], or find them in rooms B213 and B216.