412: Applying to College as a First-Generation or Low-Income Student: The Matchlighters Scholars Program Experience

The College Essay Guy Podcast: A Practical Guide to College Admissions

Hey all, today’s episode is a special one. We had one of our rockstar essay coaches, Shira Harris, sit down with two of her former Matchlighter students, Milena Veliz and Sayem Kamal, to discuss their experiences navigating the college application process as First Generation Low Income Students. At the time of the recording, Milena was an incoming sophomore at Macaulay Honors College at John Jay and Sayem was an incoming freshman at Columbia University. They both received full scholarships at their respective schools.

In the episode, we’ll listen to Shira, Milena, and Sayem discuss (among other things):

• Milena and Sayem’s backgrounds and how they found out about the Matchlighters program
• The process of working with Shira and some of the most helpful resources they used to write their essays
• Leveraging scholarships to pay for college
• Difficulties Milena and Sayem encountered in the application process and why having a mentor was so helpful
• What Milena and Sayem wrote in their personal statements
• Tips, hacks, and guidance for students going through the process right now

If you’ve never heard of Matchlighters, it’s our 1-on-1 coaching support program where we pair students from low-income households with volunteer counselors. We’re in our 8th year of the program with over 2,000+ Scholars supported from 45 states and 5 continents — with our scholars attending more than 150 colleges and universities.

Shira Harris, whom you’ll meet in a moment, is an alternative educator, mediator, former civil rights attorney and queer activist who received a BA from UC Berkeley, law degree from New York University, and an international masters on migration and mediation in the Mediterranean region.

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Play-by-Play

• 2:20 - Milena & Sayem share their backgrounds
• 5:13 - How they found Matchlighters and what their sessions were like
• 9:41 - What resources did they find helpful in the college essay writing process?
• 12:36 - How did Milena & Sayem start to build their college lists?
• 15:35 - What was difficult or unexpected about this process?
• 19:45 - What tips do Sayem & Milena have for students going through this process right now?
• 23:20 - How did they overcome concerns about college affordability as low-income students?
• 26:35 -What scholarship resources did Milena & Sayem find in their search?
• 29:29 - How are Milena & Sayem connecting with their college campuses?
• 33:03 - What parts of the application process have stuck with Milena & Sayem?
• 36:55 - What advice would Sayem & Milena give to their former selves?
• 38:45 - Resources for First-Gen, Low-Income students
• 41:11 - Wrap-up / closing thoughts

Resources

• Matchlighters
• The Values Exercise
• Corsava Card Sort
• CollegeXpress
• QuestBridge
• Why Us Guides
• Super Essays
• Macaulay Honors
• Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni
• Reddit - r/applying to college
• Reddit - r/questbridge
• CollegeBoard
• CEG Discord
• First Gen Support Discord
• UStrive (mentorship program for FGLI students)