17. What Are The Best Extracurricular Activities For College Applications?
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Release Date: 08/25/2021
S2EP: Living in Easy World and Accessing Your Genius Zone with Dr. Gay Hendricks
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
What if the one thing standing between you and true success is your own upper limit? Ever feel like every time things start going really well, something inevitably goes wrong? Maybe you land the dream client, but then self-doubt creeps in. Or you finally hit a financial milestone, only to sabotage yourself with burnout. If this sounds familiar, you might be hitting your upper limit—without even realizing it. Dr. Gay Hendricks, author of The Big Leap, is here to break it all down. He’ll show you how to stop the self-sabotage cycle and step into a life of abundance, creativity, and success...
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S2E4: This Mindset Shift Will Completely Transform You or Your Child’s College Experience
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Is your college list based on what you actually want—or what someone else told you to want? If the idea of an Ivy League school has taken over your college admissions strategy, you’re not alone. The allure is real. But when the prestige of a name outweighs the actual experience and alignment, you (or your child) could end up in the wrong place, chasing someone else’s dream. Too many students build their college list backwards—starting with a dream school instead of a dream experience. Counselors push, parents pressure, YouTube raves, and suddenly, you’re sinking time, energy, and...
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S2E3: How Neurodivergent Students Can Get Into Their Dream College with Dr. Samantha Clemens
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
What if your child’s struggle in school isn’t about effort—but about how they’re wired to learn? So many students (and their parents) assume academic challenges stem from laziness, distraction, or not trying hard enough. But what if the real issue is that their learning style simply isn’t being supported—or even understood? In this episode, Dr. Samantha, a clinical psychologist and Educational Architect breaks down how we’re missing the mark when we try to fit all students into one academic mold. She shares why identifying a student’s learning profile is the secret sauce to...
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S2E2: The Harvard Diaries: Ryan, Leadership and Happiness Research, Self Actualization
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
What if everything you thought you knew about finding your path in life was wrong? We’ve all been told the same story: pick a career, follow a straight line, and check off the boxes of success. But what if that rigid path is actually what’s keeping you from living a life full of meaning, joy, and purpose? In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, I sit down with Ryan, a Fulbright Scholar and PhD candidate from New Zealand, to talk about the myths we’ve been fed about happiness, potential, and purpose—and why real self-actualization isn’t about reaching the top of the...
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S2E1: The Edvisory’s Framework: The Defining Factor in a Unique, Undeniable College Application
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Is "meeting students where they're at" actually doing more harm than good? If you've ever heard the question, "What do you want to do with your life?" and felt a pit in your stomach—or worse, watched your child shut down in response—this episode is going to change the way you think about college admissions. The truth? Most students don't know what they want at 16 or 17—and that's not the problem. The real issue is that traditional college counseling assumes they should know... and builds a future based only on who they've already been. What if we stopped projecting certainty onto...
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38. How to Find Your Path as a Transfer Student with Isaac Lubert
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Today on the Bold Student Podcast, we’re joined by my very special guest Isaac Lubert. Isaac is a former transfer student of mine who is currently pursuing music, business and psychology at NYU. In today’s episode, we talk about Isaac’s journey from Indiana University to Santa Monica College to now NYU and how our work together encouraged him to pursue his current path. Isaac shares wisdom around navigating change, not being afraid to try new things and how working with a private college counselor pushed him in the right direction (even when it meant pushing him outside of his...
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37. Inspiring Change as a Storyteller and First-Generation College Student with Donald Jolly
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Today on the Bold Student Podcast, we’re joined by none other than Donald Jolly. Donald is our very own essay coach, but he’s also a first-generation college student who studied English at Dartmouth, and has an MFA in dramatic writing from the University of Southern California. He's also a Los Angeles-based writer proudly hailing from Washington, DC. As a playwright, he wrote the historical drama, Bonded, which was nominated for the Los Angeles stage Alliance Ovation award for playwriting and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Los Angeles theatre, and winner of the 2013...
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36. Discovering Your Purpose Through Human Design with Ilona Barnhart
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest, Ilona Barnhart. Ilona is a human design reader who blends insight and inspiration from multiple sources to create something entirely new so that you can embrace and accept more parts of yourself. In today’s episode, Ilona shares what human design is and the events that led her to become a human design practitioner. Ilona also talks about living in an energy-based world and what that means. Then, we discuss the different types of human design and how understanding human design allows you to connect to your own unique intuition while...
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35. Parents Didn’t Go To College? Here’s How to Navigate the Admissions Process with Marvette Lacy
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
Today’s guest has such an interesting and inspiring story for anyone who has dreams of overcoming their circumstances and becoming more than what they have always known. Marvette Lacy is an aspiring engineering student, turned student affairs doctoral student who started her business all while finishing her dissertation in THREE MONTHS! Now, Marvette runs a multiple six-figure business as a coach and in today’s episode she shares all of the pivots that she made in her journey to get to this place. Marvette’s story is one that will encourage you to always be flexible and to...
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34. My Predictions On How Overturning Roe v Wade Will Impact College Admissions
The Trailblazer's Guide To College Admissions
On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. Whether you’re a parent to a soon-to-be-applying student, a junior or senior applying to college, or an international student coming to the US – this decision affects you. In this episode, I want to make some predictions on how this decision will impact college admissions and how to actively prepare to still get into your dream college despite the changes that this decision may bring. Even with these predictions, I believe this next generation will reshape our world into something better and brighter – and with...
info_outlineIf you want to stand out from the sea of college applicants vying for a spot at your dream college, you shouldn’t just join random clubs at your school --because every other high schooler is already doing that. What you need to do is become the creator of your own extracurricular activities. What I mean is, you need to start small and start early to find a unique passion project (or theme) that’s related to your interest and solve a problem around it.
In this episode, I’m talking about being innovative and standing out when it comes to your extracurricular activities. Innovation and uniqueness are key traits for getting admitted to your dream college and necessary for setting yourself up for success in college and life. That’s why I’m giving you my best tips and tricks to help you identify a niche area of interest, develop ideas for your extracurricular passion project and execute it with success.
What We Cover:
- What it means to create your own activities
- Why you have to start small to go big
- An example passion project
- How to find a real-world problem with real-world implications
“You want to make sure that you're seeking out accomplishments that are hard to explain. Not hard to do.” - Cathleen
“You want to showcase to college admissions officers that you are able to solve actual problems that exist in the world. Not the experiments you're doing in a controlled lab and your AP bio classroom.” - Cathleen
”Highly selective colleges are looking for students who have potential to be world leaders, game-changers, and entrepreneurs who go out, find a problem, come up with a solution, and does whatever it takes to not get discouraged in the face of challenges.” - Cathleen
Connect with
Thanks for listening, and if you like what you’ve heard, subscribe and listen to The Bold Student Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to spread the word by leaving a review or sharing this podcast with your friends!
LINKS MENTIONED:
If you’re a high school student in 9th-12th grade or the parent of one, I work with a small cohort of students annually and help them develop the core traits I discussed in the podcast and apply to selective colleges. You can apply to work with me below:
Interested in a one of a kind 6 week group coaching EXPERIENCE to help YOU create a theme AKA your unique area of specialization? Establish the foundation of becoming a Uniquely Impressive, Trailblazing Leader so that you can get into your dream colleges and change the world with ease and joy! If The Admitted Mastermind sounded like it was for you, you'll love Theme Queen™. Join Theme Queen™ here.
Follow Cathleen on Instagram & DM with any questions @lifeandcollegecoach