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India Currents gave me a voice in days I was very lost. Having my articles selected for publishing was very validating – Shailaja Dixit, Executive Director, Narika, Fremont
If you are a first generation immigrant like me, I would guess that one of the reasons you left your country of birth was to provide a better life for your children. I would further guess that you would agree with research that clearly associates college education as the foundation for a good quality of life in the US.
The problem is that college admissions landscape in US has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Consider the following:
1. Increased Competition:
• Top-tier private colleges, also called Ivy Leagues, admit roughly 1 out of 20 applicants.
• UCLA, a public university, attracted 119,000 applications, the most ever for a US college.
• To compensate for funding shortfall, most public universities are giving preferential admissions to out of state and international students. For UCs, this percentage is now as high as 33%.
I am sure that many of you are not surprised by the low admittance rates at Ivy Leagues. They were always very selective. What you may be surprised with is that Public Universities are no longer a safe option.
2. Complex Admissions Process: A few years back, CSU (California State University) rejected 30,000 applications because they were incomplete. Private college admissions are infinitely more complex!
3. Most public high schools are unable to provide personalized help with college admissions: Our budget constrained public high schools are unable to afford the needed number of guidance counselors. In California, the student to counselor ratio is 1000:1, the worst in the country.
So, what’s my point? We as parents, cannot take college admission for granted! Our kids need help with the process – they cannot do it alone.
What are your options? You could try self-help if you have the time, patience and research skills. Or, you could consider sending your children to private schools since most private schools provide good support for college admissions.
What about the families that don’t fall in the above two categories?
That’s why I co-founded UCEazy, www.uceazy.com. The inspiration for UCEazy was my personal frustration and anxiety in supporting the college admissions journey for both my children.
Our Vision: Make college admissions easy for all families regardless of their financial background or the zip code they live in. Our scope is nationwide, not just UCs.
Our Solutions: My co-founder and I have enjoyed successful careers in the Information Technology industry. We are using our technology background to provide solutions that are high quality and yet affordable. We hope to support all families through a combination of free and paid solutions listed below.
1. UCEazy Union (https://uceazy.com/union/)
The Union is a network of college admissions experts that provide consultation over online video e.g. Skype. The goal of the Union is to provide high quality experts at affordable prices. Our experts go through a rigorous interview process before they are listed on The Union. They offer different consulting services depending on your child’s grade and what phase of the college application process you are in.
You can hire our experts on an hourly basis or purchase blocks of hours.
2. UCEazy Webinars (https://uceazy.com/events/)
We organize weekly webinars on different aspects of the college admissions process. Currently these webinars are free. Each webinar is hosted by two of our college admissions experts. Topics include Financial Aid, Essays, and College List etc.
3. UCEazy Toolbox (https://uceazy.com/toolbox/)
The Toolbox is a family of free web applications, created by UCEazy and our partners, to give simple advice and guidance during the college application process. Tools include “Organizer” which helps you keep track of key dates in the college application process.
How can you engage with us:
1. Attend our webinars (https://uceazy.com/events/)) to learn more about the college admissions process and to “meet” our experts.
2. Schedule a free 30-minute session with one of our experts. Go to union.uceazy.com and click on Getting Acquainted. Use Coupon Code UCEAZY100 at checkout.
3. Try out our free web applications (https://uceazy.com/toolbox/)
4. Email us at https://uceazy.com/about-us/ or send us a chat message through our website
https://uceazy.com/
About the author: Vinnie Gupta spent 25+ years in the technology industry with companies such as Cisco and Sun. He earned an engineering degree from BITS (Pilani) and a MBA from Indian Institute of Management. He also pursued executive MBA studies at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. His wife teaches Chemistry at a Silicon Valley High School. His daughter graduated from UCLA and his son is currently enrolled at University of Chicago.