Getting into the Ideal College: A Reality for Everyone

Anne was a senior at Hollywood High School hoping to become a veterinarian. But the daughter of a single mom was overwhelmed by the college application process. 

She had a limited list of prospective schools, no understanding of financial aid, and needed essay guidance. So she turned to Mentors 4 College, a grassroots agency that helps students apply to college, free of charge.

“Without you, I wouldn’t be accepted as an Aggie,” Anne says after being accepted at UC Davis, home of a top veterinary school. “Thank you for reaching out and making me feel less alone.”

Mentors 4 College (M4C), now celebrating its 10th year, matches highly-trained volunteer mentors with high school students to help them select and apply to their ideal college. 

The volunteer mentors from around the country meet with students and parents multiple times a year, in-person and online, to help them navigate the daunting college application process.

While professional college consultants can charge $10,000 or more per student, M4C services are offered free to every student in need. There are no academic or financial thresholds.

Their services include college counseling; online workshops in essay writing, college interviewing, and career planning; monthly webinars on such topics as financial aid and building balanced college lists; and monthly text messages to remind students of key deadlines.

In the past decade, Mentors 4 College has trained 120 mentor volunteers, and has assisted more than 1,000 high school students who have been admitted to such colleges as UC Berkeley, USC, Stanford, Occidental, Harvard, and Yale.

The nonprofit, which works in conjunction with local schools and counselors, is the brainchild of David and Lois Zuckerman. When their children were applying to college, they worked through the process essentially on their own, because public school counselors are absolutely stretched beyond their limits. Meanwhile, they ran into an exceptionally talented student who’d started at community college to ensure a free education. After a year of not being challenged, he dropped out. “We could have helped this kid find many financially affordable, academically challenging opportunities if we’d only had the chance! He’s not the only one, there are millions like him.” 

With COVID, M4C offers all its services online – and demand has spiked coast to coast.

 “It’s just exploded,” David Zuckerman says. “A college education changes lives and improves communities. We can help more kids and more communities, but we’ve reached our limit on how we can fund this.”