Being a student athlete was fun and challenging as Drake Doyle progressed throughout high school. He always worked hard in class and tried to maintain a balance between academics and athletics. As Drake points out, it is easy to get caught up in the sport, but you need to think about the future too. So when Drake began his college search, he was unsure of where to apply, knowing that he wanted to stay in Michigan. As he began his applications for college, the more that he researched his options he knew Hope College was one of his top choices, and has since decided to play baseball there. How did he know that Hope College would be a good fit for him? “ Lisa Schmidt [our college admissions counselor] was actually the one who talked to me about Hope and really encouraged me to visit there. She was the one who pointed me to two of the four colleges I applied to, and those two ended up being my top two choices.”
As he thinks back on the application process, part of what Drake believes made him stand out as an applicant was his essay. “My essay was actually really good, and that’s what Kim and Lisa really helped me with. English is my worst subject, and they helped make my essay sound really good.” Learning how to identify schools that would be great fit and then refining applications to make the schools realistic options is one of our specialities here at Parros College Planning.
“Don’t go in blind, really do some research and get to know what you’re doing before you start sending stuff out,” Drake offered as advice to incoming seniors. “Get it done early and definitely have someone or a group of people to look at your applications and revise them,” he continued. At Parros, we help make that research more accessible with our online portal full of exclusive, helpful information, and we offer our expertise while helping you get your applications done early to be sure you represent the best possible version of yourself to colleges you apply to.
Drake is so excited to be attending Hope for many reasons, including the beautiful campus and the unique Business Marketing program which he will be joining, in addition to getting to play baseball at a collegiate level. We are thrilled that we could help him find the right college and we want to do the same for you! Juniors, take Drake’s advice and start your applications early with a team to look them over. Schedule an appointment with use this summer to position yourself as an impressive applicant this fall in the very competitive application pool!
