Hey friends and welcome back to the podcast! I'm Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at College Essay Guy. In this episode, I sit down with one real student and talk through the actual, messy work of applying to college — in real time.

That student is Harmony, and I met her backwards: not in person, but through her writing during CEG Live, which are large group essay writing classes Ethan leads every summer for high school students across the US. I was invited to lead a "bonus session" during the program, where I'm tasked with reviewing as many in-progress essays and drafts live on Zoom. Harmony's was the first one I read, and boy did she set the bar HIGH.

After reading her essay, I had the exact same reaction you'd want any admission officer to have: "dang. I want to meet this person." And, luckily, she was down to link up on Zoom and introduce the face— and bright light— behind the page.

To give you a taste (pun intended) of what makes harmony special… she answers "what did you do this summer?" with a brief interlude about an app she built that tells you whether the berry you just found on a hike will kill you (she tested it — merely sour), and a watermelon-sweetness experiment involving acoustic resonance. She also writes psychological mysteries at 5 a.m. and bakes a mean sourdough.

Throughout our conversation, we get into how a single community college class finally made computer science click, why not getting into some coveted summer programs turned out to be the best thing for her, and a live, in-the-room workshop of her personal statement — editing on the fly, tech hiccups and all.

Harmony is a current high school senior from the Bay Area. She tends to get carried away by curiosity, turning random questions into projects and occasionally questionable kitchen experiments. She loves quiet mornings, her people, and a good adrenaline rush, whether she is surviving the final lap of a 500 free, competing in Tetris or board games, or always listening to the most extreme of perspectives and stories. One day, she hopes to build technology rooted in human cognition and agricultural tech, and publish novels exploring deep questions of morality and identity, but for now she is just trying to convince her parents to let her grow mushrooms, and that it probably won't give them food poisoning.

We hope you enjoy.

Play-by-Play

2:44 – How is Harmony feeling as she gets started on her college to-do list?
3:59 – How did Tom and Harmony meet through a CEG Live essay review, and what was Harmony's reaction to finding out her essay stood out?
7:32 – How did Harmony's interest in computer science develop?
12:44 – Why did not getting into summer programs or internships freshman year push Harmony toward building her own independent projects instead?
18:59 – What is Harmony most proud of creating during high school?
22:39 – What was it like for Harmony to step into the college process and CEG Live during the summer before senior year?
23:38 – How did CEG Live's exercises help Harmony identify her values and discover the hook for her personal statement?
26:14 – How does Harmony's top three values (second chances, freedom, and authenticity) show up across her essays and experiences?
28:37 – How did Harmony's original topic idea shift from baking and agriculture to the broader theme of systems?
35:37 – What stood out to Harmony as she heard her own essay read aloud, and why do live, specific details like Cantonese egg waffles and family games matter?
36:03 – How does Tom suggest moving the sentence connecting storytelling and computer science later in the essay to preserve its impact?
41:05 – Why did Harmony include the "watermelon acoustic resonance project, and how does it show the human assumptions behind technical work?
45:45 – How might condensing the question-asking allow more room for deeper insights into her storytelling and character creation?
50:37 – Closing thoughts and what's next for Harmony's application

Resources

721: Inside the Application Process (Part 1): Introducing Harmony, High School Senior

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

721: Inside the Application Process (Part 1): Introducing Harmony, High School Senior