Arun’s parents wanted to help their child actualize his Ivy League dreams, but they had both attended university in India and struggled to navigate the nuances of elite college admissions in the U.S. During Arun’s freshman year at a private school outside of Philadelphia, they sought the guidance of Command Education’s expert mentors to support Arun in achieving his collegiate goals. He was broadly interested in creative writing, sports, and medicine. Despite being a top student with a 4.0 GPA, he struggled with his confidence and decision-making abilities.

Arun’s mentor emphasized the importance of honing in on one clear interest and using it to make an impact in his community. His mentor knew the first step towards identifying his passions would be exploring his options both in and out of the classroom, so he suggested that Arun apply to a writing program the summer after his freshman year of high school. He attended the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop, and while he enjoyed learning about how to strengthen his writing abilities through different literary works, Arun ultimately decided that he was not passionate enough about literature and writing to pursue it in college.

After his AP Biology course sparked Arun’s interest during sophomore year, Arun’s mentor decided to find opportunities for him to delve deeper into his interest in the medical field. Arun completed a collegiate clinical internship program the following summer. Afterwards, he and his mentor decided that instead of pursuing a pre-med track in college, Arun would work towards combining his love of cooking, fitness, and science to become a nutritionist. His mentor helped him develop a blog where he posted recipes of low budget, healthy nutritious recipes. He also worked with a Command Education tutor to improve his ACT score from a 31 to a 34. Arun eventually applied to and was accepted at Stanford, where he will be majoring in Nutrition Sciences.