In this episode of the Digital Learning Today Podcast, Jeff welcomes Sophie Smith and Leah Guesman from College Contact on the podcast to learn about the current state of the college admissions process.
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In This Episode …
- What is the current state of the College Admissions Process?
- Has the process changed at all in the last 10+ years?
- What is the current process for students to apply for their colleges?
- What advice do you have for students applying for college?
- What advice do you have for teachers interested in helping prepare their students for the application process?
- How did the idea of College Contact come about?
- Initial Success?
- The use of Social Media to gain traction in the community.
- Going from a Concept to a Business?
- Going from College Student to CEO.
- Standing up as a CEO at EdTech Companies.
- Meeting and Working with School Districts
- How can a School District reach out to College Contact?
- How can a Student reach out to College Contact?
- What do you hope the future of the College Admissions process looks like?
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About our Guest:
Sophie Smith
Sophie Smith, 23, is the founder and CEO of College Contact, a startup aimed at transforming postsecondary advising. Originally from Jupiter, Florida, she graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce in 2023 with degrees in Marketing and Information Technology. The idea for College Contact was sparked in her UVA dorm room during the COVID-19 pandemic, following the viral success of one of her TikTok videos. This led to hundreds of emails from high school students, prompting Sophie to create a solution for better postsecondary advising.
Inviting co-founder Leah Guesman to join forces with her in 2023, Sophie & Leah won all three UVA pitch competitions and secured a $1.025M seed round after graduation. College Contact, now a TechStars portfolio company based in Austin, Texas, has grown to include over 100 college mentors and four full-time staff. Sophie's achievements include winning Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council and speaking at the Tom Tom Festival in 2024.
Leah Guesman
Leah Guesman, 23, is co-founder and COO of College Contact. She is originally from Los Altos, California and graduated from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce in 2023 with degrees in Marketing & Economics. She has always had a passion for equity in education. She served as a member of site council during high school to improve equity across student groups, provided virtual tutoring to English language learners during the pandemic, and joined College Contact as one of the platform’s first mentors. When Sophie invited her to come on as COO in 2023, she was thrilled to be able to pursue her interests in both business and education. Her favorite part of her job now is developing partnerships with nonprofits and high schools to expand access to College Contact mentors.
About College Contact
College Contact was founded in Sophie's UVA dorm room in early 2020 when a TikTok video she posted went viral. Soon after, thousands of students emailed Sophie asking for 1:1 application assistance. As the demand for affordable and relatable college counseling grew, Sophie built a team of current undergraduates around the company to serve the high schoolers who needed more application support.
Sophie brought on Leah Guesman as a college mentor in early 2021. Together, Sophie and Leah spent over 150 hours individually helping students achieve postsecondary success. As the business continued to grow, Sophie invited Leah to be a co-founder.
After Sophie and Leah graduated from the University of Virginia in May of 2023, the duo hired Joe McGonnigal to manage the recruitment, onboarding, and logistical side of their growing mentor network.
Now a fully-funded startup, this team of young entrepreneurs is on a mission to provide their full-time support to high school students across the country. Since inception, College Contact has served 2.5k students using our unique near-peer model.
About College Contact:
College Contact is a college and career readiness platform that matches high school students with actively enrolled undergraduate students for near-peer postsecondary advising. With our easy to use software, D2C high school students, and B2B school districts get access to our proprietary matching algorithm, curriculum, and 100+ undergraduate mentors from 60+ different universities. Since our founding, College Contact has successfully served 2,500 students across the country by helping them gain admission to 150+ universities. 86% of our students land a spot at their favorite school. We are seed funded and started our first pilot program with a school district in California.
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