Extracurricular Planning | Discover Your Path | Crimson Ed | Upenn/MIT
Most students think about extracurriculars too late — polishing a list of activities senior year instead of building something worth writing about over the previous three. This package is for students who want to get ahead of that. I spent five years at Crimson Education focused specifically on this: helping students identify what they genuinely care about, build activities with real depth and impact around those interests, and develop the kind of profile that admissions committees remember. Not paid research programs, not voluntourism, not a list of clubs with no thread connecting them. Real activities, real leadership, real outcomes. The framework I use is the T-shaped profile. Admissions wants to see one or two areas of clear, recognizable depth — ideally with regional, national, or international recognition — surrounded by a complementary set of activities that show who you are as a full person. We figure out where your depth should be, what you are already good at, what you genuinely care about, and how to build outward from there. Every activity on your list should have a reason to be there. Over 12 sessions we will assess where you stand, identify your strengths and interests, build a 2–3 year activity roadmap, plan summers strategically, help you scale existing projects, and find opportunities for meaningful recognition. We push you toward harder things than you would pick yourself — bigger leadership, more ambitious projects, more honest commitment. If you are willing to do the work, I will help you find the right work to do.
What's included
- Personalized T-shaped profile strategy — identifying your depth areas and complementary activities
- 12 one-on-one coaching sessions
- 2–3 year EC roadmap tailored to your goals and timeline
- Summer planning and program strategy — what to do, when, and why
- Activity scaling and leadership coaching — how to grow what you already have
- Recognition strategy — how to identify and pursue regional and national opportunities
- Ongoing guidance on how to frame and describe activities for maximum admissions impact
- Honest feedback — if an activity is fluff, we cut it; if you are avoiding the hard work, I say so
Meet your expert
Bryan C.
End-to-end App consulting | Crimson Education Veteran | Wharton/ UPenn +MIT
Good advice should not break your bank. And good advice should be unique. I teach two things: how to tell your story, and how to think for yourself. On the admissions side, I help applicants find the narrative that connects everything — career decisions, personal experiences, goals — into one coherent, compelling story that is unmistakably yours. No templates, no cookie-cutter essays, no agency writing it for you. I help you uncover what makes your candidacy not just impressive, but inevitable. If your background has a lot of moving pieces — international experience, career pivots, technical roles, startups, non-obvious transitions — that is exactly where I do my best work. On the test prep side, I teach you how to reason through problems, not memorize answers. Every student gets a personalized plan built around their specific strengths and weaknesses. No busywork, no generic problem sets, no hours wasted on things you already know. Most of my students are test-ready in about two months. Efficiency matters to me. Your time is valuable, and I respect it. Whether we are working on essays or exam prep, every session is designed to move you forward with zero wasted effort. My background shaped how I coach. I studied at the University of Pennsylvania (M&T Program) and earned my MBA at MIT Sloan. My career has spanned M&A, venture capital, startup operations, and corporate development across the U.S. and China. I have spent years helping companies and people make sense of complexity — how to position themselves, how to tell a credible story, and how to turn scattered experience into a clear direction. That is exactly what I now do for my clients. I have coached 50 MBA applicants targeting top 10 programs over the past 12 years. I scored a 770 on the GMAT x2 , 337 and 338 on the GRE, 1600 on the SAT, and 35 on the ACT. I know these tests, and I know how to get you where you need to be. Quickly.
